38o 



NATURE 



[February 14, 190J 



in the revenues of the College. In 1895, Mr. Fowler, his pre- 

 decessor, appointed a Conimittee to inquire into the financial 

 position of Coopers Hill, which unanimously reported that the 

 teaching staff of Cooper's Hill was out of all proportion to the 

 number of students they had to teach, but there was then no 

 inquiry made into the efficiency of the education given. 

 Shortly after he became Secretary of State for India he came 

 in contact with various members of the board of visitors, and he 

 was warned that the College was very far from being in a satis- 

 factory state, either as regards teaching or discipline, and that 

 the best thing would be to abolish the College altogether. He 

 declined to do that, and thought they ought to try to improve the 

 College before attempting to abolish it. Nine months after 

 Colonel Ottley became president of the College he pre- 

 sented a report in accordance with the instructions of the India 

 Office. The memorial asked for an inquiry by competent persons. 

 The inference rather was that whatever inquiry had been made 

 was inadequate and had not been made by competent persons. 

 His lordship quoted the names of the gentlemen forming 

 the board of visitors, and mentioned their various qualifi- 

 cations, adding that there had not been a change made 

 in the College that had not had the unanimous ap- 

 proval of the gentlemen to whom he had referred. 

 Those gentlemen had gone through every proposition made 

 to them, and it seemed to him a little unreasonable on the 

 part of Sir Douglas Fox to try to convey to the public what 

 passed at a meeting at which he was not present. The report 

 which Colonel Ottley made showed a very unsatisfactory state 

 of affairs at the College, and he (Lord George) was .=orry to 

 have to publish it. It was self-evident that the state of things 

 was such that they could not tolerate. The deputation had 

 come to him because they believed that one-half of the 

 teaching staff had been summarily dismissed. He was 

 afraid, therefore, he must detain them "by going through 

 each particular case. The reasons were so self-evident in 

 .each particular instance that he thought they would 

 all agree that the Council had no option but to do what they 

 had done. His lordship then gave details of the proposed 

 scheme of retrenchment, mentioning the names of Mr. Reiily, 

 Mr. Hurst and Prof. McLeod, and the gratuities and pension 

 granted them. He now came to the four displacements, which 

 were the result of changes that were to take place in the leach- 

 ing at Coopers Hill. He had no doubt it would surprise 

 gentlemen to learn that though electrical engineering had made 

 enormous progress in recent years, it was not an obligatory 

 subject at the College, and was hardly taught at all. They 

 proposed to make it a compulsory subject, and to bring in a 

 gentleman of high attainments from outside, who would be 

 assisted by the very best lecturers that could be obtained. These 

 changes necessitated the retirement of Mr. Stocker and Mr. 

 Shields, who would be compensated. The two cases which 

 were left were probably the most important of any of the 

 changes they proposed. Everybody who had looked into 

 the teaching at the College was of opinion that the right 

 course was to place the whole course of engineering in 

 the hands of one professor, with a competent assistant, 

 and that being so, they were bound to appoint to the post 

 the most competent professor for the position. That gentle- 

 man was Dr. A. W. Brightmore, and his appointment necessi- 

 tated the retirement of Mr. Hearson and Mr. Heath, to whom 

 pensions have been granted. The upshot of the whole matter 

 would be this — ^there would be an increase in the hours of 

 work in .class and lecture from twenty-six to thirty-two, that 

 the standard of the entrance examination would be raised, 

 electricity as a subject would be thoroughly taught, outside 

 examiners would be appointed, and the whole, course at 

 Coopers Hill would be brought, as far as practicable, 

 into accord with modern engineering requirements. He 

 had stated exactly the reasons and courses which had 

 induced them to take the action they had done, and 

 he thought they would see it was an impossibility for 

 them to reopen the subject, or have a fresh inquiry. 

 The noble lord went on to say : I often wonder how it comes 

 to pass that when we spend so much money on our educa- 

 tional system, which in every branch is the most expensive 

 in Europe, that we attain such unsatisfactory results. In every 

 newspaper devoted to education in recent years there have 

 been complaints by parents and others, pointing out the neces- 

 sity of improvements if we are to hold our own. What is the 

 main obstacle ? What is the great impediment to all educational 



NO. 1633, VOL. 63] 



reform ? I pass to a subject on which we shall all be in harmony 

 — the system of education prevalent in our public schools. I read 

 the other day an instructing report drawn up by a gentleman 

 who had thoroughly investigated the system of teaching in 

 force at the preparatory schools for the great public schools, and 

 this was his comment : — " That in these preparatory schools the 

 curriculum in force for boys of from twelve to thirteen is as 

 follows : Hours per week : Eleven for Latin, five for Greek, 

 three-quarters of an hour for English, two for history and geo- 

 graphy, three for French, and six for mathematics," and he goes 

 on to say that " this course of study is obviously faulty, though the 

 fault is not with the preparatory schoolmasters, who are quite alive 

 to the need of reform, and prepared to admit it when the public 

 schools, which in this country dejiend upon the Universities, will 

 allow them to do it." Why will not the Universities and public 

 schools allow this ancient and antiquated system to be changed? 

 Because the personal interests of those who teach classics stand 

 in the way, and if you come to me, then, in the interests of 

 scientific teaching for the future, are you not rather emphasising 

 and accentuating the difficulty that must always face educa- 

 tional reform if the personal interests of those who teach are 

 to be predominant over every other consideration ? And there 

 is another consideration which I think will come home 

 to you — that no college is worth maintaining unless discipline 

 and subordination can be infused into the students. I think 

 it is very unfortunate that these gentlemen began to 

 agitate in the way they did. The result has been that 

 the students of the Coopers Hill College have begun 

 to write to the newspapers, and I know of one very improper 

 letter that was repudiated by the older students. I am most 

 anxious to treat all the gentlemen at Coopers Hill College 

 with the utmost consideration, but I am quite determined — and 

 in that I express the unanimous opinion of the Council — that, 

 so long as we are responsible for Coopers Hill College, we are 

 determined to maintain discipline and subordination there. I 

 should be exceedingly sorry if you went away with the im- 

 pression that we had been harsh or discourteous or arbitrary 

 towards the gentlemen who are to be dismissed ; but we entered 

 into a contract which necessitated our giving them notice 

 if we wanted to dispense with their services. We are 

 compelled to give them notice, and I do not see how we could 

 have acted otherwise. I hope always to treat all gentlemen of 

 scientific attainments with the utmost consideration, and to pay 

 all attention to their wants ; but it must be self-evident to every- 

 body who dissociates himself from the subject under discussion, 

 that the Government cannot for a moment admit that any 

 gentleman who happens to be engaged in scientific teaching is 

 to have such vested interest in the permanence of the post he 

 holds that he is to hold it regardless of the terms or conditions 

 of the engagement into which he has entered. Such a position 

 is an impossible one, and, therefore, I cannot hold out to you any 

 hope of going back on the decision which has been conveyed to 

 these gentlemen. What we did we did deliberately, and after the 

 fullest examination, and after we had availed curselves of the ad- 

 vice of the best authorities at our disposal. Any suggestions that 

 may be made by the gentlemen before me with regard to ini- 

 proving the curriculum and time-table at Coopers Hill or en- 

 abling the president of the College and the board of visitors to 

 establish harmonious relations with the teaching staff will re- 

 ceive our most careful consideration. But we cannot undo 

 W'hat we have done, and, therefore, though the statements I 

 have made will not be satisfactory to you all, I cannot help 

 thanking you for the interest you have taken in Coopers Hill 

 College, and I hope that if ever it becomes again the subject 

 of dii-cussion between us, I shall be able to show that the 

 changes which we have made will result in improving the 

 utility of the College and bringing it fully up to modern re- 

 quirements. 



Lord Kelvin thanked the noble lord for his courtesy in re- 

 ceiving the deputation, but expressed disappointment at the 

 nature of his reply. 



The deputation then withdrew. 



NOTES. 

 Prof. J. A. Ewing, F.R.S., has been elected a member of 

 the Athenaeum Club under the provisions of the rule which 

 permits of the election of persons "of distinguished eminence 

 in science, literature, the arts or for public services." 



