76 



NATURE 



[September 26, [918 



reports: "We have no doubt that a verj grea in- 

 alaries is necessary ... it has leen 



brought home to us that the b ai I - " i - 1 "' 



increasing difficulties in attractii a 

 reasi , hare of the young men and women who 



give evidence .of outstanding ability." This is fell 

 more particularly in the technical schools, where the 

 leakage from the profession and the difficulty of 

 ling new teachers, due to the low salaries, the 

 rice of salary scales, and the higher payment 

 offered in industry, is raising serious obstacles to the 

 development of technical education. 



The principal recommendations of the Committee 

 are as follows : — 



(a) Secondary Schools (p 2.5). \ minimum initial 

 salary for (graduate) teachers in all secondary schools 

 in receipt of public money should be fixed by the 

 Central Authority, and a minimum amount prescribed 

 at a latei stage in th< teacher's career. Salaries of 

 assistant teachers should be regulated by scales. They 

 should be such that teachers receive a substantial 

 salary at the age of thirty-two or thirty-three, with 

 increments continuing up to the age of about forty- 

 two or forty-three. Normally, increments should be 

 annual and automatic (subject to reasonable condi- 

 tions as to efficiency). Equality of pay for the two 

 sexes would, in existing circumstances, lead to_ one 

 being underpaid and the other overpaid. No differ- 

 ence's in salary should be made upon the basis of the 

 subject taught or the size of the school. The pos- 

 session "f a high degree or other special qualification 

 of a scholastic character may be recognised by placing 

 its holder at a point on the scale above that which 

 he would otherwise occupy. Heads of departments 

 and assistants performing special duties should be 

 remunerated bv additions to their salary. 



(b) Technical Schools. — Full-time assistant teachers 

 of senior and advanced students, who are graduates 

 or have qualifications equivalent to graduation, 

 should be paid bv scale at as high a rate at least ^ as 

 is paid in secondary schools, higher remuneration 

 beinp given in exceptional cases where a teacher's 

 qualification consists of long works experience and 

 high technical knowledge. The salary may be deter- 

 mined by what will induce him to leave his occupa- 

 tion, otherwise the scale should be similar to that of 

 the secondary-school teacher. The salaries of artisan 

 teachers will be settled in the main by competition 

 with industry. 



The above recommendations respecting salaries in 

 technical schools, bringing the payment of the full- 

 time assistant lecturer up to that of the secondary- 

 ' teacher, would mean a great advance if carried 

 into pi 11 tice. Thus in London the assistant lecturer 

 in a technical school or polytechnic rarelv rises above 

 250?.. the secondary-school teacher may rise 



to 400?., or 450I. in special cases. 



The- Comnii deals also with salary scales in 



school- ining colleges, etc., in a similar 



manner to it ; 'oposals relating to secondary and 

 technical schoi Is. \n important general recommenda- 

 tion respecting the application of new scales to exist- 

 ing teachers , • this should not be too long 

 drawn out, and the should be no avoidable delay 

 in giving to even 1 :r some immediate and sub- 

 stantial instalment ' itended advance. 



The proposals of the Committee, if carried into 



effect, would go fai one of the chief 



obstacles to the improve ment 1 higher edui 1 ton 



of the nation. Then- still however, as 



' salai ies, the not unii srion of the 



ries of assistant lecturers in 1 colleges and 



■ institutions. Despite nun h 1 i m and a 



amount of agitation, ill II remain 



• 552, vol. 102] 



in a most unsatisfactory condition, even when com- 

 pared with the new maximum salary of the L.C.C. 



1 let I iry-school class-teacher (240L or 300/.), or that 



of tie London s,-condar\ -school assistant le.nhet 



(3002, non-graduate, 400I. or 450/. graduate). 



J. Wilson. 



HIGH-TEMPERATl RE PROCESSES AND 



1'RODUCTS. 1 



TN comparing workshop processes at present in use 

 •* with those employed twenty years ago, manv 

 striking changes ma) be noted, all tending to cheaper 

 and more rapid production. It will be found, on 

 examination, that some of the most important of these 

 changes are due to the utilisation of high-temperature 

 processes, or to appliances in which new materials 

 produced at high temperatures are employed. 



At the present time, when the economic generation 

 of electricity in this country by the aid of large, central 

 power-stations is under consideration, the present and 

 future importance of high-temperature processes and 

 products cannot be too strongly emphasised. In any 

 scheme that may be evolved, provision should be 

 made for electric-furnace work on the large scale, 

 as otherwise we shall remain, as heretofore, 

 dependent upon other countries for many essential 

 materials. 



One of the most recent applications of the oxy- 

 hydrogen flame is to the spraying of metals on to 

 cold surfaces. In what is known as the Schoop pro- 

 cess the metal, in the form of wire, is fed into the 

 interior of the flame, where it is melted and then 

 blown by compressed air, in a state of verv fine divi- 

 sion, on to the surface to be coated. The arrange- 

 ment is such that when the size of the flame is 

 increased or decreased, the feed of wire is changed 

 simultaneously, so that the rate of deposit per unit 

 area is constant. The finely divided metal fills all the 

 interstices of the surface upon which it impinges, and 

 becomes firmly attached: and by continuing the process 

 any desired thickness may be deposited. 



The thermit reaction has also been applied to the 

 production of pure metals, and has proved of great 

 value in cases where it is necessary to secure a pro- 

 duct free from carbon. In the manufacture of special 

 classes of steel in which manganese or chromium is 

 used, it is desirable that these elements should be 

 free from carbon, in order that the final carbon content 

 may be regulated to any desirsd amount in the^finished 

 product. As prepared by furnace methods, these 

 metals alwavs contain carbon to a greater or less 

 extent, and hence for high-class steel the carbon-free 

 metals produced by the thermit method are preferable, 

 although more costly. 



Before the war the thermit industry was in German 

 hands, and it is a matter for congratulation that the 

 present British proprietors have been able to reproduce 

 practically all the compositions which previously were 

 imported. This is an excellent example of the value 

 of research in applied science. 



The rapid increase in the output of electric steel 

 is due to several causes, chief amongst which are 

 (1) the superior properties of the product, (2) the 

 possibility ol producing steels according to a given 

 formula without difficulty, (,) the greatly reduced loss 

 from oxidation of light steel scrap fed into the mix- 

 ture, and (4), which applies specially to Britain, the 

 possibilitv ol obtaining a cheap supply of em 

 certain localities. When all these factors are taken 

 unt, high-grade steel can be produced mon 



1 Abridged from Cantor Lectures delivered bi-fore the Royal Society o. 

 Arts ice January ai ! February, lure, by Mr. C. R. Darling. 



