.II. Madras. Public Department. (No. 616.) EXTRACT from the Minutes of Consultation, under date the 14th May 1857. READ the following Letter from the Director of Public Instruction. (Here enter 19th February 1857.) 1. WITH the foregoing communication, the Director of Public Instruction submits, in continuation of his letter of the 10th July last, which itself was a supplement to his report of the 19th of May preceding, further applications, with his opinion on each case, for grants in aid of schools supported by private individuals and societies, in the provinces under this Presidency. The two former reports, it is observed, were disposed of in orders passed in Extract Minutes Consultation, under date 23d August last. 2. The amount sanctioned for the object of grants in aid by the Government of India for this Presidency is 25,000 rupees per annum; of this sum, deducting the grants which already, at the recommendation of the Director, have been allowed by Government, there remains available for future disbursements 5,897 rupees only. It is stated, however, by Mr. Arbuthnot, that to this may be added a sum of 4,000 rupees, being the aggregate amount of certain grants which, from the dissolution of the schools endowed, or other causes, are still undrawn. Under the recent orders of the Government of India, there is further available, by transferring the amount from the sum sanctioned, but not yet appropriated for the establishment of zillah schools, an annual fund of 6,000 rupees; the total presently available is, therefore, 15,897 rupees per annum. 3. Since the date of his last report, at which period 22 applications remained to be disposed of, the Director has received 16 others; of the entire number, 38, 23 have been inspected; while in regard to the remainder, he is in a position, with a few exceptions, to submit such recommendations as will admit of their being disposed of, without further reference to Government, so soon as the necessary inspection shall have been made. 4. The total amount of the various grants recommended for sanction is Rs. 25,595. 15. 9.; as this is nearly 10,000 rupees in excess of the sum allowed for the development of the system in this Presidency, it will be necessary to submit the matter for the consideration and orders of the Government of India: meanwhile, that the actual fundsa vailable may at once be made use of, Mr. Arbuthnot has proposed that he may be authorised to pass for payment so many of the grants recommended in the Appendix to his report, in aid of current expenses, such as the augmentation of the salaries of teachers, the employment of additional teachers, &c., and for the purchase of books and school furniture, as may fall within the sum of 15,500 rupees a year.. 5. This course is approved; the selection, the Government remark, has been very fairly determined by the dates on which the applications were preferred; superintendents of other seminaries, and all those who have applied for grants in aid of buildings, should be informed, as suggested by the Director, that their applications must lie over until the orders of the Government of India are received. 6. The institutions to which, under the arrangements above noticed, immediate assistance will be given, the object of such assistance, and its amount in each case, are thus tabulated by the Director : 7. Looking, then, to the rapid absorption of the whole of the funds available for the purpose, the amount of donations recommended on behalf of schools already inspected and favourably reported on, the number of applications still under inquiry, and the still larger number that may be expected, it is clearly impossible, in a Presidency like this, where the committees of missionary and other societies are carrying forward great schemes of education at an annual outlay of one lac and thirty thousand rupees (1,30,000 rupees), and are all urging their claims to the support of the State, that the sum now sanctioned can be so distributed by the Director as to enable those bodies to enlarge, to any appreciable extent, the very laudable field of operations in which they are severally engaged; it is obvious that a much larger sum is required. 8. Under certain principles of distribution presently to be noticed, the sum proposed by the Director is 65,000 rupees per annum, or rather more than double the amount at present disbursed; this amount the Governor in Council Bombay is prepared to recommend for the sanction of the Government of India; it is, AgraPunjab he observes, more than is sanctioned for a similar object in other Presidencies, with the exception of that of Bengal, where, for the official year, 1855-6, the expenditure averaged 6,264 rupees per mensem, or 73,000 rupees per annum. The circumstances of this Presidency, however, where, as before observed, education has been long and successfully carried on by various societies unconnected with Government, are peculiar. This point has not escaped the attention of the Honourable Court, who have, Public Department, in a recent Despatch, expressly recorded their own views on the subject, No. 22 of 1857. intimating to this Government that the orders of the Government of India limiting the expenditure of grants in aid in this Presidency to 25,000 rupees, must be considered provisional and experimental only, and that an increased sum will, without hesitation, be devoted to the purpose, if it can be shown that the system may be applied, in Madras, with advantage on a liberal scale, and to a greater extent than in the other Presidencies. 9. The principles that should rule the distribution of the grant in aid fund, adverted to in the preceding para., is a point of much importance. The rules at present in force provide that grants may be given to any amount not exceeding the amount raised from local sources; in practice, however, this course is impossible, and any attempt to carry it out to the extent of the funds at the disposal of the Director, would only tend to expose his measures to the 186 (II.)-Sess. 2. II. Madras. suspicion of partiality. In the opinion of the Director it is essential that all who apply for aid shall have a reasonable expectation of receiving, sooner or later, some fixed sum, bearing a definite proportion to the amount they themselves are able to contribute. 10. The practical adoption of this principle will not only obviate any misunderstanding of the nature above contemplated, but will also, it is suggested, be found to act as a much greater stimulus to private liberality than is derived from the existing rule. At present there is no guarantee that, supposing of course the school be well reported of, the Government grant will bear any definite proportion to the sum raised by the Committee; but let it be once known that, on the increase of local benefactions, the grant in aid awarded will be added to by Government proportionally, and it may be well expected that the contributions of charitable individuals will not long remain stationary, much less, as may be at present apprehended, that they will decline. 11. The Governor in Council is of opinion that there is much force in the foregoing arguments, and he approves the new principle advocated by Mr. Arbuthnot, and the rules he proposes as subsidiary thereto. The scale which he proposes to lay down, as the maximum proportion which, under ordinary circumstances, the grant should bear to the local fund, is one-half; and if this proportion be adopted, it will be necessary, looking, as previously noted, to the amount now subscribed by those societies and individuals who have expressed a desire to place their schools under inspection, and whose applications, therefore, will have to be considered, that Government should have at its disposal a sum of not less than 65,000 rupees per annum for current expenditure in grants in aid. 12. Two cases are specified by the Director as proper to be excepted from the above rule, and the Government concur : 1st. Where the annual income of a school is derived from a permanent endowment. 2d. Where the application is for a grant in aid of the erection of a school building. In both these cases the present rule may be retained, under which any sum not exceeding the amount derived from local sources may be assigned. 13. Having disposed of the above references, the Government proceed to review, so far as special notice may be called for, the various recommendations made in the body of the report, premising that they approve all those contained in the Appendix (D.) The greater part of the applications referred to in that list, all indeed that can be met with the funds at present at disposal, have already been sanctioned in para 6, supra. 14. Ganjam District.-The school founded by the munificence of Mr. Onslow, the late Collector, at Chetterpore, an inconsiderable village in this district, is well spoken of. The Government are glad to learn that it is contemplated by the trustees to remove the establishment to the flourishing and populous town of Berhampore. If the transfer is made, the grant (1,000 rupees) proposed for the erection of a suitable building, is sanctioned; otherwise, not. 15. Vizagapatam.-The orphan schools here are in so unsatisfactory a condition, that no grant is recommended. 16. Rajahmundry.-The Government concur with the Director, that the Mission School at this station has not a valid claim to support. The existence of a provincial school at Rajahmundry renders this decision less a matter of regret to them. 17. Masulipatam.-There are four excellent institutions in this town; 1, the Church Missionary School; 2, the Hindu School, established very recently, entirely by the exertions of the native community; 3, East Indian School; 4, the Church Missionary Native Female School, under the care of Mrs. Sharkey, wife of a missionary; the grants recommended for these four seminaries will entail an expenditure of Rs. 362. 5. 4. a month (not including one building grant of Rs. 1,866. 15. 9.) which, it is worthy of note, is a sum considerably less than is expended at those stations where the Government have found it necessary to establish schools of their own. 18. Nellore. |