During the past year the Endowment Fund has been increased to £5,000 by the Lady Howard de Walden, and the S. P. C. K., the Christain Faith Society, the Taylor Trustees, the Trustees of the late J. W. Cater, Esq., the Jamaica Church Ladies Association in England, and others have continued their generous donations. In addition to the above annual contributions are received from the various Churches in the Diocese. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND GRAMMAR SCHOOL, KINGSTON. THE object for which this School is founded is to provide a sound and liberal education, the religious element of which shall be based distinctly upon the teaching of the Church of England. The subjects taught include Religious Knowledge, English, Mathematics, Classics and French. Provision has also been made for instruction in Music, Drawing and Shorthand. Boys are prepared for-The Oxford and Cambridge Locals, the College of Preceptors, the Civil Service, South Kensington Science and Art Examinations, Foundation Scholarships at the Jamaica High School. The School year is divided into three terms-Lent Term beginning in January, Summer Term beginning in April, Michaelmas Term beginning in September. Ample facilities are provided for cricket and all other manly and healthy exercises. 66 over 12, £10 Patron-The Most Reverend the Lord Bishop of Jamaica. Head Master-Rev. M. C. Clare, T.C.D. Assistant Masters-Mr. J. Carew-Ware, B.A., Lond. Univ. Bursar-Rev. G. H. Thompson. Honorary Examiners-Mr. R. B. Strickland, B.A., T.C.D. Rev. J. Moody, B.A., Contab. Address-Rev. M. C. Clare, The School House, Church Street, Kingston. THE HEBREW NATIONAL INSTITUTION. FORMERLY there existed in the City of Kingston two public Jewish Schools supported respectively by the members of the two congregations established there. It was however determined to amalgamate them under the above designation and to depend for support upon the general community. It is fast approaching fifty years since this object was successfully accomplished, when the first Principal elected to direct the internal management was the late Henry Vendryes, Esq. The mode of government, well suited to the period when the Hebrew National Institution was established, was found to be unsuited to the present day; it was therefore determined to reorganize the School and to reform its management. This was successfully done and the School now has an average daily attendance of 25 children. The Institution has the sum of £1,000 invested in island debentures. Sr. Mary's Orphanage was established by the late Very Rev. Thomas Porter, S.J. There are about 20 children in it at present. It is the only Orphanage in the island, is exceedingly well managed and well worthy of public support. Within the grounds of Alpha Cottage are also two Denominational Industrial Schools. One is licensed by Government for 50 Girls, the other for 53 Boys. The inmates of all these Schools are taught what is usual in Elementary Schools, and the Girls learn strawplaiting, straw hat-making, house cleaning, cooking, washing, baking and the general duties of domestic service. In addition the cultivation of plants useful on small holdings is taught the Boys. When the Boys are sufficiently grounded in Elementary Education, it is proposed either to transfer them to a Farm School in the country where they will learn practical agriculture, and the trades more immediately connected with it or to apprentice them to trades before their time of committal expires. These Schools are under the charge of Sisters of Mercy most of whom have come over recently from London for this work. With regard to the results of the labours of these Sisters whose life is devoted to their work, we quote from the Official Reports of the Inspector of Schools, for 1892 and 1893 : "The Industrial School at Alpha Cottage has fully maintained its position as one "of the best managed Institution in the Island. It should be visited by everyone "who has anything to do with similar work elsewhere, and who desires to see what can be done with the most unpromising material. It is only quite recently that a "Boys' School has been started, but the Girls' School has been long in operation, "though of recent years it has been much enlarged. The Elementary School is re"markably successful, especially when we consider the mental condition of nearly all "the children on admission, whilst the needlework, &c., and the cultivation of flowers "and vegetables receive their due share of attention. The greatest credit is due to "the Nuns and all connected with the management. "The Schools at Alpha Cottage have continued to be conducted as admirably as "heretofore, and have elicited the warm commendation of the Inspector who exa. "mined them. The progress made by these little waifs and strays in elementary "education alone needs to be seen to be fully appreciated; whilst at the same time "the training of the hand and eye is not neglected. The Boys School is a compara❝tively recent addition, but it has commenced very satisfactorily, and will doubtless "be as successful as the older branch of the Institution. An excellent feature is a “drum and fife band, to which the boys naturally take with enthusiasm." At the Jamaica Exhibition, in 1891, a Gold Medal was awarded to the Schools at Alpha for Industrial Art Work. The same work gained a Diploma and Medal at the World's Fair in Chicago, 1893. PART IX. ECCLESIASTICAL AND RELIGIOUS, [On account of the increasing size of the Handbook it has been necessary to leave out the interesting accounts of the early history of the Churches, for which the reader is referred to the Handbook of 1891.] THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN JAMAICA. THE early history of the Church of England in Jamaica from its establishment in 1662 under the Deputy Governorship of Sir Charles Lytleton up to the year 1866, the time of the inauguration of Crown Government, has been published in previous numbers of the Jamaica Handbook, and to these the reader is referred for such information as he needs prior to the advent in Jamaica of Sir John Peter Grant. Law 30 of 1870, which was passed by the Legislative Council, "regulated the disestablishment and the gradual disendowment of the Church of England in this Island, and authorized a constitution to be formed for the future government of the Church on the voluntary principle; gave power to Her Majesty, whenever the proper time arrived, to incorporate by charter the duly appointed representatives of the Church Communion, after which incorporation the Governor would have the power to vest in such Corporate Body all Church property."* The Law also made provision "for the continuance of their stipends to those Clergymen upon the late Establishment who should continue in the due discharge of their ecclesiastical duties as members of the voluntary communion." The Law was framed on the Canadian and Irish precedents. A constitution was then drawn up, in which it was provided that the government of the Church should be vested in a Synod to consist of a Bishop, the Clergy and the Representatives of the Laity chosen by the registered male Communicants and by such of the Non-communicant Members as might declare themselves to belong to no other religious denomination. All Representatives to Synod were to be themselves Communicants. Provision was also made for the annual appointment of a Diocesan Council to consist of twelve Clergymen and twelve Laymen, "to advise and assist the Bishop in all matters connected with the administration of the Diocese, not specially committed to the management of the Financial Board." The Diocesan Financial Board was "to administer such central funds as may be committed to its control, and the revenues of Church property, according to such rules as the Synod may approve," and was to consist of the Bishop, the Archdeacons and Commissaries, the members of the Corporate Body and 13 elected members, one of whom was annually to be chosen by the Synod as Chairman of such Board. The Corporate Body (or rather the Incorporated Lay Body of the Church of England in Jamaica) was to hold the property and funds of the Church and to exercise all the other rights and duties required of them under the Law of Disestablishment, and was to consist of four Communicant Lay-members of the Church to be appointed by the Synod. * Sir John Grant's Blue Book Report for 1870. The management of the parochial or local affairs of the Church was placed in the hands of Church Committees, elected by those qualified to vote for Lay Representatives, and to consist of not more than twelve members, two-thirds of whom should be Communicants. The Clergyman of the Church to be served was given the power of nomination, and was made Chairman of the Committee when in session. Two Churchwardens were to be appointed for each Church from the elected Church Committee-one to be chosen by the Incumbent, the other by the Church Committee itself-and their duties were the care of the Church Buildings, Churchyards, and other Church property, the allocation of pews and sittings, and the preservation of order in the Churches. Bishop Courtenay retired in April, 1879, after a connection of a quarter of a century with the Diocese, and Dr. Tozer, formerly Missionary Bishop of Eastern Africa, was appointed as his successor; but Bishop Tozer, after six months' service, had to retire on account of ill-health. On the 16th July, 1880, a Special Synod was held for the election of another Bishop. The Rev. Enos Nuttall, B.D., the Incumbent of St. George's Church in Kingston, was chosen and was subsequently consecrated in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, on 28th October, 1880. Dr. Nuttall returned to the Colony on the 20th November, 1880, and immediately assumed his duties as Bishop of Jamaica. At a special Synod held on the 12th September, 1888, it was unanimously resolved" that the appointment of an Assistant Bishop was necessary to assist the Bishop of Jamaica, in consequence of the growth of the Diocese and the heavy work which its missionary character entails on him." The Synod thereupon proceeded to consider the appointment and having received a nomination of the Venerable Archdeacon Charles Frederick Douet, M.A., from His Lordship the Bishop, the question as to the confirmation of the nomination was put and unanimously agreed to. Archdeacon Douet proceeded to England and was consecrated a Bishop in Westminster Abbey on the 30th November. His Lordship returned to Jamaica on the 29th December, 1888, and assumed the duties of his office. In regard to the finances of the Church for 1893 it may be interesting to know that the receipts of money for all purposes paid into the credit of the Diocesan Church Fund for that year amounted to £20,506. In addition to this there was a balance of £3,477 in the Bank from 1892 and a further sum of £100 on Debenture account, making a total of £24,084. Under the head of Expenditure we find from the Report of the Diocesan Financial Board that for Episcopal Supervision the amount was £1,052. The Diocesan Expenses Fund shows an Expenditure of £1,411. This fund has no endowment and the whole expenditure has to be met by assessments on the Churches. It should, however, be borne in mind, that this fund contributes £100 each to the Clergy Pension Fund and a Special Clergy Pension Fund; £100 each for Removal Expenses of Clergy and Episcopal Travelling Allowance. The staff connected with the office, including Secretaries to the Bishop, Synod, Diocesan Council, Diocesan Financial Board, Diocesan Education Board, the Accountant, the Clerk and the Auditor, cost £560. The Contribution from this Fund to the "Jamaica Churchman" is £50. The other items of expenditure in this account comprise Law account, Printing, Postages, Stationery, Rent, Pension, Copying, Furniture, Books and Contingencies. The grants from the General Sustentation Fund to the amounted to £635 7s. 4d. poor Churches Later figures not yet available. Some portion of the money expended consists of grants made by societies. in England which now pass through the books of the Diocesan Financial Board, the appropriation of some of which is regulated by the Bishop of the Diocese. The great bulk of the expenditure goes to meet the salaries of the Clergy and Catechists and may roughly be stated at £12,000. The Capital Funds of the Church on 31st December, 1893, consisted of £51,200 in debentures, £531 Os. Od. in Government Savings Bank. Total, £51,731 Os. Od. |