January 23, 190S] 



NA TURE 



5/5 



In addition to this work of the executive com- 

 mittee, committees have been appointed by the Guild 

 to deal with education, inexpensive apparatus in 

 science teaching, agriculture, chemical industries, the 

 Franco-British Exhibition, postal reform, and bio- 

 logical subjects. 



Tile question of university endowments has received 

 the earnest attention of the Guild ; and the following 

 considerations relating to it are stated in the 

 report : — 



The necessity for increased endowment has been, to a 

 large extent, conceded, especially by the last Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer, Mr. Austen Chamberlain. In 1904 the 

 then endowment was increased, and a still greater in- 

 crease was promised. But it was pointed out that, until 

 the universities themselves had considered to what extent 

 they were willing to come under inspection, it was diflicult 

 to deal with the question of still higher endowments. 



The existence of large college endowments at Oxford 

 and Cambridge places these universities in a different posi- 

 tion from the rest, although the small endowments of the 

 universities themselves are felt as strongly as in the other 

 universities. 



The Scotch universities, like Oxford and Cambridge, 

 receive no Government assistance. The University Act 

 of i8Sq gave to the Scotch universities, not as a boon or 

 gratuity, but as an absolute right, 42,000/. a year. This 

 represented obligations which the Government had taken 

 upon itself, when it assumed possession of property which 

 belonged to the universities, and which, had it remained 

 to them, would have brought in a larger revenue. In 

 i8q2, 30,000/. a year was added ; it was not a special 

 grant from Government, but came entirely from the 

 Scottish Local Taxation Fund, in which no other part of 

 the kingdom had any concern. England might, had it 

 pleased, have assigned a share of the English Local Tax- 

 ation Fund to the universities, but she did not do so. 



Whether or no it is desirable that a large proportion of 

 the college funds at Oxford and Cambridge be applied to 

 various branches of real university teaching and of post- 

 graduate research is a matter on which members of the 

 Guild might have much to say. 



It is also hoped that in time the new universities will 

 be provided with funds for the establishment of hostels, 

 such as the Oxford and Cambridge colleges are to a large 

 extent. This provision, however, may fairly be made in 

 the case of the newer, as of the older foundations, by 

 private munificence, and not by Government aid. 



The ultimate aim should be State, municipal, and 

 private endowment for all universities. 



Universities supported entirely by municipalities are im- 

 practicable, as the influence of a university must extend 

 over a large area, which will increase as Its specialisation 

 is proceeded with ; this renders the application of local 

 rates, and therefore local control alone, unfair and undesir- 

 able. 



It is possible that the old English universities themselves 

 would be among the first to welcome an inquiry which 

 might consider the best way of placing matters on a more 

 satisfactory footing. ; 



'In July the question of a Royal Commission on the; 

 older universities was brought forward in the House of 

 Lords by the Bishop of Birmingham. Lord Crewe, in 

 communicating to the House the decision of the Govern- 

 ment, stated, " it is important for us, before arriving at a 

 final conclusion, to know what the most thoughtful and 

 the most competent opinion at both universities really 

 demands, and we also must either inform ourselves or bei 

 informed exactly what the universities cannot do of theiri 

 own motion, and for what purposes legislation would be, 

 required." ( 



In conseauence of this decision no further action has so' 

 far been taken by the executive committee. 



.\fler the meeting had been opened, Mr. Haldane,J 

 Secretary of State for War, and president of thei 

 Guild, gave an address to the members. For the sub- 

 joined report of his remarks, and of those made by 

 Dr. T. H. Warren, vice-chancellor of the University' 



NO. 1995, VOL. ']']'] 



of Oxford, we are indebted to the Times of Januarv 

 16:— 



Mr. Haldane said that the Guild was a body of people 

 who had come together for the purpose of organising 

 interest in science, an interest which had not been, as they 

 thought, sufficiently great. It also aimed at assisting those 

 who had scientific objects to accomplish to find the means 

 of accomplishing them. They endeavoured to stimulate 

 successive Governments. Governments were very apt not 

 to be quite as scientific as everybody might desire, and the 

 most perfect embodiment of the work of the Guild was 

 when they got the two functions combined. For instance, 

 the War Minister in this country was apt to take an easy- 

 going view of organisation, but if the president of the 

 Guild was always at his elbow to remind him that what 

 he was doing was unworthy of one who was acquainted 

 with the principles of the Guild, then something was 

 gained, and if the two happened to be rolled up into one 

 person physically who could divide himself spiritually into 

 two, then they had an ideal combination. It was 

 encouraging to see signs of progress everywhere in this 

 country. Only that morning he had seen the announce- 

 ment that Mr. Wills had offered the University College of 

 Bristol 100,000/. if it was incorporated into a Universitv 

 of Bristol. This enterprise would come within the range 

 of the criticisms of those who complained of small universi- 

 ties, but the matter had been threshed out before the Privy 

 Council when the question of the granting of a charter 

 to the University of Liverpool came before it. The special 

 committee of the Privy Council selected to give a judicial 

 opinion on that question pronounced in favour of an 

 increase in the number of universities in England. That 

 policy had been carried out with the utmost success. .An 

 extraordinary development was going on just now in the 

 direction of the application of science to industry. .At 

 Armstrong College, Newcastle, which was a part ' of the 

 University of Durham, he found the other dav a change 

 which he could hardly have credited had he not witnessed 

 it. In certain buildings there were organised the scientific 

 foundations of the shipbuilding industry in a fashion which 

 was beyond praise. The professors of mathematics, of 

 engineering, of physics, of applied mechanics, of designing 

 were all working w-ith one purpose, which was to provide 

 a school of the university type, for, among other people, 

 those who were to be engaged in the practical business of 

 shipbuilding. On the other hand, the shipbuilders on the 

 Tyneside were sending up their young men in order that 

 they might acquire knowledge of the principles of the 

 construction of compound engines, and how to solve the 

 thousand and one problems constantly coming up in the 

 construction of a great liner. The effect of that was 

 immense, not only in stimulating the interest in university 

 work, but upon the great industries in the neighbour- 

 hood. He saw the same thing at Sheffield. Part of the 

 university looked very much like a steelworks. There 

 were places with great crucibles and all the apparatus for 

 the purpose of casting steel. There were brawny workmen 

 there, obviously come from the viforks, and students of 

 the university were working with them and mastering 

 that most important work of metallurgy. He did not 

 suggest that they should bring down the university to 

 the simple function of applying science to industry — far 

 from it — but they would gladly see in our provincial 

 centres, which the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge 

 could not reach, facilities given which existed in other 

 countries, but did not exist in our own country. He 

 wished God-speed to the new enterprise, and he knew 

 that his colleague in the Government, Mr. Birrell, who 

 sat for the city of Bristol, was deeply interested, like 

 himself, in the success of the movement. This year, 

 moreover, the Government had in its programme the 

 giving of teaching of a university type in an enlarged and 

 extended degree to Ireland. Ireland had one great uni- 

 versity, the University of Dublin, consisting of Trinity 

 College, but they felt that, valuable as was tbe work and 

 greatly to be reverenced which the University of Dublin 

 had done, it could not provide for the needs of the Irish 

 people, who suffered much from there being no outlook, 

 no career for the talent of their young men, and par- 

 ticularlv of the Catholic and middle classes. The Govern- 



