Annual Report of the Hebrew National Institution of Kingston, Jamaica,

We, the committee appointed to prepare the report of this invaluable Institution, beg to lay before the subscribers the result of our labours, in the performance of which we have experienced commingled feelings of pain and satisfaction; pain at the great decline in the pecuniary support rendered to it, and satisfaction at the religious, moral, and educational improvement of the recipients.

The Financial Position of the Institution, as set forth in the accompanying statement, clearly shows how strictly the directors have studied economy. Withal, the Institution has barely met its contingencies, although the necessary appointment of Head Master remains in abeyance.

The following statistical returns will place before the subscribers the position of the Institution, since its establishment:

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These facts, we hope, will again rouse the sympathy and secure the support of the truly charitable, particularly when

The Educational Department shows how flattering were the results of the last examination, the same having elicited, from all present, unqualified approbation towards both Teachers and Pupils.

By the annual report of the school it appears that in March, 1850, forty-six children were receiving the benefits of education; since then, five, having attained the age limited by law, have (with credit to them­selves) left the school; three have been withdrawn; and one only fell a victim to the late fearful epidemic; four others have completed, their education, and are on the eve of leaving. In all cases the directors have been sedulous in obtaining immediate situations for them. One boy is now an assistant teacher at the Seminary of the Rev. H. S. Jacobs; two are being apprenticed to tailors; and for the others, equally eligible situations are being sought. The girls are chiefly learning needlework and dress-making, whilst one, creditably, conducts a school for children. These pleasing accounts show, evidently, the great usefulness of the Institution, which, during the year, has admitted eleven pupils, and now numbers forty-eight. Other children are desirous of entering, though nod sufficient to complete the legal number of sixty. The only hindrance to the regular attendance of the pupils, at School and Synagogue, is the want of sufficient clothing, which can only be met by the liberality of the subscribers; but it is contemplated (should the patronage of the public warrant it) to establish, in connection with the Institution, An Industrial School, the <<161>> proceeds of which, whilst meeting its own liabilities, might provide clothing for the pupils.

In laying before the members the unsatisfactory pecuniary position of the Institution, we have but performed our obligation; still we feel it our duty to add that the past year has presented many and unprecedented drawbacks—particularly that of the devastating epidemic, which, for the time, paralysed the energies of all, produced injury to commerce, and, consequently, proved detrimental to the collection of the subscriptions and donations. To this can be added the fact, that the teachers and many of the recipients suffered from the dreadful scourge, either in person, or by losses in their families; yet we have pleasure in recording that, during the whole period of the raging of the cholera, the School was not only open, but fairly attended.

In conclusion, we again appeal to the public generally, but to our Jewish brethren especially, for their continued support;—feeling assured that, whilst England is seizing the great question of Education with so strong a hand, the Jews of Jamaica will never look passively on, or neglect the duties they owe to their own Institutions, particularly when Religious Education has ever been their shield against prejudice, tyranny, and oppression; but, independently of this, we have the Divine injunction—“The poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore, I command thee saying—Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy;” and as “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” let us “Train up a child in the way he should go”—so that “when he is old he will not depart from it.”

B. J. FRANKLIN.      SOLOMON MELHADO.
GEORGE DELGADO.  ISAAC LAWTON,
HENRY S. JACOBS,

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. Treasurer's Account for Year Ending March, 1851.

B. A. FRANKLIN, Treasurer.

Kingston, March 27th, 1851.