July i, 1891.] fHF ThiOPSCAL 
TECHNICAL INSTKUCTION IN NORTHERN 
INDIA. 
We have baen favoured with the perusal of a 
very able Minute on Technical Inatruotion drawn 
up by Sir Auckland Oolvin for the guidance of 
his Government in the North- West Provincea of 
lodia. As there is mu'ih of interest in it to us in 
Cdjlon we append the following snmrnary, and call 
attention to the prominenoe given to the need of a 
training in mechanical industries : — 
The minute is an exhaustive document comprising 
thirty-six heads shows what up to the present moment 
has been the course cf matters iu the North-Weat pro- 
vinces and what haa been done in Madras, Bombay and 
Bengal. Ou 16th Sept. 1885 the Government of India 
forwarded for ccn^ideratioQ certain papers from the 
Mairas Government con'cainiug a scheme for pro- 
moting technical education in industrisi arts and manu- 
factures by offering grautf-in-aid to eacourtigo tbe 
teachinij in schools so aided of technieal scienoej arts 
and handicrafts, and by testing that teaching by a 
system of public examinations. The aim of tho 
scheme W/xs to ceate and ^-ucoiirage technical instruc- 
tion in middle-class sohools. In r-ply to a noto " 
frooa the Secretary to the Government of ludia iu 
the Hjme D pirtTnetit tbe Director of Public In- 
struction toi'jttd oat that tlie question of establishing 
F.iou'itios of Meiiicine a^iil Buf-intfring vvas uii^or con- 
sideration iu Allababad Uuivertity which was also 
considering the prepiratory course for students de- 
siring to matriculate and the course for decrees in 
law and arts. The question had been brought to a 
practical isaue of Oadb, aad in Lihore it had also 
beeu cousidered. The question of agricultural and 
veterinary schools he proposed should be referred to 
the Department of Land Kecorda and Agricultural 
as alao the teaching of land surTeying. Col. Forbes 
on the question of insiruction in engineering stattd 
that the practical instruction gained by natives 
at the large rjilway woikshops at Allahabad, Lnck- 
now, and Lahore, and at the Government workshops 
at Roorkee wasuow bearing fruit at Delhi where there 
were at present 17 foundries and mechanical shops, 
one with a 20 horae-power engine, worked entirely 
by natives, without European fupervision ; at Koorkea 
where there was a Email foundry and shop under 
native management ; at Meerut where there were 
two native foundries and shop, and at other places. 
He thought it unnecessary therefore for the Govern- 
maut iu (heae places to start schools for teehnicil 
engineering, but faoilitioa might be given to selected 
middle or high schools atudeiita for going through a 
four or five years' course of work at a railway 
or Government workshop. Tbe Director of Land 
and Agriculture pointed out that surveying and 
men8nr.-»tion were largely taught in the schools 
tinder the Educational Department and that in every 
district in the.se provinces there was a pcho 1 of 
practical surveying. He advocxted the creation of a 
Normal School for surveying only at Cawnpore or 
Luckuow. Lads he so well trained in horticulture at 
the Saharanpur and Luoknow Gardens; and at 
the Cawopore farm there were a few apprentices 
in training. There should be small scbolarnhips for 
the maintenance of boys at the various workshops ; 
an art school at Lucknow ; agricultural and veteri- 
nary schools or olaasts in high aohools ; and 
drawing should be made compulsory ;— Dr. Kioe, 
Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, disapproved 
of the proposal to teach up to a higher standard than 
that of the hospital assistant class. After a number 
of other details the minute goes on to state that the 
establiahnr eat of what has been described as " a special 
examination of a commercial and practical character " 
by the University of Allababad is also under eonsider- 
atioa, its aim being to give a preliminary instruction 
without which no large growth of technical education 
can be hoped for. The offer of the British India 
Association to establish a Jubilee School of Industry at 
Luckuow is also recorded, and various papers from the 
Bombay and Bengal Government? on the subject of 
tachnioal inatruotion referred to, as well as lengtuy 
AGRICULTURIST, 9 
quotations made from a letter of Sir Alfred Orot'b and 
the Government's reply thereto. 
Proceeding, the minute says it seemed probable 
that the railway, Roorkee, aud other workshops pro- 
vide sufficient training for the mere artizan and 
that his training may be left to them. What 
SBfms mostly needed ht present in these Provinces 
is tbe provision of greater fseilitios for a somewhat 
higher class of training in those new mechanical 
industries which have been introduced by British 
capital into these Provinces, and in regard to 
which though there may be a growing demand for 
skilled labour, there is no iudlgonous supply. Facilities 
should be given for gaining a ooaapetent theoretical and 
practical knowledge of the more subordinate grades of 
mechanical engineering, such as is necessary to a fore- 
man mechanic, more specially in connection with the 
steam engine, the railway workshops and the iron 
foundry ; and also of the processes of cotton-spinning 
as employed in the mills established iu these Provinces. 
At Roorkee there is a Government engineering college 
and Government workshops and it seems probable that 
there is the nucleus of the instruction necessary. 
Prior to admission to such dat'ses it would be necessary 
to estaiiliBh some such test as the Auglo-vernacuiar 
middie-cla.ss, to eusnre some tolerabls knowledge of 
English, and ao a gUHi'.'mtae of the good faith of 
those who sought for iustraotion. A three or four 
years' course of instruciioc, thoore'-ieal and practical, 
would be requirad, whioh would possibly include a 
ferm of practicil training in the railw,iy worl^shopa 
nud the cotton mills. The proposal which seems most 
practicable at present is that a certain number of 
fccbolarships should be given to be competed for by 
students desirous of enterintf the college and that the 
holdere; of the toholarships Khould by meaus of them, 
b^j en«ble to pass torou'^'h their course of instraction, 
whether at Roorkee or, (as part of their course) 
in attendance at vvorkshors or mills. Before any 
deci.-iou however is arrived at, it is wished to learn 
the opinions of railway authorities and employers or 
directors of mill-hands Rs to whether there is a field 
of employment {or natives trained iu the kind ol edu- 
cition proposed; ihit is as foremen mechanics and not 
mere artizans ; and whether for the present the means 
of instruction for the ordinary artizan ai-e sufficient; 
aud if not what s'eps are possible in view of the 
means at Government command for improving that 
instruction. Assuming the class of instruction proposed 
is that which is most denirable it will b^ necessary to 
learn whether the railway and mill-employers are 
williog to allow students to go tbroujih a practical 
training at their eetablishmenta aud if so under what 
conditions. It is cuisidered premature to go fully 
into the question of funds until it has beeu ascer- 
tained that the bases ou which it is proposed to 
mild are practical. 
. 
BLACK PEARLS AND EXPERIENCE OP 
THE PEARL FISHERY. 
We had a call on Msy 15ih from Mr. W. de Carolis 
Leaihsr merchant of KoUupitiya who had a liae 
black pearl to show us. It was ono of the finds 
in the present Fishery and is valued at from 
R7oO to Rl.OOO. It is not a perfect one in shape, 
though not far out, weighs 7 carats and measures 
over an inch in oircumfereace. iVIr. Carolis had 
besides haif-a dozen amnll black pearls and two 
goodly lots of white ones, tbe prooueds altogether 
of his investment in oysters. We were curious to 
see how his experience had worked out. Ha had 
sent three of his relatives to the Fishery and they 
had bought altogether 01,000 oysters at a cost of 
some Rl 800. In return they brought him one 
lot of ordinary pearls, souie middle size, many small 
Vfilutd at Rl.lOO ; another lot value R200 ; and 
the black poari, say R1,000 ; aliOijether Ri,HOO. A 
poor return this considering the expenses of tho 
party and tbe risk attending the aalo— if the pearls 
should be sold— at these valuations. Mr. de Carolis 
intend 3 to send tha black pearl to the Londou 
market. 
