Nicholas Vansittart, who, during his visit to Ireland, gave this strong testimony of the interest which he took in the welfare of your Society.

The zeal and activity with which the interests of your Society have been advocated, by the Two Associations of Ladies in Bath, have continued undiminished. From the Association of English Ladies the sum of £59. 3s. British has been received, and from the Association of Irish Ladies the sum of £49. British, and £6. Irish currency. An opportunity having occurred of submitting your Reports to the perusal of Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth, during her visit at Bath, Her Royal Highness was pleased to enrol her name among the Contributors to your funds.

In Shropshire, the same zealous exertions which were acknowledged in last year's Report, have been continued with a perseverance and kindness which call for your warmest gratitude the sum of £55. 12s. British has been received.

To the benevolent and active exertions of a Lady in Bristol, your Committee are indebted for the sum of £48. British, the amount of contributions collected by her. Your Committee have learned that these kind exertions still continue, and that further donations may be expected.

From Hull, in Yorkshire, your Committee have received the sum of £34. 6s. British; and from Knaresborough, in the same County, the sum of £18. British. In these places also, your friends are most active and persevering, and deserve your sincerest thanks. Several sums have likewise been paid into the hands of Messrs Puget, Bainbridge and Co. in London; and from the British and Foreign Bible Society a very liberal and acceptable donation has been received of 250 Bibles and 2,500 Testaments. The continuance of the approbation of this revered Society renders their liberality the more gratifying.

In Scotland the circulation of your Reports and the exertions of your friends have excited a strong and permanent feeling of interest in your success. Notwithstanding the large demands upon them to supply the means of instruction to a considerable

The sum of £8. Os. 6d. British has been received, in addition to the above sum of £55. 12s. British, on account of Subscriptions from Shropshire, making in the whole the sum of 468. 12s. 6d. received during the last year. This sum will be acknowledged in the Report for next year.

body of their own countrymen, their disinterested benevolence has extended the following liberal aid to the funds of your Society:

Edinburgh Society for the Education of the

£. s. d.

Poor of Ireland, Two grants of £30. each 60 0 0 British. Perthshire Bible Society, Two grants of

£25. each

...... 15 0 0 do.

25 0 0 do.

25 0 0 do.

Paisley Youths' Society for religious purposes (including a donation of £3. 10s. from the Paisley Female Sabbath Evening Class) East Lothian Bible Society................ Paisley and East Renfrewshire Bible Society...... Paisley Female Bible Society. ....... 10 0 0 do. Paisley Hibernian Society.................. 6 6 o do. The Glasgow Auxiliary Bible Society has, through the British and Foreign Bible Society, sent Bibles and Testaments to the amount of.......................................

50 0 0 do.*

Your Committee are well aware that Ireland possesses many claims on the benevolence of the Sister Island: they feel how materially the religious or irreligious principles, and the moral or immoral habits of her population, must affect the welfare of the United Empire. The peculiar difficulties which heré oppose the progress of Religious Education, and the want of native resources to overcome these obstacles, the comparative state of infancy of such institutions in this Country, all com bine a forcible appeal upon the benevolence of Great Britain; and your Committee exult with gratitude in having to recrd such convincing proofs that the appeal has not been made in vain.

Your Committee have now to report the state of their funds, arising from exertions at home.

On the 1st of March, the Annual Charity Sermon was * Advice has been received that a donation of Bibles and Testaments has been transmitted from the Kilmarnock Bible Association.

B

preached in St. Andrew's Church, by the Rev. J. R. Cotter,' A. B. and a collection made, which, with donations, amounted to £174. 16s. 10d. To Mr. Cotter your Committee feel that your cause is much indebted, and that the energy and warmth with which he endeavoured to impress on his very respectable auditory the peculiar benefits resulting from your Society, justly demand your sincerest thanks.

Your Committee have also to acknowledge the gratitude which is due to their Excellencies the Lord Lieutenant and the Countess Talbot, for their having consented to attend at that Sermon, and for their liberal benefaction on the occasion.

The Dublin Ladies' Auxiliary Association have continued their useful exertions, and have paid into the hands of your Treasurers the sum of £46. 4s. 113d.

The Annual Subscriptions have not exceeded in amount the receipts of the former year, while the demands upon your funds have_increased in an unprecedented manner, and still promise, from the great accession of Schools, a more than proportionate increase. Under these circumstances the Committee did not deem it advisable to increase their stock and their issue of Bibles, which, if extended in the case of one, must necessarily be followed by a similar extension in the case of each School, thus involving the Society in an expenditure which would soon absorb the whole of the balance in hand, and more than double the annual demands upon the Society; they have therefore followed the prudent example of their Predecessors, of leaving a balance in their Treasurers' hands—a measure which not only provides against the very casual nature of the income of your Society, but also enables its Managers to procure on more advantageous terms the several articles of its expenditure, by purchasing them for ready money.

Your Committee, in the commencement of their Report, stated that a considerable addition had been made to the number of the Schools; they would now proceed to the following details, which will more distinctly convey to the friends of the. Society a just estimate of its prosperity.

Instead of 439 Schools, containing 51,410 Scholars, which

had received assistance from the Society up to the month of April, 1817, the number of Schools assisted by the Society is now 554, containing, by the last Returns, 59,888 Scholars. The increase, therefore, during the last year, has been 115 Schools, and 8,478 Scholars. Of the above number of 554 Schools, 32, containing 2,069 Scholars, have failed.

Within the past year gratuitous assistance has been af forded to 265 Schools (of which 150 had received grants in former years) in Money and Books, as follows, viz :—993 Bibles-7311 Testaments-7270 Spelling-Books, No. 1.7394 Spelling-Books, No. 2.-295 Hints for conducting Sunday Schools-4,699 Alphabets, and £63. 1s. 6d. in money. Exclusive of the above, the following Books have been sold at reduced prices to the Conductors of Sunday Schools, who had either before received gratuitous assistance during the year, or who were unwilling to draw from the funds of the Society: viz:-85 Bibles-661 Testaments-3768 SpellingBooks, No. 1.-2438 Spelling-Books, No. 2.-13 Hints for conducting Sunday Schools, and 916 Alphabets.

The following books have been granted to the Schools gratuitously since the formation of the Society, viz:-3,580 Bibles-27,445 Testaments-33,683 Spelling-Books, No. 1. -32,485 Spelling-Books, No. 2.-889 Hints for conducting Sunday Schools-21,391 Alphabets, and £373. 8s. 6d. in money.

The following books have been sold at reduced prices within the same period, viz:-186 Bibles-2,204 Testaments-15,528 Spelling-Books, No. 1.-12,978 SpellingBooks, No. 2.-51 Hints for conducting Sunday Schools, and 3,098 Alphabets.

The following statement will enable the Public to form a just idea of the increase of the number of Schools connected with your Society in each year since its establishment:

In 1810, grants were made

to 2 Schools.

In 1811, to 42 Schools which had not before applied.

In 1814-15, to 77 Schools which had not before applied.

making the total before stated, of 554 Schools, containing 59,888 Scholars.

The following enumeration of the dates at which the Schools were first established, taken from the Reports of the Memorials furnished by their Conductors, proves the encouragement which the influence of the Society has given to the establishment of new Schools.

by which it will appear that, out of 554 Schools which have received assistance from the Society, 503 Schools have been established since 1809, the date of the commencement of the Society.

The expenditure of your Society has been necessarily increased, not only by the additional number of grants to so many new Schools, but by the extended correspondence which has been in consequence occasioned. This increased correspondence with the Country, and increasing communica tion with every part of the United Empire-the enlarged business of the Office, with the growing influence of your Society in general, rendered it necessary, so long since as the month of May last, to augment your Establishment by the addition of another Clerk. Upon the circumstances which have called for this addition the Committee have also to congratulate the Society.

Your Committee have derived much advantage in the ar