482 



NA TURE 



{March 27, 1890 



institutions. Now it is important that in a new departure 

 like that which it is proposed to make at Battersea we 

 should not blindly follow in the rut of any one existing 

 institution, and the only way to avoid this is to profit by 

 the experience of other technical institutes in various 

 parts of the country. Mr. Plumbe quotes the Report (now 

 nearly six years old) of the Royal Commission on Technical 

 Instruction, but many of the more important provincial 

 schools have sprung up since that date, and the Com- 

 mission on Elementary Education to which he refers only 

 dealt with elementary schools. He is consequently led 

 to the very doubtful conclusion that provincial schools 

 offer no example for London because of the " thorough- 

 ness and great cost of the education given (which 

 further required the whole time of the pupils for a num- 

 ber of years)." " I have not," he continues, " thought it 

 necessary to spend any further time on the examination 

 of buildings of this character, particularly as I found 

 those of most experience with whom I conferred on the 

 subject were distinctly of my opinion." 



Who these experts were we are not told, but the above 

 remarks are scarcely applicable to such technical schools 

 as those at Bradford, Huddersfield, Keighley, Manchester, 

 Bristol, and other large centres, which are doing for the 

 artisan population of those districts much the same service 

 as is expected from the Battersea Institute. 



Whether instruction be elementary or advanced, 

 whether it be intended for masters or for workmen, it 

 ought to be " thorough," and thoroughness implies to 

 some extent costliness. " To educate the industrial 

 classes on a large scale at a comparatively nominal 

 cost '" is an attempt which looks better on paper than in 

 practice. 



And this brings us to the question of the financial aspect 

 of the scheme. Mr. Plumbe states that his estimate of the 

 cost of a given amount of accommodation is based on a me- 

 morandum by Mr. H. Cunynghame, in which he calculates 

 that the building, including land, &c., ought to be erected 

 and fitted up for ^ii per student or member and that the 

 cost of annual maintenance, in addition to fees and 

 grants, will amount to 15.?. per head per annum. This 

 estimate is naturally considered by Mr. Plumbe to be 

 " moderate in the extreme." It is much to be desired 

 that the basis of Mr. Cunynghame's calculation should be 

 made public, so that the materials should exist for the 

 formation of a sound judgment thereon. 



As regards the cost of building, all depends of course 

 on the kind of building proposed ; but it would be 

 melancholy, indeed, if an institution directly designed 

 to elevate the ideas and refine the taste of the population 

 of dismal and ugly South London, were to be housed in 

 a building " of the plainest and most utilitarian character " 

 —to say nothing of the quality of materials used in its 

 construction. 



But from an educational point of view an even more 

 important consideration is the necessary amount of en- 

 dowment. The allowance of 15^'. a head, "including 

 repairs and maintenance," seems very meagre, if fees are 

 to be low, and at the same time first-class teaching power 

 and management are to be secured, and paid for. To 

 base an estimate on the current expenses of the Regent 

 Street Polytechnic is to run the risk of serious error, for it 

 is well-known that much of the work of organization and 



direction has there been performed gratis, or at far below 

 market value, thanks to the enthusiasm of a few devoted 

 workers. Can the Committees of the new Institutes call 

 into existence a similar amount of enthusiasm among men 

 of leisure and means in connection with each of the pro- 

 posed Institutes (not, be it remembered, of a religious 

 character), which will justify them in relying on being 

 permanently saved the bulk of the expenses of manage- 

 ment ? If not, it is clear that a good deal will have to 

 be added to the estimate of 15^. a head. 



Another matter which is of importance from a financial 

 point of view is the question of the position to be occu- 

 pied by the day-school with respect to other sections of 

 the new Institute. On this point, the language of the 

 Commissioners' scheme is vague almost to the point of 

 unintelligibility. There are evident advantages in utiliz- 

 ing the Polytechnic buildings in the day-time for the pur- 

 pose of a school which may afterwards serve as a feeder 

 to the evening classes. But it should be an organic part 

 of the Institute ; not a mere appendage, the existence of 

 which may be tolerated so long as it interferes with no 

 other department of work and claims no share in the 

 endowment. Yet such seems to be the present intention 

 of the Charity Commission, so far as we can gather 

 from their published statements. The language of Mr. 

 Plumbe's Report confirms this conclusion, against which 

 it is time to record an emphatic protest. In our opinion, 

 the day-school, if properly conducted, should ultimately 

 become the corner-stone of the whole educational work 

 of the Institute, for much more systematic teaching can 

 be done in the case of boys working all their time than 

 can be hoped for with students devoting a couple of 

 evenings a week to instruction and recreation. Doubt- 

 less, in Regent Street a secondary school can be made 

 self-supporting, and even profitable, by its fees ; but such 

 an attempt would be undesirable, and indeed impossible, 

 in the case of a school for the " poorer classes " in a poor 

 district. A high-fee'd school might perhaps fill itself at 

 the expense of emptying other schools in the neighbour- 

 hood, but it would not fill the gap which wants filling. 

 Under these circumstances, to condemn the day-school 

 to pay its way is to condemn it to become a mere grant- 

 earning machine, neglecting all subjects which do not 

 pay, and constructing its curriculum strictly on the lines 

 of the South Kensington Directory. What is wanted is 

 a good modern school with a low fee, and a large number 

 of scholarships for competition among the scholars of j 

 elementary schools. But such a school cannot be made f 

 self-supporting, and the Battersea Committee would do 

 well to induce the Charity Commissioners, before it is 

 too late, to recognize this fact frankly in the scheme 

 which they are about to draw. 



Again, we should be glad to know how wide a margin 

 Mr. Cunynghame's estimate allows for the cost of what 

 we may term " local adaptation." For example, in Mr. 

 Plumbe's list of local industries we find chemical works, j 

 match factories, and gas-works. From this it would seem j 

 that there is room for the teaching of chemistry in its | 

 application to various industries. But such instruction, 

 though it is one of the chief objects with which the 

 technical side of the Institute is started, must involve extra 

 cost, for it will not produce grant ; and Mr. Plumbe's 

 conclusion from his inquiry, that the " science and art 



