EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENTS (IRELAND) COMMISSION.
Oet.
19,1812.
the estates which were granted to him m the time of
the Commonwealth.
He got grants of forfeited lands, very much larger in extent than the lands given for the charitable purposes of his foundation ; and in
_
re¬ ferring to his estates, in the documents of foundation, he speaks, not merely of those lands which form the corpus of the endowment for the schools, but also of considerable tracts which were his own private property, and which now include, among others, the Derby and Smith-Barry estates.
The origin of the foundation appears to be a Deed of 1657 three years before the Restoration, indicating a desire to build and maintain four schools for the child¬ ren of poor tenants on his estates, and for the children of other poorpersonSjforthcmaintenance at the Univer&ivy of such of the children of the tenants as might be con¬ sidered fit for University education, and, after them, for children to be selected by the trustees, pupils of the schools having the preference.
He also made provi¬ sion limited to a small proportion of the fund even as it then existed, that when the income should reach £300 a year, about one-eighth of that sum might be devoted to establishing four " English schools," and he fixed the salaries of the masters of those schools, but they appear to have been only a secondary object.
The main object of the endowmont, so far as the character of the education was concerned, appears perfectly clear.
It was a " Grammar School founda¬ tion," for giving education superior to that given in ordinary Primary Schools ; it was to be directed to fit the pupils to join the University • and from the com¬ mencement, he made provision for assisting pupils who had gone to the University to complete their course there.
I may repeat an observation which we have made from time to time with reference to similar endowments, that since this foundation originated, vast provision has been made by the State for Primary Education, out of all proportion to what has been made for Intermediate or University Educa¬ tion : therefore, instead of there being now any motive to divert endowments from Intermediate or University Education to Primary Education, the necessities of the present time would appear to indicate that the course should bo the opposite.
Nothing was clone under tho Deed oi 1057.
Tho circumstances of the country, probably, account tor that.
At all events, nothing was done until after the Restoration, when, in 1067, the first Patent was granted to Erasmus Smith by Charles the Second.
That Patent put a rent-charge on the property for Christ's Hospital, London, an institution in which •the founder was interested.
It gave power to main¬ tain four English schools j it made provision for apprenticing pupils to Protestant masters, and it pro¬ vided for establishing three Grammar Schools.
Tho number was reduced from that contemplated by the Deed of 1657.
Erasmus Smith seems to have at one time had an idea of founding five, at another time four • but finally the number was reduced to three.
1 n this first Charter, Galway was fixed as the locality -of one of the Grammar Schools.
The Charter pro¬ vides that the residue of the rents and profits should goto provide Exhibitions for poor students in the University of Dublin who had been educated in his own Schools, or, failing those, for other poor students to be nominated by Ms trustees, a preference to be given to the children of tenants on his lands.
I now merely give the history of the foundation, apart from the denominational question.
Tho Charier of 1667 was supplemented, rather than altered, by a subsequent Charter of 1669, which is the principal ~Charter,and took the place of tho documents that had sgemebefore, which are now of use only so far us they tow light on the intentions of the founder.
By the garter of lb69 the localities of the throe Grammar t^S" TT f6 ' at Dr°gheda> Galway, and Tip-pertey Those towns appear to have been chosen with Sri^'r^8 °f the eStates of Erasmus M, Ha mam.
estates were near each other in the counties
of Limerick and Tipperary, but he 1^ alfc siderable property in Galway; and he to have had some property near DroehedLTI the particulars of that are not so clear as /!
others.
Provision was made for the mana^em t the schools, and a clause was inserted W?
my experience, is without parallel; although it
^ a Royal Charter, certain rules laid down by&Erao^ Smith himself were incorporated with it and sn^i provision was made that, so long as Erasmus E lived, he was to be the dominus of the whole aff' and whatever rules ho chose to lay down durin/v' lifetime were to possess the force of the Chartering]?
and were not to be changed by the trustees after £ death.
That fact becomes important in connection with another branch of our inquiry.
The date of ft second Charter was 1009 ; Erasmus Smith exercised his power of framing fundamental rules, and lived until 1691.
1 le (berefove lived from the first founds tion under-the Commonwealth through the whole of the reigns ol' Charles the Second and of James the Second, lie survived the Revolution, he lived under William and Alary, and lie did not die till 1691 During all that time he appears, by the minute books of tho Governors, to have been in constant communi, cation with them, and to have taken an active part in the appointment of Masters and the regulation of the Schools, and in endeavouring to carry out the inten-tions which ho himself had formed, andwhichhehadgot first the Commonwealth, and then from the Kin^ to assist him in putting them into execution.
The first great change in the application of the pro¬ perty was made under a statute of 1723, upon-which some questions arise, ft removed the restriction upon the foundation of English schools.
There had also been a provision in tho Charter of 1669, that when the rents exceeded a certain sum the Governors might found a Hebrew or other lectureship in Trinity College.
The Act of 172!')
made provision for three junior fellowships and twoadditional lectureships, and contained a number of elaborate provisions for exhibitions for poor students inTrinity College.
A question may arise upon that, as re'»,irds the clause in our Act, which excepts from the power of the Oommiwuon any endowment belonging to, or administered by, or in the gift of, the Univer¬ sity of I )ublin or Trinity College.
On consideration of thai, matter, we thought that the property which the Act of 1723 definitely allocated to Trinity College,and placed under the control of the Governing Body of the University, fell within that exception, and therefore we have not purported to deal with it.
But agreatdeal more than the amount so fixed by the Act has beenand still is paid to Trinity College, and as regards the addi¬ tional amount a question may arise.
The Exhibitions have been increased in value and number, and certain other payments have been made; at present about £000 a year is paid over to Trinity College.
Bat one time ran as high as £750, at other times it w as low as XfrOO a year.
It has been from time totim varied by the Governors, There are also provision in the Act which indicate that the objects of this adit Uoiial bounty were to ho .selected
by the Governors, hut from the evidence of the Vice-Chancellorml880, the duty of selecting the hkhibitionors seems to have been deputed, as if, wore, by the Governors to the Go¬ verning Body of Trinity College, with a power to vary the provision, as appears in tho University Calendar.
Tho question, therefore, will be whether these addi-tional payments out of the endowment "belong to or are » administered by," or are «in the gift of *fe University of Dublin; if not, they will, wrtntns rest of the endowment, be subject to the Scheme.
There is in this Act, of 172:5 a further provision, unaer which a considerable amount is now expended, m Governors, having no boarding school in D?bmi,,
their own, entered into an arrangement * \Z Governors of the Bluecoat Hospital to sendW pupils to that school.
Substantially the terms or w» agreement were that they were to pay & prorata?
