No. X. INDUSTRY SCHOOL AT LEWISHAM. In April, 1796, a meeting of the inhabitants of Lewisham was called, for the purpose of setting up a school of industry,* for the children of that parish. The subscribers came to a resolution to prepare accommodations for the reception of sixty children, and the house was opened on the 30th of May, 1796. The children are admitted on the recommendation of subscribers, and by order of the Committee. In summer the school is open from six o'clock in the morning to six at night, and in winter during the hours of daylight; but the children have usually finished their task by two o'clock; they then go away, unless, which is the case with some of them, they prefer to work additional hours on their own account. They receive two meals a day, a breakfast and a dinner; one hour being allowed at dinner, and half an hour at breakfast. They are employed in spinning, winding, and knitting; *Reports, No. XXIX. and one boy in weaving. The present weaver is an active boy, not ten years of age: his prede cessor had been employed but a very little time, before he had an offer of a permanent engagement at a cotton mill. In rotation they all receive lessons in reading. The children's weekly maintenance is estimated at 1s. 6d. per head; and where they earn more in any week (as some do 6d. a week, and some Is.) they are paid, and carry home the overplus. One little boy (who came from the workhouse with but a bad character, but who now possesses a very good one), earns not less than an extra shilling a week; he has during the last month, put into the master's hands, in trust for him the sum of 5s. In the case of the parish children, who are entirely maintained at the parish expence, there is, as yet, no certain allowance; but they are rewarded according to their industry and good behaviour. It is however in contemplation to make them a certain allowance; probably a sixth of their earnings. Spinning wheels are lent, and materials are furnished at home, for any of the adult inhabitants of the parish, who wish employment; and they are paid for their work upon delivery. A suit of clothes, made of the cloth and camblet of their own manufacture, is yearly given to each of the children, who attend the school, as a reward for their good behaviour, and to enable them to appear decently and regularly at church on Sundays. In the infancy of a manufacture, there is necessarily a loss from the waste of raw materials. In the present instance it must be admitted, that very little profit accrued from the labour of the children, during the first six months: but, for the next half year, the profit was gradually increasing: and it advanced so much, that at the end of the year, on the 30th of May, 1797, the net profit of the manufactory had amounted to 551.—That profit may be fairly stated at 1007. a year in future. The school of industry now supplies the parish workhouse with most of their articles of cloth ing: besides which, a stock of knitted stockings, and of camblets and worsted, is kept in the warehouse, to be sold by wholesale and retail. The demand for them has been gradually increasing; and the inhabitants have found their advantage in the purchase of them. The weekly expense of the family, upon an average, is 3d. a head per day; including the twenty parish children,* and the master and mistress and their two children, who have their three meals a day, and lodge in the house For each of the parish children, the establishment is allowed the sum of 3s. a week; which is near 50l. a year less than the expense of merely feeding them in the workhouse during the preceding year. the The following is a pretty correct estimate of expenses and receipts of the establishment. PAYMENTS. Maintenance of the family, clothing, &c. Wages of master and mistress, 10s. per week. He is extremely well acquainted with every process in the woollen manufacture School mistress; who teaches the children to read Rent of the house, and the wooden building behind. It was a blacksmith's shop, but is now the school and work room l. s. 250 0 26 0 30 13 10 292 10 * This number occasionally varies; there have been twenty three in the school at a time: but the number will probably be much less. Insurance Mr. Hall, the manager, who does not live in the house, but attends occa. sionally. He purchases the provisions, and materials for the work, and provides a sale for the articles of manufacture 30 0 Allowance for twenty parish children, at 3s. a week each, Profits of manufactory per annum; Deficiency in the infancy of the es tablishment to be made good by subscription 60 0 There are 48 persons, including the master and mistress, and their two children, who |