EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OTAGO.

Evening Star, Issue 7650, 28 June 1888, Page 1

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OTAGO.

After we went to press yesterday Mr C. Chilton, M.A., read a paper on 'A Teacher of the Olden Time,' and was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. The Appointment of Teachers Committee reported as follows:—"In the opinion of this Institute it is desirable that, before making a selection of candidates, the Board should arrange them in order according to rank (not class or division), and send to School Committees all above a certain rank, to be determined in each case according to the importance of the appointments; and that, previous to recommending a candidate for appointment as assistant teacher, Committees should consult the head-masters of their school.''' The report of the sub-Committee on Mr Cowles's motion re. "Classification of Schools" recommends that the work de] manded from schools having one or two certificated teachers be the compulsory subjects for individual passes, the compulsory class subjects, and the additional subjects ; and that in all other schools the draft syllabus, proposed by the Council of the New Zealand Educational Institute, be adopted. THE CONTBIBUTIONS OF BRANCHES. An overture was received from the Wai i * taki branch, asking the Institute to reduoe the amount payable by branches. It was agreed almost unanimously not to accede to the request. TECHNICAL EDUCATION. j At the evening sitting Professor Gibbons read the following paper:— In the course of the present century a great awakening has taken place in the public mind as to the importance of education, and the subject has at length been recognised as a science requiring as much study and elaboration, and subject to the same laws of thought, and resting on the same logical bases as any of the other recognised sciences. Systems of education which at various periodsof the world's history appeared perfect and sufficient for all the purposes for which they were intended are ' now found to be full of imperfections, and, among other faults, radically unsound in failing to provide for the requirements of large and important classes of the community. For many centuries the only education which it was possible to obtain was one of a purely literary character, and this no doubt was due to a large extent to the unsatisfactory state of scientific knowledge, which rendered all scientific subjects worthless for the purpose of training the faculties of the mind. Since, however, in the course of the last half-century the principles of science have been shown to form one consis! tent and interdependent whole, and have been placed on a logical and rational basir, scientific subjects have asserted their right to a place proportioned to their practical importance in any complete scheme of edu cation, and are growing more and more in favor, so as in many instances to tend to supplant the purely literary subjects which formerly claimed a monopoly of the educational field. Within the last few yearc, however, an idea has forced itself upon the minds of many thinking people that any nation which desires to hold its own as a manufacturing community in the economic struggle for cheaper production which is continually going on between nations, or which ever means not to fall behind in the race as an agricultural community—and agriculture, after all, is only a manufacturing industry of which theland fumiahu the workshop as well as the raw materialmust not remain satisfied with giving to members an opportunity of obtaining general literary and abstract scientific education, but it must also provide them with means and facilities for obtaining a knowledge of the application of the principles of science to the practice of the arts, industries, and manufactures proper to the country in which they live—that is, it must furnish them with the means of oh. taining some sort of technical insllriiotion. The importance of a thorough scientific and technical education for all who are inS tended to fill the positions of nutnttgera «t

works and heads of manufactories has at length been admitted without question, after a long struggle against it by the advocates of the rule-of-thumb method. The recognition of this fact iB due to the experience of the headway made by continental nations in the struggle for industrial supremacy during recent years. To the greater facilities that the Germans and Swiss have many years possessed of obtaining the highest technical training in all branches of industry in their universities and polytechnic schools, and consequently the greater supply of well-trained men available for placing at the heads of departments in industrial undertakings, is to be attributed in a large measure the manufacturing and commercial success of the Germans, both in chemical and ether industries in which, in addition to a thorough knowledge of the principles lying at the foundation of the manufacture, a knowledge of the machinery and Other appliances available, of the applivg&ions of scientific results, and of the methods of research made use of in the particular branch of industrial science is necessary. Until very recently—i.e., within the last ten years—Englishmen requiring this special technical training were compelled to go to one of the po! >■•■'■-'tuic schools of Germany or to obtain it, as there were twins Itivtiousin England capable of affording the neov:sary training. The result was that, in those industries requiring an especially high degree of skilled scientific superintendence, continental manufacturers have been more favorably situated than English, _ and have in some instances succeeded in securing a larger proportion of the world's trade than they possessed in other branches of industry, where the special qualities developed by a scientific training did not form so large an element in production. To take a single instance, in spite of the fact that the extraction of aniline colors from gas tar was first discovered by an Englishman : This manufacture was developed almost entirely in Germany, and at the present clay tho Germans can afford to obtain nearly the whole of Uic raw material, from which the dyes arc obtained, in the shape of gas tar from England; and, after extracting the dyes from it, export a large part of the manufactured article back to Eugland for consumption there, and, in addition, compete with English manufacturers of the article in all the markets of the world. In the Empire of Germany alone there are no less than nine polytechnic schools, as they are called, though they would more properly be styled technical universities, each of them having several complete faculties, and containing accommodation in all for G,OOO students. These polytechnic schools are quite distinct from the German universities, being devoted solely to the study of tho application of scientific processes to the industrial arts, and to the study of pure science alone, as the latter are. In one of the best known of these polytechnic schools—that of Munich —which is framed on the same model as the others, the building in -which it is housed was erected at a cost of L 157,000. The institution consists of six special schools oc faculties—the general school, the civil engineering school, the building school, the mechanical engineering school, the industrial school, and the agricultural school. The instruction given consists of lectures, laboratory work, and drawing. The special feature of the German polytechnic schools is thegreat subdivision of the general subjects, such as engineering and chemistry, each special branch of the subject being placed in the hands of a separate professor. Thus, at Munich, in the engineering department, the number of courses of lectures given is forty-five, and the number of professors giving them is thirteen. There are in all 179 courses of lectures in the programme of the school for the session. This distribution of teaching among professors is in contrast with the English system, in which the instruction is generally placed under the direction of one professor as the head of the department, assisted by two or three lecturers who work under his direction. It is difficult to avoid instituting a comparison between snob, a magnificent educational provision as this, in .1 single State—and that not the largest one in the German Empire—and its solitary analogue in Eugland—the city guilds of London Institute. This establishment was founded in 1881, without any assistance from or recognition by the Government, by means of grants from the various livery companies in the city of London ; and a building has been erected on a site iu South Kensington, and fitted up at a cost of L 90.000. It is intended for the purpose of giving to London a college in which teachers for provincial schools maybe trained, and where advanced instruction may be provided in those kinds of knowledge which bear upon the different branches of industry, whether arts or manufactures. According to the programme, the main purpose of the instruction to be given in this institution will be to point out the application of different branches of science to various manufacturing industries, differing in this respect from the teaching given in the universities and other institutions where science is taught rather for its own sake and as a training to the mental faculties only than with a view to its industrial application. The subjects of instruction are divided into five chief divisions viz., chemical technology, mechanical and civil engineering, general manufactures, building construction, and applied art. Of these the first three only are in working order, the departments of building construction and applied art being not yet established. The staff consists of four professors and four assistants. In addition to these there are a number of examiners in technical subjects attached to the Institute, who hold examinations in their respective subjects, and on the result of these examinations certificates of proficiency are issued by the Council of the Institute. There is no provision made by the Institute for the teaching of these subjects; but it recognises attendance at certain colleges, or at courses of lectures given, generally in evening classes, by teachers recognised by the Institute, asqualifying candidates to sit at these examinations. These evening classes in technology, to be found in most of the large manufacturin;.- towns, are supported partly by grants frc.i the Institute, and partly by voluntary contributions from the inhabitants; and are likely to form the nuclei of technical colleges, supported by the towns in which they are situated, but affiliated to the Institute by means of examinations and superintendence. The eomplete course of instruction at the Institute itself extends ovor three years, and is given both by lectures and in the laboratory or workshop. No distinction of sex is made as regards the students, and at the present time there are several ladies engaged on the study of electrical engineering and industrial chemistry. During the first year it is practically the same for students in all three departments; in the second year it is specialised to a certain extent, according to the particular branch of industrial work in which the student intends to be engaged ; while in the third year the student devotes himself entirely to the work of the department in which he enters, and he is encouraged to carry out some original research work so as to fit him to solve the problems which are continually presenting themselves in the application of science to any industrial art, and to improve and extend the industry with which he may subsequently become connected. This Institute is the only eomplete establishment of the kind in the United Kingdom, though at some of the universities especial attention is paid to particular departments of scientific research—as for instance, at Glasgow, where the students in the physical department are under the superintendence of Sir William Thomson, the greatest electrical engineer of the day—one special advantage enjoyed by them being that a large number of the experiments carried out in the laboratory have a distinct commercial object, and are made not merely for the sake of discovering pure scientific laws, but in the main to see how the results of science can be applied to industrial purposes; and the instruction therefore represents what technical teaching should most properly be. There is also at Cambridge a school of civil engineering, which has been in existence for about three years; and others at University College, London; Owen's College, Manohester ; and Firth College, Sheffield. All these institutions are purely the outcome of private enterprise, and supported by private endowment, owing nothing to the Government —a state of things in marked contrast to what prevails in Germany and the Continent

generally, where the Government charges itself with the support of schools for higher general and technical education, and supplies the funds necessary for the maintenance of the polytechnic schools, the amounts found by the Government being by no means insignificant, as in the case of the polytechnic schools in Germany tho deficiency that the Government is called upon to make up amounts to LIOO for each pupil trained in them. In these the fees paid by the students are fixed at a very low rate, and amount to only a small portion of the necessary funds. Thus at Zurich the total cost to a student in the chemical department does not exceed Ll2 per annum, and at the Polytechnic School of Delft, in Holland, the fees for a complete course are Ll6 13a 4d per annum, while at the Central Institute in London the fee for a complete course is L3O per annum. In none of the institutions for higher technical education does the amount pari in fees nearly cover the cost of the education. But althotigh the necessity for a thorough scientific and technical training has b*en admitted in the case of all those who are intended to take the positions of managers or superintendents of manufacturing establishments, yet the need or the advisability of any such training for foremen or artisans, including under that term all those who are engaged in manual labor, is still struggling for recognition in England. The necessity of giving an education of an elementary character to all the members of a democratic community is denied by none. It is for the safety of the State that all the voters, in whose hands arc the destinies of the country, should be so far educated as to enable them to exercise a not unintelligent judgment on the questions of policy which must from time to time come before them, and to free them from tho danger of deception by any of the particular parties in the State that may have an interest in misleading them. But, over and above these purposes, the course of instruction should be so arranged, and opportunities for passing from one stage to another of the educational institutions of the country so afforded, as to give to all the latent abilities of the scholars, even the humblest and poorest in the State schools, an opportunity of exhibiting themselves and of being developed for the benefit of the wholo community as well as of the individual scholar himself. And the greater the number of the scholars who are brought within the influence of the higher education in the country the stronger will be the hold that the educational institutions will possess, the more highly will its benefits be valued, and the greater will be the power ot cultivated opinion in guiding the policy of the legislative authority. And if, as part of the process of making a scholar a really good voter and citizen, it is possible at the same time to give him the rudiments of mechanical and manual training, and render him better fitted to hold his own in the struggle for existence, and the country to which he belongs more capable of standing against the competition of other countries, it cannot be said that the time and money spent in this way atre an Injudicious investment on the part of the community. It is not only the duty of the State, as it is of every parent, to do what it can in finding out and affording opportunities for developing the capabilities of every child, but it is also to its vital interest to provide for the maintenance of a high general standard of intelligence among those who are to be engaged in the manufacturing, commercial, and agricultural agencies of the community. The instruction given, then, with this practical object in view should embrace not only the genoral scientific principles which underlie the leading manufacturing industries, but also some knowledge of the manner in which those general principles are applied, and miiic acquaintance with the practical conditions under which they are applied in various industries and in various localities, hi addition to this, it should include some practical training of the hand and eye, and some adaptation of the ordinary lessons of school to the affairs of life. The introduction of a certain amount of technical education and manual training into elementary schools will give the pupils readiness aud aptitude in the use of their hands and develop their faculties of observation ; and if this training is confined only to those elementary principles of execution which are common to all trades, it will prepare the student who has mastered these to take up any trade, and make him more likely to take an intelligent interest in the processes of manufacture which come under his observation, and with which he is brought in contact. The question arises in what way this elementary, technical, and manual training can best be given to the scholars in the State schools. In Germany this is done in two ways— by the continuation and evening schools, and by the apprenticeship schools. In the continuation schools, which young persons leaving the State school at the age of thirteen years are obliged to attend for an additional (period of three or four years, besides keeping up the ordinary subjects of an elementary school education, drawing, with special application to various handicrafts, is taught as a technical subject. The great importance attached to drawing as a subject of instruction in all the primary schools on the Continent is one of the most marked features of difference between the Continental and English systems. In Belgium, iu the industrial schools—i.e., schools devoted to training lads for various specific handicrafts, and not industrial schools in the sense in which the term is used in this country—drawing is the basis of instruction, and is regarded as the universal language of art and artisanship. In Prance and Germany every child i 3 taught to draw, in the same way that every child is taught to read and write. Drawing is treated as an essential part of everyone's education ; for without doabt it develops the intelligence and power of observation, it cultivates the taste, and opens the eyes to see the beauties of nature, besides giving the hand a certain amount of skill and dexterity, and teaching the eye and hand to act together in unison. In the public schools of the United States not only is drawing taught, but also designing, meaning by that term not the originating of things, but the arrangement of natural forms and conventional ornament in regular geometrical shapes, and in a higher stage the application of these to the ornamentation and decoration of some useful objsct. Some authorities have gone so far as to say that drawing is almost the only part of technical education which should be given in primary schools, and that any further development should be left to special institutions devoted to teaching specific subjects. These continuation schools have a most beneficial effect in helping to sustain the interest of a youth in study at a time when he is likely to forget what he has acquired at the ordinary primary school, and bear a strong resemblance to evening schools and science and art classes which are to be found in many towns in England, with the difference that attendance at the latter is purely optional, while attendance at the continuation schools is compulsory on all who have not reached a certain standard of knowledge in the primary schools. For want of some such instruction apprentices and young persons engaged in manufactories frequently find themselves too ignorant to avail themselves of the special technical training which they subsequently have the opportunity of obtaining. On this account, and because they serve to give youths a taste for study at the time when they begin to appreciate the value of instruction, the schools may be made most serviceable to artisans in quickening their intelligence and affording them useful information bearing on their trades. Among the numerous revo''itions which have taken place in 1 o oust' ..is and usages of trade, one result is that the system of apprenticeship has almost completely died out. To compensate for the dfcay of the apprenticeship system, and to give young workmen an opportunity of obtaining a more general and intelligent knowledge of their trades than they could obtain in a workshop, where it is to the interest of the employer to put everyone to the work he can do best, and to keep him at that particular branch of the work without any opportunity of gaining skill or knowledge in any other department, apprenticeship or trade schools have been instituted on the Con-! tinent, A typical one, and one of the best arranged, is the Royal Trado School at I Iserlonn, in Westphalia, a district of ironworks and collieries. In this school industrial art adapted to ironwork is combined with manual training. The pupils go through a course of throe years, and are trained as designs, modellers, wood

carvers, moulders, founders, and engravers. . The theoretical instruction includes drawing in all its branches, modelling, the elements . of chemical and physical science, mathe- | matics, and technology. The practical ; instruction includes lessons in the different. departments of work which the pupil is likely to follow. The hours are eight in the day, but as in other technical schools it IS found that though the hours of instruction are longer than in schools where there is little or no practical work, yet the change from mental to bodily exercise enables the pupil to apply himself to school work for a greater number of hours than he could do where the instruction is theoretical only. In Austria there are as many as eighty-four trade schools for the teaching of various industries peculiar to localities where the schools are situated, including the manufacture of textile fabrics, the wood and stone trades, the glass trades, metal industries, toy-making, and other small industries. As an instance of the benefit to be derived by a locality frorn the establishment of these trade schools, in a village called Arco, in the Austrian Tyrol—in a° neighborhood where the olive tree grows plentifully, and where its wood was used for fuel for want of a better purpose—a small school was established for the teaching of drawing and modelling, as well as practical work in turning and inlaying. The result was in a short time the erection of two factories—all the workmen in which had been trained in the school—and the foundation of a small but flourishing industry. Among other articles, large consignments of blocks of wood, bearing on them the word Jerusalem in Hebrew characters, are supplied to a firm in Boston (Uiii'r- 1 States), to be sold no doubt as relics uom the Holy Laud. In addition to schools of this class, there are on the Continent schools of a higher grade, in which technical education is imparted in conjunction with secondary education. Their object is to prepare young men for intermediate posts, such as foremen and departmental managers in industrial occupations. In the Austrian State Trade School at Reichenberg, the school is specially arranged for those who have already become acquainted with the practical details of their trade, and the course of instruction is intended to familiarise them with the theoretical principles bearing on their work. The course extends over four half-years, and is so arranged in the building trades school that it lasts only during the winter, and the students are enabled to follow their ordinary occupations during the summer. Before students are admitted to the they must have spent two years in working at their trade. In France, education in schools of this grade is gratuitous, while in Germany the fees are very low. In the United Kingdom, in the last session of the Imperial Parliament, two Bills were introduced—one applying to England and the other to Scotland—to enable a system of elementary technical education to be organised by the authorities in each district. The Bill relating to England was dropped in consequence of the pressure of other business; but that relating to Scotland became law. 13y it power wa3 given to the school board authority elected in the course of the present year to provide technical schools for their districts. And there is further power for two or more school boards to combine for the purpose of maintaining a technical school common to their districts. No restriction is placed upon the subjects to be taught in these schools, except that they shall be approved by the Scotch Education Department. According to the minute issued by that department to the clerks of school boards, it seems that the Act will be worked st as to provide technical instruction in two ways. First by development of object lessons to children, avid making use of the facilities now existing for giving instruction in drawing, elementary science, sewing and cookery. But some doubt is expressed whether it will be advisable to give any instruction in the use of tools, as the pupils will bo too young in many cases, the conditions of the school too different from those of the workshop, and the time of the school too limited to enable such technical instruction to be given to any considerable extent. Jn the second place it is proposed to establish schools in the districts sullicicntly populous to render a fair attendance probable, similar to the apprenticeship schools on the Continent. The pupils attending these must have already received an ade<{liate preliminary general training, which they will not have acquired before the age of thirteen or fourteen, and the instruction given in them will be of a purely technical character, The branches of industry to be taught in these schools will depend upon the nature of the industries carried on in the neighborhood, as the aim of the education will be to train for their future positions the pupils who wish to fill the more responsible positions in connection with those industries. For instance, in towns such as Hawick or l:\iisley the main subject of instruction would be the properties, manufacture, and designing of textile fabrics, while in Greenock it would be shipbuilding or marine engineering. There are already two schools of the kind iu operation at Glasgow — one, the Allan Glen Institution, where the special feature of the school is workshop instruction in tho use of tools, and the manual instruction received is equivalent to that which the boys would acquire hi the first two years of their apprenticeship to an engineer, together with a theoretical knowledge of the subjects bearing upon engineering ; the other is the Glasgow Weaving School, where practical and theoretical instruction is giveu in the weaving and designing of cloths of all kinds. These schools have been very successful, and will no doubt be taken to a large extent as a model for the class of schools to be established under the new Act. It is probable that a corresponding Act applying to England will be passed through the Imperial Parliament shortly, now that for a time the attention of the political world at Home is turned from measures affecting Ireland to measures relating to English affairs. A systematic plan of such instruction cannot but give a great advantage to the members of the community which adopts it, and other nations will be compelled to follow suit and provide the same advantages for their members. In the Australian colonies, with hardly an exception, efforts are being made to provide some 3cheme of technical instruction. In Victoria the Minister of Education proposes to found a technical university at a cost for the building and fitting up of half a million, and in addition to expend L 30.000 a-year on its maintenance. In the point of general education this colony offers to its citizens advantages greater than any of the Australian ! colonies, from the complete system of primary, secondary, and higher education which it possesses, and in those baanches of technical instruction which are already in full working order here namely, the school of medicine, the school of mines, and that of agriculture. The results already ohtained show that this colony will maintain the same relative position. We cannot afford to allow other colonies to oust us from the position we have always held in this respect; and if this colony is to retain its pre-eminenco, the authorities having the control and management of the educational system will bo called upon to remodel it in such a way as to afford opportunities for obtaining such an amount of technical training as the best interests of the community may require. That this modification of our educational system will not present any insuperable difficulties, or interfere in any way with its present efficient working, is shown by the example of two of the State schools in Dnnedin itself, where, owing to the private enterprise of the head-masters, some elementary manual training is already given to the pupils. The experience gained in this experiment ought to be most valuable to the authorities in giving them some idea of the way in which the change may be practically effected, and of the effect likely to be caused by the reform in the oxisting system.

In, proposing a vote of thanks to Professor Gibbons for his paper, Mr Neill said that technical education was necessary for the young. Children should be taught the use of tools, and that use was best acquired at the school.

Mr Chilton thought that they must have technical education in the school, but they could not do very much in that way in the primary schools. It was rather soon to attempt its introduction, but still they could do a little in the training of the hand. That was as far as they could go in the primary

schools; beyond that they must trust to private enterprise and to night schools. A start must be made by small beginnings. Mr J. C. Thomson would like to see established in our large centres, as in the centres of large industrial and older established countries, technical schools. In this young country he wanted to see more a system of manual training. It had been neglected in both the primary and secondary schools. He was surprised at the utter want of training of the hand found in the boys and girls that came to the High School, lie advocated the establishment in the largo centres of an institution which would give special preparation to the youth for the work in after life. Some system of night schools where technical classes were formed might be worked in. He hoped before the Institute met again that such a scheme would be in force. He had long been thinking out a scheme, the practical details of which ho would make public shortly.— (Applause.) Sir R. Stout said it would be simply impossible, with the allowance given by Parliament, to carry on technical education. There was a groat difference between this and older countries. Attention should be given more to agricultural and pastoral pursuits, and also perhaps forestry. If started, technical education should be commenced in the country districts. As for starting it in our elementary schools, he did not think it could be accomplished, at least for some years to come. To his mind Comte's idea of education waß about the best. Up to the age of seven he would have the powers of observation and attention, and especially moral training, attended to. From seven to fourteen the training should be mostly intellectual, and from fourteen to twenty-one he would have it industrial and social. Such a system, however, he (the speaker) thought, was not possible for at least a century. The value of the paper they had just heard would be to show the people of the colony—who were slow to learn it—that the nations of Europe and the whole of the United States were building up year by year their system of education. They were recognising that their only safety from pauperism was to have their people well drilled and educated. —(Applause). Mr James Reid thought that the Professor had taken a liberal view of the subject of "Technical Education." He (the speaker) advocated the establishment of a central school in the City for manual work. For four years he had had twenty boys each year at Milton attending classes on carpentering and agricultural chemistry, and he was very well satisfied with the results he had accomplished. It was likely that some of the farmers in the district would meet him to study agricultural chemistry. A room could be set apart in all our large schools for manual work. Let the mental work interchange with the manual. A well trained hand was as important as a well trained head. It gave variety to school life ; it led to a healthy body, appreciation of practical work, the training of the observation, and finally added to the industry of tho country. Mr Fitzgerald mentioned that the advancement of Germany was due_ no doubt to the researches of her chemists. Germany had taken advantage of English discoveries. She had been enabled to make progress in her iron and sugar trades—and why ? Because of the intelligence of her working classes. We wanted lads who could think for themselves—who were able to oarry out the foreman's orders and not spoil the work. Manual dexterity should not interfere with our ordinary school education. Hcadvocated theextended use of object lessons, as the observation of the scholar was carefully trained. Had the Government assisted the Caledonian they might have been in existence yet. Similar classes could be organised, but it would have to be done with the help of the Government. Thorough, practical men were wanted to conduct technical education.

Mr M. Cohen said he was unable to respond to the chairman's invitation, r.ot having been present when the Professor road his paper. He, however, desired to remove some misapprehension in the minds of some of the speakers. The aim of those who were moving in this matter was not to obtain technical instruction in the elementary schools, but to give to the boys there an opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of useful tools and teaching them that there was a dignity in labor. He agreed with what Sir Robert Stout had told a deputation of the Dunedin and Suburban Schools Conference in 18S4 : that we must look to the secondary schools to supply technical education, properly called. In Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington some amount of attention had been paid to this matter by the proper authorities, but the managers of our High School had done absolutely nothing. He thought the Board of Governors would find that the people would be very dissatisfied with their apathy, and that the advocates of technical education would keep knocking at the of that institution till technical instruction found its proper place in the curriculum. The Piiesident also thanked Professor De Gibbons for his paper, and the Otago Institute for foregoing its claims to it. I'LBLIC HEALTH IN THE SCHOOLS. Dr Dn Latoub (Oamaru) then read an excellent and humorous paper, illustrated by practical experiments, on ' The Teaching of Elementary Principles of Public Health in our Schools,' and was accorded a. hearty vote of thanks.