Railways a National Industry 419 



the year) ; a large hall for lectures, entertainments, balls or 

 concerts ; and a billiard-room, three quoit pitches and a rifle 

 range, the last-mentioned being the gift of the Great Eastern 

 directors. Science, art, technological, commercial and other 

 evening classes to the number of over forty were held in the 

 Institution during the Session of 1910-11. Among the sub- 

 jects taught were : machine construction, applied mechanics, 

 mathematics, electrical engineering, heat-engines, motor-car 

 engineering, rail - carriage building, drawing, book-keeping, 

 shorthand, physical culture, the mandoline and the violin ; 

 while still other classes included an orchestral class and ladies' 

 classes in " first aid " and " home nursing." 



A series of practical classes, in connection with the same 

 Institution, is also held during working hours in the Great 

 Eastern Railway Company's works at Stratford. Arrange- 

 ments are further made to extend the usefulness of these 

 classes by visits to engineering works and electrical generating 

 stations. Examinations are conducted in connection with 

 the Board of Education, the City and Guilds of London 

 Institute and the Society of Arts, and prizes, certificates and 

 scholarships are awarded to successful students. The total 

 number of students attending the various classes in 1910-11 

 was 958. The Institution at the end of 1910 had 1471 mem- 

 bers, of whom all but 79 were in the employ of the railway 

 company. 



In 1903 the directors of the Great Eastern Railway 

 Company gave a further proof of their appreciation of the 

 educational work thus being carried on by granting to em- 

 ployee-students in the locomotive, carriage and waggon depart- 

 ment who could fulfil certain conditions leave of absence with 

 full pay for one or more winter sessions of about six months 

 each, in order to afford them increased facilities for taking 

 up the higher branches of technical study. Opportunities are 

 also given to such students for visits to manufactories, works 

 in progress, etc. Of the twenty-one students who had taken 

 advantage of the arrangements in question down to the end 

 of 1910, four had obtained the University degree of B.Sc. 

 (Faculty of Engineering) ; four had passed the intermediate 

 examination for the same degree ; two had obtained Whit- 

 worth scholarships, and five had been awarded Whitworth 

 exhibitions. 



