DecexMber 29, 1892] 



NA TURE 



201 



Henrici, Prof. Huxley, Prof Ray Lankester, Prof. Henry 

 Nettleship, Prof. Pearson, Sir H. Roscoe, Prof. Rucker, 

 Dr. Russell, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, Prof. Unvvin, Dr. Waller, 

 Dr. Windle, Prof. Weldon. 



During the month of November the Committee were 

 informed that a Committee of the Senate of London 

 University had drawn up a series of resolutions, to be 

 submitted to the Royal Commission. Your Committee 

 therefore requested the Vice-Chancellor to allow its 

 membeis to address the Committee of the University 

 Senate in support of the proposals of the Association. 

 The Vice-Chancellor replied by inviting the Executive 

 Committee of the Association to attend a meeting of the 

 University Committee on Wednesday, December 7. At 

 this meeting the objects of the Association were explained 

 by the President, Sir Henry Roscoe, and Prof. Weldon, 

 and the Vice-Chancellor in reply made an important 

 statement, to the effect that the resolutions which were 

 put forward by the Committee of the Senate were in- 

 tended to be understood in such a manner as to render 

 them perfectly consistent with the programme of the As- 

 sociation. The resolutions proposed by the University 

 Committee, and since adopted by the whole Senate, are 

 as follows : — 



The Senate having reason to believe that a distinct 

 expression of opinion may be useful to the Commis- 

 sioners at the present stage of the inquiry, desire to recall 

 to their attention the fact that during last year the Senate 

 approved a Scheme for a Reconstitution of the University 

 which provided for the constitution of Faculties consist- 

 ing of teachers and of Boards of Studies in each Faculty, 

 and for the election of members of the Senate by the 

 Faculties ; and that the Scheme further proposed to con- 

 fer on the University power to hold real property 

 and to accept grants, gifts, devises, and legacies for the 

 purposes ot the University, including the establishment 

 of Professorships and Scholarships, whether attached or 

 not to any particular College, and the furtherance of 

 regular liberal education and of original research. 



The Senate now desire to state that, if in accordance 

 with the decision of the Commissioners, the Senate is 

 prepared, in order to promote the efficiency of the Uni- 

 versity, and with a view to its reorganization as a Teach- 

 ing University in and for London, without curtailment of 

 the functions which it now discharges — 



(a) To establish and incorporate with the University 

 Faculties in Arts, Science, Laws, and Medicine, and 

 Boards of Studies acting thereunder. 



{p) To provide for the incorporation with the Univer- 

 sity of Teaching Institutions of the higher rank. 



{c) To utilize, with their consent, existing organizations 

 for higher culture, and subject to such utilization to insti- 

 tute and maintain Professorships and Lectureships, 

 whether for academical or other purposes, and generally 

 to assume such functions as may be required for the 

 furtherance and superintendence of a regular liberal edu- 

 cation, and for the promotion of original research. 



{d) To accept and administer fees and such other 

 funds, public or private, as may be necessary, and may 

 be granted or given for the purposes of the reorganized 

 University. 



{e) To provide for the adequate representation of the 

 Professoriate on the Senate. 



The Committee regret that Prof. Pearson, whose energy 

 and enthusiasm have been of such essential service to 

 the Association, has felt obliged to retire from the office 

 of Secretary. His place has been taken by Prof. Weldon. 



THE MANCHESTER MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL 

 SCHOOL. 



IN his interesting address on technical education, when 

 distributing the prizes of the Manchester Municipal 

 Technical School, on the 19th inst., Mr. Balfour pointed 



NO. I 209, VOL. 47] 



out that the occasion was an important one, not only in 

 the history of technical instruction in Manchester, in the 

 history of the Corporation of that city, but also in the 

 commercial and manufacturing history of Manchester 

 itself, since this was the first public occasion of the dis- 

 tribution ofpiizes to the scholars of the Technical School 

 and the School of Art since these schools were taken 

 over by the municipality, and supported ou. of the 

 public funds of the city. The fact that the Cor- 

 poration of the northern metropolis has taken pos- 

 session of the School of Art and of the flourishing 

 Technical School, founded a few years ago on the 

 site of the old Mechanics' Institution, is one which 

 may well claim the attention of the leading states- 

 men of our time, and Mr. Balfour has done good service 

 to this great educational movement by thus placing 

 prominently before the country the part which our muni- 

 cipal authorities are now playing in the matter. Fully 

 alive to the revolution which these changes are bring- 

 ing about in our educational system, Mr. Balfour, 

 speaking to the teachers and students, insisted that 

 there is now thrown upon them something more than 

 personal responsibility, something more than the desire 

 for self-advancement. They are concerned, he said, in a 

 national work, and ought to look at it from a national 

 point of view, and it is this public aspect of the question 

 which justifies and more than justifies the Corporation for 

 having taken up this great work and for having created 

 the greatest technical school at present ex'sting in Eng- 

 land, but which, great as it is, is still in its infancy, and 

 will yet show developments which will astonish those who 

 are now devoting their time to it in so public-spirited a 

 fashion. 



Then spoke Mr. Councillor Hoy, the chairman of the 

 Technical Education Committee of the Corporation, and 

 in thanking Mr. Balfour for his " thoughtful and charm- 

 ing address" added that it was only nine months since 

 these schools were handed over to the Corporation, that 

 they had to master the whole machinery of the education, 

 to arrange all the details of the transfer, but that in addi- 

 tion they had plunged right away into the necessary steps 

 for erecting a new and enlarged school. 



So it is evident that the men of Manchester do not 

 allow the grass to grow under their feet. They 

 know that the business they have undertaken is 

 a big one, and they, like good business men, are pre- 

 pared boldly to meet the necessities of their position. 

 How boldly and how completely they propose to do so 

 will be seen when we learn what are the proposals which 

 they have made for carrying on their work, for making 

 the necessary preparations, for giving the highest and 

 most complete technical training which can be given in 

 all those matters upon the satisfactory accomplishment 

 of which, the industry and commerce of the vast district 

 of which Manchester is the centre depends. At present 

 the work of the Technical School is carried on in three 

 different buildings, one the old Mechanics Institution 

 where the great bulk of the teaching is done, another in an 

 old warehouse fitted to suit the wants, as far as may be, 

 of the electrical engineering department, and a third in 

 the buildings of a school where a very completely- 

 equipped department for the scientific study of the cotton 

 manufacture is arranged. Needless to say that none of 

 these three buildings provide sufficient or adequate 

 accommodation for the proper practical teaching and 

 illustration of their subjects, and no sooner had the Cor- 

 poration Committee become acquainted with what they 

 had to do, and the means placed at their disposal for 

 doing it, than they made up their minds that a new 

 building must be erected fully representative of the 

 present needs, and with room, if possible, for future 

 developments. 



But before committing themselves to plans or estimates, 

 this committee wisely determined to see with their own 



