Technical Education. 63 



important Schools and Colleges of Science in the kingdom. 

 Referring to the difficulty in getting Schools of Science in the 

 country, the lecturer said these difficulties and hindrances must 

 continue until local authorities awake to see the necessity for 

 adopting some more systematic method of applying the educa- 

 tional resources of the country for the purpose of promoting 

 the interests of our national industries. In this direction trade 

 societies could render effective services. Indeed, without their 

 sympathy and hearty co-operation no system of industrial 

 education can be effectively brought home to the artisan, and 

 unless this is done, and effectively done, much of our educa- 

 tional efforts of the day will be little better than a dissipation 

 of energy. Whatever scheme is founded it should be equally 

 available for all industries. " In a general way it may safely 

 be predicted that the nation which has the most varied indus- 

 tries is likely, all other things being equal, to be the most pros- 

 perous, powerful and contented." The success of our technical 

 education will depend upon how it is applied in the interest of 

 the young pupils or apprentices in the several branches of 

 trades, rather than in the interest of older hands, who have 

 discovered by experience the disadvantages of neglected educa- 

 tion. Assistance in the latter case should not be withheld, but 

 no substantial or permanent improvement can be made unless 

 the career of the young mechanic is carefully guided at every 

 stage, but especially at the apprenticeship stage. 



We have already traced the altered relationship between the 

 master mechanic and his pupil in consequence of our factory 

 system, close competition, and division of labour, and it becomes 

 a question of vital importance to ascertain how, under existing 

 circumstances, to remedy the difficulties which our modern 

 apprentices have to contend against in acquiring a practical 

 knowledge of their trades. The concurrent testimony of all 

 practical authorities is that the apprenticeship system cannot 

 be superseded by any other form of education in trade, but 

 that the difficulties which surround him in the whirl and push 

 of our modern factory, render it all the more necessary that his 

 wits should be sharpened, his observing powers cultivated, and 



