1865.] 



( 355 ) 



NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



Reform in the Committee of Council on Education, and the Science and Art 



Department. 



The appearance in our last Number 

 of the article on the Science and 

 Art Department, has brought us 

 many painful expressions of ap- 

 proval, both from the Press and 

 from individuals who have suffered 

 from the mismanagement at South 

 Kensington. Newspapers have been 

 forwarded to us from Exeter, Ply- 

 mouth, Glasgow, &c, with articles 

 complaining bitterly of the injury 

 done to local institutions, and ex- 

 pressing a fervent hope that there 

 might soon be Parliamentary inter- 

 ference in the matter. 



From Science teachers, too, we 

 have received communications — 

 some conveying a desire to form a 

 defensive association, others expres- 

 sing fear lest such a movement 

 might prejudice them still further 

 with the State. 



In one case, the friend of an ex- 

 teacher forwards to us a statement 

 of the history of the teacher's con- 

 nection with the "Department." 

 As it fairly represents the working 

 of the whole system, and the teacher 

 is well known to us by reputa- 

 tion, as one of the most successful 

 (if not the most successful) of the 

 whole body, we do not hesitate to 

 publish it as received : — 



" He began his courses of instruction 

 in ]860 ; the money received by him as 

 the result of that year's teaching was, in 

 round numbers, 1307.; the next year it 

 increased to 1707. ; the year after to 

 230/. ; and in 1863 to 2501. Then the 

 influence of the Eevised Code was felt ; 

 the result being that, with about the 

 same number of pupils, of the same 

 average capacity as those of former 

 years, the teacher's earnings at once fell 

 to 90Z. He saw at once — in fact, he 

 could not help seeing — that it was now 

 utterly useless to expect to earn a liveli- 

 hood by teaching Science under the 



auspices of the Committee of Council on 

 Education, and although he had spent 

 several of the best years of his life in 

 qualifying himself for that work, he 

 was reluctantly but imperiously com- 

 pelled to relinquish the duties he had 

 discharged so successfully." 



This statement (which, as we 

 have already observed, is typical of 

 the working of the system, for we 

 know other excellent men who have 

 suffered in a similar manner) does 

 not represent the whole hardship 

 of the case, and delicacy for the 

 feelings of scientific men, so little 

 considered by the authorities at 

 South Kensington, prevents us from 

 publishing further details. 



We must now wait patiently for the 

 results of the inquiry into the " con- 

 stitution and procedure of the Com- 

 mittee of Council on Education," un- 

 dertaken by the Select Committee of 

 the House of Commons, moved for 

 and obtained by the Right Hon. Sir 

 J. Pakington, and we have great con- 

 fidence in the fairness of such an 

 investigation ; for, although it is 

 impossible to guard against the in- 

 troduction of abuses into any de- 

 partment of the State, and to pre- 

 vent maladministration and an un- 

 wise employment of public moneys, 

 we feel sure that, whenever a num- 

 ber of honourable English statesmen 

 set themselves earnestly to work to 

 correct an abuse which has been 

 laid bare, they will not leave their 

 work incomplete. 



The " Select Committee " is, in 

 this case, entitled to the cordial co- 

 operation of every person connected 

 with Science instruction in the three 

 kingdoms, and we earnestly appeal 

 to all persons who desire that the 

 State should be at least as honour- 

 able in its dealings as are private 



