Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-16 00:00:00

Esq., surgeon, Abercromby-square, for gratuitous advice
and general attention to the children; and to the
following friends who have kindly permitted
donation . boxes to be placed in their shops and
offices, viz.: Mr. Manger; coachbuilder, Richmond-row;
Mr. M‘Bryde, tallow-chandler, Richmond-row; Mr.
Harrison, grocer, Fox-street ; Mr. Fisk, confectioner,
Castle-street ; Mr. Horsfall, confectioner, Church-street ;
Mr. Makin, grocer, Elliott-street ; and to Mr. Horrocks,
baker, London-road. To the various parties who have
supplied- the schools with work, and to time who have
contributed old clothing, which is at all times exceed-
ingly useful, the committee feel truly grateful."
The Rev. Mr. llowsorq, principal of the Collegiate
Institution, in moving the adoption of the report, said it
gave him great pleasure to have an opportunity of
showing his respect to the Mayor, and at the same time
of expressing, in his very humble way, his sympathy 1
• with one .of those many good works with which he L
(the mayor) had been so long and so usefully identified.,
(Applause). And it was very gratifying that day, as it was
always, to be in any way co-operating with Mr. E Aback,
to whom so much was owing, and who. had in these
• schools given them some .very important principles of
industrial education. (Hear, hear.) He alluded parti-
cularly •to two principles which were well expressed In .
the :report, namely, that instead of being a hindrance
to young people at .schools to be engaged part of their
time in industrial occupations, it was actually a relief
to them (hear, hear) ; and, secondly, it was a very great
encouragement to the• poor children to see that the.
work of their own hands was worth something, sheaving
that they could. be of some real value to society. (Hear,
hear.) - - It gave bias very great pleasure to be able tO
express his grateful sympathy with Mr. and. Mrs.
Orrms, for, though the Collegiate Institution was rather
higher up the hill, he felt that they were engaged in
the same work, had the same human nature to-deal
with, and the same ChriAianity in all its iuffuences and
all its pleasures. (Applause:).: • • •
Mr. Councillor CLINT seconded the adoption of the
report, and said he also seconded what Mg. Howson had
said in regard to the value of the -institution. As a'
member of the 'Watch Committee of the Town Council,
it was very gratifying to him, and to every one con-
nected with that committee, to hear the statement which
t favourableob ject
the Mayor had made, that juvenile crime was decreasing,
and he thought that they must trace a good deal of that
l be(a
(Bear, hear.)
r. by al fhaec t g
r se(a)
decrease to the institution `of schools of that nature.
He was sure his friend the head-constable, whom he saw
hs i present,
w operations.oud
must always-be kept in view waseto get hold of the class
who had not-been inaptly styled City Arabs; and embryo
criminals, whose very .plastic minds were liable to be
impressed either in a right or wrong direction, accord-
ing to the company in which they fall. - It was at; this
point those schools stepped in and, as it were, have
formed them-from the verge of crirointlity and anintinto
useful members of society. He was rather sorry
to- hear that the subscriptions and donations were
falling off, and he hoped the . people of the
town would not allow that institution to languish. In.
the event of a bazaar being. held for the purpose of
obtaining -another building, he trusted it. would be .suce-
cessful ; that the more the objeets of the institution.
were Made known, the more they would be appreciatede..
and the less the committee would have reason to lament-
the decrease in their subscriptions...
The' resolution was then put; andassarried unanimously,
Mr. DANSON.moved the next resolution, to the effect
that, as tbe.ignm ant and poor are• a 'dangerous class of •
the Community.: it was the duty and .the interest• of
everyone to aid.-;.ia diminishing their:. number, by pro-
. viding, as far as may be for the
.training of their
children; and that as the .Industriale .Ragged Schools
have been found the most effectual means of effecting
this object, they are entitled to the cordial support
of the publics :lle should not be at all sur- •
prised to find that the ragged schools .would end 'in
conveying lessons on education to the higher classes
who aro now. putting down their hands to that
work. He basis:known instances where it•was found
that boys who had been educated at the Blue-coat Hos—
pital in Liverpool, when employed in offices, had proved
inefficient. 'They had led a sort of seini"-monastic
or conventual life, without any practical experience of
life. Boys in such a school, however carefully trained,
enter an office mentally like children of seven or eight
years of age, anti lie very much doubted, whether, a boy • •
entering the ragged schools, and remaining three. cry
• four .years, did not -go into life with a better chance,
of success than they could pcssibly expect him to
have when lie •had passed the usual routine of • the
Blue-coat Hospital. (Hear, • hear.) He - believed ;
the ragged schools were for the first tinie- in the
history of
.this country going.: down to the very
root of one 'of the most miserable mistakes which had
ever been made, and that was the supposition that labour
was a curse. The boys in that institution were taught
that labour Waaunamething better. than a blessing—that
labour well directed was prayer in action, whether the
labour of the farmer. in the furrow, of the weaver. at •
his loom, the sailor on the mast, or -the merchant in the
counting-hoose—that all well-directed and truly active
work was the highest occupation in which :man could be
engaged. (11--ar, hear.)
'The resolution, having beenuseconded by the Rev. Mr.--
Moore, was unanimously agreed to. .
Mr. HU neale.x. moved the third resolution, expressn*,
the regret of the meeting that the aid formerly glveon
-
by Government to indAstrial ragged shools had
materially reduced ; adding that the meeting
.aagarueo
the prOueeding as the result of a false economy,
and thought that, as the promoters of those institutions
were performing a duty which belonged ho Government,
by withdrawing their support the Government were
encouraging the evils whichall good governments _should
seek to destroy. He alluded to the conference which
was held, at Birmingham. in 1851, and which; was
initiated in. his office.; and said. that from that period up
to the present time Government had given that assistant e
which was thought right,and desirable for the preven-
tion of juvenile crime and for the reformation of -
criminal;.. Both classea- were lirouglit under tbe•notice
of the Government, and it was understood that they
should; receive from thong the aid which 'was likely to
bring about a better state of things than had' previously
existed. At first - the aid was increased, but
now it had been materially diminished,. and a
feeling of disappointment . had been thrown into
the minds of those who had taken an interest
in this good iverk. He might mention.that in the first
year, 1855, when Government came foaward and gave
them assistance,—they granted 10s. per head; in the
soon(' year, finding that ',the work was going on in a
wily_ that was satisfactory, they increased the grant to
50s. per head ; but, last yeae
.they reduced it to 55., and
that without giving any. substantial_ reason. He brat
Waited upon the•secretary of the- Privy Council on Edu--
cation to eanonstrate with. him on the unfairness, after- •
holding out encouragement, to withdraw tl.e support.
-His reply was- the Industrial School Act, passed in 1854 :f
would meet the dillicalty ; but all parties knew, who knew' -
anything of the clauses of that act, that it would prove
totally inoperative. And what was the res Ult ? At the
Bradford iti•eeting last October a return was read as tothe
number of the industrial. schools certified throughout the
country. The number was eighteen, and in several of •
these schools there were no children at all, and in six of
these only fourteen, showing that the opinion formed by
those able to form an opinion was correct. He thought •
they had good ground to complain of the way in which
the Government had treated them, but, if they waited, lie
dared say, that by a• little pressure from without, they
should get what they wanted. (Hear, hear.) •
Mr. Callao:a seconded, the motion, which was-
adopted..
Mr, EDWARD 'WHITLEY moved a vote of thanks to
Rawdon -and the ladies of the cominittee, and felt
sure that every member of the committee was impressed
with gratitude for the great exertions they had made
to, promote the prosperity of that institution. fle
agreed with Mr. llubback that the promoters
of -the institution had been greatly -discouraged
with the course taken by GovernMent, but
it must be evident to those who bad watched
the continued increase of grants for the promo";
tion of education, that- those grants must reach a maxi-
mum. Last year nearly one-and-a-half •millions we%
expended for the promotion of education; and the ques-
tion, as it appeared 'to him, war, whether the grail'
were to be withdrawn from • those schools, or
frolii schools of a higher class. • With regard to
the national schools, there had been a small dirhi-
nution, the Council having determined to. provide only
four pupil teachers ; but that schoot they had left alinog
wholly unsuppertsd, having reduced the grant. of 60s; '
to ss. He did trust, however, that in this town they bon,
no real on to despair, but that by the continued exertions 01
the ladies, and by the exertions also of the public, those
schools would be maintained in-the efficient. manner in
which they had hitherto been maintained. ( ,i.epplause.)
Mr. ANDREW'S seconded the resolution, to which the
members unanimously agreed. - .•
• A uete of thank, to the Mayor for presiding con'
cladsil the proceedings.