July 9, 1891^ 



NATURE 



235 



attempts to obtain a very large attendance to-day, or to meet 

 in any place where we could have a meeting on the scale of 

 others which we have had on this subject in previous years, not 

 but that we have arrived at a very important epoch in the deve- 

 lopment of the objects for which this Association was founded 

 four or five years ago. It may, perhaps, be desirable for me, 

 in the first place, to call your attention and the attention of the 

 public to the special objects for which this Association has been 

 founded, as I think there is in some quarters some misappre- 

 hension as to the practical nature of the objects which we have 

 in view. As is stated in ihe report, ils object has not been to 

 interfere with the teaching of trades in workshops, or with the 

 industrial and commercial training in the manufactory and in 

 the warehouse. It desires, first of all, to develop increased 

 general dexterity of hand and eye among the young, which may 

 be especially useful to those who have to earn their own liveli- 

 hood, and at the same time improve rather than hinder their 

 general education ; secondly, to bring about mere widespread 

 and thorough knowledge of ihose principles of art and science 

 which underlie much of the industrial work of the nation ; and, 

 thirdly, to encourage better secondary instruction generally, 

 which will include more effective teaching of foreign lan- 

 guages and science, for those who have to guide our 

 commercial relations abroad and to develop our interests 

 at home. Now, those are the objects to carry out which 

 this Association was founded. At the time when it was first 

 originated, these objects were very little recognized in any 

 (|uarter. They were not recognized as in any degree the duties 

 of the State, except to a very limited extent, so far as the opera- 

 tions of the Science and Art Department were concerned. But, 

 useful and valuable as has been the teaching carried on under 

 the guidance and direction of the Science and Art Department 

 up to a very short time ago, I think it may be said that scarcely 

 any attempt had been made to give to that teaching a practical 

 application, or to apply its instruction to the advancement and 

 improvement of the industries of the country. Well, the absence 

 of any State recognition was not to any large extent supplied at 

 that time by private efforts. It is quite true that a few manu- 

 facturers in different parts of the country had set the very useful 

 example of establishing, in connection with their works, some 

 technical and scientific teaching. There were also a few insti- 

 tutions, such as the well-known Polytechnic Institution here, 

 others in the City and in various other parts of the country, 

 which were making attempts to give instruction with the objects 

 which I have just enumerated, but those efforts were rather of a 

 philanthropic than of a practical character, and they had not 

 four or five years ago attained a very large or extensive develop- 

 ment. Well, we may look back now at those years as years of 

 very great and very satisfactory progress. I will not say all that 

 has been done has been done in consequence of the exertions of 

 this Association. Certainly these objects have been greatly 

 advanced since the foundation of the Association, and, we flatter 

 ourselves, to a certain extent in consequence of the efforts of the 

 Association. But whether the progress that has been made has 

 been in consequence of, or independent of, any exertion of ours, j 

 it is equally a matter of congratulation that progress has been 

 made. In the first place, those objects to which I have already 

 referred have been recognized by Parliament as proper objects 

 to receive assistance, by means of public funds, in the shape of the 

 application to them of the rates. By the Technical Instruction 

 Act, which was passed in 1889, mainly at the instance of some 

 active Parliamentary representatives of this Association, that 

 principle was for the first time admitted ; but a very much 

 greater step was taken in the next year, 1890, when, under the 

 Local Taxation Act, a sum very nearly approaching ;f 750,cxx) 

 for England and Wales was placed at the disposal of local 

 authorities, mainly for the objects which this Association 

 has in view. It is quite true that the application of that sum 

 was to a large extent optional. It would have been in the 

 power of local authorities in whose hands it was placed to apply 

 it in aid of the rates or to other purposes, but the efforts of the 

 Association were directed, as I think I shall be able to show 

 you, with very great success, in order to secure the appropriation 

 of these large funds to the purposes of practical technical in- 

 struction. You will recollect that in the winter of last year — I 

 think in December — an important conference was held under 

 the direction of the Executive Committee of this Association at 

 the rooms of the Society of Arts, in which members repre- 

 senting County Councils in various parts of the country entered 

 into conference and discussion with the Executive Com- 



NO. II 32, VOL. 44] 



mittee of this Association. Information was given as to 

 what had already been done by certain County Councils which 

 had taken the lead, and suggestions were made as to the 

 manner in which other Councils could most usefully follow 

 their steps and devote these sums to the purposes for which 

 we believe they were intended by Parliament. The results 

 which have already been accomplished are recorded in the 

 report of this Association, which will be immediately circulated. 

 Of County Councils in England, excluding Monmouthshire, 37 

 have already decided to give the whole of this grant for the 

 purposes of technical instruction ; 8 have decided to give a part 

 of this grant for the same purposes, and 2 only have decided to 

 apply the whole of it in aid of the rates. In Wales and Mon- 

 mouthshire 1 1 County Councils have given the whole to educa- 

 tion, and 2 have given a part to the same purpose. Of the 

 county boroughs in England, 33 have devoted the whole of the 

 funds to educational purposes, and 3 have devoted a part to the 

 same objects. In Wales 2 county boroughs have devoted the 

 whole of the fund to education, and none to any other purposes. 

 With regard to 23 county boroughs, either we have not sufficient 

 information, or they have not yet arrived at a conclusion upon 

 the subject. Well, that appears to us to be an extremely en- 

 couraging result so far as it has gone. The exertions of the 

 Executive Committee have not, however, been entirely confined 

 to securing this appropriation of the funds placed at the disposal 

 of the Councils by Parliament. The same gentlemen who have 

 taken the lead in the matter from the beginning — I refer chiefly 

 to my friend Sir Henry Roscoe, Mr. Acland, Mr. Hobhouse, 

 and others — have obtained from Parliament additional legisla- 

 tion considerably extending and developing the principle which 

 for the first time received the assent of Parliament in 1889. I 

 think it is hardly necessary that I should give further informa- 

 tion as to the effect of the amending Act of this session. I 

 prefer to leave the gentlemen I have named to give that ex- 

 planation. But I desire, however, to point out that the work 

 of this Association, which has been so successfully begun, has 

 not by any means yet ended. The application of these grants 

 in the various localities is, of course, a work of great variety and 

 of the utmost importance. Fortunately, I think, the State has 

 not undertaken, except under very wide conditions, to exercise 

 any supervision over the application of these funds. In a 

 country possessing industries of so extremely varied a cha- 

 racter as ours, it would have been almost impossible, and 

 I think certainly would have been most undesirable, that 

 any cut-and dried system should be ad >pted by which one 

 identical, application of public money to purposes of technical 

 instruction should be adopted all over the country. The appli- 

 cation of these funds must vary very greatly in agricultural 

 districts, and in agricultural districts themselves as between 

 arable and dairy or cheesemaking districts. It must vary in 

 those districts which are chiefly devoted to cotton and woollen 

 industries, and those which are chiefly employed in the coal- 

 minmg, metal, or chemical trades ; and in almost every different 

 county of England a different application of those resources 

 would have been required. I thmk very wide discretion has 

 been very wisely left by Parliament to the local authorities 

 themselves, which are in this instance County Councils or county 

 borough councils. And these Councils have again adopted the 

 wise course of appointing committees to prepare schemes for the 

 approval of the Councils for the application of these grants. 

 The work was, of course, very new to a great many who had to 

 take it up, and this Association has been able, we think, to give 

 valuable assistance to them, both by affording information and 

 giving advice, and, above all, by providing the means of com- 

 munication between those who are interesting themselves in 

 this work in various parts of the country, to enable them to know 

 what other authorities were doing, what difficulties were found, 

 what means had been found of surmounting those difficulties, 

 and of generally taking counsel and acting together in co-opera- 

 tion. Now, the subject of agricultural education, which up to 

 a very short time ago had been almost entirely neglected, 

 has been by many County Councils vigorously taken up. Courses 

 of instruction in elementary science applying to agricultural 

 pursuits have been instituted, and also instruction of a still more 

 practical character, in the shape of travelling dairies and other 

 instruction of the same kind, has been given in many places. I 

 am glad to say that the two great Universities of Oxford and 

 Cambridge have also turned their attention to this important 

 subject, and both of them are preparing to take steps by which 

 the teachers who will be so much required in ordtr to give effect lo 



