vin TECHNICAL EDUCATION 207 



discussed, and is now about to be carried out so 

 as to form a " School" of the reorganised University 

 of London. 



On the 1 3th of January, 1 893, I gave an address at the 

 request of the Technical Instruction Committee of the 

 Essex County Council at Chelmsford on Technical 

 Instruction in Agricultural Counties with special refer- 

 ence to Science-teaching. In this address I pointed 

 out a fact which has both before and since been en- 

 dorsed, that after all education is the only, or at any 

 rate the most potent, factor in the cure of agricultural 

 depression in the country. One of the speakers at 

 the meeting, a clergyman, expressed dissatisfaction, 

 saying that they wanted an immediate cure. I sup- 

 pose he meant a proposal such as the impost of a 

 duty on foreign corn. This, of course, I could not 

 advocate, as I believe that Free Trade is a bless- 

 ing to this country, and that in other countries the 

 higher they extend the duties on imports the more 

 they suffer. 



I frequently expressed the opinion of the necessity 

 of the appointment of a Minister of Education, of 

 Cabinet rank. We have recently seen the appoint- 

 ment of a Minister of Agriculture, who has a seat in 

 the Cabinet. Surely the subject of the education of 

 the people is not a less important one than that of 

 the improvement ot our crops and herds, and the 

 presence in the Cabinet of a real educationist is 

 the only means of securing that attention to educa- 

 tion which we feel is bestowed upon it in all other 

 civilised countries in the world. That such a step has 

 been taken (1906) by the appointment of Mr. Birrell 

 as Minister of Education with a seat in the Cabinet 

 will be welcomed by all supporters of educational 

 progress. 



