JULV 2 1, 1 910] 



NATURE 



contributions to the support of university education during 

 the last year. The Goldsmiths' Company, who had already 

 been generous benefactors of university education in London, 

 made a gift in May, 1909, of 50,000/. towards the cost of 

 the new engineering buildings of the Imperial College of 

 Science and Technology referred to above. The Drapers' 

 Company made a further grant of lo.oooi. to the building 

 fund of the new college at Bangor, to be applied towards 

 the library and museum of the college. The same company 

 make an .annual grant of 7000/. to the East London College, 

 which has been admitted for the first time this year to 

 share, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, in the 

 annual treasury grant made to university colleges. The 

 company also grants scholarships in connection with this 

 college to the annual value of 1555/. 



The universities have recently shown in other directions 

 that they are conscious of a joint responsibility in their 



direction of equalising the standards required by the several 

 e.xamining bodies ; but there is a general agreement as to 

 the end desired, and the difficulties are chiefly those of 

 means, in both senses of the word. The whole question of 

 examinations in secondary schools is at present under con- 

 sideration by the consultative committee of the board, and 

 the board hopes that the report of the committee, when 

 presented, will point the way to further progress. 



But the national life and the national needs in higher 

 education cannot be confined within the limits of these 

 islands. The growth of important universities in the 

 British dominions beyond the seas, and in the Empire of 

 India, and the rapid improvements in the means of com- 

 munication, have brought new opportunities and new 

 responsibilities to those who are entrusted with the pro- 

 vision of university education. The necessity for a regular 

 interchange of views, and for the better organisation of 



Table II. — U.mversities and Univeksity Colleges in England and Wales 



Returns of Expenditure, 1908-9 



(Figures to the nearest £) 



Totals — England 51,768 oS 61,378 II '6 353,145 66-6 8,921 | 17 i 22,930 4-3 32,123 6-o 530,267 



IValcs I 



Aberystwyth ... 1,819 lo'9 1,510 9-1 10,783 64'9 — — I 1,415 \ 8-5 



Bangor 1,987 I2'9 S42 5^5 10,404 , 67'6 , — — 1,700 



Cardiff 3,2iS ' 159 i,995 9'9 13,078 64^6 — — 657 



Totals — Wales 7.024 i3-4 4,347 . 8-3 34,265 j 65'6 



3,772 7-2 



1,085 6-5 16,612 



451 I 2-9 j 15,384 



:,277 I 6-3 20,225 



2,813 5-4 52,221 



relations to the national life. They realise that the tests 

 they severally impose upon students applying for admission 

 to their courses in preparation for degrees must have a pro- 

 found influence upon the curricula of secondary schools, 

 and that, if a common policy cannot be reached, evil results 

 must ensue to the schools, and so, indirectly, to themselves, 

 from the confusion caused by the multiplicity of tests for 

 which school pupils must be prepared. Important and far- 

 reaching steps have already been taken towards the mutual 

 recognition of their various matriculation examinations, and 

 the northern universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, 

 and Sheffield have, under their charters, established a 

 Joint Matriculation Board, which conducts a single 

 examination of all candidafes for admission to any one of 

 the four universities. Much still remains to be done in the 

 direction of substituting a school-leaving examination based 

 upon the school course for an external test, and in the 

 NO. 2125, VOL. 84] 



facilities for advanced study throughout the Empire, has 

 led the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London to 

 issue invitations to the universities of the Empire to a con- 

 ference to be held in the metropolis in 1912. There can 

 be no doubt that this is the first step towards a closer union 

 and sympathy, which cannot but have the most far-reaching 

 and beneficial effects. 



The present volume of reports deals only with those 

 universities and university colleges which, during the 

 session 1908-9, were in receipt of grants from the treasury, 

 but these grants affect, directly or indirectly, every uni- 

 versity in England and Wales, except the two ancient 

 foundations of Oxford and Cambridge. 



It has been possible this year, thanks to the hearty 

 cooperation of the universities and university colleges them- 

 selves, to prepare the reports upon much more uniform lines 

 than hitherto, and to supplement the audited accounts in 



