A LONDON CHARLOTTENBRG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12343, 7 August 1903, Page 4

A LONDON CHARLOTTENBRG.

The munificent offer which Lord Bosebery has been authorised to make to the London County Council, gives rise (remarks the London Times) to• the confident hope that the capital of the Empire -will shortly fee proI vided with adequate means for imparting to ! students' an education 'of the highest order in technical and applied science. We have long felt (continues the Times), in this the heart and centre of the greatest manufacturing and commercial State! in the world, the need of some institution which will do for Us what the technical high schools of Germany, Austra-Hungraryj and Switzerland are doing for the youth of those countries upon the Continent, and what a number of technical Universities, richly endowed by private benefactors, are doing' for the youth of the United ' States. ,We want, as Lord Robbery savs," a- London Charlottenburg," and our opportunity to obtain it has come Hi last. The great firm of \v ember, Beit, and Co., true : . to the ■ traditions;: of .Imperialism and of educational progress, which. were dear to Mr. Rhodes, have offered to place a large sum of money in the hands of trustees .as a contribution towards the cost of building and ! equipping ! such an institution, and --> other public-spirited men' of business in the City of London nave promised considerable amounts for the same object. !; The sum Messrs. IVernher; Beit and Co. have undertaken to. provide is, we understand, £100,000, with an assurance that, a further drift of •; the .like amount will be forthcoming on certain conditions uereafter. 1 here is reason to;believe that an admirable site may be placed at the disposal of the trustees by the Royal Commissioners of the Exhibition of JO5l. tin condition that funds .sufficient for the constructionand ; equipment of; the! institution have been subscribed and that a proper provision is made for its maintenance. The cost Of the construction and. equipment of a building suitable for the immediate heeds, of London, , and capable of expansion hereafter* a" the demand for the kind of education it Will supply. develops amongst us, is estimated ati!600,000, : and the site is valued at about £200,000 more. We believe that the wise liberality of a certain number of the leading citizens of London has practically provided the money which is immediately requited to erect and equip the institution. While r the new "school" will constitute a* separate and distinct entity; within the; University under the management, of ■ a committee of its owns it is intended to work in close co-operation with the Royal College of Science, -the Cenfetal Technical College, and other tenches of the University engaged in. work of a. somewhat similar kind. It is designed to train "the skilled.lieutenants ; 'and, confidential assistants " of our. captains of industry,; and therefore to meet the wants of advanced students , and of advanced students only, like the German high schools, and it will ; afford facilities— sorely needed in this counfery~ for original research. It will not overlap the work of other bodies, but will endeavour to supplement it by taking tip subjects, such as chemical technology, mining . and ■; metallurgy, electro-chemistry, electric traction, railway and marine engineering, naval architecture, and others, which are at present ignored or dealt with in a i perfunctory' and unsystematic way. The education it provides will be brought within the reach of relatively poor men by low fees and scholarships. It desires to open its doors to the best brains of the Empire which are devoted, in the future to that " conversion of general scientific knowledge into scientific values," which has been.in so largo a measure the foundation - of the industrial greatness of our most formidable rivals.

THE NHQBO QUESTION IN AMERICA. ■,'■'•'' As a, result of the in the cases of lynching, ill-treatment, ''■> and oppression of negroes in the United States, the movement in the South to retransporb negroes to Africa is gathering new force. - A petition presented to the Georgia Legislature, signed by a large number of negroes, asks the Legislature to appropriate money to send negroes to Liberia. The National Coloured Immigration Association at its session at Montgomery (Alabama) petitioned Congress to appropriate 100,000,000 dollars for the same purpose. A correspondent of the Chicago Tribune who is making a tour in the South.; is sending accounts of the,prevalence of the " peonage " system, which are widely' reproduced in other newspapers." He declares that actual slavery exists: in many /parts. : Negroes ' cannot leave the plantations to' go and work elsewhere, and are not allowed to travel by train* If they say they are unable' to work because they are ill the lash is applied just as in the days .before the war. This slavery is legalised in Georgia and Alabama by laws which permit a white man by, paying a negro's fine to hold the negro till the debt is discharged. The result is that the whites make false charges against negroes, obtain possession of them, and then keep them permanently. ■ The New Sfork Post publishes five columns from a correspondent giving details of the new slavery. The correspondent declares that negroes are picked up indiscriminately by constables, who charge them with carrying razors, stealing a ride in a train, vagrancy, debt, - allowing a mule to bite another man's corn, " or other fictitious offences. They are ; then taken before complaisant magistrates, who impose a fine.' Then a planter comes, pays the fines, and takes the culprits into slavery.? The negroes, tied in groups, are taken to plantations, where they are set to work in the fields. Guards are placed over them, and the plantations are patrolled by men armed with rifles. Whippings are frequent;ia negress was whipped to death last year. If the negroes run away they are chased by hounds. The correspondent says that this slavery has existed for years, and 'is increasing, but the Southerners, who resented Nor-1 thern criticism, did not suspect its actual proportions.