152 
On Technical Education. 
[March, 
thirty years of operative existence ; hence the constant de- 
mand for information, by means of Commissions and 
Reports, as to what is being accomplished on the Continent 
in these branches of instruction. In short, it is universally 
admitted that we are far behind continental countries in 
Scientific and Technical Education, and this after ali the 
vast sums of public money that have year after year — for 
nearly thirty years— been placed in the hands of the perma- 
nent officials of the Department, to obtain results at least 
equal to those obtained in Germany and other countries, and 
which are obtained at a less cost than the inferior results 
obtained by the Department. 
The question naturally arises in the mind, What is the 
cause of this lamentable educational failure ? It is due to 
the system — payment on results — which our officials have 
forced on the country, and by the adoption of which we 
stand absolutely alone in the realm of education amongst all 
the civilised and semi-civilised nations of the earth, with the 
exception perhaps of China. Not alone is the system not 
adopted ; it is condemned by other nations by the system — 
the very opposite of it— they follow. It is also condemned 
by every one in our own country who has the least preten- 
sion to be classed as an educationist ; yet we as a nation 
continue this worthless and vicious system, whilst at the 
same time we are continually sending out Commissioners to 
report, and also publishing from other sources reports on 
the methods and results of the teaching in foreign countries. 
Why is such an unwise — one might almost add unpatriotic 
— course followed by our Statesmen and Senators when they 
find, as find they must if they give the subject any atten- 
tion, that the sole reason why we are behind continental 
nations is that they adopt an enlightened system of educa- 
tion, whilst we adopt a worthless and vicious one. But 
whilst being a worse than worthless system, as an educa- 
tional one, it is a most perfect and efficient one for bringing 
into and keeping in existence a very costly Bureaucratic 
Department; and most probably that explains why Parliament 
has never seen fit, or perhaps not been able, to reform it. 
What would have been the condition of education in 
England if, from the days of King Alfred down to the end of 
Queen Elizabeth’s reign, there had been established the 
payment on result system in place of the 245 public schools 
which were founded during that period, and military men 
had been made the Councillors-in-Chief to the Sovereign 
and the Ministers of the day who had charge of the educa- 
tion of the people. If that had occurred there would be no 
