PunxELL.—On Technical Education. 401 
In connection with this institution a number of technical schools and 
colleges have been founded in different parts of the country, the funds 
being provided by the trade companies, the manufacturers, and from 
other local sources, a technical school having been opened at Manchester 
as recently as September last. A similar school at Bradford, which has 
been in existence for some time, moved last year into a new building, 
which had been erected and fitted up for its accommodation at an 
expense of upwards of £30,000. In localities where sufficient money has 
not been available for the establishment of a properly equipped school, 
classes have been formed, whose pupils are registered on the rolls of the 
-Institute. Altogether, according to the report presented at the annual 
distribution of prizes in December last, there are over 4,000 pupils receiving 
instruction in the registered classes of the Institute, and the system of 
' technical examination undertaken by the Institute extends to more than 
150 centres in different parts of the country. These numbers, however, 
give a very imperfect idea of the extent of the efforts which are being made 
to diffuse technical education amongst English operatives, as many technical 
classes are in existence which have not affiliated themselves to the Insti- 
tute. Classes, for example, have been established in connection with the 
Young Men’s Christian Institute at the old Polytechnic Institution in Lon- 
don, and were last winter attended by no fewer than 5,500 persons, while 
measures are being taken to increase the accommodation, so as to provide 
room for 8,000 students. 
The principal college of the City and Guilds Institute is the Finsbury 
Technical College, opened in February, 1888, and which has been equipped 
in the most elaborate manner. Further, the Department of Science and 
Art is erecting a Technieal College at Kensington, upon which a sum of 
£75,000 has been expended, in order that it may serve as a centre for the 
entire technical educational system of England, and more especially as a 
training school for teachers of technical science, whose want has been much 
felt. Hence, when the system gets into full swing, its influence can hardly 
fail to be marked, and in after years the men and lads who have been 
irained at the various technical colleges and schools will form an appre- 
ciable element in the industrial classes of Great Britain. 
Looking at the superior field which this colony affords for individual 
enterprise, can it be doubted that these highly trained workmen will emi- 
grate in considerable numbers to New Zealand? They will come here 
and occupy the positions of foremen and the best paid hands in the work- 
shops, while our colonial-bred artizans will have to content themselves with 
subordinate posts. 
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