The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-11 00:00:00

MOTION FOR A REPORT

Mr. BOLTON moved that the report of the matron of the
North School, which was in the possession of the chairman
of the Education Committee in December last, be now read.
Mr. MoLvNEux said he had no objection to produce the
report in question, and after some discussion it was read as
follows :

" Sin,—We have no apprentices at present in our school,
but we have mouitresses who assist in teaching, and who are
themselves taught the same as apprentices.
The religious instruction is conducted as follows
The protestant girls are divided into three bible classes
—one class reading the New Testament, one class of younger
ones who can only read the easy part of the Psalms, and one
class who cannot read and they are read to, by one of the
monitresses, from some of our scripture pieces whith we
have hanging against the wall of our school-room. Some-
times, as a reward for good behaviour, they are taught
hymns.

4` On Tuesdays and Thursdays the church children and
the dissenters are in serarate rooms, because the former are
taught the Church Catechism, and the latter, Dr. Watt's
Catech, The Roman catholics are engaged at this time
as the report will show.

" At a (lulu:ter past four o'clock the bell is rung, and the
children in at the rooms prepare for prayer. I read the ac-
companying prayer to all the protestants (teachers, moni-
tresses, and children,) assembled in one of our class-rooms,
reading a sentence at a time, and the children repeating after
me; concluding with the Lord's Prayer and the Grace.

PRAYER

‘" 0 most merciful God and Father, we humbly beseech
Thee to receive these our prayers and thanksgivings, which
we offer unto Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
" Be pleased to direct our actions by Thy Holy Spirit,
and by Thy gracious assistance prosper them, that in all our
works, begun, continued, and ended in Thee, we may glorify
Thy holy name. May Thy blessing rest upon us, and upon
these schools, and grant that we, and all who receive the be-
nefits of educatio❑ here, may be brought up in Thy ways;
never tailing to ascribe, as it is most justly due, all praise,
honour, and glory to Thy most holy name, throu,6,ll Jesus
Christ our Lord and Saviour, in whose words we sum up
our imperfect petitions, saying—Our Father,' &c., &c.
" The Roman Catholics are at the same time engaged in
prayer in the other room. Their prayers, I believe, consist
only of the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, or Bertef, and some
little prayer in the form of a blessing, in conclusion. The
children then assemble in the large room to sing a hymn all
together. They are then dismissed, singing, as they move
on, " God save the Queen," &c. They also sing a hymn as
soon as they assemble in the morning, previous to the " Ex-
tracts" being read to them, and they sing another hymn at
noon, before they leave to go to their dinners.
"If the Education Committee thought proper, we might
have the protestants separated from the catholics at nine
o'clu44k t& ttnayers in the morning, the same as they are in
the OFeeritt.
" %kifool-books are the first, second, third, fourth,
and fitiith mading-books ; one copy of each will accompany
this repent. A list also of our library books I will place on
the tallib for your inspection.
" I believe this is all that you have requested me to report.
Should I have omitted anything I hope to be pardoned, and
upo❑ being applied to for any more reformation respecting
the school 1 shall be most happy to supply my present defi-
ciencies. Our ladies' committee not having met lately, lam
deprived of their kind commands and assistance to guide rue
in making this report. lam therefore compelled to make it
upon my oven responsibility without their cognizance.
" I trust I shall be forgiven for makinghere a few remarks
upon the state of the school. From the observations I have
been enabled to make, I am surprised at the fund of scriptu-
ral knowledge our poor girls have, considering they are left
almost entirely to the care of female teachers.
" Not one protestant clergyman has examined the girls
since I have been matron here, and the Roman catholic priest
only comes once a week, and not that sometimes, and he only
stays from five to ten minutes. Little instruction can be
given or received in that short time. _ .

" Another reinarkT wish to make with respect to my girls
alone is, that the most amicable and kindly feelings seem to
subsist amongst them—not one dispute relative to religion
ever having arisen since I have been here. I believe it my
duty to report the school such as I find it, trusting I shall be
exonerated from blame by the committee as well as by your-
self, for thus thrusting my opinions before you unasked for.
I am myself (as my testimonials can fully prove) a Church
of England Protestant, and as such would wish every child
in the school, and their parents, too, were so also; but as
such a state of affairs is not probable, I am anxious to do the
best I can for every one of these dear children, over whose
welfare and education it has pleased the Almighty to place
me to watch and guard.
" Hoping to be pardoned for my present intrusion, *I re-
main, Sir, most respectfully, yours very obediently,

"JANE WELCH,
" Matron to the North Corporation School.
" E. Moljineux, Esq., Chairman to the Education
Committtee, North Corporation School.
" Tuesday Evening, Dec. 14, 1841."
A lengthened discussion ensued, in which the Chairman of
the Education Committee was pressed by Mr. Bolton, Mr.
Evans, Mr. Earle, and Mr. Aikin, to state why he had not
produced the report before. Mr. Molyneux said he believed
it to be a private document addressed to himself.

PURCEIASE OF LAND.
Mr. BOLTON, in the absence of the chairman and deputy
chairman of the Finance Committee, who were in London
opposing the Birkenhead improvement bill, moved that the
ncgociation for the purchase from the Earl of Derby, of
1,000 lineal yards of strand, extending norilykordly from
Beacon's gutter, at a sum not exceeding 437,900, be con-
firmed.
Mr. ASPINALL seconded the motion, and it was unani-
mously carried: