February 8, 1906] 



NA TURE 



345 



almost another from the City Guilds, while the State 

 and the Royal Commissioners for the Exhibition of 

 1851 provide between them some four or five acres of 

 land to build on gratis ! 



Some paragraphs of the recommendations refer to 

 a question which is academic in more senses than 

 one — whether the new Royal College of Science shall 

 be under the government of the University. Our own 

 view is that the question should be left to settle itself. 

 There certainly at present must be a special governing 

 body to start it, and the one suggested seems all that 

 can be desired. There certainly also at some future 

 time must be a very close connection with the Uni- i 

 versity; it is too early to define that time. 



Extracts jrom Conclusions and Recommendations. 



The conclusions at which we have arrived are : — 



(1) That the position of this country makes further pro- 

 vision for advanced technological education essential. 



(2) That the students, by whose advanced technological 

 education the nation would profit, are not actually obtain- 

 ing it to the extent which is desirable, and that this is 

 due to : — 



(a) The lack of facilities for instruction in certain 

 important subjects. 



(b) The absence of such coordination among existing 

 institutions of technological education as would permit 

 the concentration of the more advanced courses in a 

 limited number of institutions. 



(c) An 'insufficient appreciation, especially on the part 

 of employers, of the value of such education. 



(3) That the opportunities for research in our techno- 

 logical institutions are inadequate to the industrial needs 

 of the Empire, owing not to any want of ability on the 

 part of the professors, but to the fact that much of their 

 time is frequently absorbed in the giving of comparatively 

 elementary instruction in pure and applied science. 



(4) That in any institution in which the highest techno- 

 logical education is given, the equipment should be adequate 

 for the purpose, and the staff should include, at the head 

 of the several specialised branches of the work, men of the 

 first rank in their profession. 



From this point of view the recommendations which we 

 have the honour to submit in reply to our terms of refer- 

 ence may be summed up as follows : — 



That the present combination of conditions at South 

 Kensington points to the desirability of so utilising the 

 resources there available, and of making additions to these, 

 as to form on that site an institution of the highest stand- 

 ing, an institution which, with the staff, equipment, and 

 students that it will command, would go far towards 

 remedying the above mentioned defects. 



In a preliminary report we inquired whether the Board 

 of Education were in a position to inform us (i) that, if 

 it were found possible to establish a scheme such as we had 

 sketched in outline, they would be willing to allow the 

 Royal College of Science (including the Royal School of 

 Mines) to be brought into it under a common government 

 and administration ; and (2) that the existing Government 

 contribution to the support of these institutions would be 

 continued under the new conditions on the scale already 

 made necessary by the provision of the new laboratories 

 of the Royal College of Science. 



The Board have replied to the first of these questions 

 in the affirmative, and, in reply to the second, the 

 Government have intimated that they will be prepared 

 to bring the Royal College of Science and Royal School 

 of Mines, including the new laboratories, into a scheme 

 framed on lines approved by the Board of Education, in 

 accordance with this report, and to make a grant of 

 20,000/. per annum in respect of the cost of staff and of 

 the laboratory expenses, with provision in addition for 

 certain other minor expenses. 



The favourable disposition of the Government has greatly 

 strengthened our position, and enabled us to obtain the 

 support and cooperation which we consider necessary to 

 ensure the success of the scheme described generally in 

 our preliminary report. 



The gift of a capital sum in excess of the minimum 



NO. 1893, VOL. 73] 



referred to (ioo.oooL) in the preliminary report has bei n 

 secured. 



The commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition are prepared, 

 if satisfied with the scope and constitution of the new 

 institution, to place at the disposal of its governing body 

 the unoccupied portion of their estate at South Kensington. 

 The council of the City and Guilds of London Institute 

 have indicated their willingness to bring the Central 

 Technical College into a scheme to be framed to their 

 satisfaction on the general lines we are able to recommend 

 in this report. 



The London County Council, on July 27, 1903, received 

 a report from its General Purposes Committee upon the 

 proposal contained in the letter which Lord Rosebery had 

 a short time previously addressed to the chairman of the 

 Council, and resolved to place on record its opinion that, 

 subject to certain conditions being fulfilled (about which 

 we may say we do not anticipate any difficulty), the 

 Council would be well advised, when the time came, to con- 

 tribute a sum not exceeding 20,000!. per annum towards 

 the maintenance of the institution. 



In our opinion a sufficient maintenance fund is assured, 

 at any rate, to justify a commencement, if not to carry 

 out the scheme we have in view as fully as we hope may 

 be possible hereafter. 



The main object is the establishment, at South Kensing- 

 ton, of an institution or group of associated colleges, of 

 science and technology, where the highest specialised in- 

 struction should be given, and where the fullest equipment 

 for the most advanced training and research should be 

 provided, in various branches of science, especially in its 

 application to industry, for which no sufficient provision 

 already exists elsewhere. The number of the departments 

 will be limited by the resources available, and at first a 

 selection will have to be made among them. The scale 

 on which the departments are established should be capable 

 of gradual expansion with the increase in the number of 

 students, fitted by preliminary education, to take advantage 

 of the teaching and training contemplated. 



The scheme should, in the first instance, and subject to 

 necessary adjustments, include the work of the Royal 

 College of Science, the Royal School of Mines, the Central 

 Technical College, and departments to be established on 

 the additional site at South Kensington. 



Such being the scope of the new institution, it is neces- 

 sary that we should make recommendations with regard 

 to the composition and functions of its governing body. 

 Of the relation of the new institution to the University 

 of London, it is necessary to premise that we are agreed 

 that it is desirable that the new institution should be 

 established immediately, and that its organisation should 

 proceed without delay, and there is substantial agreement 

 among us that for this purpose a governing body of the 

 character sketched in a subsequent paragraph should be 

 at once appointed with power to take immediate action. 

 We wish, however, to put in the forefront of our recom- 

 mendations under this head a proviso that they should 

 not be regarded as in any way intended to prejudice the 

 future settlement of the question of the relation between 

 the new institution and the University. This is a question 

 on which divergent views are held. 



We do not consider that the establishment of the new 

 institution should be delayed pending a decision between 

 these two views, or that the general lines of its organisa- 

 tion (except, possibly, as respects the governing body) 

 should be regarded as other than permanent. 



Subject to the proviso we have already made, we re- 

 commend that a governing body should be established con- 

 sisting of forty members appointed as follows : — 

 Six by the Crown. 

 Four by the Board of Education. 



Five each by the University of London, the London 

 County Council, and the council of the City and Guilds of 

 London Institute. 



Four by the teaching staff of the new institution. 

 Two by the commissioners of the Exhibition of 1S51. 

 One each by the Royal Society, the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Iron and Steel 

 Institute, the Institution of Naval Architects, the Society 

 of Chemical Industry, the Federated Institution of Mining 

 Engineers, and the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. 



