62 Technical Education. 



generally, our local manufacturers seem to be unconscious of 

 the importance and value of such agencies as our schools of art and 

 science, and take very little interest in their labours. So re- 

 cently as the inquiry of the Technical Commission in Belfast, 

 a local manufacturer stated that the School of Art was of little 

 use to manufacturers, although at that very time his manager 

 was negotiating for the employment of one of our pupils as a 

 designer in his works, and has employed school of art pupils 

 since with acknowledged advantage. The technical education 

 of pupils must become more specialised as it advances, and in 

 order to meet the requirements of trade, must be carried much 

 further than the education provided by the State. For this 

 purpose all available external agencies must be brought into 

 operation, among the most ancient and honourable of which stand 

 the wealthy livery companies of London, who, recognising the 

 necessity for promoting technical education, established in 1877 

 the Guilds of London Institute, for the purpose of promoting 

 technical education among the industrial classes. Their general 

 scheme was formulated on the lines of the Science and Art 

 Department, and developed to a practical issue the annual 

 examinations and technical subjects, which were previously organ- 

 ised by the Society of Arts in 1 8 5 6. The institute's syllabus con- 

 tains thirty-five subjects, including all our productive industries, 

 and payments are made to teach and support prizes awarded to 

 pupils upon the results of examination in each subject. We 

 have, therefore, working side by side these two agencies for the 

 promotion of technical education among the working classes — 

 the Crown, by means of the science and art schools, and the 

 Guilds of London Institute, by means of the technological pro- 

 gramme, taking up the student where he is left by the State, 

 and teaching him the practical application of his acquired 

 knowledge of science and art. 



The lecturer described the very excellent work done by the 

 pupils of the Technical School and the Science and Art Classes, 

 particularly the classes at the Working Men's Institute, show- 

 ing that in the national competitions the Belfast students have 

 more than held their own in competition with some of the most 



