The expenditure for the last year has amounted to £83. 198., and the receipts to £85. 38. 1 d., leaving a balance of £1. 4s. 1d.

The Meeting, which was well attended, was addressed by Rev. Owen Clarke, W. D. Owen, Esq., Mr. W. Ferry, Rev. W. Nolan, M.A., C. Lovel, Esq., and Mr. Matthews.

OPENING OF THE NEW WHITEHAVEN
RAGGED SCHOOL.

On Monday, the 29th of March, the opening of the new Ragged School was celebrated by a public tea party, which was attended by all the most influential persons of the town and neighbourhood, who thus evinced their sympathy in, and their willingness to aid, this hitherto neglected part of that population.

Suitable addresses were delivered by the Rev. J. Bardsley, of Manchester, the Rev. T. Dalton, the Rev. F. Wicks, the Rev. J. F. Simpson, and Mr. Nicholson.

Mr. Nicholson, to whose untiring efforts and zeal in this noble cause the school owes its origin, and the present building its erection, said that it was a source of pleasure to him that the good effect of Ragged Schools had been so universally acknowledged, and especially in that town. Since the formation of the school in 1843, it had gradually progressed, until the number now on the books amounted to 400. Much inconvenience had been felt from want of room, but that being now obviated, he anticipated a large increase to their number.

The cost of the new building is £428; purchase of the old building, £200; in all £628. The amount collected is £530, which leaves a debt of £98.

The Committee contemplate opening a Day School in addition to their Evening School; and they trust that those who have so liberally contributed to erect such a commodious building, and in such a desirable situation, will not do their work by halves, but will enable them not only to pay their debt, but to continue and extend their operations.

CARR STREET, STEPNEY.

THE first Annual Meeting of the friends and subscribers of this School was held in the schoolroom of the Institution, on Monday evening, 5th April. William Newton, Esq., in the Chair. The Chairman, in opening the business of the evening, said, That he had known something of the neighbourhood, both from observation and report, long before the school was established, and was prepared to say that the blessing such a school was calculated to be to the locality entitled it to the strongest support. It is the want of a proper kind of education that fills our jails; and he felt assured that the Christian public, in conferring such benefits upon the needy classes, were, in the same proportion, securing a benefit for themselves.

The Report contained a very interesting and graphic sketch of the operations of the school

pointing out difficulties, neither few nor small, with which the teachers had had to contend, and which are the common lot of Ragged School efforts; and also detailing the gradual success that had attended their efforts to overcome them. The school, which is in a most prosperous state, is open on Sundays, the average attendance being, in the morning, 70; afternoon, 120; and evening, 175. Four evenings in the week-two for boys, and two for girls, conducted by a paid master and mistress. There is also an Infant Day School, the attendance being about 98. The receipts for the year have amounted to £56, the expenditure £65, leaving a balance of £9 due to the Treasurer.

The Meeting was subsequently addressed by Mr. Day, Mr. J. G. Gent, Rev. J. Kennedy, M.A., Mr. W. Ferry, Rev. W. Allen, Rev. S. G. Poole and Rev. Mr. Temple.

FOSTER STREET RAGGED SCHOOL, LONG ALLEY, BISHOPSGATE STREET. THE Annual Meeting of the above Schools was held in the Large Room, London Tavern, Tuesday evening, April 6th. The attendance was numerous. The Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor in the Chair. About 120 of the children were present, of whom not more than five had ever been to any other school, and their conduct was orderly and becoming.

The Report stated that there is an Infant Day School, the average attendance of which is about 88. An Evening School, the attendance-boys being 47, and girls, 35. The receipts for the year have amounted to £94. 58.; the expenses £201 : being an excess of income £106. 158., which, added to the deficiency of £74 the preceding year, leaves a debt of £180. 158.

The Meeting was addressed by Revs. Dr. Archer, J. Branch, J. Charlesworth, J. E. Gladstone, Edward Corderoy, Esq., and Joseph Payne, Esq.

EDWARD'S MEWS RAGGED SCHOOL. THE Fourth Annual Meeting of the above School was held on Friday afternoon, 16th April, at the Marylebone Literary and Scientific Institution, Edward Street, Portman Square. J. Sheppard, Esq., in the Chair.

The meeting was numerously attended, and addresses were delivered by the Rev. R. Herschell, Rev. J. Branch, Rev. J. W. Reeve, Rev. J. E. White, S. Bibby, Esq., and Mr. Haselden.

The Report, which was exceedingly interesting, detailed a series of efforts made by the Romish ecclesiastics, and even Dr. Wiseman himself in person, to prevent children attending these schools. But the triumph that truth has made over bigotry and error have been truly gratifying.

We regret that we have not space now for a lengthened detail of particulars, but hope, in a future number, to refer to the important operations carried on in this school, situated as it is in a hotbed of Popery.

THE Chair was taken precisely at six o'clock, and for some time before that hour every part of the large hall was crowded, and considerable numbers were unable to obtain admission. This is much to be regretted, as many of our friends came long distances from the country. But although the large room was so completely filled, great order was maintained, and the attention was unbroken. It was delightful to hear some five thousand voices harmoniously presenting ascription of praise, in the language of that beautiful hymn

"All hail the power of Jesu's name.' The Rev. W. CURLING engaged in prayer.

The CHAIRMAN then said: My good friends, this is the eighth anniversary that we have celebrated of the Ragged School Union, and I cannot help making the remark publicly that I have made to myself on the last two or three anniversaries, that if the contributions were in proportion to the zeal that is manifested on these occasions, we should be, without exception, the richest Society in London. (Hear, hear.) But although a very large room will not contain one half of the applicants for admission, I am afraid that a very small purse will contain nearly all the contributions. Nevertheless, by God's blessing we go on-we thank Him, and take courage. Now let me just state to you the comparative progress of this institution. I have here a report of the state of the Society at eight different periods. I will only trouble you with the first and last. The first public anniversary that we celebrated was in the year 1845. We then had 20 schools, 200 voluntary teachers, and 2,000 children, and we had collected about £60 during the year. In the year ending May, 1852, we have 110 schools, 1,650 voluntary teachers, 200 paid teachers, and we have collected £2,813. (Applause.) Now, this statement, while it gives us cause to rejoice in one aspect, gives us occasion to mourn in another. It gives us occasion to rejoice that such great efforts are made to cultivate such a vast moral wilderness; it causes us to mourn that such a moral wilderness should exist. As the evil does exist, we ought to rejoice

that the remedy is proposed, and we appeal to you to come forward and join us in this great and blessed work. We assert that our efforts have fully maintained the truth of our principles, and that the results show the accuracy of our judgment and the certainty of our prediction. We told you, and we have proved to you, that the result has been equally advantageous both to the beneficiary and the benefactor. It has been a great benefit to society at large, that these thousands and tens of thousands of children have been dragged from their hiding-places, and submitted to moral discipline; and it has also been a benefit to the children themselves. It has had a most soothing and consolatory effect upon the great mass of the people of this great metropolis and other large towns, to see those whom God has blessed with leisure, with station, or with wealth, coming forward to consider the great, the real, and the spiritual, and the everlasting interests of that hitherto neglected portion of the community. (Hear, hear.) I said that the results had been equally advantageous to the beneficiary and the benefactor. I maintain that the other parties whom we have included, and whose benefit we have sought, shall themselves bear testimony to the great results of our operations. How many hundreds of these lads and these young women have, by the exertions you have made, been transplanted from abodes of misery and vice to other lands, and to occupations of industry and honour! The colonists themselves shall bear testimony to the benefit that has been conferred upon them. I will read you an extract from a letter which appeared some short time ago in the columns of the Times, written by an eminent gentleman, Captain Stanley Carr, himself a proprietor in our colonial possessions, himself holding a station in this country delegated to him by his fellowcitizens in the colonies, and who, I rejoice to say, is in this room, and sitting at my left hand. He says: "On reading one of the Times Articles on the 23rd instant, I reproached myself for not having hitherto borne testimony to the good conduct of the Ragged School boys sent to Port

Philip during my residence there, by the Earl of Shaftesbury." Now, that is too great an honour. I have been only the humble channel of other people's bounty. The co-operation that I have given would have been of no avail without the assistance of those admirable men with whom I have worked. But a general very often gets the credit of the battle, when the soldiers have won it; and that happens to be my case; but I rejoice to take this opportunity of expressing my heartfelt thanks to those excellent persons with whom I have been associated. (Applause.) Well, Captain Carr goes on: "And in proof that those objects of deep commiseration would, if judiciously selected, be willingly employed by the settlers there, I enclose a letter, dated 1st of August last, from a respectable magistrate of the Portland Bay district, requesting your attention to the following passage:— I should be obliged to you if you could procure me some of Lord Ashley's lads,' [You see he treats me quite as a family man, (laughter,) he looks upon them as my own children]' to be apprenticed to me for three or four years, not under fifteen years of age. I will give them £10 the first year, £14 the second, and current rates afterwards."" Is this no testimony to the value of the system that you have pursued? Is this no testimony to the character and the quality of those children whom you have sent out as emigrants? Is this no proof that all parties are benefited-those whom you send out and those who receive them? You could not have a better and more striking proof-you could not have a stronger inducement you could not have a stronger duty imposed upon you than to go forward in the course you have taken, and which God Almighty has so signally blessed. (Applause.) There have been many other occupations to which these children have been trained with singular success. You have yourselves seen them engaged as Shoe-blacks; you know the success they have attained, and the good conduct they have exhibited. You have seen them in their capacity as "Broomers," and even as Messengers; and you have seen that they have done everything in their power to repay the labour that has been bestowed upon them. I confess, I rejoice that some of these children are retained in this country. I have been sometimes pained, and have felt some little grudge to see all these admirable young fellows that we have trained up, and who exhibited such a capacity for becoming good children, going

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off in masses to the colonies. I rejoice, I say, that we have retained some few behind, who shall be a constant proof of our exertions and, I hope, a standing example to others, by which to regulate their conduct. (Applause.) Now, as we are engaged upon this subject of Ragged Schools, I must give you a word of caution, because unless that word be given, and unless it be acted upon, we shall, in a great mea sure, depart from the work we have begun, and go into a higher sphere than that which was originally contemplated, leaving those behind for whom our efforts were designed. I maintain that it is quite impossible to take a survey of some of these schools without seeing that by degrees they have risen above the level for which they were intended; that there is in them a great many children of a class and condition that ought not to be there; and in proportion to the presence of these is the exclusion of those children who ought to be the peculiar objects of your care. This may be a very natural result, because I doubt not that many of the teachers and others, finding that children came from all parts who presented a better appearance, and were at first of more tractable dispositions, were glad to have their schools filled with them, thinking it unnecessary to go further, and thus desisting from that admirable system with which they began that of going out and seeking destitute children, and compelling them to come in. Now, if ever you get into a system of parade and show, of periodical public examinations, and the like, depend upon it your occupation is gone, and you might as well close your doors, and write upon them, "to let;" (Applause) for you are de parting from your original duty, forgetting your peculiar calling, entering into another sphere already occupied, and engaging in duties for which you are wholly incompetent. It is not necessary that you should repress the rising of the children, but, on the contrary, this is the rule you must observe-train the children as well as you can, but when they shall have attained a certain level, you must transplant them to other schools; you must keep your Ragged Schools down to one mark; you must keep them, as I have said a hundred times, and, until I carry my point, I shall a hundred times more, in the mire and in the gutter, so long as the mire and the gutter exist. So long as this class exists you must keep the schools adapted to their wants, their feelings, their tastes, and their level; for if you do not you will gradually rise into