The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-26 00:00:00

ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS.

In this section a paper of great importance was read by
the Rev. G. FITCH, one of the assistant commissioners to
the Schools Inquiry Commission. The author dealt with
the subject of endowments for educational purposes, and
stated that the commission to which he had been
attached had. found that there were no fewer
than 820 endowed schools lying between the
extremes of schools designed to promote elementary edu-
cation, and schools such as Harrow, Eton, and Winchester.
The gross annual value of the charities to which these
schools belonged was £336,201 ; a part of that
sum, however, was appropriated to almshouses or
similar objects. After all deductions were made, the
income amounted to £195,184 for the management of
the schools, besides £14,264 in the form of exhibitions
generally intended for the use of such pupils as should pro-
ceed to the universities. These sums, however, repre-
sented inadequately the resources of the foundation schools;
for, besides them, there was in nearly every ease a freehold
schoolroom, besides grounds, and a dwelling-house, or
houses, for the master, and for the reception of
boarders ; and all this was additional to any fees
which were charged to parents. The amount of
education varied considerably. The richest foundation in
the kingdom was Christ's Hospital, with a net income of
£42,000, while a few schools were endowed with nothing
more than a small tenement, which served as a school-
house. There were nine foundations with incomes
exceeding £2,000, thirteen others with upwards of £l,OOO,
•fifty-nine with less than £l,OOO and more than 2500 ; 272
with less than £5OO but more than '2lOO ; while the re-
mainder were endowed with less than £lOO per annum each.
The paper proceeded to shew that similar inequalities
appeared in the local distribution of the schools, and then
discussed the constitution of bodies of trustees, the free-
• hold tenure of the masterships, and other hindrances to
the proper development of the schools. At present there
were three authorities for rectifying abuses and
.creating new schemes —Parliament, Parliament, the Court of
•Chancery, . and the Charity Commission. nut as
no one of them ever initiated proceedings or dealt with a
school or group of schools on any general plan, they
provided no security for the continued efficiency of the
schools or for their development according to the
future needs of the people. The statesmanship of the
future would probably revise the whole law of inheri-
tance, and ask boldly by what right the pious founders
of those institutions were to go on for generations legis-
lating on a subject on which private, irresponsible, and
local regulations were likely to be especially mischievous,
and on which the supreme intelligence of the nation, as
represented in Parliament, ought first to be heard.
'miss Becker absorbed all the interest, however, to-day.
The visitors, instead of inquiring into the effect of this acid
or swarming to hear a professor illuStrate the uses of that
discovery, instead of betaking themselves to pure science,
crowded to hear Misa Lydia Becker discourse upon the
•
supposed differences between the minds of men and
women. The greatest interest was manifested in the pro-
ceedings. An hour before the lecture • commenced the
room was filled, and if good elocution might be taken as
satisfying, those who attended must certainly have been
pleased, for the paper was well read. The lecturercontended
very vigorously against the supposition that there was
any inferiority in the female mind as compared with that
of the male. No such thing really existed. The apparent
difference was caused by the difference in the education.
Woman was not educated as the man. How could she be
expected to be on a par with him ? But these differences
ought no longer to exist. It was really a shame tha
the woman was not allowed to participate in the educe,
tional advantages which were offered to the man. From
the universities—from their privileges, from their honour*
—the female was virtually excluded. This ought no longer
to b.) so. There was nothing in the mind of woman
which really stamped her as an inferior being. People
thought there was because it was the fashion to say so.
If justice were done, the same educational advantages, the
same honmirs, and the same rewards would he given alike
to men and women. The result would be that the infe
riority would disappear. Such was Miss Becker's argu•
merit. But the sarans in many cases got impatient, and
with little gallantry shouted out their disapproval it
unmistakeable terms. There were not wanting those.
however, who by their applause showed that they
acquiesced in the general tone of the paper. A vigorou<
and interesting discussion followed the lecture, charac
terised by much warmth, and a resolution was passed,
requiring the Association to appoint a committee to tak<
into consideration the best means for promoting the scien
+lfic education of women.
Then came a paper by Mr. Payne on that subject se
fruitful of debate—Education. The particular questior
discussed in this case was—the relations between learning
and teaching. A long and earnest discussion followed.
It should be added that the proceedings in this depart
meat nearly emptied the other sections, and the procee4
ices in these were generally dry and uninteresting. •