GENERAL REPORT on SCHOOLS in the NORTHERN DISTRICT for the Year 1846. By the Rev. FREDERICK WATKINS. MY LORDS, ACCORDING to your instructions, I proceed to lay before you a Report on such schools in the Northern District of England as have been visited in my tour of inspection during the present year (1846). They are situated chiefly in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire. In addition to these are some in the southern parts of Yorkshire, and a few also in the northern border of Cheshire. My tour, also-owing to directions received from your Lordships' secretary-extended for a brief period into Wales. I should here state, that the time devoted to inspection this year has been only eight months: the month of January and the greater part of February were spent in London in preparing the General Report for last year, in visiting several model schools and training colleges in company with all Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools for England and Scotland, and in attending to other business at the Council Office. Parts of September and October were passed in the allowed vacation of one month; and the month of December, in compliance with a communication received from your Lordships' secretary, was devoted to the preparation of this Report. The returns, then, of eight months of the year are these :— I have travelled, on business of school-inspection, 9557 miles. The whole locomotive expense has been 1907. 78. 53d.; giving 4d. as the average expense per mile, during the eight months. The number of places visited has been The six mistakes arose from double entry of schools, or other confusion of names in the list with which I was furnished at the Council Office. They were these: Foxhill Bank, the same as Busk in Oswaldtwistle. Kersley, the same as Farnworth (Bolton). At the 221 places, there were further 346 daily-schools of the following description: At the eight following places in Lancashire there were no daily schools held in the buildings to which grants had been made: Grane in Haslingden. Samlesbury. Walmsley. As at all these places grants of public money were received, on the understanding, if not always with an expressed condition, that daily schools should be held in the buildings thereby erected, it seems important to state the reasons which are given for their short-coming in this respect. At Walmsley there were no funds for the support of a master and the furniture of a daily school. There was also a considerable debt, arising from additional expenses of the building. By a timely grant from your Lordships' Committee, this debt is now paid off, and fitting apparatus has been procured for a daily school. It was to commence operations within a month from the date of my visit (August 11). At Grane and Stonefold, both situate in the chapelry of Haslingden, within the extensive parish of Whalley, the same difficulty has been felt of obtaining the requisite stipend for a master of a daily school. But, though no doubt such difficulty exists, I am led to think, after many inquiries in both places, that at each of them, by the strenuous efforts of those who are interested in education, daily Church-schools might be established and maintained with some assistance from without. At Stonefold especially, there seemed a strong desire, on the part of some mill-owners, to support a daily school. At Samlesbury, a daily school is held in a building at some distance from the church, but more conveniently situated than the Sunday school for the greater part of the population. Stand is in much the same circumstances; the children being taught in schools in the centre of the village, and not in the building erected by aid of the public money. At Hambleton, also, the daily school is held in an old building at some distance from the chapel. At Kirkdale (St. Mary's) a few boys (about 20) are taught by a master, on his own account, in the building towards the erection of which your Lordships' Committee made a grant. But this school is not under the control of the clergyman, nor open to inspection. Making due allowance for considerable local difficulties, I must express my regret that two years and a half have passed away since the erection of the building, and that no daily Church-school is yet held in it. The remaining place (Lately Common), in the Bedford district of the parish of Leigh, has neither a daily nor Sunday school, though few places in Lancashire, considering its position and the character of its inhabitants, require them more urgently. The school-building, originally neat, and well suited for its purpose, is now falling to decay-the fence is much injured-many windows are broken the floor is covered with brickbats and rubbish. It is, however, only just to the incumbent of the district, and the vicar of the parish, to state, that they have made great exertions towards a better state of things; but having other and more important schools to support, and meeting with no help in this particular locality, they have been compelled to regard its case as hopeless without continued and considerable aid from other sources. In conclusion, then-With regard to these eight places, it may be fairly said, that at five of them, if there were sufficient funds, daily schools would be established in localities where they are very much needed. At five other places which I visited in the course of my tour, the school-buildings were yet incomplete; viz. Colne (Waterside), Rochdale (Lower-end), Kippax, Graspenhall, and Farnley (Leeds). To several others I was invited to give advice, or determine about a site for building. Of these were Chatburn, Wakefield (Trinity), and Huncoats. Of the whole number of places visited which have made full returns, 54 have been inspected for a second, and four for a third time. The following table shows the state of each place as to its numbers, at the two visits in the years 1844 and 1846:: From these returns, it appears that at 54 places inspected in these years, there were— as the respective increase under each head in the course of two years. As 50 of these places are in the county of Lancaster, the greater part of the increase may fairly be given to that county; and affords one proof, out of others, that that important part of our countrythe great seat of the cotton trade-is no longer desirous of being pre-eminent in Sunday-schools only, but of taking its right place amongst the northern counties in number and improvement of schools for daily education. I may also state here, that of the 50 schools in Lancashire inspected for the second time, 30 appear to be improved in discipline, and 25 have made some progress in the various subjects of instruction. It may indeed be said that there is no great proof of advancement in education if only threefifths of the Lancashire schools are in a better state of discipline than they were, and one-half only making progress. But in recalling to mind the very many, often unexpected, and frequently considerable hindrances to education which exist, and seem indeed to be yearly increasing in number, in the Northern District, I am rejoiced to observe the modicum of improvement which I have mentioned above. Of the whole number of 346 schools, visited in the course of this year, 303 have made full returns of the children connected with them. They are these: It seems, from a comparison with a similar return made last year from the Northern District, that the proportion between the number of children in average attendance and the whole number on the books is less this year than last, whilst the proportion between the numbers present at inspection and the number in average attendance is greater. This gives, as far as it goes, some slight evidence that the attendance of children at their schools during this year has not been so large, but on the whole more regular-a result that might be expected in the manufacturing districts (espe cially where there are many short-time children) in times of great depression and stagnation of trade, when the parents in general are less able and willing to pay the school-fee, but have at the same time less occasion to call away their children from the business |