328 OPENING OF THE ESSEX MUSEUM, ETC. 



going forth adequately equipped for the battle of life :> (Loud applause.) I 

 feel sure that in this district you will make the " scholarship ladder " become 

 a reality to the poor, and a strong step in this direction should be possible. 

 There is a powerful Co-operative Society in West Ham, and if they have 

 surplus money, why not spend it in scholarships for the children of Co- 

 operators to enable them to pass through the Technical Institute ? What a 

 splendid example they would be giving to the community. What Lord 

 Rosebery so aptly termed "The state within the state" should set the pace 

 for the greater state. The question should not, however, be left wholly even 

 to Co-operators (wealthy as these may be), but should be faced by the com- 

 munity as a whole ; and if it is to be well with England in the future we must 

 not neglect the cry of the child bread winners who go into the streets and 

 workshops with imperfectly developed bodies and minds, and who a few 

 years later are called upon to have a voice in controlling the destiny of the 

 Empire. Is it too much to hope that in the next few years the " leaving age " 

 shall be at least fifteen ? And that maintenance scholarships without com- 

 petition, say perhaps of ;^io a year for two years, shall be given to all children 

 who have passed through the standards in the elementary schools, and 

 who have reached a certain standard of efficiency ? This will be costlv 

 you will say, but all good things are worth pajing for. And out of 

 our immense wealth an adequate educational expenditure will surely evolve, 

 when people realise as they do more and more that an ignorant democracy is 

 our worst heritage to posterity. (Loud applause.) Being myself truly in 

 earnest in these questions, I have come to West Ham because I feel that 

 down here there are many who feel on the questions as deeply as I do ; and 

 try to throw light on many questions that are puzzling other districts. I read 

 some of your local papers, and I know how feeling runs high in West Ham. 

 I know that there are some who have the courage to give expression to 

 what they feel. I am here to help in the work of the great education 

 question, which means so much to the men and women of this country in the 

 future, and I am sure you are determined to place this class upon a more 

 serious basis, and that we shall no more have to consider other countries 

 ahead of us on this question. The educational question is the most serious 

 one of the social programme. I wish prosperity to the opening of this 

 Institute and Museum, and hope it might indeed prove most beneficial to the 

 district of West Ham and Stratford. (Loud applause.) 



At the conclusion of her address the Countess was presented with a 

 bouquet by Mrs. Page on behalf of the students at the Institute. 



Prof. Meldola said that by virtue of his antiquity as first President of 

 the Essex Field Club he had been asked to propose a vote of thanks to the 

 Countess of Warwick. As the resolution was of the nature of a self-evident 

 proposition he thought that no particular arguments were necessary to com- 

 mend it to their notice and that he might therefore afford to be a little 

 discursive. In the first place as a representative of the Essex Field Club he 

 took the opportunity of saying how deeply concerned they all were last 

 autumn to hear of the sad disaster which had befallen the Technical Institute, 

 and how rejoiced they were now to be present at this ceremony in celebration 

 of its restoration. He thought that such Institutes had a great future before 



