I8&J.] 
On Technical Education. 
575 
II. ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 
By Robert Galloway, M.R.I.A. 
(Continued from page 476,) 
S N some of the previous articles we have shown how far 
behind other civilised countries England is at the pre- 
sent time in all that relates to a good school education 
suitable for boys intended either for trade, commerce, or 
manufactures ; it remains for us to notice and discuss some 
of the efforts made by the State, through the Department of 
Science and Art, by the Universities of Cambridge and 
Oxford, and by the City and Guilds of London Institute, to 
improve the general and scientific education of the country, 
independent of, or in connection with, our Grammar and 
other Public Schools and Colleges which are supported 
either by private endowments or by Government grants. We 
shall also have to point out the absolute necessity there 
exists at the present time for the appointment of a special 
Minister of Education, charged solely with the over-seeing 
of educational institutions and of all matters relating to 
education. 
The Department of Science and Art was established in 
connection with the Board of Trade in March, 1853, as a 
development of the Department of Practical Art ; it was 
placed under the direction of the Committee of Council on 
Education in 1866. The grant it received in 1855 was 
£80,000 ; the grant this year amounts to £351,400, being a 
net increase of £18,369 on the past year’s grant. The ad- 
ministration, in the form of salaries alone, will cost the 
country this year £8770 ; last year the grant was £8494. 
The two Universities named established what are termed 
“ Local Examinations ” in 1858, for the purpose of sup- 
plying a common test of attainment for boys both in our 
public and private schools. In 1873 they enlarged the 
scheme by combining inspection with examination. The 
University of Cambridge commenced the organisation of a 
plan, in 1875, for promoting University teaching in populous 
towns, the objeCt being to enable those who have left school, 
and are unable to proceed to a University, to continue their 
studies, by placing within their reach higher education of an 
accurate and methodical kind. The University of Qxford 
