October 28, 1897] 



NATURE 



629 



bureaucratic administration which, taking a careful survey of 

 ihe educational and industrial needs, places the schools here or 

 there as circumstances require, brings them into mutual relation, 

 supplies ample means, and effectively assists without loss of 

 lime the industrial advance. Something may be lost of 

 •' freedom, variety, and elasticity," and that loss may ultimately i 

 be serious in its effect upon individual initiative, upon which we ; 

 as a nation so confidently rely. Which is the better policy the 

 future can alone determine. It may, however, be safely 

 asserted, that it is high time the effort was made in this country 

 to give to our youth the educational advantages, general and | 

 special, which are enjoyed by their rivals abroad. 



Exception has sometimes been taken to the size and cost \ 

 of the new building now being erected by the Technical \ 

 Instruction Committee for the Municipal Technical School, j 

 but your deputation have returned from their visit doubly con- 

 firmed in their conviction that every foot of space will be 

 needed, and that even when fully utilised and equipped it will 

 fail to rival in amplitude of resource the splendid industrial j 

 schools of Germany and Switzerland. • | 



The report, of which the above is a summary, was presented 

 to the Manchester City Council on Wednesday, October 20, j 

 when the following interesting discussion, abridged from the I 

 Manchester Guardian, took place upon it : — | 



Mr. Alderman Hoy, Chairman of the Technical Instruction | 

 Committee, moved the adoption of the report. The report, he ! 

 said, contained the latest information as to the developments of 

 technical instruction upon the continent, in the countries named, j 

 in respect of certain specific industries, more especially textile j 

 manufactures, dyeing and finishing, and electrical engineering, 

 and, generally, what was being done in these countries under 

 the name of technical education. It was to this point, and to 

 this alone, that he wished to draw the Council's attention. The 

 term " technical education," as generally used in this country, 

 was much abused. It would appear to mean anything, as occa- 

 sion might require, from an evening continuation school for 

 teaching the elements of cookery or the practice of sewing and 

 cutting-out, up to an institution designed to give the highest 

 form of specialised scientific instruction. No doubt the grant 

 of funds from the Exchequer, under the provisions of the 

 Technical Instruction Act, and the vague and general definition 

 of the objects of the Act, contributed to this loose interpretation 

 of the phrase and to the application of the money in aid of 

 f almost every form of instruction. Let him give the definition 

 of the phrase as understood in the Manchester Municipal Tech- 

 nical School : — " The chief object of the Technical School is to 

 provide instruction in the principles of those sciences which l)ear 

 directly or indirectly upon our trades and industries, and to show 

 by experiment how these principles may be applied to their 

 advancement." This object was carried out in two ways — 

 first, by day instruction ; second, by evening instruction. As 

 with the country generally, evening teaching was at present by 

 far the most important in point of the numbers taught and range 

 of subjects, the numbers in the daytime being only the merest 

 fraction of those in attendance at night. The object of the even- 

 ing student was to supplement the practice of his daily occu- 

 pation by an attempt to study and to understand the scientific 

 principles which underlie it, in the hope of increasing his effi- 

 ciency as a workman. Without doubt this was a most desirable 

 object, and the schools which provided such instruction and 

 those who took advantage of it, often under conditions re- 

 quiring the greatest sacrifice of time and strength, deserved the 

 highest praise. Nevertheless, important and valuable as was 

 the provision made in this country for evening scientific and 

 technical instruction, and useful as it undoubtedly was to the 

 artisans who with .scant educational equipment endeavoured to 

 profit by it, it could not, when regarded from the wider view of 

 I the serious industrial and commercial competition among the 



I leading nations of the world, be accepted as satisfactory or as 



sufficient to enable this country to maintain its position, especi- 

 ally in those industries where scientific knowledge and training 

 were indispensable factors. Thus the efforts of the chief con- 

 tinental nations were directed to the highest scientific training 

 of those who were ultimately to become the leaders and 

 organisers of the great scientific industries. The main point of 

 interest in the report now presented would be found, therefore, 

 I to lie in the emphasis (only faintly indicative of the real extent 



f and wealth of equipment and teaching power which was ob- 



served) laid upon the abundance of the provision for scientific 



NO. 1 46 1, VOL. 56] 



instruction to day students preparing to enter upon industrial 

 pursuits, and its quite extraordinary development within the 

 past few years. In every industrial centre new buildings were 

 rising, old institutions were being enlarged, and their equipment 

 increased in order to keep pace with the demand for better and 

 more advanced training in science and art, with a view to in- 

 dustrial and commercial advancement. The advance in scientific 

 knowledge of the past half-century had changed the conditions 

 of the industrial problem, and had gone far to equalise the 

 struggle for industrial supremacy, or at least was tending to 

 make countries once dependent upon us for supplies of manu- 

 factured goods more self-contained and self-supporting, and even 

 to enable them to meet us in open markets. It was a case of 

 steam dependent upon abundant coal supplies z'^rj?/j electricity de- 

 pendent upon abundant water power. Germany had already found 

 her reward in her command of the market for products requiring 

 the aid of the highest scientific skill in chemistry, due entirely 

 to the existence of her schools, and what she had done in the 

 domain of chemistry she hoped confidently she would do in that 

 of electricity also. The future of the manufacturing industry 

 depended entirely upon the application of the highest scientific 

 skill and experience in developing natural resources and pro- 

 ducts, and those nations which realised the truth of this and 

 provided for the training of the leaders and organisers of industry 

 would surely win the day. Nothing struck the English visitor 

 to Germany more than the extraordinarily large number of well- 

 educated young men in the day departments of foreign technical 

 schools, clearly pointing to the recognition of the value of 

 scientific training as the chief element and necessity for industrial 

 efficiency and success. The report now presented was not 

 written with any idea of depreciating the value or skill ancf 

 efficiency of the English workman, but with the aim of showing 

 how much more efficient would be the result of his efforts if 

 directed by leaders and managers who were themselves thoroughly 

 trained in the principles of science and of art in their application, 

 to the industries in which they were engaged. Without doubt 

 we had the finest race of workmen in the world. Their fine 

 qualities wuuld be improved by education, and their opportunities 

 of advancing to the front rank of leaders and managers in our 

 great and varied industries would be well served by the facilities 

 now increasing on every hand in every industrial centre of the 

 country through the operations of the Technical Instruction Act, 

 and he, as one of their sincere well-wishers, trusted that they 

 would take full advantage of the facilities thus freely offered. 



Mr. Alderman Crosfield, deputy-chairman of the Technical 

 Instruction Committee, in seconding the motion, mentioned 

 that the deputation was accompanied by Mr. Charles Rowley 

 and by Mr. Reynolds, director of technical education, both of 

 whom showed great interest and enthusiasm in the subject. 

 The deputation found that since the deputation from the Corpor- 

 ation, headed by Mr. Alderman Rawson, went to the continent 

 some years ago very great progress had been made, particularly 

 in Germany. The paternal Government of Germany and the 

 good sound sense of the German people had put that country far 

 ahead of us in educational matters. The difference between the 

 German artisan and the Lancashire artisan was very great, 

 and if we did not take care we should be not only as far behind 

 that country as we were at present, but a great deal further. 

 The idea that students should go to the technical schools unpre- 

 pared, which was a thing we suffered from very much here, wa^ 

 apparently entirely unknown in Germany. It was much to be 

 regretted that in this country parents, preferring a few shillings 

 now to pounds a few years hence, should take their children 

 away from the day schools at such an early age. 



Mr. N. Bradley, who also accompanied the deputation, said, 

 he was struck with the complete way in which the work was 

 done in the technical schools in Germany. Every penny that 

 could be spent in Manchester for the purpose of technical in- 

 struction would be to the advantage of Manchester and of the 

 people of this country. The impression that entered his mind 

 was that in all industrial pursuits where there was competition 

 it was a great advantage to see the other side. Consequent on 

 the kindness of the professors and the officials connected with 

 the continental institutions which they visited, everything was 

 shown to them, and the benefits of experience were placed un- 

 reservedly at their disposal. They found that the schools were 

 conducted under a system in which cleanliness and discipline 

 showed themselves on every side. The result of the teaching 

 the pupils received was exemplified in this country, for it was 

 a fact that foreigners came to England to fill places which ought 



