vin TECHNICAL EDUCATION 191 



attempt to describe them here at any length. Every- 

 where we were received with the greatest hospitality 

 and kindness ; we were scarcely ever denied access or 

 refused information, though our inquiries extended not 

 only to the schools and educational institutions, but 

 also to the industrial establishments in the various 

 commercial and manufacturing centres both at home 

 and abroad, our object being to ascertain how far the 

 systematic education given to the workmen, to the 

 overseers or foremen, and to the masters abroad, and 

 the comparative lack of a system at home, told in 

 favour of the industrial progress of continental nations 

 and against that progress with us. The evidence we 

 gathered from all quarters abroad, from manufacturers 

 and workmen alike, showed us that the beneficial effect 

 of technical-school training upon industry was univers- 

 ally admitted ; and our visits proved that the sums of 

 money voted by both State and municipality were far 

 in excess of what were then applied to British 

 education. 



In proof of this a few instances will suffice. In 

 Switzerland, for example, the sums of money spent 

 on education appeared to us in those days to be some- 

 thing extraordinary when measured by the standards 

 at home. Thus, an elementary school in the Lindischer 

 Platz in Zurich cost ,43,000, which amounts to 66 

 per head of the children instructed. We think 12 

 per head in England an excessive price ! Irregularity 

 of attendance among the children there is practically 

 unknown ; they all learn one foreign language ; they 

 are all taught drawing, and they have object lessons in 

 natural history. In the higher classes they are instructed 

 in the rudiments of chemistry and physics. Great 

 pains are taken to place before the children well- 

 arranged specimens contained in the school museum. 



