152 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
mean in the case of damage at a distant out-port, where, were these 
standards adopted, only a few spares need be kept, or even the spare of 
one steamer could be used for another with the same diameter shaft, and 
thus in the case of damage the present long delays in an out-port waiting 
for replace parts would be avoided. 
The influence of the Institution of Naval Architects on the progress of 
design cannot be exaggerated. Founded in 1860, there has been a constant 
stream of valuable papers read and discussed at the annual meetings ; 
naval architects and marine engineers were glad of the opportunity of pre- 
senting the results of their experience to their fellows and of profiting by 
the discussion of their ideas. The Institution is a forum where ability and 
efficiency are highly valued and honoured. One of the earliest benefits 
conferred by the Institution on the profession was that, through the influ- 
ence of its members as a body, Government was induced to establish the 
School at South Kensington from which, as I have shown, such benefits 
have flowed. And there are all over the country—at Liverpool, Newcastle, 
Southampton, Glasgow, and other centres—similar institutions, contri- 
buting to the advance of the science by their meetings and published 
transactions, 
I have done what I could to ensure chronological accuracy in preparing 
this address, but, from the difficulties I encountered in my inquiries, I 
am conscious that there may be certain errors. It is sketchy, | admit, 
as the change and progress during the last fifty years has been so colossal 
that one cannot within the limits of such an address do more than glance 
at the phases of the evolution. 
But there is one other aspect on which | think J should say a few words, 
and that is on the management of the works and the personnel. Plan the 
designer never so well, unless the works management and the artisans be 
efficient and work cordially together, the designer plans in vain ! 
Fifty years ago, when transport was primitive, the staffs and artisans 
remained largely in the place of their birth, education, and apprenticeship. 
Tradition thus grew up in each works, which were generally moderate in 
size and frequently situated in small towns, so that everybody knew 
everybody ; there was a clannish feeling and a spirit of emulation between 
works and works, the stafis and artisans were as pleased with a technical 
success as the master, and considered that they shared the credit, as 
indeed they did. Son succeeded father in al] grades in the works, and, so 
far as discipline and willing service were concerned, the manager, if he had 
ow 
any anxiety at all, could yet make his calculations as to cost and time of | 
delivery with a fair certainty of ‘coming out.’ Trade Unions there were, 
but controlled by men with different aims from the present. The same held 
good in the local football team, the men were really from the locality. 
And just as professionalism has destroyed that spirit in football, so pro- 
fessional agitators and politicians have largely destroyed the old spirit 
of ‘the works.’ The employer is blamed for not knowing his own men, 
but every precaution seems to be taken to prevent the employer from 
doing so; the individual workman is not permitted to talk things over 
with the individual employer. 
We older men had our own difficulties and troubles in the earlier stages 
of the evolution, but our sons and descendants have imposed on them the | 
necessity of acquiring a greater mass of detailed and accurate knowledge, 
