geography, and Indian history, in Tamil, with instruction in the rudiments of the English language for the more advanced pupils of the boys' school. The managers propose to employ three masters in the boys' school, on salary of 25, 15, 10 rupees respectively, and one mistress in the girls' school, on a salary of 10 rupees; and a moiety of these salaries, or 30 rupees, they ask the Government to defray. 143. They also ask for a grant of 750 rupees, to enable them to provide a building, and guarantee an equal sum from local sources. According to a statement annexed to their application, their subscriptions amount to 463 rupees per annum, or 103 rupees in excess of the sum they propose to contribute towards the salaries of the teachers. A further income is to be anticipated from school fees, which are fixed at eight annas per mensem in the case of boys learning Tamil, and 12 for those who learn English also. The girls are not to pay any fee. 144. I beg to recommend a grant of such sum, not exceeding 25 rupees per mensem, as may be required to meet the expenses of the school, provided that double that amount be raised from local sources, including fees, and be expended on the school, and that the teachers appointed by the managers be found worthy of the salaries it is proposed to assign to them. 145. I also recommend a grant of 750 rupees in aid of the erection of a building, provided that an equal sum be raised by the managers, and that the plan and site of the building be approved. Doveton College and Free Church Mission Schools. 146. I now come to two applications, which, considering the large amount of the grants asked for, I think it right to submit to Government entire Doveton Protestant College. 147. The first of these proceeds from the committee of management of the Doveton Protestant College, an institution not long since established for the education of the Christian youths of this Presidency, on Protestant principles. The applicants advert to a memorial, addressed to the Honourable Court of Directors, on the 21st September 1850, praying for their aid in the formation of a college of this description, for the establishment of which funds to the amount of 1,20,000 rupees had been at that time collected; and they state that in consequence of the late Captain John Doveton having, in 1854, bequeathed the whole of his property towards the maintenance, or for the formation of certain specified schools in Calcutta and Madras, an arrangement was made between the committee of the Doveton school and the trustees of the projected college, under which the two institutions, and the funds available for them, respectively, have been united. The capital of the united institutions, now known as the Doveton Protestant College, amounts to Rs. 3,28,682. 8. 4., and yields a monthly income of Rs. 1,162. 4. 4. Besides the above capital there is a building fund, which, it is stated, amounted to Rs. 52,131. 4. 5., and of which 46,000 rupees have been, or will have been, expended upon ground and premises for a boarding establishment, leaving a balance of Rs. 6,131. 4. 5. A suitable edifice for the college remains to be erected, the cost of which is estimated at 36,000 rupees, and for this purpose the committee ask for a grant from Government of 30,000 rupees. 148. As a general rule, I am of opinion that, in estimating the amount to be raised from local sources for the erection or repairs of educational buildings, towards which grants are applied for, it is not expedient that credit should be given for sums expended previous to the submission of the application; for if such a practice be permitted, it is difficult to determine how far back the calculations may extend, and the Government may be called upon to give its grants in aid of funds, the expenditure of which may have been ill regulated and injudicious. II. Madras. II. Madras. 149. But in the present case, if in any, it appears to me that this rule may very properly be broken through. The munificent endowment by which the institution is supported, and the important objects which it is designed to fulfil; the fact that it is the germ of the only collegiate institution unsupported by Government that has yet sprung up in this Presidency; all these circumstances appear to me to render the application now under notice deserving of special consideration. It is to be observed, moreover, that the original application for aid addressed to the Honourable Court, and to which no final answer has ever been received, was preferred long before any portion of the building funds, in augmentation of which the committee now seek for a grant, had been disbursed. I beg, therefore, to submit the committee's application for the favourable consideration of Government. 150. The application made by the financial Board of the Scotch Free Church Mission is for a grant of 24,000 rupees per annum in aid of their schools at Madras, Chingleput, Conjeveram, and Wallajahbad. It is stated in the application that the mission has expended annually, on strictly educational objects, and not including any allowances to ordained missionaries, during the years 1851-52-53-54 and 1855, a sum not less than 20,000 rupees. The objects to which these funds are applied are so fully stated in the application, that I need not detail them here. It will be sufficient to observe that, of the sum applied for, 17,722 rupees is proposed to be assigned to the boys' schools, 8,532 rupees per annum, or 711 rupees per mensem, being named as requisite to augment the salaries of the teachers, and provide additional teachers and pupil teachers in the boys' schools, and 9,190 rupees for building, repairs, furniture, and books. The distribution of the grants proposed for the girls' schools in Madras is not specified. 151. The schools have not yet been inspected, with the exception of those at Nellore, having been closed for the holidays before the application was received;. nor is the information contained in it regarding the distribution of the present expenditure sufficiently definite to admit of my making any specific recommendation as to the amount of grant that should be given; but it seems useless to give the managers the trouble of furnishing the requisite details, or to subject their schools and teachers to an inspection, until it shall have been determined whether the funds at the disposal of this Government for expenditure in grants in aid are to be increased sufficiently to admit of their application being entertained. Schools supported by the Black Town and Royapooram Parochial Fund. 152. These schools are under the management of the chaplain and lay trustees of the Black Town Church. They are four in number, two for boys and two for girls, with a total attendance, according to the last report, of 49 boys and 51 girls, and are supported by subscriptions, the monthly expenditure being about 130 rupees. The managers apply for a grant to enable them to augment the salaries of their teachers, and towards the erection of a room for the boys' school in Black Town, the cost of which is estimated at about 4,000 rupees. They have lately erected a school room for the girls' school in Black Town, at a cost of 2,460 rupees, and they express their hope that this outlay will be taken into consideration in the assignment of a grant for the boys' school room. 153. I do not think it desirable that any orders should be passed on the subject of this application, until it shall have been ascertained what addition will be made to the grant in aid fund; for unless this fund shall be considerably augmented, it will not be expedient to assign any further portion of it to the town of Madras. 154. I have now noticed all the applications for grants in aid that have come before me in a definite form. Since this report was commenced I have been requested by the Wesleyan missionaries to depute an inspector to visit their schools at Madras and Trichinopoly, on behalf of which they propose to apply for further grants. A similar application has been made by the Church Missionary Society -II. Society with reference to their training school at Palamcottah, but whether with the view of obtaining grants, or merely the opinion and counsel of the inspector, is not stated. These applications I have not considered it necessary to enter in my present report. The schools for which I have been able to recommend grants are entered in the accompanying tabular statement. (Appendix D.*) They are 26 in number, eight being classified as schools of the 1st class, according to the classification adopted in my former reports, and 18 of the 2d class. The aggregate sum recommended is Rs. 25,595. 15. 9., of which 17,514 rupees is proposed to be given in augmentation of the current expenditure of the several schools, and Rs. 8,081. 15. 9. for special purchases, such as the provision or repair of school buildings, furniture, and books. It will be observed that in some cases I have recommended a grant for the purchase of school books where no application for such a grant has been made. I have done this to obviate the necessity of further references, as it is probable that most, if not all the managers of the schools who have not applied for a grant of books will do so, on finding that they are given to other schools under certain definite rules, which apply generally to all schools under Government inspection. These rules, which were submitted in my letter of the 19th May last, and, as I understand, have been sanctioned by Government, are so framed as to prevent unnecessary applications, it being provided that, in each case, the grant shall be met by an equal sum from local sources, and shall be in proportion to the number of pupils under instruction. With a view further to preclude the possibility of an abuse of these grants, I propose, in future, to make no money payments under this head, but to require managers of schools applying for grants of books, to furnish me with a list of the books required, accompanied by a remittance for a moiety of their cost, and, thereupon, either to supply the books from the depôt attached to my office, or, should they be procurable at equally low prices at up-country depôts in the immediate neighbourhood of the schools for which they are required, to furnish the managers with an order for the requisite supply. The aggregate amount of the sums recommended under this head is only Rs. 1,607. 8., and there is no branch of the grant in aid system which may be made more certainly (and at the same time economically) conducive to the promotion of sound education, than the encouragement of local efforts for the provision of an adequate supply of useful school books. Madras. 19 December 1856. 155. It was shown in para. 44 of my last report that, after deducting the grants proposed in that and my former letter, the sum remaining available for future disbursements was only 5,897 rupees. The Government of India have vide Extract since authorised the transfer to the grant in aid fund of 6,000 rupees per annum Minutes of Conout of the sum sanctioned for zillah schools. To the amount thus available, or sultation, 11,897 rupees, the amount of some of the grants already sanctioned, but which No. 1498, dated have not been taken advantage of by the applicants, may be added. For instance, a grant of 50 rupees per mensem was sanctioned for the school supported by the Gospel Society at Trichinopoly. This grant has not been drawn, and the school having been lately closed, it will not be required. The grant sanctioned for the village schools belonging to the two missionary societies in Tinnevelly are also still undrawn, as well as those authorised for the Madras Native Progressive Seminary, and for the village and town vernacular schools in the neighbourhood, the conditions upon which these grants were severally sanctioned not having been as yet fulfilled. The amount of these grants was estimated at 5,046 rupees, of which 4,000 rupees may safely be considered to be still available for other purposes. I beg, therefore, to suggest that I may be authorised to pass for payment so many of the grants recommended in Appendix (D.) 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 per annum (the selection being determined by the dates on which the applications were preferred); and to intimate to the managers of the remaining schools, as well as to those of the schools entered in the above list, who have applied for grants in aid of buildings, that *The Doveton_College is not included in this statement, as the application preferred on its behalf is such as, I presume, must be referred for the orders of the Government of India. I. Madras. that their applications must lie over until the orders of the Government of India are received. A tabular statement of the grants recommended for immediate sanction is entered in the margin.* Office of the Director of Public Instruction, I have, &c. (signed) A. J. Arbuthnot, Director of Public Instruction. 19 February 1857. Sir, APPENDIX (A.) To A. J. Arbuthnot, Esq., Director of Public Instruction, Madras. On the 21st September 1850, a memorial was submitted to the Right Honourable the Governor in Council for transmission to the Honourable Court of Directors, praying for the Honourable Court's assistance in the formation of a college which it was desired to establish at Madras for the education of the youth of this Presidency, East Indian, European, and Native, on Protestant Christian principles. 2. This memorial was signed by the members of a committee which had been formed at Madras, as the representatives of a large body of Europeans and natives connected with the Madras Presidency, but not members of the Company's covenanted service. 3. The Honourable Court in a Despatch dated 29th September 1852, intimated their intention of replying to the memorial at a future date, in connexion with their contemplated orders on the subject of education generally. 4. Those orders were communicated to the Government of Madras in the Honourable Court's Despatch of the 19th July 1854, No. 49, but excepting as it may be understood to have been included in the general question, the memorial does not appear to have been any further noticed, and no reply has ever been received by the committee. 5. We have now, therefore, as the representatives of the same body, to address you on the subject, in order to its being again brought under the consideration of Government. 6. When the memorial adverted to was forwarded to Government, funds had been collected to the amount of 1,20,000 rupees, but this sum being altogether insufficient for the purpose, nothing further could be done towards the establishment of the proposed college, pending the result of the appeal to the Honourable Court for their aid. 7. Not long after, however, or in May 1854, on the death of the late Captain John Doveton, formerly of the Nizam's service, it was found that he had bequeathed the whole of his property, to be appropriated in equal shares towards the maintenance, or for the formation, of certain specified schools at Calcutta and Madras. 8. A school was accordingly formed at Madras on the terms of the will, and at a subsequent period it was arranged between the committee of the Doveton school and the trustees of the proposed college, that the school should form part of the establishment of the college, and that the funds of both should be united under one general arrangement. 9. Shortly previous to the union of the Doveton school and Protestant college, an arrangement had been entered into with the committee of St. Andrew's parochial school, for its amalgamation with the Doveton institution. This, however, brought with it no accession of funds, but by placing a school already in full working under the Doveton committee, it enabled them at once to establish their title to Captain Doveton's bequest, while they also became possessed of the parochial school premises in trust for school purposes. 10. The Doveton fund, as paid over by the executor, amounted to Rs. 2,32,131. 4. 5., of which it was required by the executor that Rs. 32,131. 4. 5., should be set apart for building purposes, and that the remainder should be reserved in perpetuity as capital, the interest alone being available for current expenditure. 11. The Protestant college fund, at the date of union, amounted to Rs. 1,48,682. 8. 4., of which it was stipulated that 20,000 rupees should be appropriated to building purposes, and that the remainder should be reserved as capital. 12. Under these arrangements the capital of the united institutions, now known as the "Doveton Protestant College," amounts to Rs. 3,28,682, 8. 4., invested in Government funds, and yielding an income of Rs. 1,162. 4. 4. per mensem for current expenditure. 13. The building fund amounted to Rs. 52,131. 4. 5., of which 46,000 rupees have been, or will be expended upon ground and premises for the boarding establishment, leaving a balance of Rs. 6,131. 4. 5. 14. But a suitable edifice for the college remains to be erected, the cost of which is estimated at not less than 36,000 rupees, or about 30,000 rupees in excess of the available fund. 15. It is to solicit the aid of Government that we now address you. 16. We have brought out from England, at considerable expense, a principal and viceprincipal for the college, and a head master for the school. Other masters have been engaged at Madras, and we have now had in full operation since 1st March 1855, a high and primary schools for boys; and since 15th of February last, a school for girls, which occupies the parochial school premises, and has been attended with marked success; the pupils numbering, on the 1st instant, in the II. Madras. 17. Including school fees, our monthly income may be stated at 2,167 rupees, while our average monthly expenditure amounts to 2,145 rupees; and a large outlay still remains to be incurred for the provision of college and school apparatus, library, &c., leaving us without any prospect of having it in our power to appropriate any portion of our current income in aid of the erection of the college. 18. The community have already contributed with much liberality, and we feel that we can look for little more from private sources; certainly nothing adequate to what is now required. On behalf, therefore, of the community, and of the European and East Indian youth especially of this Presidency, and with immediate reference to the memorial of the 21st September 1850, a copy of which is annexed, we would now earnestly solicit a grant in aid to the extent of 30,000 rupees, to enable us to proceed at once with the erection of the college. * 19. We will not attempt to add force to our appeal by expatiating upon the character and probable results of the institution under our charge. We will simply express our conviction that whether in relation to the large and increasing body for whose benefit it is mainly but not exclusively designed, or to the best interests of the British Government and of the country at large, its high importance can scarcely be over estimated. 20. We would confidently trust that, sharing with us in this conviction, the Right Honourable the Governor in Council will be prepared to accord his most favourable consideration to the present application. Madras, 12 November 1856. We have, &c. (signed) C. A. Browne. R. K. Hamilton. Secretary M. D. P. College. * Note.--This paper is not forwarded, as there is a copy of it in the Government office. A. J. Arbuthnot, Director Public Instruction. |