198 REPORT— 1873. 



The lads have 2^(1, per hour, the men bhl, and some arc paid hy the piece, and 

 make on the average 8d. per hour. All the bricks are burned in Iloflinan's, 

 Morand's, Baker's, or other permanently built kilns. Tho.?e kilns do not emit 

 smoke, and are therefore well adapted for burning bricks in towns. They also 

 economize coal, the saving compared with the manner of burning bricks before 

 their introduction here being equal to 300 per cent, in value. Still bricks are 30 

 per cent, dearer than they were twenty years ago, arising out of the expensive 

 plant, higher rate of coal and wages, and the greater care taken in their ma- 

 nufacture, the bricks being of a superior quality than formerly. Although stone 

 is largely in use in this district, even for the conmionest purposes, yet the number 

 of briclcs used and the amount of capital employed is a hundred times greater 

 than twenty years ago. The author estimates that the turnover in the trades 

 for the erection of buildings in Bradford only amounts to about £850,000 per 

 annum. There is considerable capital invested in the trade ; and Bradford builders 

 have a fair reputation for good work, and frequently extend their operations to 

 places at a great distance, the woodwork being almost all made liere, and in 

 some instances the stone has been di-essed and fitted for large buildings sixty 

 miles away. 



The want of well-instructed men as masters, foremen, and leading men being 

 strongly felt in the trade, induced the master builders of Bradford in ISGOto esta- 

 blish a trade technical evening school for the young men engaged in the business. 

 The object of the school is to instruct the men in a scientific knowledge of their 

 trade ; but it has been found necessary to have classes for reading, writing, and 

 arithmetic, as numbers of the apprentices have been neglected in their elementary 

 education, and it is hard to teach technical science to those who read with diffi- 

 culty, and whose knowledge of arithmetic is uncertain. There are four teachers in 

 the school, three of whom hold Government certificates ; and we have during the 

 past year put them under Government inspection, so that we obtain payment on 

 results. We have had in all £28 from that source. But we are in an unfortunate 

 position with our technical education. The class of instruction given and required 

 seems not to have been understood by the Science and Art Department ; and up to 

 now they have ignored the most important knowledge, that knowledge which will 

 enable a workman correctly, scientifically, and in the best manner to obtain the 

 true lines from which he can with confidence produce the most complicated piece 

 of work, such as wreaths, twists, curves, and other forms required in staircases, 

 handrails, and masonry j the intersections and forms of mouldings having different 

 angles ; the manner of obtaining the length of angle-rafters, and the lines for 

 cutting the same ; the cut and lengths of purlins against angle-rafters, especially 

 where the rafters aud piu'lins are moulded ; a true system of developing circles in 

 all their varieties ; the true lines for the formation of each stone in a circular upon 

 circular arch : every stone in this form of arch has an irregular side, all requiring 

 very careful formation, and which can only be obtained by a true development of 

 geometric lines ; this is also the case with skew arches when properly executed, 

 and when built in large ashlar. There is much information of this description 

 needed by a first-class workman, and it is, so far as the author knows, a know- 

 ledge peculiarly their own. It has not been taught in schools. Architects, 

 as a class, know very little of it ; it is workmen's lore ; it has been left to them, 

 and some 10 per cent, of workmen have a fair knowledge of such subjects ; 

 yet few, if any, are what 90 per cent, might be if such schools ns the Bradford 

 Builders' Technical Schools existed throughout the country. The Government 

 Examiners for Certificates in Building Construction, so far as can be perceived, are 

 imacquainted with the existence of this peculiar scientific workmen's geometry: 

 and it would be well if they were to take counsel with men who are practically 

 engaged in our technical schools — men who not only theorize, but go into actual 

 practice in the school. We have followed theories in our school with actual con- 

 struction. If pur pupils are studying the skew bridge, circular upon circular arch, 

 wreaths of wooc^or stone, roof construction, or such like, the bridge or arch is con- 

 structed as a practical illustration of the geometric principle or theory. Technical 

 schools can never have efficient help from Government until this technical know- 

 ledge is better understood by the Science and Art Department. Architectural 



