The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-07 00:00:00

School Ship Society.

The sixth annual meeting of this society was held
yesterday, at No. 24, New-street, Spring-gardens ;
Sir John Pakington, M.P., in the chair. Mr. Stephen
Cave, M.P., the honorary secretary, read the report
of the committee, which stated that the progress of
the institution continues sound and satisfactory.
The number of boys on board the reformatoryschool
ship Cornwall, now lying in the Thames, off Fur-
fleet, Dec. 31, 1864, was 140 ; in 1865 the admis-
sions were 77 ; the re-admissions from license, 2 ;
from absconding, 1 ; making a total of 80 ; there
had been 64 discharged ; leaving 156 boys in the
ship on Dec. 31, 1865. The steady increase of ad-
missions, which rose from 25 in 1863, to 50 in 1864,
and 77 in 1865, showed that the value of the insti-
tution was becoming more and more appreciated,
and the conduct of the boys after leaving the ship
bore equal testimony to the efficiency of the system
carried out on board. The behaviour of the boys had
been during the year satisfactory, and their general
health good ; but there had been one death from con-
sumption, of a lad who was in bad health when he came
on board. The balance-sheet was more unfavourable
than that of last year. The boys were still very far
short of the full complement. This
ihai,della,dthdedeupmpaer-
terially to the expense ; but the most serious cause
for anxiety was the state of the ship itself,
deck of which was in a very rotton condition when
made over to the society. The rigging now requires
refitting, and portions of it have to be replaced ; the
upper deck must be caulked and repaired ; the cook-
ing apparatus was completely worn out ; the hull
required caulking outside, and a considerable outlay
would be necessary in future for general repairs, in
order to keep the ship sound and dry. Forty-six
boys had visited the Cornwall during the year, hav-
ing either returned in their ships from foreign voy-
ages, or being otherwise in employment ; many had
written, and of many others satisfactory reports had
been received. The character maintained by the
s
boys had been such that the difficulty
had
which wa
once experienced in finding them
employmentumber of boys
entirely passed away. The
total
ad
samemitted datethe2
e2n7 glad of
llasteft
theye t
pnrswh
ias.
4 47,
The and up to
the receipts
ovfiotuhse
accountyear,
d amounted a balance
to
lo3f :€64428018° sn. t9hde. , pre-
vious of £l6B 9s. 4d. in
the expenditure showed.
at whose 96
sassleBt assets aatgathieestsalmiae-
-sd. The Chairman, in moving
period
dr
woferetheestsionieletetyd,
hilities for £462 4s.
tp
the adoption of the report, remarked that its de-
scription of the ship somewhat reminded him of the
Irishman's knife, for when the repairs were effected
there would be very little of the original vessel left.
The presentation took place when he was at the
Admiralty, and as it had certainly been far from his
intention to present the society with a rotten ship,
the present state of things, he thought, ought not to
be allowed to continue. He regretted to find that
the society received no support from the Middlesex
magistrates, nor did he like the idea of a
society like this becoming a begging society,
but ptill he could not help being struck by the