Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixii, (191 7) No. 3 11 



as may be best fitted to meet the wants of the workers and manu- 

 facturers. The Education Committee of the Corporation have already 

 made a new departure in using the Manchester Museum for the 

 instruction of children ; they have now the opportunity of placing higher 

 standards of work within the reach of the workers, to the great 

 advantage of industry. 



VIII. — -A New Centre of Music. 



There is yet another direction in which we may look for increased 

 facilities for the higher culture. The munificent offer of a quarter of 

 a million for an Opera House, if an adequate site can be found, opens 

 out the opportunity for the establishment of a new centre of music. 

 It is to be hoped that it will materialise and take the form of one 

 great institution, linked with the Royal College of Music, and closely 

 connected with teaching, as in the three other institutions dealt with in 

 this essay. The scheme will certainly be supported by the many 

 lovers of music in this City. 



IX. — General Conclusions. 



The scheme now laid before the Society, if carried out, will cover 

 the whole circle of education in Manchester. It will link together the 

 University, the Municipal Schools of Art and Technology, the Primary 

 and Secondary Schools, as well as the various Mechanic Institutions, 

 and other organisations within and without Manchester. It is also in 

 harmony with the general drift of education towards the study of 

 things as well as of books. Its success is assured, if the various 

 bodies concerned agree to co-operate and to adopt the principle of give 

 and take, and thus prevent overlapping and waste of energy. Each 

 should devote itself to the carrying out of that part of the scheme for 

 which it is best fitted. It will be long before it can be completely 

 carried out. The Manchester Museum grew into its present shape in 

 the course of forty-eight years. It must further be noted, that only 

 those parts can be realised in the near future that meet the pressing 

 educational needs of raising the standards of art and industry among 

 the people. Hitherto, the workers, as compared with the more 

 leisured and wealthier classes, have not had equal opportunity of 

 learning, and have had no chance of becoming more efficient by the 

 study of the work of others. The policy of putting an end to this un- 

 fortunate situation will, beyond a doubt, be supported by those citizens 

 whose forebears founded the University, the Manchester Museum, and 

 the Art Galleries, and other public institutions for the good of the City. 

 The initiative lies with the Corporation. When this, or some such 

 scheme, is carried out — and that it will ultimately be carried out, I 

 have no doubt — Manchester will have a more complete system of 

 education for the people than any other industrial centre in Britain. 



