The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-17 00:00:00

THE SECTIONS.

We now continue our reports of the proceedings
of the sections :
DEPARTMENT I.—JURISPRUDENCE AND
AMENDMENT OF TUE Law.
THE BANKRUPTOY LAW.

.. -
A variety of papers was read on this subject,
amongst which were two contributed by the Liver-
pool and Leeds Chambers of Commerce, the former
of which discussed the questionorbankruptcy admi-
nistration in various detail,,, and the latter advce
cated uniformity f practice as respects b tnkrupts
and insolvents, whether living or cbiad, and recom-
mend d the abolition of official assignees, and the
employment of ind -pendent accountants, under the
control of the trade assignees. After some discus-
sion Mr. Hastings, the secretary of the association,
delivered an address, in which he contended that
there was no course but assimilating the practice in
England to that of Scotland. In the latter country
the estates are administered at an average expense
of 8 per cent., while in England the c Jet is from 30
to 50 per cent. This satisfactory result is attained
in the Scotch court by the jurisdiction being vested
in the sheriffs of counties, who answer to our county
court judges, and by the estates being placed iu the
hands of trustees nominated by the creditors in
each case. He thought there would never have
been a special bankruptcy court in this country had
county courts existed at the time of its institution,
and maintained that the latter were the only tribu-
pals in which the business could be cheaply and
satisfactorily performed.
At the conclusion of the discussion which fol-
lowed,
Lord J. RUSSELL precrieled to review the argu-
ments used by the speaker- and the opinions ad-
vanced in the papers.- He thought it clear, from
the unanimity of statements to that effect, that
change was required. But he questioned whether
gentlemen of the mercantile community had yet
nrtde up their minds on several important matters
which lay at the root of the subject. He suggested
that a committee should be formed to examine the
papers and present a report to the section.
It was ultimately resolved,
on the motion of
Mr. A. RYLAND, that the deputies of the various
chambers of commerce should be a committee fur this
purpose ; that they should endeavour to agree on
all the main points which had been the subject of
consideration, and should report their opinion to
the section before the close of the conference.

DEPARTMENT 11.-._
--.-_
pupils in the grammar school is
KING EDWARD'S SCHOOL, BIRMINGHAM.
The Rev. E. H. GIFFORD EDUCATION.
(Head-master) read af
paper on this subject. The present number o
commercial, 215 ; and • the '
la elementary schools—
boys, 500 ; girls, 510 ; making, of 1 465.
a total f
The choice between the two D
in each department be.inpg_liin. limited classical and the English, ents viz., the
departm I .
—classical 250 ;
is not at all restrained,
but ieU, entirely to the
accommodation in the b ed by the amount of
the f
going statement it appears '
that the professional
twacirent:
gts .
at
nh the wholefrom
ore .
and commercial classes prefer the classical departs
ment, of which their ssns cons.itute nearly one-
third, or 77 in 250. The sons of manufacturers—
a class which in Birmingham includes persons of
very different degrees of education and influence—
between thetwo are about equally divided d part -
ments, and this class, together with the sons of
trade.men and clerks, [Lake up nearly one-half of
the classical school, and
about six-sevenths of the
English school. Bays whose parents are not (*-
gaged in any profession or business, among whom
many widows are included, amount to just one-
sixth of the classical and one-twelfth of the English
sotto. I By comparing in detail the average num-
bers in the upper and lower parts of the classical
that those who keep their sons longest at school are
as might have been expected,
B::::siciitnaisl fmotiellnda,nd parents not
engaged in busi-
ness. Though there are not less than 12 different
religious denominations in the school n) difficulty
or dissatisfan ion appearstoarise. Ail are instructed
together in the Scriptures ;with the sole exception
that the Jews are not expected to learn the Now Tes-
tament. The Church Catechism is not enforced when
an objection is raised by the parents, who well
know that no desire is evinced to make proselytes
of their children, and that their own reasonable
wishes will be treated with due regard, and I do
not know that during the 10 years I have held the
position of head mister that any unreasonable re-
quest has been made to me upon the subject. I
believe that when the preliminary difficulty of die-
cusssing the rues for the rel gious instruction of a
school can be avoided or surmounted, a very small
share of candour and common sense will suffice to
remove all difficulties in practice. During the 10
years, ending at the conclusion of 1857, there will
have been admitted to the classical school 600 boys,
or 60 annually, and to the English school 720, or
72 annually ; since the reconstitution of the school
in 11834, under the new Act of Parliament, not
fewer than 2,500 boys have passed through the two
depariments of the grammar schools. The average
stay of boys in the classical school is fo.ur yews,
and in the English school just three years. The
average age of leaving the classical school, 15i
years ; English, 14 years. Of the 600 boys§who
I have left the classical sc:.00l since the beginning
of
universities.lBexhibitions from the
commencement of the present century •
8, 65 or ab:
Theait ll
list per
ofcent.
have gone direct
to 4
contains 106
names. During the last 23 years from 1835 to 1857
the school has sent up to
Oxford 49 students.
Cambridge
Dublin 1
/I
Durham
1 ~

Total 129
Of the 49 sent to Oxford, 12 are still undergra-
duatesgraduatessi u
e lB 3250, havec taken
in the first class, and 4
have taken inaliematical honours. There have
been gained at Oxford,
classicai hoof ntobtei r go, t2ll ebr e
i3n7g
scholarships and 6 fellowships. The Hertford
Latin scholarship, the Ireland ana Craven clas-
sical scholarships, and the Boden Larent scholar-
ship, all open to the whole university, were
gained by one and the same person who forms a
sort of link between the old and new generations
of the school. Of the 78 who went to Cambridge
since 1835, 18 are still under-graduates, 29 have
gone out in classical honours, 19 being placed in
the first class, of whom 5 were senior classics.
' There have been gained at Cambridge by pupils of