the expense of the building, and the committee made
an earnest appeal to the public for their assistance
towards the liquidation of this claim.

The third annual meeting of the supporters of the
Lambeth Ragged Schools was held on the 23rd—the
birthday of Mr. H. Beaufoy, the benevolent donor of
the fund for endowing the new schools in Doughty-
street, lately erected at a cost of £10,000. The Lord
Mayor was in the chair, and the meeting was crowded.
The report gave an interesting account of the progress
of the institution. The number in attendance in the
school on Sundays, from 6 to 8 o'clock, and who are
receiving religious instruction, is 600. The instruction to
these is given by forty voluntary teachers. A week-
day evening-class is held five evenings in the week, and
is attended by 150 girls and 100 boys. A working class
for girls, meeting two nights weekly, is attended by an
average of fifty scholars, and is superintended by an
efficient mistress, under the direction of an active ladies'
committee. The infant school has an average attendance
of 300. Forty-seven boys and forty-nine girls
have received articles of clothing as rewards since last
annual meeting; twenty girls have been put to service,
and are doing well; and three boys and two girls have
been assisted to emigrate to Australia, and, according to
accounts, are also doing well. The constitution and
object of the society is stated as being "to afford
instruction to the very poorest children, without restriction
on account of the religious tenets their parents may
hold. The business of the schools is governed by a
president, treasurer, honorary secretary, and a
committee of not more than twenty subscribers of not less
than twenty shillings annually. All of them are chosen
at an annual meeting of subscribers, without restriction to
any particular denomination of Christians. The teaching
is based on the authorised version of the Holy Scriptures,
and no creed or catechism is taught."

The annual general meeting of the supporters of the
City of London Ragged Schools was held on the same
evening at the Hall of Commerce, Samuel Gurney, Jun.,
Esq., in the chair. The report gave a most satisfactory
account of the progress of the establishment, and
mentioned one peculiar feature—a savings bank for the
children frequenting the schools, in which there were
already 200 depositors. The Rev. John Branch, in
moving the adoption of the report, observed—That the
report of the Ragged School Union for the present year
would be one of the most remarkable documents London
had ever listened to, as evidencing the vast amount of
benefit these schools had effected. He contended that
schools of this character would do more than the detectives
had done in breaking up the Frimley gang, for
they would take away the disposition to steal.

The Royal Agricultural Society of Dublin opened its
annual exhibition of black cattle, sheep, swine, &c, on
the 21st, and presented the largest and finest display of
stock in the several departments remembered on any
similar occasion in Dublin since its foundation. Among
the successful exhibitors are his Excellency the Earl of
Clarendon, Lord Plunkett, the Earl of Charlemont.,
Lord Talbot de Malahide, Viscount Monck, the Earl of
Mayo, Robert Holmes, Esq., Colonel Latouche, Colonel
Vandaleur, Sir Alan Bellingham, Viscount Hill, &c.
In the evening there was a meeting, at which the Lord
Lieutenant presided, for the distribution of prizes. His
Excellency, in acknowledging a vote of thanks,
addressed the meeting in an interesting speech, in which
he took a cheering view of the progress of Ireland. He
paid a tribute of praise to the present race of Irish
landlords. "I think," he said, "that amongst other things,
exhibitions such as these prove the spirit which now
animates the great majority of the landlords of Ireland,
who are so habitually and unjustly maligned. I have
no doubt that in former times many of them have
deserved censure, and that in the present time, here and
elsewhere, in so large a class, there may be many ignorant
of their duties, and unmindful of their interests.
But I say it is unfair to class with these the great
majority of Irish landlords, who are now manfully
struggling against difficulties, and bestirring themselves
with a spirit, an energy, and a judgment, that reflect
the highest credit, which I devoutly hope will be
attended with the success they deserve." After noticing
the rapid progress of the linen manufacture in Ulster,
where linen is sold to the value of two millions annually,
his Excellency asked if those facts were not an answer to
those who were constantly talking of the ruined
manufacturers of Ireland, and referring to the jealous rivalry
of England as the cause. "I know it will be said, 'this
is only the province of Ulster;' but is not Ulster part of
Ireland? Are the laws in Ulster different from those
in any other part of the country? But I say, gentlemen,
go beyond Ulster. Look to Limerick, and you will find
the lace of that city manufactured in a style superior to
the production of the looms of other countries. I have
been informed that if a sufficient supply of this article
could be procured for exportation to meet the demand for
it, it would speedily destroy all competition. We have
all seen the beautiful productions which the city of
Dublin has sent forward as her contributions to the
world's Exhibition, and which amply testify her
determination not to be behind-hand in the great contest
of universal skill and ingenuity." His Excellency said,
in conclusion, "Gentlemen, I will not detain you longer
than by apologising for the length at which I have
detained you, and for having travelled away from the
subject which assembled us, in my desire to convey my
own impression, that Ireland is about to become what
she ought to be—that our agricultural and manufacturing
prosperity is not an idle dream—that industry
and energy have already accomplished sufficient to
encourage us to persevere to turn to the best account
that which nature has bestowed upon us."

A memorial has lately been addressed to Lord John
Russell by Messrs. Longman and Co., and Mr. J. Murray,
of Albermarle-street, on the subject of Books
printed and published in Ireland by the Irish Education
Commissioners, and sold in England at prices below
those for which books can be sold by booksellers in this
country. They complain that this system is an unjust
and impolitic interference with private enterprise, and
that it not only encroaches upon, but completely supersedes,
the sound principles of private competition. That
the Government has set up as a producer, and while
it leaves an important branch of trade heavily
burthened with taxes, it scruples not to enter into
competition with the parties so burthened, employing the
produce of the taxes, to which they largely contribute,
as capital to undersell and supplant them in their business.
That this is not the way to improve educational or
other works, but to force independent parties from the
field to make room for those who, as they are maintained
at the public expense, and have nothing of their own to
lose, must necessarily care comparatively little about
either the cost or character of their productions. They
contend that Government could not possibly produce
books or anything else so cheaply, or of so good a
quality, as private individuals; but the factitious sale and
artificial encouragement given to these books had been
the only means by which the expenses had been
defrayed. They then refer to a piracy that had been
committed by the compiler of one of these books, and
they affirm that there is no want of educational books
produced under a system of free competition, and
consequently of the cheapest and best kind; and they
conclude by urging his lordship to put a stop to the
importation of books manufactured in Ireland at the public
expense. Lord John Russell has acknowledged by his
secretary the receipt of this memorial, but no steps with
reference to it have yet been taken.

From a Parliamentary Return just issued, it appears
that the total number of Children in all the
Workhouses in England and Wales on the the 25th of March,
1850, was 50,189—27,351 boys, and 22,838 girls; being
a decrease of 11 per cent, on the number in 1849. Of
the boys 3773 were capable of entering upon service;
and of the girls, 2973. The greatest proportion of these
children were seven years of age and upwards—17,808
boys, and 14,321 girls. The illegitimate children
amounted to 12,694; of 8874 of whom the mothers were
in the workhouse. The deserted children, whether
deserted by father, mother, or both, amounted to 8354;
and those whose fathers were transported, or suffering
imprisonment for crime, to 1328. The counties furnishing
the largest number of children thus maintained in
the workhouse were—Middlesex, 3085 boys, 2458 girls