July i, 1891.] 
fHF Tf^OPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
9 
TKCIINICAL IXSTRUCTION IN NORTIIKRN 
INDIA. 
VVe have been favoured with the peia^al of a 
very able Minute on Tacbnioal Inalruotion drawn 
up by tiir Anokland Oolvin for the guidanoo of 
hia Government in the North-Woat Provincea of 
India. Aa there ia muoh of interest in it to us in 
Cjylon we append the following anmmary, and call 
attention to the prominenoe given to the need of a 
training in meohanioal indutirieB: — 
The roinnie ia au exhaustive document oompriaiug 
thirty^aiz boada abows what up to the present moment 
baa been the coarae of matters in the North- West pro- 
viuocs and what baa been dune in Madras, Hombay and 
Bengal. Ou Idth Sopt. 18d5i the Goyemmeut of India 
forwarded for oou^uderatiou oertain papers from the 
Mairas Government oontaiuiiig a echeme for pro- 
moting technical education in industrial arts and mauu- 
faclures by oiTering grautf*in-aid to encourage tho 
teaching in sobools so aided of toobuieal science, arts 
and handicrafts, and hy teating that ti aching by u 
system of poblio examiuatioiiK. The aim of the 
schema was too'eateaud encourage teobuicnl instruc- 
tion in middle-class sobools. In reply to a “ note 
from the Secretary to the Governmeut of India in 
tho Home Oepirtinent the Director of Public In- 
sbriiolion poioUd ont that the question of establishing 
Faculties of Medicine and Engineering whs under oou- 
fiideratiou lu Allahabad University which was also 
oonstderiug the prtpiratory course for stadenta de- 
siriug to matriculate and the course for decrees in 
law and arts. The question had been brought to a 
practical iaaue of Oadb, and in Lihore it had aPo 
beeu oonaidored. The qnestion of agricultural and 
veterinary schools he propoeud should be referred to 
the Dopartmeul of Land Hecorda and Agricultural 
as also the toaobing of land surreying. Co/. Forbes 
on the question of instruction in ongin^'eriug statr d 
that the practical instruction gained by imtivHS 
at the large railway workshops at AlUhabad, Lack- 
now, and Lahore, and at the Government workshops 
at Hoorkde was now bearing fruit at Delhi where there 
were at present 17 foundries and mechanical shops, 
ODG with a 20 horao-power engiuo, worked entirely 
by natives, without European supervision; at iloorkee 
whero there was a small foundry and shop under 
native management; at M.^erut where ihero were 
two native fonudriea and shop, and at other places. 
He thought it unnoo 0 ‘» 6 ary therefore for tho G.jV6ru. 
njunt in these places to start schools for technical 
engineering, bat facilities might be given to selected 
middle or high schools students for going throngh n 
four or five years’ cotirsu of work at h railway 
or Government workshop. The Director of Land 
nnd Agriculture pointed out that surveying and 
menaurstion were largely langht m tho aohaols 
Un«!er the Educational Department and that in every 
district in those provinces there wav a schod of 
practical surveying. Ho advocated tho (freation of a 
N ormal School for surveying only at Cawopore or 
Lucknow. Lads he so wt^ll trained in horticulture at 
the baharanpuf and Lucknow Gardens; and at 
the Cawupore farm there were a few apprentices 
jn training. There should be small scholarships for 
the maintenance of boys at the varhms workshops ; 
an art school at Lucknow; sgriouUural and veteri- 
nary schools or elasses in , high sohools ; and 
rawing should be made compulsory Dr. Kioe, 
uspeotor-Oeneral of Civil Hospitals, disapprove! 
the proposal to teach up to a higher standard than 
lat of tho hospital aHsictant olssj. After a number 
details tho minute goes ou to state th 4 t the 
abliebn eat of what has been described as ** n special 
® commercfal and practical obarseter ” 
j le University of Allahabad ii kIro under consider- 
being to give a preliminary instruction 
withuut which no larae growth of te,jhuioal education 
A “ hoped for. The off.jr of tho British India 
£«H(jciation to establish a Jubilee School of Industry at 
JJ^cknow is also recorded, and various papers from the 
tAA? • ^ and BeugAl Governments on tho subject of 
Veonmcal instruction referred to, us well aa lengthy 
quotations made from a letter of Sir Alfred Oroft and 
the OdvernmenUs reply thereto. 
Proceeding, the minute says it aeomed probablo 
that the railway, Roorkee, and other workshops pro- 
vide sufficient training for the more arlizau and 
that bis training may bo left to them, What 
set ms mostly needed at present in these Provinces 
is the proviMon of greater facilities for a somewhat 
higher class of training in those now raeohanica! 
industries which have been iiitrudiioed by British 
capital into these Provincea, and in regard to 
which though there may be a growing dumand fur 
skilled labour, there is no indigenous supply. Facilities 
should be given for gaining a compident ihoorelical and 
ptaotical knowieigeof the more subordiimte grades of 
moebauioal engineeriog, such as is Lccesaary to a fore- 
man mechanic, more specially in conm ctiou with the 
steam engine, the railway workshops and the iron 
foundry ; and also of the procossoK of polton-spinniug 
as employed iu tho mills established in tiu se Provincos. 
At Roorkee there is a Government engineiTiug college 
and Government workshops and it rc.'nin prolnbli -''A': 
there is th« rnelf-us of tli.- ‘ =-• r\ nere 
Prior to adndasicii to hucI' ' • . il al i ' u‘y 
lo establish scM^e eurh a-: ! • uj;l -vert » - :r 
.n’ddle-cIsKS. to su in- ‘ Mcr^ 1 k*t 'wlcdi! i. ‘f*f 
Eugli-h, and Lt giur> ' 'e of i; -* g. -d Ittitli of 
lliOHO w'm nought for in‘.traotI(in. A three or four 
years’ cjur-^r! ot i\jstriic:i n. iheoro'icHl and practie »1, 
would be rcqnic d, wlreh would pJ^bibly inclu ie a 
•.enu of practicil training in tho r-tilwny workshops 
and the cotton mills. Th'' proposal which seems most 
practicable at present is that a certain nunibi r of 
scholarships sbr uKI be given lo be competed for by 
ttud.nts desirous of entering the college and that tho 
holdi-rs of tho fcholarships should by moAua of thnni, 
he ensble to pass through their cuurae of iustrociion, 
whether at Roorkee or, (as part of their course) 
in atieudauce at woikshofs or mills. Before any 
decision however is arrived at, it is wished to learii 
the opudoDS of railway authorities and employers or 
directors of mill-hauda as to whether thoru is a field 
of omploymeiit for natives trained iu the kind of edu- 
cation proposed; ih ^t is qs foremen raechanios and nut 
mere artizaup; and whether for the present the means 
of instrur^tiou for the ordinary artizan are sufficient; 
and if not what s'eps are possible iu view of tho 
means at Government command for improving that 
inatrnotion. Assuming the class of instruction proposed 
is that which is most desirable it will he necessary to 
learn whether the railway and mill-employers are 
willing to allow studentH to go through a practical 
trainiug at their eptahlishments and if so under what 
oouditions. It is o m^idered promainre to go fully 
into the question of funds until it has been ascer- 
tained that the bases ou which it is proposed to 
mild are practical. 
■ ' 
BLACK DRAULS AND RXl’RUl KNCR OF 
TJIR PKARL FISHERY. 
We had a call on May I5th from Mr, W. de Carolis 
LeaLher merchant of Kollupitiya who had a fine 
black poarl to ebow us. It was one of the finds 
in the present Fishery and ia valued at from 
11750 to Bl.OUO. It is not a perfect one in ehapu, 
though not far out, weighs 7 carats and measures 
over an inch in oirouraference. Mr. Carolis had 
besidoa half a dozen small black pearls and two 
goodly lots of white ones, tho proceeds altogether 
oi his in^■^atm 0 ut in oysters. We were curious to 
800 how his experience had worked cut. He had 
sent three of his relatives to the Fishery and they 
bad bought altogether 01,000 oysters at a cost of 
some Kl.SOO. In return they brought him one 
lot of ordinary pearls, some middle size, many small 
valued at R1 100 ; another bt value R‘200 ; and 
the biauk pearl, say Kl.OOOi altogether Iti.MOO. A 
poor return this considering the expenses of the 
party and the risk attending the Bale— if the pearls 
should be sold — at these valuations, Mr. de Carolis 
intends to send the black pearl to the London 
market. 
