866 fiEPORT— 1903. 



determlaed to establish science classes for instruction in science, Dr. Lyon 

 Playfair, the well-known chemist, being charged with the duty. Playfair 

 resigned in 1858, and in 1859 Mr. Cole induced a young Engineer officer, Lieut. 

 Donnelly, to undertake the inspection and organisation of science instruction 

 throughout the country. It was through this officer's untiring energy and zeal 

 that the classes in science flourished and were added to at this early stage of 

 the new Department's history. The same energy was displayed by Donnelly 

 during the whole of his long career in the serrice of the State, and I feel that it 

 was fortunate for myself to have served so many years as I did under one to whom 

 the country at large owes a deep debt of gratitude. 



Not long ago he passed away from us, and there will be no more lasting 

 memorial to him than that which he himself erected during his lifetime in the 

 fostering that form of education which is of such vital importance to the national 

 well-being. 



To revert to history, I may record that the first science examinations conducted 

 by the State took place in May 1861, and, the system of grants being made on the 

 results of examination having been authorised, the magnificent sum of 1,300/. 

 was spent on this occasion on the instruction of 650 candidates, that number having 

 been examined. Thus early was the system of examination commenced in the 

 Department's career, and the method of payments on the results of these examina- 

 tions stereotyped for many years to come. There is reason to believe that the 

 educational experts of that day considered that both were essential and of educa- 

 tional value, a value which has since been seriously discounted. Employers of 

 labour in this country were not too quick in discerning the advantages that must 

 ultimately ensue from this class of education if properly carried out and encouraged. 

 Theoretically they gave encouragement, but practically very little, and this sur- 

 vives to some extent even to the present day. Some of the foremost employers, 

 however, gave material encouragement to the formation of classes, insisting on 

 their employees attending evening instruction ; but conspicuous above all was 

 Mr. Whitworth, who, in 1868, placed in the hands of the Department the sum of 

 100,000/., to be devoted to the creation of scholarships, which were to be 

 awarded at the annual May examinations. The proviso made by him was that 

 all competitors were to have had e.xperience in practical work in an engineering 

 establishment. Such candidates, it was evident, must have found out their own 

 weakness in education, and, by working in science classes, could make up their 

 deficiencies, and the award of these scholarships would enable them to study 

 further. Sir J. Whitworth was far-seeing and almost lived before his age, but the 

 benefits that he has conferred, not only on individuals, but on science and 

 industries, by his generosity will make his name to be remembered for generations 

 to come. To have been a Whitworth scholar gives an entree into various Govern- 

 ment and engineering posts, and we have in the front rank of science men who 

 have held these scholarships and whose names stand prominent in the develop- 

 ment of engineering. 



Incidentally, I may say that no country but this, for very many years, con- 

 sidered that instruction' in science for the artisan was a large factor in maintaining 

 and developing industry. The educational interests of the employer and the fore- 

 man were, in some countries, well provided for, but the mechanic was merely a 

 hand, and a 'hand' trained in merely practical work he was to remain. He could 

 not aspire to rise beyond. We may congratulate ourselves that such a ' caste ' 

 system does not e.xist amongst ourselves. 



For the first twenty-five years of the Department of Science and Art the 

 grants given by Parliament for science instruction were distributed almost 

 entirely amongst those who were officially supposed to belong to the industrial 

 classes, and no encouragement was ofiered to any higher class in the social scale. 



It would take me too long to show that at first the industrial classes were very 

 shy of seizing on the advantages ofiered them. Suffice it to say that they had to 

 be bribed by the ofier of prizes and certificates of success to attend instruction, 

 and it was not for several years that the evening classes got acclimatised and 

 became popular. 



