142 report — 1865. 



as is the change, the ignorance of the young of both sexes is very great. Of collier 

 lads, about one-half can read at all, and that lamely ; of lads in " works," reports of 

 commissioners, committees, and examiners speak in terms which make us aware 

 how little has yet been done, notwithstanding the immense efforts being made. 

 Attendance for education or on religious worship seems to be so lax that it counts 

 for almost nothing. If this be so in cases where facilities are afforded, for there 

 are schools attached to the respectable " works," what shall we say of that pro- 

 portion of the popidation utterly neglected or found out only by the town mis- 

 sionary and the ragged school ? When out of seven in favourable circumstances 

 one only can read, when such lads know nothing of Christ or the Crucifixion, or 

 a future state, cannot repeat the Lord's prayer, what shall we say of the others ? 



In tracing the causes of this ignorance, the hindrances to education, we must 

 point to the employment of young persons at a very curly age in nail-making, brick- 

 fields, on pit bunks and elsewhere. The expression of opinion of a great employer 

 is quoted advocating such employment of children and denouncing government 

 interference. The same person objected to all education of colliers or the working 

 class, as tending to unfit them for their work. These sentiments date back only 

 three years, yet are now fast disappearing. The children, thus denied the oppor- 

 tunity of learning in their early life, must grow up rude and ignorant. Statistics 

 of schools confirm the view thus given. The proportion of children found in 

 schools in various districts after ten years of age is as follows : — South Stafford- 

 shire, 16 per cent. ; North Staffordshire 32 ; North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, 

 32 ; Halifax, worsted manufacturing district, 40. The children thus debarred the 

 benefit of school, are found in engine-<houses, iron-works, japan-shops, brick-fields, 

 and elsewhere, doing work which men ought to do or machinery. The connexion 

 of ignorance with pauperism and crime comes out clear enough in the statistics. 

 In Stafford gaol, out of 23 juvenile offenders, 19 were from the Black Country, and 

 of those only 9 could read when committed. At the Saltley reformatory, out of 

 42 lads there for various crimes, 23 were from South Staffordshire, and' of these 

 only 3 could read when committed. 



The employment of females in ivork utterly unfitted for them is another item in the 

 social status. South Staffordshire has a bad notoriety in this matter. The labour 

 on the pit bank or in the brick-field may not be unhealthy, but it is demoralising. 

 No female can grow up, under such circumstances, with true womanly delicacy or 

 fitted for domestic life. Statistics gathered from various sources prove that the 

 result of such a condition of things is a frightful amount of immorality and general 

 debasement amongst the girls so employed. 



A further element in the social degradation of the people, and an obstacle to all 

 improvement, is found in the wretched dwellings of the people. The houses of the 

 poor are but too often the property of the poor, and are thus destitute not only of 

 all convenience, but outrage all decency — are hotbeds of disease, physical and 

 moral. The tumble-down shanties of South Staffordshire have become a standing 

 disgrace ; but much is now being done towards their improvement. 



Passing over man}' points of interest, this is noted as a last, and not least, im- 

 portant item — the fact that very few of the great employers live amongst their people 

 or mingle much ivith them. 



This practice of absenteeism is growing ; nor do many of the proprietors take the 

 trouble to keep themselves pleasantly in the minds of their people. A piece of 

 land laid out for recreation woidd cost them little in any district, and would be a 

 noble boon. From these and other circumstances the author rates South Stafford- 

 shire lower than similar districts in England and Scotland. 



Yet there are signs of rapid improvement, and agencies are at work which are 

 rapidly changing the faces of things. The New Congregational Chapel at Bilston 

 stands on the spot where the crowd gathered of old to see the bull baited, and 

 thus many a vile custom has yielded to the influence of education and religion. 

 The agencies most effectual in such a district are those which partake of the nature 

 of guerilla warfare. Evening classes, ragged-schools, working men's clubs, lectures, 

 books of pleasant reading, short, pithy — these are the things which must influence 

 educationally the working population. The town missionary is the most efficient 

 pioneer, religiously. Much of such agency is now at work ; the thing ia how to 



