i§th February, igii. 



Professor J. A. Lindsay, M.A., M.D., in the Chair. 



THE PROGRESS OF TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION. 



By Mr. F. C. Forth. 



{Abstract). 



The Chairman said in the unavoidable absence of the 

 President he had been asked to preside, and he did so with much 

 pleasure. Mr. Forth needed no introduction, as his name, his 

 reputation, and his work were known to everybody in the city. 

 He had built up one of the finest technical schools in the United 

 Kingdom and the largest in Ireland, and noted for its efficiency 

 from every point of view. They would all be very glad to hear 

 him that night on a subject on which he was an acknowledged 

 master. 



Mr. Forth, who was cordially received, said in December, 

 1901, he had the privilege of outlining to the Society the proposals 

 of the Belfast Corporation m regard to the then recently-adopted 

 Technical Instruction Act. In compliance with the request of the 

 Secretary of their Society (Mr. R. M. Young), he proposed now to 

 give a description of a decade of technical instruction in Ireland, 

 with special reference to Belfast. At the outset the lecturer 

 referred to the establishment of the " Recess " Committee in 1896, 

 This Committee consisted of some twenty-two members com- 

 prising men of all shades of political opinion, and it met under 

 the chairmanship of Mr. (now Sir) Horace Plunkett. Ulster was 

 represented on this Committee by a number of its prominent men, 

 amongst them being the late Sir James Musgrave, Bart., the Right 

 Hon. Thomas Andrews, the Right Hon. Thomas Sinclair, and 



