tion of 142,000 in 1831, there were entirely omitted in those returns 1 infant school, 10 Sunday schools, and 176 day schools, which existed at the period when those returns were made, and contained 10,611 scholars. False returns were made by one individual of three Sunday schools that never existed at all, and which were stated to contain 1590 scholars; and double returns were made of three other schools, containing 375 scholars; so that the total error in those returns for the township of Manchester alone was 181 schools and 8646 scholars. Besides this, eight dame schools were reported as infant schools. The tables annexed to the report of the committee gave a classification of the schools in the borough, showing the relative number of scholars of each sex, and the date of their establishment; the mode in which supported; the terms of payment in the dame schools, common day schools, evening and infant schools; the course and mode of instruction pursued; the country and religious profession of the masters or mistresses; the number of years they had been engaged in teaching, and the number who had been educated for the employments, &c. Upon the superior private and boarding schools no minute report was given. One of the Mechanics' Institutions was stated to be in a very prosperous condition. The education given in the common day schools, containing nearly 7000 children, was represented to be generally very poor, few of the teachers being at all qualified for their task; and the committee consider that no effectual means can be taken to render these schools efficient until proper seminaries are established for the instruction of the teachers themselves. The report states that of 4722 children attending the dame schools, the vast majority receive no instruction at all deserving of the name, and derive little benefit from their attendance at school but that of being kept out of harm during a few hours of the day. The establishment of infant schools on a large scale is recommended with a view gradually to supplant the dame schools. The Sunday schools which had above 33,000 scholars on their books, with an average attendance of nearly 25,000, are classed in various ways in the tables. They are reported by the committee to form a most important feature among the means existing for the education of the lower classes of the people, and their influence is represented as highly beneficial. Mr. Greg and Mr. Langton also presented to the Section an unpublished Table showing a general summary of schools in Bury, Lancashire; drawn up from an investigation just completed in that borough by the Education Committee of the Manchester Statistical Society. List of Inquiries adopted by the Statistical Society of Manchester concerning the Means existing for the Religious Instruction of the Working Classes in Manchester. 1. How many sittings are there of all descriptions in your church or chapel, distinguishing those which are free from those which are not free? 2. How many services have you on each Sunday, and what is the average attendance at each, in the free sittings and in the appropriated sittings? 3. Of the sittings which are not free, how many are at the rate of 51. per annum each and under, and how many of them are let? 4. What accommodation have you for your Sunday scholars in your church or chapel? What is their number and average attendance at each service? 5. Is any district of the town assigned to or adopted by you as the sphere of your personal labours among the poor, and what is that district? 6. Have you connected with your church or chapel any society for the purpose of assisting your labours among the poor? and if so, what is the nature and extent of that society? The Rev. E. STANLEY presented the results of a Statistical Inquiry into the education and religious state of the parish of Alderley in Cheshire, which had been drawn up for the Statistical Society of Manchester in 1835. On the Glasgow Bridewell or House of Correction. By Dr. CLELAND. The following subjects are discussed: The construction of the building; the number of prisoners on the 23rd July 1835; their religious persuasion, age, and sex; abstracts of accounts; details of salaries and wages, and diet; proportions of re-committals (males, females, and terms of first sentence distinguished). The following is a General Abstract for ten years. The employments of the prisoners are specified; the medical attendance exemplified; and the author adds his decided testimony to the advantages resulting from the introduction of solitary confine ment. On the Causes which affect the Proportions between the Numbers of Accusations and Convictions in the Metropolitan District, and on the Effects which well-managed Houses of Correction have in repressing Crime. By E. HALSWell. On the Punishment of Death in Prussia, Norway, and Brunswick. By Mr. Fox. Extract of a letter received by the Committee of the Capital Punishment Society, dated Berlin, March 10, 1835. * In the last three years 22 were sentenced to death for murder, of whom only 4 were executed, [the remainder being imprisoned at hard labour.] |