120 Sir Frederick Ahel [April 22, 



with material aid, to bo provided to young artizans who shall afford 

 some legitimate evidence of superior natural intelligence and a 

 striving after self-improvement, to enable them to abandon for a 

 time the duty of bread-winning, and to work at one or other of the 

 technical schools in London or the provincial centres, will be another 

 object to which the resources of the Im23erial Institute should be 

 applied very beneficially. Not only will the intelligent workman's 

 knowledge of the fundamental principles of his craft or trade be 

 thereby promoted ; his association in work and study with others 

 who are pursuing the acquisition of knowledge in different directions, 

 which at first seem to him alien to his personal pursuits and tastes, 

 but come in time to acquire interest or importance in his eyes, will 

 bring home to him the advantages of a wider and more comprehensive 

 scope of instruction, and the enlargement of his views regarding the 

 value and pleasure of knowledge will, in turn, exercise a favourable 

 influence in the same direction upon those with whom he afterwards 

 comes into contact. The cramping influence which the great sub- 

 division of labour, resulting from the development of mechanical, 

 physical, _and chemical science, is calculated to favour, must thus 

 become counteracted, and the workman will realise, that if he is to 

 rise above the level of the ordinary skilled labourer, mere dexterity 

 in the particular branch of that trade which he has made his calling 

 must be supplemented by an acquaintance with its cognate branches, 

 by some knowledge of the principles which underlie his work, and 

 by some familiarity with the trades allied to his calling. 



The importance of bringing technical instruction wdthin the reach 

 of the needy scholars of the lower middle class need not be dwelt 

 upon, and there can be no question that one of the most powerful 

 means of promoting the extension of technical education will be the 

 well organised administration of a really comprehensive system of 

 scholarships, to be judiciously utilised in connection with the well- 

 established colleges and schools of science and technics throughout 

 the country, in such proportions as to meet local requirements and 

 changing conditions. That a good foundation for such a system of 

 scholarships is likely ere long to emanate from the resources of the 

 Eoyal Commission of 1851, has already been officially indicated in 

 one of its reports ; may we not also hope that many will be found in 

 our Empire ready to follow the example of the late Sir Joseph Whit- 

 worth, and to act in emulation of the patriotism of those men w^ho, 

 by munificent donations or endowments in aid of the work of bringing 

 industrial education within the reach of all classes in the United 

 States, have helped to place our Cousins in the position to hold their 

 own and aspire to victory, in the war of industry ? The thoroughly 

 representative character which it is intended to maintain for the 

 governing body of the Imperial Institute, will secure the wise ad- 

 ministration by it of funds of this kind, dedicated to the extension 

 and perfection of national establishments for technical education, and 

 to the encouragement of its pursuit, in the ways above indicated, by 



