April 26, 191 7] 



NATURE 



167 



^nd for the strengthening of Imperial lines of com- 

 munication. It would be impossible to exaggerate 

 the significance and influence of such' a board, com- 

 posed, as it should be, of men possessing an intimate 

 knowledge of the Empire and its resources, in con- 

 stant consultation and collaboration, on the watch for 

 every opportunity, and alive to every possibility. . . . 

 The primary condition of this new board must be that 

 it should not encroach upon the political or admini- 

 strative machinery of any of the self-governing parts 

 of the Empire. In other words, it should be purely 

 advisory in its initial stage. We are not prepared to 

 suggest that at its inception any specific administra- 

 tive functions should be assigned to it, but equally we 

 hesitate to restrict the future activities of a new and, 

 to some extent, experimental organisation. If, at 

 some future time, the Government of the Empire 

 should, either through the Imperial Conference or 

 otherwise, desire to delegate any administrative duties 

 to it, we see no inherent difficulty in giving effect to 

 such a wish. 



With regard to the constitution of the new 

 organisation, the commissioners recommend that 

 its numbers should be kept as low as possible, 

 with the view of increasing- its efficiency, and 

 that its members should be required to give their 

 whole time to the work. They suggest seven 

 representatives for the United Kingdom, India, 

 the Crown Colonies, and the Protectorates, and 

 -one each for the five self-governinp- Dominions. 

 They recommend further that the board should 

 ■carry out the research work required for the 

 survey in the following manner : — 



(a) In respect of the United Kingdom, through 

 the recently formed Department for Scientific and 

 Industrial Research, the National Physical Labo- 

 ratory, etc. 



(&) In respect of the self-governing Dominions, 

 through the now existing scientific departments 

 and the committees for research which are being 

 >et up in the Dominions. 



(c) In respect of India, the Crown Colonies, 

 and the Protectorates, through the local scientific 

 ■depart Aients and the Imperial, Institute. 



Finally, they say : — 



The unanimity which is shown in all our reports, 

 and has been maintained throughout the deliberations 

 of the first Royal Commission comprising representa- 

 tives of all the self-governing communities of your 

 Majesty's Empire, is, we venture to think, of hopeful 

 lugury. We make bold to assert, after five years' 

 « xperience throughout the Empire, that the spirit of 

 ■co-operation, so splendidly demonstrated in war, will 

 be succeeded, after peace is declared, by absolute 

 concord in the great task of reconstruction and 

 development. . 



It is quite certain that no Blue Book of such 

 momentous importance as this is to the develop- 

 ment of the resources of the British Empire as a 

 whole has ever before been published. Great as 

 the preoccupations of the Government must be 

 at the present time, they should not be allovyed 

 to prevent the most weighty consideration being 

 devoted to the recommendations unanimously 

 reached by the commissioners. It may be 

 doubted whether so favourable an opportunity 

 for giving effect to them by legislative enactment 

 will ever occur in the history of the Empire 

 again. H. C. H. C. 



\ AT ION A L REFORMS IS EDU CATION. 



AN enthusiastic welcome was extended to the 

 speech of the President of the Board of 

 i Education, Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, on introducing 

 the Education Estimates on 'lliursday last. 

 Whatever be the motives which prompted it, 

 whether they arose merely from considerations 

 relating solely to the industrial and commercial 

 equipment of the nation, or from the need for more 

 effective military preparation, or from a tardy 

 conviction that the essential well-being of the 

 people demanded a much more adequate provision 

 for the due training of all the children, they are a 

 gratifying index of the changed attitude of Parlia- 

 ment on this vital subject, and a sign, we hope, that 

 the Presidency of the Board will always be occu- 

 pied by someone familiar with educational pro- 

 blems*and not be a purely political appointment as 

 formerly. However distasteful the thought may 

 be, there is lying at the back of men's minds the 

 conviction that the industrial, commercial, and 

 military position of Germany is due in the main to 

 the sedulous cultivation, through many genera- 

 tions, from the days of Humboldt downwards, of 

 the intellectual life of the nation, and that though 

 we do not desire slavishly to imitate her methods 

 or to pursue her ideals, yet we have arrived at 

 last at the conviction that we cannot any longer, 

 if w^e would preserve and advance our pride of 

 place in the world, afford to ignore and waste the 

 most vital asset of the nation, namely, the due 

 cultivation, bodily, mentally, and spiritually, of 

 its child life among all classes. 



We are, according to Mr. Fisher, spending 

 annually from all sources, public and private, 

 some forty million pounds sterling on the educa- 

 tion of the people of England and Wales (which 

 large sum contrasts strangely with the first Par- 

 liamentary grant for education of 20,oooZ. in 1834. • 

 continued annually until 1840, for the building of 

 elementary schools) ; and yet we are not provid- 

 ing effectively for their adequate training. Many 

 more millions need to be spent before that pur- 

 pose is fully assured, and so the President of the 

 Board comes forward with a demand for nearly 

 four millions in advance of the Estimates of 

 1916-17, which are to be applied chiefly to remedy 

 the low and uneven remuneration of the teachers, 

 both elementary and secondary, throughout the 

 country, and to establish a scheme of pensions for 

 secondary-school teachers ; and measures are de- 

 vised so that this important object may be secured 

 with the willing co-operation of the local authori- 

 ties. It is strongly felt that it will be impossible 

 to secure any effective measures for the improve- 

 ment of education unless the supply of suitably 

 trained teachers can be adequately maintained. 

 It is further the purpose of , the Board to 

 encourage the establishment of a much larger 

 number of scholarships, with due maintenance 

 grants, enabling duly qualified children to pro- 

 ceed to higher stages of instruction in secondary- 

 schools and universities, and also to provide 

 advanced courses in central schools for children 

 remaining at school until the close of the legal 

 aee of attendance. 



