September 20, 19 17] 



NATURE 



59 



Cambridge Syndicate for Local Examinations, Mr. 

 J. H. Flathe'r; University of Bristol, Sir Isambard 

 Owen; Universitv of Durham, Dr. W. H. Hadow; 

 University of London, Dr. R. M. Walmsley; 

 Northern' Universities Joint Matriculation Board, Sir 

 Alfred Dale, Prof. B. M. Connal, and Miss S. A. Bur- 

 stall; County Councils Association, Mr. H. Mellish, 

 C.B., and Dr. H. Lloyd Snape ; Association of Muni- 

 cipal Corporations, Mr. Councillor Davison and Mr. 

 J. G. Legge; Association of Education Committees (not 

 yet appointed) ; Teachers' Registration Council, Mr. P. 

 Abbott, Miss F. M. Gadesden, Miss E. S. Lees, Mr. G. 

 Sharpies, and Mr. A. A. Somerville. For the present 

 Mr. Christopher Cookson and Miss M. Kennedy, H.M. 

 inspector, will act as secretary and assistant secretary. 

 All communications on the subject of secondary-school 

 examinations should be addressed to the Secretary, 

 Board of Education, Victoria and Albert Museum, Ex- 

 hibition Road, South Kensington, London, S.W.7, 

 and the envelope should be marked " Examinations 

 Council." 



We have received a syllabus of the evening techno- 

 logical courses offered by the Leeds University, together 

 with a list of scholarships and fellowships held in the 

 University. The technological courses include civil and 

 mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, coal- 

 mining, textile industry, colour chemistry and dyeing, 

 leather industry, and geology applied to sanitary and 

 civil engineering. The courses are co-ordinated with 

 those of the City Council's evening classes, and stu- 

 dents under twenty-two years are required to have 

 taken a preliminary course in a technical school and 

 to have reached a certain standard of proficiency before 

 entering the University. The object is to ensure that 

 they shall derive full advantage from the more ad- 

 vanced teaching. In all the courses practical instruc- 

 tion forms an essential feature, and is carried out in 

 buildings specially designed and equipped for the pur- 

 pose. Of the scholarships, the value of which varies 

 from 20Z. to 40/. a year, tenable for two or three years, 

 twelve in arts, science, or technology are awarded 

 on the result of the examination of the Joint Matricu- 

 lation Board, and about the same number by special 

 examination or selection, in addition to which the local 

 authority provides a number of scholarships in different 

 branches of study. Among those specially allotted to 

 technology are the Corbett Woodall scholarship in gas 

 engineering (50Z) ; the William Cooke and Co. in min- 

 ing (21L); the William Walker exhibition in fuel and 

 leather (7o/.-9oi.); the Craven scholarship in engineer- 

 ing (25^.); and a number of Clothworkers' scholarships 

 in the textile industry. 



The President of the Board of Education is deliver- 

 ing a series of addresses in various provincial towns 

 with the object of explaining the Government's inten- 

 tions in introducing the new Education Bill in the 

 House of Commons. On September 14, at York, Mr. 

 Fisher insisted that we cannot get good education 

 without good teachers, and we cannot get these 

 teachers unless we are prepared to pay for them ; and 

 to this end a large additional sum of money has been 

 recently voted by Parliament for elementary education. 

 In proceeding, he explained that it is proposed to ex- 

 tend the facilities for obtaining education. A full- 

 time education up to the age of fourteen is to be 

 insisted upon, and part-time day continuation classes 

 for all young people except those who have obtained 

 full-time secondary education up to the at?e of sixteen, 

 or are otherwise under instruction. The Bill, the 

 President went on to say, provides for very great 

 elasticity and adaptation to local requirements. The 

 education authorities will be expected to prepare 

 schemes, and will be given a liberal allowance of time 

 for their preparation, but will be required to consult 

 NO. 2499, VOL. 100] 



I the industrial interests of their localities. On Septem- 

 j ber 15, at Sheffield, Mr. Fisher again referred to the 

 I education of boys and girls from fourteen to eighteen 

 ' years of age. It would, he said, be a disgrace if the 

 I country came to the conclusion that some form of 

 I education for its adolescents was a good thing, but it 

 was not prepared to disburse what is spent m thirty 

 I hours of war. The war has taught us that the nation 

 I is rich enough and powerful enough to pay for any- 

 thing that it really wants. The Education Bill also, 

 he pointed out, contains a large number of clauses 

 devoted to the subject of physical and social education ; 

 for the first time it provides for a national system of 

 physical training for young people. He expressed the 

 I belief that if the Bill passed into law it would prove 

 ! to be one of the most powerful instruments ever in- 

 vented for the furtherance of national health and 

 physique. 



The Headmasters' Conference this year held its 

 i annual meeting in the summer holidays on September 

 i 12 and 13 at the City of London School. Dr. David, 

 1 of Rugby, presided, and the first subject discussed was 

 the report of the Royal Commission on the Public Ser- 

 vices in India, as a result of which the following 

 resolution was adopted unanimously : — "That this con- 

 ference regrets, on educational grounds, the recom- 

 mendation of the Royal Commission on Public Ser- 

 , vices in India that the age limits for the examination 

 be lowered from twenty-two to twenty-four to seven- 

 teen to nineteen. If, however, the Government decides 

 to lower the age, the conference strongly urges that in 

 ! the educational interest of the candidates, and of other 

 I boys taught with them, no candidate be admitted to 

 the examination under the age of eighteen, nor with- 

 I out a ' school certificate ' or some similar qualification." 

 ! Another resolution dealt with the new Secondary- 

 I School Examinations Council, on which no headmaster 

 i of a secondary school has yet been appointed. The 

 resolution stated" "That this conference is of opinion 

 that the representation of teachers in schools should 

 be not less than that of universities on the proposed 

 ' Secon lary-School Examinations Council." The age 

 at which pupils may be transferred from one secondary 

 school to another 'was discussed. It was generally 

 agreed that a group of schools may with advantage 

 ' specialise on particular groups of subjects for higher 

 ! study, so that a boy destined for an advanced arid 

 specialised course may, at a later age, be taught in 

 \ classes not too small. ' But it was thought to be essen- 

 : tial that the change of school should be made at or 

 i before the age of fourteen. It was agreed "That the 

 ' regulations of the Board of Education (Explanatory 

 Note, Section III.) need modification or supplement, 

 i in so far as they seem to- suggest transference of 

 ■ pupils at or about sixteen from one secondary school 

 to another, experience having already shown that such 

 transferences, unless made at a considerably earlier 

 age, involve great educational loss to the pupil." Papers 

 I were read on the teaching of science in secondary 

 schools, and the increase of epidemic disease in board- 

 ing-schools was among other subjects down for dis- 

 cussion. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 New South Wales. 

 Royal Society, July 4.— Dr. A. L. du Toit : The 



problem of the great Australian artesian basin. 

 The artesian v aters are regarded as compo- 

 site residual, plutonic, and rainfall of an earlier 



epoch. The bulk of the residual water (Meso- 

 zoic) is considered to have been replaced by alka- 

 line waters fed in at the sub-basaltic outcrops as well 

 as from below, being evolved 1)\ , or derived from, 



