APPENDIX B.
137 the Chapter, the catechism of Archbishop Ussher was substituted for the Assembly's Catechism, and the Masters were to make use of it "
once every week and each Lord's day " for the purpose of catechising their scholars.
The Charter also incorporated a Governing Body consisting of thirty-two persons, including the Primate of all Ireland, the Archbishop of Dublin, the two Lord Chief Justices, the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, the Master of the Rolls, the Secretary of State for Ireland, and other eminent public officials.
A Treasurer was appointed, who was to receive six¬ pence per pound of all such rents as should be received by him for the benefit of the Schools.
The lands to be conveyed, in pursuance of the Letters Patent, to the Governing Body thus incorporated, were charged with a yearly rent-charge of £100, payable to the Governors of Christ's Hospital, London.
Provision was also made for the employment of any increase of the rents of the Estates in raising the number of free scholars in the Schools or in increasing the allowance of those already there; and if the rents exceeded £300 per annum, the Governors were authorized to spend money in beautifying the Schoolhouses, or pay¬ ing ushers in Schools where the number of scholars should exceed forty, in founding a Hebrew or other lectureship in Trinity College, and in binding out poor children as apprentices under Protestant Masters, and for clothing poor children in the Grammar Schools, the children of the tenants of Erasmus Smith to be preferred.
Power was also reserved to Erasmus Smith to apply any residue of the increased rents, for the disposition of which no provision was made in the Charter, to such other charitable uses as he might by deed or will appoint.
Act of Parliament, 1723.
The Endowments seem to have rapidly increased in value.
In 1723 an Act of Parliament was passed to regulate the disposal of the surplus rents accruing from year to year, as well as of the accumulations -then in the hands of the Treasurer.
By this Act the establishment of three Junior Fellowships and two additional lectureships in Trinity College, Dublin, was authorized, and certain annual payments to pro¬ vide exhibitions for poor students of the College, which the Governors had for some time been making, were also sanctioned.
An agreement which the Governors had entered into with the Governors of the Hospital and Free School of King Charles the Second, Dublin, usually known as the Bluecoat Hospital, for the reception therein of any number of boys not exceeding twenty, was ratified; and the Governors were author¬ ized to apply any further surplus that might from time to time accrue to some public work or use in Trinity Col¬ lege or in the Bluecoat Hospital, in putting out poor children to school or as apprentices, or infounding one or more English school or schools in any place or places in Ireland which the Governors should think convenient.
Provision was made for the reduction of the outgoings authorised by the Act in the event of a decrease in the revenues at any future time, the payments to Christ's Hospital, London, to the three Junior Fellows in Trinity College, and to the Bluecoafc Hospital, alone excepted.
Charter of King William the Fourth.
By a Charter granted by King William the Fourth, dated July 2, 1833, some provisions in the Charter of King Charles the Second were altered.
The pay¬ ments to the Treasurer were abolished, and it was directed that the abowance previously given to him should be used to create a fund to be named the Treasurer's Poundage, which was to be applied in such manner as the Governors should from time to time appoint.
Out of this fund the High School,
Harcourt-street, was subsequently established.
The Governors were also empowered to appoint ushers without regard to the number of scholars in the Schools, and to fix their salaries.
Increase in value of estates and employment
of surplus by Governors.
The rental of the estates vested in the Governors continued to increase, and even with the wider powers of appbcation given to the Governors by the Act of 1723, they had frequently a large surplus in their hands.
From the reports of former Commissioners it appears that in 1791, the rents amounted to upwards of £4,20C a year, and the Governors had an annual surplus exceeding £1,400.
In 1807, the accumula¬ tions in the hands of the Governors had grown to £35,000.
The Governors had founded in.
1773 an additional Grammar School at Ennis, for which no provision had been made either in the Charter or in the Act of 1723, and which has now been discontinued.
In 1811, they founded a Day School in Dublin for the commercial education of male pupils, which is still in efficient operation.
Large sums had also been granted from time to time to Trinity College, for building and other purposes.
" One of these grants was of no less a sum than £8,000, British, for the purchase of the Library of Mr.
Fagel, Pensionary of Holland, who had removed it to London, on the invasion of that country by the French, In the year 1794."*
The annual payments to the College which the Act of 1723 raised to £450 were increased in 1763 to £940.
By an order of the Governors, dated July 13, 1850, these annual payments to Trinity CoUege for Febowships, Lectureships, and Exhibitions were re¬ duced to £415 7s.
8c?.
sterling.
By a subsequent order, dated January 28, 1859, they were increased to £752 6s.
2d.
They have since varied from time to time and for some years past have amounted to about £600.
Founding of English Schools.
Between 1808 and 1815, the Governors employed a portion of their surplus to found in various parts of Ireland, sixty-nine' " English Schools," for providing Elementary Education.
Between 1839 and 1843, although the system of National Education had been *
established, the Governors founded fifty-two additional Elementary Schools, involving a large outlay upon an object for which the State was at this time making ample provision.
Unfortunately, no pains were taken to secure that the buildings, erected, for the most part, by means of Endowments devoted by the founder mainly to higher education, should be permanently enrployed for educational purposes: and under leases which have been justly described by the Commission of 1854 as "improvident," sites and buildings, in connexion with which many thousands of pounds had been expended by the Governors, have become the private property of the original grantors of the sites or their representatives, and in many cases have ceased to be used for School purposes.
Of recent years, the number of Engbsh Schools maintained or aided by the Governors has been gradually diminished.
Ex¬ cluding the Ardee School which is maintained princi-paby by the produce of a rentcharge granted to the Governors by the Corporation of Ardee, there are still, however, 41 English Schools in various parts of Ireland, to which annual grants, amounting in the aggregate, during the year 1890, to £1,368 3s.
8d.,
continue to be made by the Governors.
The cost of inspection of these schools brings the present annual expenditure under this liead up to £1,669 10s.
Sd.
per annum, a sum almost equal to the amount applied to Grammar School education, whMh seems to have been the principal object of the founder's intention.
Keport of Commission of Inquiry into Primary Education (Ireumd), 1870, vol.
I.
p.
488.
