I'4ft EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENTS (IRELAND) COMMISSION.
for the maintenance of the School shall reach at the least, the' sum of £100 per annum.
Each School sharing in a local grant must, within two years of obtaining such grant, be certified to be efficient by the Inspector appointed by the Lord Lieu¬ tenant, and must have in regular attendance twenty pupils at the least, ten of whom shall be the children of parents resident in the locality of the School.
Expenditure upon Grants in aid.
The annual amount to be applied by the Governors for grants in aid of Intermediate Education, is not to exceed one-sixth part of the annual income of the Endowments ; but if the Governors are satisfied that such an appli¬ cation would be beneficial, they are empowered to add to the sum available for grants in aid of Intermediate Education any portion of then-annual income, appbcable to any of the other purposes of the Scheme, which, at the close of any year, may remain unexpended.
School Exhibitions, sec.
30.
(b) To estabbsh Forty School Exhibitions, each of an annual value not exceeding fifteen pounds and tenable for two years, to be awarded upon the results of a competitive examination in the subjects of Elementary Education, not below the standard of the Fifth Class as defined in the Rules and Regulations of the Commissioners of National Education.
The competition for these Exhibitions is, in the first instance, to be limited to children residing within certain dis¬ tricts, which, as nearly as can now be ascer¬ tained, include ab the estates of Erasmus Smith.
The districts as defined by the Scheme, and the lands granted and confirmed to Erasmus Smith by the Acts of Settlement and Explanation are set forth, respectively, in the Sixth and Eighth Schedules thereto.
These Exhibitions are intended to provide the children of the tenants of Erasmus Smith, who were special objects of his bounty, with the means of obtaining an Intermediate or Technical Education, or of securing then* advancement in life in any other way which the Governors, with due regard to the wishes and circumstances of the holder of the Exhibition, may consider most advantageous.
The maximum expenditure under this head will be £1,200 per annum.
University Exhibitions.
Sec.
31.
(c.)
To establish University Exhibitions for pupils of the Schools, maintained or aided by the Governors, who may be desirous to obtain a University Education.
To secure that these Exhibitions shall be awarded only to persons capable of taking advantage of the educational facilities thus placed within then* reach, and that^ a common test of recognized value shall be applied to all the candidates, the Scheme pro¬ vides that these Exhibitions shall be awarded upon the results of the Examinations in the Senior Grade held under the Intermediate Board, and only to students who have obtained some distinc¬ tion at these Examinations.
Each Exhibition is tenable for two years, should the holder be of good conduct and make satisfactory progress in his studies.
The Exhibitions may be held at any University, or in any College in which University studies are pursued, which may be selected by the holders with the sanction of the Governors.
The annual "amount, to be expended in Uni¬ versity Exhibitions by the Governors,4s nob to-exceed one twelfth part of the annual income.
Ennis Grammar School.
Sec.
20.
The Ennis Grammar School has been discontinued by the Governors, and the buildings have been let for a term of ten years to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland.
We have no evidence which tends to show that it will be possible to re-establish this School, but the Scheme provides that if, within a year, a local Committee should be formed for the purpose of establishing or maintaining an Interme¬ diate School in Ennis under the provisions of this Scheme, the Governors may apply the rent now derived from the School premises as a grant in aid, or part of a grant in aid, to the School established and maintained by this Committee.
The Governors are also empowered upon the determination of the existing tenancy to let the building to a local Com¬ mittee for the purpose of an Intermediate School.
Further Observations.
The Governors of the Schools founded by Erasmus Smith have submitted to us a Scheme for the future management of the Endowments.
Under this Scheme members of the late Established Church alone would be eligible to fill the office of Governor.
A strict denominational test would be imposed on the Head Masters and Assistant Masters of the Schools, and rebgious education would be provided in the Schools, in a manner very different from that prescribed either in the Indenture or in the Charter of King Charles the Second.
This Scheme has been opposed not only by the representatives of the Presbyterian Churchy but also by the members of other Protestant denomi¬ nations who attended the preliminary inquiry, on the ground that "to give one particular denomination of Protestants, and one particular form of Church Government among Protestants, the whole control of the Erasmus Smith Endowments would be an absolute disregard of the intention of the founder."
Having regard to the circumstances of the original foundation and to the history of the Endowments, we have been unable to adopt a Scheme which deals with the Endow¬ ments as if they were the exclusive property of one denomination of Protestants, or to frame a Scheme imposing denominational restrictions either upon the Governing Body, or upon the application of the-Endowments.
On the other hand, the Draft Scheme does not pro¬ pose to divide the Endowments, but deals with them as a whole.
It applies no denominational test to the Governors.
The public officials who have hitherto formed part of the Governing Body remain upon it, The Lord Lieutenant has power to nominate a limited number of Governors.
In order to secure the pre¬ sence upon the Governing Body of persons whose-experience will specially qualify them to discharge the duties of so important an educational trust, repre¬ sentation is given to bodies which have a practical connexion with higher education in various parts of the country.
Provision is made for the maintenance and extension of Grammar School Education, which seems to have been the primary object of the founda¬ tion ; while, without interfering with the other objects of the trust, the Draft Scheme aims at securing, for the children of the tenants on the estates of Erasmus Smith, some of the advantages which the founder intended to bestow, but of which they have hitherto been unable to avail themselves.
Signed by order of the Educational Endowments Commissioners.
N.
D.
Murphy, Secretary.
May 14, 1892.
