The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-04 00:00:00

OPEZvIY& OF AN INDUSTRIAL

SCHOOL _IN _HOLBORN.

The West Central Day Industrial School was
opened on Wednesday last, at Tichbourne-court,
Holborn. The Rev. Emilius Bayley, rector of St.
George, Bloomsbury, presided. We also noticed
the Rev. R. H. Killick, rector of St. Clement's
Dane; the Rev. C. M, Robins, Mr. G. Godwin)
F.R.S., Mr. William Gaussen, Mr. J. Fowler, Mr.
B. A. Heywood, Mr. E. Gedge, Mr. T. Brooker,
Mr. W. H. Deverell, Mr. D. Nutt, &c. The rev.
chairman opened the proceedings with a prayer
for the divine blessing upon the undertaking, and
then called upon the Rev. S. H. Parkes, one of
the honorary secretaries, to give a short sum-
mary of the object and plan of the institution.
The reverend gentleman spoke as follows:
" The object we propose to attain is to afford
industrial training, food, and instruction, both
religious and moral, to the destitute, though
not homeless lads, that throng about the
west central postal district of London. We pro-
pose to receive them between the ages of 10 and 15,
and to give them work and wages, which will
supply them with money for clothes, and to train
them to some industrial occupation. They will re-
ceive two meals a day, a substantial breakfast and
dinner. The boys will all be recommended by the
superintendent or secretary of the ragged schools in
the district, and they will further be compelled to
attend the night and Sunday schools, from which
they are recommended, and thus the connection
already existing between the boys of the ragged
schools will not only be unbroken but
more strongly cemented. Thus you see that
our object is not reformative, but remedial—not
curative, but preventive. It may be asked, is
it wise to leave children among those who are
unfitted by education to become their guardians ?
God's appointment is that the tares and wheat shall
grow together, and man's duty is to teach the young
to know what is good and what is evil, and to train
to choose the good and refuse the evil. This can
never be accomplished so perfectly in a reforma-
tory or a refuge, where they have no contact with
the world of temptations without, as in an indus-
trial school, where they are taught lessons during
the day, and sent home at night to put them into
practice. Such, then, are the principles upon which
we propose to conduct the school. But now there are
two important questions which it behoves us to
answer. ls&—Are these schools needed ? That
they are needed is clear from the fact that our
streets are thronged by numbers of unemployed
lads, who are leading a life of vagrancy, if not of
positive criminality. Lord Shaftesbury has stated
that there are in Loudon 30,000 of the destitute
class continually upon the streets, of whom a large
proportion are boys ; and their need is also shown
from the report of Sidney Turner. (Here were
read extracts from the reformatory reports of
1858-9.) But are they needed specially for this
quarter of London ? Now, it is well-known that
St. Giles's and the courts adjacent to the Strand—
in fact the whole of the densely populated part of
town from Oxford-street to the Strand—is continu-
ally sending into the streets those boys whose wants
we purpose to meet ; and the need of these schools
is placed beyond a doubt by the fact that the com-
mittee and the managers of all the schools in the
district have expressed to us their sympathy in
our work, and their desire that they may be
made partakers of its usefulness. In answer
to the second question, viz.—Will they clash
with any other schools ?—we most unhesitatingly
say that they will not. We have seen from the
testimony of Sidney Turner that they will not in-
terfere in any way with the reformatory. The re-
fuges are solely for those who are homeless, or
whose homes are in such a state as to render their
removal an absolute necessity. They will rather
support than injure the ragged school by giving
employment to the elder lads of those schools,
where their religious instruction may be continued,
and where they may be taught industrial train-
ing." In conclusion, he said—" The scheme is
not an untried one. It certainly is new so far
as London is concerned ; but at Aberdeen, Bir-
mingham, and other places, it has been tried
with eminent success. Only one school of exactly
this character has been started in London, and that
has proved a success. With this brief, business-
like statement, we commend our institution to your
care and your prayers." Mr. 3. R. Fowler,
honorary secretary of the Westminster Industrial
School, then rose, and stated that he thought that
the committee of this school had avoided those
things which had proved stumbling-blocks aid.
hindrances in the way of the Westminster School;
and that the probability of their success was
thereby much increased. A conversational discus-
sion then ensued, in which Mr. Gaussen,
Robins, Mr. Killick, Mr. Heywood, and Al'
Bayley took part; after which the rector of St.
Clement's Dane closed the meeting with prayer.