G.— ENGINEERING 145 



of this country will follow a simple logical argument, even when it is about 

 a subject in which they are interested. The remainder will let their 

 minds wander and will take a result on trust without even hoping to under- 

 stand it. This I attribute in a great measure to the fact that in their early 

 years their reasoning powers, so far from being encouraged, were actually 

 wrecked on the snags of unreasonable studies. 



Education should be directed much more than it is at present to the 

 making of young people into happy and useful citizens. To this end the 

 subject-matter of education should be concerned more with the things 

 around us than with the things of the past. History, of course, should 

 have a place in education, but it should be valued mainly for its bearing on 

 the present. The curricula of schools have been very greatly improved 

 during the last few years ; but there still remains a great deal to be done 

 before we can say that we take the shortest and most reasonable way to 

 learning. When that shortest and most reasonable road has been gained, 

 it will be found that boys and girls are carried much further and made 

 into much happier and more useful citizens. 



Some of my hearers may wonder why I have not confined my presi- 

 dential address to Section G of the British Association to the subject 

 matter of Engineering. It is because at this stage of the world's mis- 

 fortunes, with output falling and unemployment figures rising, the 

 engineer has an important message to give. When he gives it in his 

 technical journals it passes unheeded by the world at large. The position 

 is analogous to that of a mains engineer, who, working in a roadway, 

 sees an omnibus out of control careering down a steep hill. The 

 passengers are giving frantic and futile advice to the driver who does not 

 understand the mechanism. Shall the engineer go on with his job or 

 shall he jump on board and apply his expert knowledge in bringing the 

 omnibus under control ? 



You ask for a constructive proposal. It is that the Government should 

 found an experimental, voluntary, self-supporting colony under the 

 auspices of engineers, scientists and economists. The object in view 

 would be to ascertain how far it is possible with our present knowledge 

 and the best methods of manufacture and distribution for a group of say 

 100,000 persons to maintain themselves and continually to increase their 

 wealth when freed from the restraints and social errors of modern civilisa- 

 tion. Such an experiment might do more to enlighten the world as to 

 the possibility of modern logical methods than an experiment carried out 

 on a continent thousands of miles across, where unforeseen difficulties 

 might easily defeat the best intentions. If you ask what differences there 

 would be in the old world and the new colony from which so much 

 is to be hoped, I will in partial answer draw two pictures. One is of a 

 feeble man of sixty years working all day in a sewer because it is the only 

 occupation he can find to earn his daily bread. Far worse than the 

 unpleasantness of the task is the rankling injustice that he should be 

 compelled to do this despised job for no more reward than a living wage, 

 while others with easier tasks get greater rewards. The other picture is 

 that of a young man of twenty-three years, who has chosen the task of 



