March i, 19 17] 



NATURE 



17 



EDUCATIONAL REFORM. 



I TUf R. H. A. L. FISHER, the new President of the 

 ^ •*'''* Board of Education, has not wasted much time 

 in submitting his proposals for educational reform 

 to the Cabinet, with a view to immediate legislation. 

 The most urgent and necessary demand is that the 

 oompulson,- school age for the children of the elemen- 

 tary schools shall be made effective until the age of 

 fourteen at least is reached, and that all exemptions 

 permitting the child to escape from school before that 

 age shall be abolished. One of the greatest impedi- 

 ments in the way of this long-needed reform is to be 

 found in the half-time system which prevails almost 

 entirely in the well-paid textile districts of Lancashire 

 and Yorkshire, to the abolition of which, despite the 

 pleadings of trade-union leaders and of the Workers' 

 Educational Association, the majority of the workers 

 and even some employers are steadily opposed. It is 

 a case where the Government ought to ignore merely 

 political considerations in the best interests of the child 

 and of the nation as a whole, and take a stiung lead. 

 Those concerned with this vital reform must either 

 convert their constituents or urge the Government 

 to immediate and drastic action. 



The question of the number and efficiency of the 

 male teaching staff of the elementar\' schools is 

 scarcely less significant and urgent, especially as there 

 would be a very large accession to the number and 

 quality' of the pupils if all exemptions were abolished 

 and the compulsory school age raised to fourteen, 

 thereby retaining in the schools the cleverer pupils, 

 who by reason of their ability have hitherto been 

 allowed to leave school at ,an earlier aee than the 

 average scholar. Such children, where they are boys, 

 will need as they approach adolescence more of the 

 experience and control of the trained male teacher, 

 whose numbers, 'f the schools are to be maintained 

 effectively, must be materially increased. 



But to secure such a body of trained and educated 

 men (and the estimated number required is not nearly 

 sufficient, especially if the size of the classes be largely 

 reduced, as it should be), the attractions of the pro- 

 fession, alike in respect of status, salarv. prospects, 

 and pension, must be greatly improved. The 

 measures above mentioned will inevitably result in a 

 demand for a better quality of teachfng and of educa- 

 tion for the scholars, and will react favourably upon 

 the secondary school and its work, inducing a larger 

 number at an earlier age to seek its advantages. 

 These changes will require a much larger expenditure ; 

 now is the time to embark up>on it, and it is to be 

 hop>ed that Mr. Fisher, with his wide educational 

 experience and authority, may be able to induce his 

 colleagues to view them with svmpathy and Parlia- 

 ment to give them immediate effect. 



PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL IN 



CANADA. 

 HTHE Canadian. Department of Mines has issued 



*■ the usual advance chapter of the annual report 

 dealing with the production of iron and steel in the 

 Dominion in 19^5. and simultaneously an approxi- 

 mate estimate of the production of iron, steel, and 

 coal in iqi6. It appears from these statistics that the 

 output of iron and steel has increased considerably in 

 both years. The total production of pig-iron for iqi6 

 is given as 1,046,185 long tons, as against 815,870 

 long tons in 1915, and 699,256 long tons in 1914. the 

 pre-war level being thus exceeded. The steel produc- 

 tion for 1916 is also the highest on record, namely, 

 1,270,969 long tons of ingots and 27,356 long tons of 

 direct castings, as against 876.591 k)ng tons of ingots 



NO. 2470, VOL. 99] 



and 27,739 'o"g tons of direct castings in 1915. It is 

 very interesting to note that in 19 16 no fewer thaji 

 39,098 tons of steel were produced in the electric 

 furnace, as against 61 tons in 19 15, so that this new 

 process has made important advances, and appears to 

 have found a permanent footing in Carkada. .\ note- 

 worthy feature of Canadian steel manufacture is the 

 large proportion of old scrap that is worked up, this 

 amounting to about 55 per cent, of the pig-iron 

 charged. The ores used in the manufacture of pig- 

 iron in 19 15 were 293,305 short tons of native ore, 

 which, together with 623,094 short tons of Lake Supe- 

 rior ore, imported from the United States, were 

 smelted in the province of Ontario, almost wholly 

 with coke imported also from the United States ; 

 practically all the balance of the pig-iron was produced 

 in Nova Scotia from Wabana ore, imported from 

 Newfoundland, the imports amounting to 802, 12S 

 short tons. 



The coal production of Canada for 1916 is given. 

 as 14,365,000 short tons, as against 13,267,023 short 

 tons in 19 15. The main increase c»mes from Alberta, 

 being there about one million tons ; British Columbia 

 shows an increase of about half a million tons, and 

 Nova Scotia a decrease of practically the same 

 amount. 



THE "SEI" WHALE.i 



THE profusely illustrated monograph before us is 

 the second of a series, the first of which dealt 

 with the Californian grey whale, Rhachianectes 

 glaucus. In the same thorough way that he. 

 initiated in describing Rhachianectes Mr. R. S. 

 Andrews now deals with the rorqual, Balaenoptera 

 borealis. The result of his work is a much larger' 

 volume, which is due, first, to the greater mass of 

 information which has accumulated concerning the 

 better-known Balaenoptera borealis, and in the second 

 place to an appendix in which Mr. Schulte publishes 

 the data acquired by the investigation of a young 

 foetus of this whale. The two sections are approxi- 

 mately equal in length. 



The author uses throughout the vernacular name for 

 the whale which is common among the Norwegians, 

 slightly anglicising it from '• Sejhval " to " Sei Whale." 

 This, he maintains, and with justice, is less cumbrous 

 than the really pseudo-vernacular term of " Rudolphi's 

 Rorqual," which finds a place in so many English 

 treatises and memoirs. The origin of the Norwegian 

 whalers' name is derived from the fact that this 

 rorqual, formerly at any rate, arrived upon the coast 

 of Finmark in company with the " coalfish," known 

 to the fishermen as "Seje." From this it will be 

 rightlv inferred that the fishery of this whale is pro- 

 mineiitlv a Norwegian industni-, and Dr. Andrews 

 takes occasion to deal ver>- fully with the late and 

 well-known Norwegian naturalist. Dr. CoUett's _ ex- 

 haustive memoir upon this whale in its various 

 aspects, scientific and industrial ; this memoir was 

 published some years ago in the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society of London. Dr. .Andrews himself 

 acquired most of his first-hand knowledge of Balaeno- 

 ptera borealis at the Japanese fisheries, most of which 

 stations he would seem to have visited. 



A comparison of the careful work done at these two 

 regions, so far separated from each other, leads Dr. 

 .Andrews to the conclusion accepted to-dav by, as we 

 imagine, most persons : that this whale, like so many 

 others, has a vast range in space, and that the occur- 

 rence of a given whale in areas so remote mutually 



1 " Monographs of the Pacific Cetacea." By K. S. Andrews. II. "TTie 

 Sei Whale (BaJaenopter-a lorealis. Lesson) " Mem. Amcr. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 n.s., voL \T 



