Puenell. — 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, 1883, and which has been equipped 

 in the most elaborate manner. Further, the Department of Science and 

 Art is erecting a Technical 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 

 trained 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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