June 23, 1910] 



NATURE 



509 



KEW A'SD ESKDALE MUIR OBSERVATORIES 

 LVD THE METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE. 



TD V arrangements recently concluded between the Lords 



^^ Commissioners of H.M. Treasury, the Royal Society, 



National Physical Laboratory, and the Meteorological 



••, the administration of the work of the Kew Observa- 



. in so far as it is concerned with observational and 



rimental work in meteorology and geophysics, will be 



-f erred to the Meteorological Office as from July i. 



Kew Observatory will be the central observatory for 



office. All communications respecting that side of the 



-: of the observatory should thenceforth be addressed to 



;.;; director of the Meteorological Office, Kew Observatory, 



Richmond, Surrey. 



'^- another provision of the arrangement the administra- 



of the observatory at Eskdale Muir will be associated 



^e Royal Society with the Meteorological Office instead 



is heretofore, with the National Physical Laboratory. 



the conduct of the administration of the observatories 



director of the Meteorological Office will have the 



~:ance of an advisory committee — the Gassiot Com- 



iii..Lee, appointed by the Royal Society to administer the 



funds of the Gassiot Trust, representing an endowment of 



10,000/. vested in the Royal Society in 1871 by Mr. J. P. 



Gassiot. 



One of the provisions of the new scheme is that the 

 superintendents of the three observatories — Kew, Eskdale 

 Muir, and \'alencia — under the direction of the Meteor- 

 ological Office shall be appointed by the Meteorological 

 Committee upon the nomination of the Gassiot Committee. 

 On this nomination the appointments of Dr. C. Chree, 

 F.R.S., as superintendent of the Central Observatory, and 

 of Mr. G. W. Walker, of Eskdale Muir Observatory, have 

 been continued by the Meteorological Committee. Dr. 

 Chree has further been appointed assistant-director of 

 observatories for the Meteorological Office. Mr. J. E. 

 CuUum remains superintendent of Valencia Observatory. 



The work of testing instruments now carried on at Kew 

 Observatory by the National Physical Laboratory will be 

 removed to Teddington as soon as the necessary provision 

 for its transference can be made. The laboratory will 

 retain the well-known K.O. mark for use with those classes 

 of instruments which have hitherto been tested at the 

 observatory. For the time being the work will be carried 

 on at the observatory as a department separate from the 

 observational work, but under the superintendence of Dr. 

 Chree. Communications respecting this side of the work 

 should be addressed to the director of the National Physical 

 Laboratory, Observatory Department, Richmond, Surrey. 



INDUSTRIAL WORK AM) EDUCATIONAL 

 DEVELOPMENTS 

 T OC.\L authorities have tried in various ways to secure 

 in their work for further education the cooperation 

 of employers of labour in their areas. Under present 

 industrial and educational conditions, great importance 

 attaches to any action taken by employers either in in- 

 creasing their employees' opportunities for attending 

 technical classes or in urging, and granting practical 

 recognition to, the gain which systematic study in such 

 classes brings to workmen who attend them. In 1905 the 

 Board prepared a circular describing some of the more 

 fruitful efforts which had been made in securing the co- 

 operation of employers in these and similar ways, and the 

 of this circular stimulated further efforts of the kinJ 

 various parts of the country. It is now generally 

 -^ .jgnised that one of the duties of managers of technical 

 schools is to establish and maintain the closest possible 

 relations with those under whom their students are 

 employed. 



The development and strengthening of the relation 

 which the work of the teaching institution bears to the 

 practice and to the commercial aspects of industries may 

 do much to promote industrial progress, and it is not 

 unreasonable to expect that in making their arrangements 

 with their younger workpeople employers should give 

 «ome consideration to the conditions necessary for the 



' From the Report of the Board of Education for ihe Vear 1908-9. [Cd. 

 i5«3o.] Price gjrf. 



work of the school. Individual employers and groups of 

 employers have in practice found it compatible with 

 economy of production in trade workshops to allow some 

 reduction in the ordinary working time to those of their 

 employees who attend approved courses of instruction in 

 technical schools. The usual combination of workshop and 

 school in the preparation for industrial work assigns the 

 evening only to school, and requires the young worker 

 during the day to give full-time attendance in the work- 

 shop. It is true that even in these conditions large 

 numbers of students have made great progress in their 

 technical education. For students of energy, strength, 

 and ability evening classes have afforded, and still afford, 

 opportunities of advancement in knowledge which, when 

 coupled with the experience of practical work, of men, 

 and of commercial conditions which they acquire in their 

 daily occupations, enables them to qualify for positions of 

 responsibility in the industries. Evening classes have 

 indeed provided an open avenue for talent — an avenue by 

 which not a few have advanced to positions in which they 

 have done marked service for the industrial welfare of the 

 country. Where, however, studies have to be carried on 

 in evening classes alone, they are subject to difficulties 

 which in all cases retard the student, and in many cases 

 dishearten him before he has obtained even such know- 

 ledge of principles as he requires if he is to be an intelli- 

 gent hand-worker. The movement towards an extension 

 of the opportunities for part-time study during the day is 

 therefore one which may have far-reaching results. 



The forms in which additional facilities for school work 

 are afforded differ considerably ; the main cause of this 

 variety of form is that the conditions of different trades 

 vary considerably both as to the nature of the part taken 

 in the work by young workmen and as to the continuitj- 

 of the demand for work throughout the year. 



There are now, however, in successful operation courses 

 of part-time study under arrangements involving time off 

 from the works for such periods as one or two afternoons 

 a week, one day a week, three days a week, or, it may 

 be, daily during two months of a slack period of the year. 

 In all cases of this kind the authorities of the local 

 technical school arrange courses of instruction for the hours 

 available, and that instruction is definitely related to the 

 requirements of the groups of students in attendance. 

 Under these conditions the students have the advantages 

 of class instruction in the daytime, and they can without 

 strain supplement this by home-work in the evenings, and 

 yet have time throughout the year for other interests. 

 Part-time study in the day in this way has been proved 

 possible and of much advantage in connection with 

 engineering and building trades, with painters' work, with 

 plumbers' work, and other trades. 



Coupled with schemes of this kind, as well as in con- 

 nection with the ordinary evening-school system, there 

 have been established in many places scholarships or other 

 facilities by which promising students may devote longer 

 periods entirely to study — periods in some cases six months, 

 in others one, two, or even three years. 



There can be no doubt that the increase of day classes 

 for part-time students will do much to advance technical 

 education. Such an increase would not be costly, for in 

 most towns there have now been provided technical schools 

 on a scale commensurate with the demand for specialised 

 technical instruction in the evening, and during the day 

 these schools are generally but little utilised. The 

 extension of such day work gives occasion for a better 

 division of the time of technical teachers, and thus makes 

 it possible for school authorities to obtain greater value 

 for their expenditure in retaining the services of well- 

 qualified teachers. 



The possibilities involved in even a slight re-distribution 

 of the hours young people devote to work and to instruc- 

 tion, respectively, are so important that it is of special 

 value to have good tests of what can be attained in this 

 wav in actual practice without disturbance of economic 

 conditions. The arrangements made in connection with 

 day classes recognised under the Board's regulations afford 

 numerous examples of methods by which employers of 

 labour and local education authorities have been able to 

 work together in providing special classes adapted to a 

 particular trade or industry and to local conditions of 



NO. 2121, VOL. St,"] 



