Comments on foregoing statistics. By any one fond of social statistics, various curious results may be deduced from the foregoing table, such as the propertion of occupations in different localities; the actual condition of the labouring classes in Wales, as compared with those in other parts of Great Britain; the value of allegations as to the extreme poverty of Wales, its neglected condition, &c.; but I ain not concerned with the information which it may furnish, further than to point out to your Lordships how far the rates of wages are proportional to the payments actually made to schools. Taking the class of agricultural labourers, it will be perceived that the lowest rate of wages quoted is in the parish of Mydrim near Caermarthen, where the remuneration of an able-bodied man ranges from 48. to 68. per week; yet in this parish such a man pays 24d. per week for his son or daughter in the parochial school; and indeed the case occurs there, at the present time, of a pauper, actually receiving parish relief, being able to spare 2d. weekly for the schooling of a child. On the other hand, at Brecon, where wages are from 9s. to 128. a week; at Ruabon, where they are from 10s. to 128.; at Conway, where they range at 12s.; and still more at Abergavenny, where a labourer may gain from 128. to 15s. a week; I am assured by the managers of the schools that one penny per week is as much as they find it practicable to get paid. A labourer at Tenby, who gets 98. a week, and therefore is in affluence compared with one in the inland parts of Pembrokeshire, where the truck-system prevails to a frightful extent among the farmers, and not more than three or four silver coins weekly ever find their way into the pocket of the working man,-at Tenby such a man pays from 1d. to 4d. per week without grumbling; but at Holyhead a man receiving 118. per week, being about six coins more than a labourer actually touches in the internal parts of Anglesey, has hitherto been supposed able to afford only one penny for the weekly education of his child in the national school. Again, carpenters and masons, who appear to get tolerably good wages all over Wales, do not pay a farthing more for their children than is paid by the labourers who earn from 68. to 98. per week less than themselves. The engineer at Cardiff, who is in the receipt of 30s. a week, pays just the same for his child's schooling as the tailor at Fishguard, who earns only 12% Taking wages of all classes in any one place, such as Mold, we find them ranging from 10s. to 21s. per week, and for the schools in this place a penny per week is set down as the proper payment. Under similar, but not quite such advantageous, circumstances, at Llanidloes, where wages range from 10s. to 178. 6d., it is found that from 1d. to 5d. per week can he obtained from parents; and even at Llanfyllin, where wages certainly do not exceed the rates at Llanidloes, a similar result is found highly practicable. If we look at some decidedly prosperous places and schools, such as Swansea, Eglwysfach, Caernarvon, and Caermarthen, we shall find wages running from 12s. to 24s., from 9s. to 15s., from 128. to 21s., and from 98. to 358., respectively; and the rates of school payments at 2d. to 4, 1d. to 4d., 1d. to 6d, and id. to 4d., accordingly. payments tioned to wages. In the presence of results such as these it is not too much schoolto say that the whole question of wages and payments should be requires being thoroughly investigated and place on a new or basis; for, if a school committee can get from Id. to 63. per parents' week for a child at Rhuddlan, at one end of the Vale of Clwyd, there is no reason why only 1d. should be paid for a child at Ruthin, just at the other end of the same vale; the latter being a prosperous country town, the former a poor decayed place of very few resources. As far as my own experience goes, I observe that a school has always the best chance of succeeding where a due proportion exists between the means of the parents and the rates of payments made for their children. The school is more thought of, if well paid for, than if gratuitous; people do not like to have the name of "charity school," nor even the reality of it, thrown in their teeth; and, fair as gratuitous education may seem in theory, it is a fact in social and political statistics that gratuitous advantages are seldom valued, and most frequently abused. Under a purely gratuitous system, no control is held over the parents or children for counteracting their natural tendencies to idleness and unpunctuality; whereas a moderate payment, made if possible beforehand, (as even at Usk in Monmouthshire,) is found to keep a full school of attentive scholars, without much compulsion on the part of the master. Several schools too, that had at one time gone on the gratuitous or else the low-paying system, have found their numbers increased, and their practical efficiency much improved, by resorting to a higher scale of payments. For proofs of this I venture to appeal to the managers of the schools at Tenby, Rhuddlan, Welshpool, Swansea, and other places. In order to give a more correct idea of how schools may be managed, and may prosper, or the contrary (in a pecuniary point of view), upon the high-paying or low-paying systems, I subjoin a table comprising returns from six schools, taken almost at hazard out of a large mass of similar returns, which through the kindness of managers I have been able to collect. INCOME of certain Schools in Wales, compared with rates of wages and Swansea At the head of the list in the foregoing table I have placed the Swansea schools, not only because they are the most prosperous in money matters, but also because one of them, the boys' school, is an exceedingly good one, and may well be taken as an object for imitation by all others. The buildings, too, are by far the best in all Wales. To give some idea of how these schools are worked, and of what elements they are composed, I add two more returns; one, a general pecuniary statement furnished by the committee of managers; the other, an account of the social and religious statistics of the boys' school (the returns for the girls' and infants' schools are very similar). From the former document, it will be deduced that these schools are not only self supporting, but are approaching the condition of self endowing schools, a most important step in advance made in the school question; whilst from the latter it will appear how harmoniously parents of all religious denominations may combine for a good purpose, when judiciously, firmly, and impartially treated. AN ACCOUNT of the Income and Expenditure of the Swansea National School, Examined and passed by order of the Committee, 22 January 1852. National (continued). Upon examination of the foregoing account it appears that, Swansea in consequence of former good management, the school com- School mittee commenced their annual proceedings with the sum of 671. 5d. in hand, and that they had previously been enabled to accumulate a fund yielding 32l. 18. 11d. They received a liberal amount of subscriptions, including 10l. which they had solicited from "Betton's Charity," and this was further increased by handsome contributions after sermons preached in the parish for the support of the schools. The children's pence paid the salaries of all the teachers, and left a surplus of 30. 108. The committee also turned to account a portion of their building, which had been originally intended for a school library, by opening an upper school in it, wherein boys of a superior class were instructed in English, Latin, mathematics, &c., for 5l. and 67. a year; and from this subsidiary institution, which defrays all its own expenses, they derived in the shape of rent a further aid of 20l. towards the national school. The expenditure of the committee was on a corresponding scale of liberality during the same period, for the schoolmaster received 60l., and each of the mistresses 40l., with suitable residences furnished; not less than 477. 178. were spent on repairs, and 35l. 3s. 1d. on other matters, including the cleaning of the schools,-for cleanliness is considered of importance at Swansea, and all the school-rooms are washed out with soap and water every week. Very little difficulty was experienced in collecting the children's pence; and the committee concluded their financial year with a balance to their profit of 1141. 48. 5d., whereof they very prudently transferred 100l. to a fund for repairing and maintaining the buildings. The average number of children in attendance, in the three departments of the school jointly, was about 340, and your Lordships had allowed 10 pupil-teachers to be apprenticed to the master and two mistresses, all of whom hold certificates of merit.* * See official correspondence appended to this Report (APPENDIX A.) |