428 TECHNICAL EDUCATION xvn 



one of primary importance I may say of vital im- 

 portance to the welfare of the country ; but that 

 it is one of great extent and of vast difficulty. 

 There is a well-worn adage that those who set 

 out upon a great enterprise would do well to count 

 the cost. I am not sure that this is always true. 

 I think that some of the very greatest enterprises 

 in this world have been carried out successfully 

 simply because the people who undertook them 

 did not count the cost ; and I am much of opinion 

 that, in this very case, the most instructive con- 

 sideration for us is the cost of doing nothing. But 

 there is one thing that is perfectly certain, and it 

 is that, in undertaking all enterprises, one of 

 the most important conditions of success is to 

 have a perfectly clear comprehension of what 

 you want to do to have that before your 

 minds before you set out, and from that 

 point of view to consider carefully the measures 

 which are best adapted to the end. 



Mr. Acland has just given you an excellent 



account of what is properly and strictly understood 



by technical education; but I venture to think 



that the purpose of this Association may be stated 



in somewhat broader terms, and that the object we 



\ have in view is the development of the industrial 



i productivity of the country to the uttermost limits 



; consistent with social welfare. And you will 



observe that, in thus widening the definition of 



our object, I have gone no further than the Mayor 



