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•* * ° ^ N ^ fefe * rf information , . $% 0 ^ m ^ n ^ y collected by tfee r ^ ideat parochial clergy , was amere btfndle of errors , ^ SI that all the coiaelii stoos , . Mwi > . &pm It ^ inust necessarily fall to the grouikd . His answer to thte was , that he would delay his measure s he would not call on those who Impeached the accuracy of the information to take one step on the assumption of its correctness ; but he would tell them to invest ^
gate the returns on the table , and to compare them with the facts—and he would presently shew them how that rnigh # f > e done ; and if , next session , they should still be of opinion that they were incorrect , he would then resort to other materials from which to draw the
conclusion , that the means of education were deficient . He was one of those who placed great reliance on the parochial returns . The respectability of the persons who made those returns was not called in question ; and as all those persons
lived at the places from which the infor * laation was sent , it was almost impossible that it could be considerably or generally incorrect . He chiefly relied on the evidence of the want of education in country parishes . Parishes consisting of only fire or six hundred inhabitants must be
without those means of promoting education which were possessed by larger towns- — he alluded to societies supported by private subscription . He believed the returns from these small parishes to be accurate , because the clergyman must know every individual in his parish , and
it was impossible that a school could exist without the circumstance being known to him . Parishes containing a population of 600 and under , formed a very large proportion of the parishes of England ; he might say four-fifths . The number of unendowed schools was
continually varying from year to year , indeed from month to month ; and it might hap--pen that , if inquiry were to foe xn&de respecting the number of schools of this description hi a particular place , the result flight be different from the returns , because this should be recollected—the
reurns were made three years ago . He would request the opponents of the Bill to look at the statements in the returns respecting the endowments , which were schools of a description less liable to fluctuation ; and if they found perfect accuracy in the returns with respect to
endowments , it was reasonable to conclude that accuracy prevailed in other particulars . The returns had been found to be perfectly accurate on the subject of P » aowments . Comparing the statements " the returns on this point with the relink ° ^ ***? commissioners , appointed nuer the bills passed two or three $ jBa * $
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ago , he found w ^ mm ^ ' ^ m ^^^ between the two sums-total . r l ^ he 4 ^ gfff $ ostssioiHafc * stated ; ' ^ mm ^ ;^ mA ; ^ SfSp returns tfoe best ^ m ^ W mm ^^ mj ^ i ^^ and they were ^^ S ^ l ^ m ^ Mm ^ i ^^ an astonishing degree . $$ & thought # 1 $% $ M the returias were inaccumte in aoy |> fi ^ ticular , they were most likely to && $£ 0 ; . ¦ with regard to the number 4 > f S « fHl £ y £ schools ; and yet in the o » ly iasta ^ mre itt which the state of a district with respect to Sunday-schools ba& been < 5 © capai ? e 3 with the returns , it would be necfessatry
to come to a conclusion of an opposite nature . Some gentlemen connected witfc Sunday-schools in a district of a northers county , doubting the accuracy of the returns respecting the number of schools © f that description in their district , made
some inquiries on the subject . They found that the number of Sunday-schools in their district amounted to 38 , whilst the returns only gave 20 . it appeared , however , that 20 of these schools had been established since the returns were
made in 1818 ; so that , supposing two of these existing in 1818 to have dropped , the correctness of the statement , in the returns , was evident . If there were errors in the returns , they could only be those of omission ; but the increase of
the population had been so large since they were made , as to make the total result as nearly as possible correct . He was of opinion that it would appear , from the census which had been lately taken , that the population had increased about a million since 1811 . The honourable and
learned gentleman then referred to the evidence contained in the returns respecting the state of education in Wales . It appeared that in that Priiaseinattty there were 220 parishes in which the means of education were entirely wanting , and where the poor , although desirous to obtain knowledge , were compelled to remain
in ignorance . Under these circumstances , it did not signify whether the returns wfcrie ? accurate to a unit or even to a hundred ; but unless it was meant to be contended that the persons affording this evidence were not entitled to any credit
at all , it must be coufessed that this was a deplorable state of things . The circumstances he had stated , were the grounds which induced him to think that the returns were generally correct , and that the inference which he had drawn
from them wad , therefore , also correct . He would now shew the House , as he had promised , how the correctness or incorrectness of the returns might be ascertained . A copy of the digest of the rt ? - turns had been delivered to each meaner of bo $ » houses of pariijttjwejit . U ^ was , afterwards , persuaded to Wid up separately certain numbers of ihp ffigt&k wj $ h
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taa ^ **^' ^ i «* -- W » - « iii ^ « i
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 503, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/63/
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