ECONOMICS AND MODERN LIFE

Evening Star, Issue 13144, 28 December 1908, Page 7

ECONOMICS AND MODERN LIFE

A UNIVERSITy FOR. BUSINESS MEN

' p. reeves, ; ■ [From ,o,tjb ; ''■:'■ LONDON, November 13.' Although, the Hon; W. P. Roeves does not hand over to hii' successor tlie office of' High Cornnrissiorier. for New Zealand' "until about, tlto end. of the year, he is ''already well' under weigh >v>fh his new work cs director of .the' School of Economics. It has occurred to'me tliat a sketch by the..rawdirector of the work thai this unique histi-. tution aim's at accomplishing "would be of interest to educationists and others in "New Zealand. The School of Economics is designed to secure," by'systematic and skilful training a greater degree of efficiency in the higher walks of public and commercial life. It seeks to bring education into closer touch with the realities of modern life. Jtseekis to equip the business. man or tile political aspirant or the budding diplomat with a solid groundwork of knowledge which otherwise he niuat make' shift laboriously and at haphazard to acquire for himself in the course of long years Of practicar experience. Mr Reeves, who spoke enthusiastically of the aims and methods of the school, said that if he could have attended such an institution in his "younger days in New Zealand it would have saved hun an incalculable amount of arduous study in subsequent years. The School of Economics arjrl Political Science however, no counterpart in the whole of Australasia, although one may hope that it is only a question of time before its benefits become reeogiu'scd, and its methods fol-. lowed at the Antipodes. I asked the new director to explain, for the benefit of New Zealand readers, what the London School of Economics is, what work it does, and in what way it influences the public and commercial life of the country. "The School of Economics," said Mr Reeves, "is, of course, a college of the University of London. We are.called a 'school' because that is the"technical term for institutions of the London University. We are a recognised ' school' of the University. PRACTICAL ECONOMICS. "The object of the school was undoubtedly not to be a mere place for holding classes in pure economics, euch as. are held in many places', but rather to be something very much more practical. A number of years ago it struck people here, and amongst others the Gresliam Royal Commissioners, that there was nothing done here in the way of a higher commercial, financial, political, and administrative training. _ There were polytechnics and commercial classes for boys arid girls to teach the lower branches of commercial work, and above that a certain amount of instruction in pure economics and modern history at the universities. But an immense deal of ground was not covered in this country which was covered to a certain extent- in places like Columbia University, in America, the Ecolo des Sciences Politigues in Paris, and one or two German univeisities. Our object, then, was to do for the higher walks of commercial, financial, and administrative work what the polytechnics did in the lower. We have a very strong corps of lecturers, not only a large one, but a very interesting and strong one. Our lecturers are professors of I>ondon University, and are paid by the University. Practically, we receive oomething over £2,000 a year in that and other ways from the -University. Mr Sidney Webb and myself and Mr Graham Wallas sit upon the University Senate, though not directly as representatives of the school, but in other capacities. And of course my work on the senate and in the University will naturally become a good deal heavier now than it has bsen. Hitherto it has been largely confined to watching over the interests of the colonial examinees and students. The Crown is going to continue me as one of its f representatives on the Senate. lam one of the first nominees of the Crown. Our lecturers at the scltool include Professor Mackinder (a very able lecturer), Professor Lowes Dickinson (a .well-known Cambridge man), .Professor Edwin,Cannan, LL.D. (the well-knowneconomist), and'. Mr L.' T. Hobhouse. These arc extremely good men. Then [there is Professor Foxwell, who accumulated some years ago a famous library on political economy, which was purchased by the Goldsmith's Company for a large sum, and siven hy them to the London University. Altogether we have a staff of thirty-three lecturers. A SCHOOL FOR ADULTS.

" Our school deals practically with adults. The youngest of our students are eighteen years old; nearly all are over nineteen, and they range up to between forty and fifty years of age. A certain number of them are wen and women going in for the degree of B.Sc.- of London University. Others are men and women who have taken their degree and are coming to do research work with us in some branch of economics, and writes a thesis for the purpose of taking the D.Sc, of London University. Then, of course, there, are students who come to attend some particular branch. But those I am speaking of now come in under the head of general students, and they comprise a very large proportion of the school. They may come to us to study higher accounting, banking and currency, economics, history, modern history, the machinery of Government, the working of the British Constitution and Parliament, law, international law, industrial law, commercial law, and municipal and local government. The school is a centre for men who.wish to study for the Civil Service, and fof young Civil Servants who wish to strengthen themselves in some particular line. It is particularly attractive to men who take an interest in local government, either as members of local councils or as servants of local bodies. Then we get special"students—nien who take part in politics and come to study some particular branch of politics. We are called a School of Economics, but it must be pointed out that we are also a School of Political Science. That includes law, history, sociology, and even ethnology, so that we range from ethnology and what are called political ideas, down to accounting. In addition, we have what are called special classes, which are largely attended by men who come for nothing else in the School. They are held to instruct a particular class of students. For stance, we have geography classes in economics and political geography, which arc attended by some 300 students—largely teachers, who come to us really to learn to teach the higher sort of geography. Many of our geography lectures are really descriptive of historical and economic lectures on different divisions of the British Empire. Professor Mackinder is. our chief geography lecturer; he is oue of the professors of London University. We hope to make this section considerably bigger. Within the last few days two of the city companies have voted us several hundred pounds, with, which we hope to extend and improve our geography teaching. ■ • '. ' RAILWAYMEN AND ARMY ■ OFFICERS. "A large and even more interesting class than the geography one is.our railway class, which is virtually the only one of its kind. In*it we have 285 students, who are men in the employ of the larger Tailway companies in x England. They are sent to us by the companies, who pay their fees for them. They have lectures on railway organisations, railway law, the relations of railways to the Government, and to special questions of the movement affecting the public, as well as questions of transport and traffic organisation. Here I may remark that the practical value of our lectures is now admitted by the railway companies. These lectures are supervised by a'committee, the chairman of which is Lord Claud Hamilton) chairman of the Great Eastern Company, and on which Sir George Gibb, Mt Berry, general manager of the Great Northern, and Mr Ingafls, the chief man of the Great Western, sit, and keep an eye on what we do. The railway classes are increasing considerably in numbers, and at the present rjomentwe have, as T iib less' than 285 students attending them. Another patticu-1 larly interesting'-claes is our army class^J

"to v\ba? less an .outcofn^of:Jhe investigation into the work ; of/ the" commissariat and ad* ministratiyej?-detriments ■war in South' Africa. L It became eviclent that, officers, red : special, training in business methods, r which up to that tame>t-hey>.<had not received. It was therefore ..d9cided,><after the .matter ..had beam invcßtigatd."rbjf,.a- committee, to .form • ■ a special class at,, our-.'school for the. in-, .structibnof picked'b'nicer3. We get them at' ,all ages frpmthirty to forty-five years, and' varying in- rank frbm^Lieutehant-coloriel ■ to '-subaltern?"- At the present time the EnglJsn War Office-sends ustnirty of thesegentlemen, -ahd-the Indian Office- sends one. ■ ■So far'the-War Office Committee- expressesitself thoroughly, satisfied, with the - '.results-: of the.work-done,..and I think it. only right to say that the-officers throw themselves into their work with quite uncommon .energy..and spirit., and are amongst,,the best students that; yfe . have. Of course they are:;carefully-selected men, and are" .anxious to make'the' best of their. Opportunities. There 1 - ft'•'nothing else like -this 1 class- anywhere. :"VVo have also some special* classes which did ; a 'year "or two ago stand tfuite alone, although -latterly they havebeen copied in. Northern England and tho Midlands. These, are , classes of librarianship. They are attended by librarians and literary assistants engaged at' the large public libraries, They -are taught, everything likely to.'be of use to them, from "a knowledge of 'black letter' and what is called bibliography down to such elementary accounting as may bo useful to public libraries. If I may judge from tho opinions expressed by the .Libraries' Associations of London," the value of these i classes- is Warmly recognised by men in the profession." ; "■ STUDENTS HUNGRY FOR KNOW- ' LEDGE. " Altogether the number of students who attend the school will vary as the year goes on, from about 1,000 at the beginning to between 1,300 and 1,400 at the end of the year. At present we have 1,035. stu- | dents on tho books, and this term, being , our- first, is, the thinnest. By the. end of the year, judging from past experience, there should be. 350 more, and already the. roll, shows a .gratifying increase over the corresponding period for last year. .Our revenue and expenditure are balanced at about £IO,OOO, and I sincerely trust that both may steadily increase. The interesting thing, about the school is the energy, and spirit and determination shown by the students. They are men and women who go there to work. It is not a case of their being sent there by parents. They go of their own accord, and ..they go to work. For the first time in my life I have been faced with complaints from lecturers, not, that the students won't work or take interest in their work, but that thGy take, if possible, an embarrassing interest. More'

of tfe that he.is'?alirmst: v |bTerwliehned ' with the volume of ; ewavs voluntarily written by. his-students; •'One lecturer, to my.aknowiedge, -bAsito cq. thrbngt .some-vj vc|hing like eighty essays between each lec-t^>-^d/I'i in his case ; ''■ there iis.\no ..placed-on thejifitndents to do this is. purely ' v voluntary..-.. I. wish to /say-.that..,we , f oari v look for no large -influx of colonial , ,_. stutbjntß, and that I do. not hope Tor.. At "the.same tiihe I think I have.said enough [ in certain directions a colontraining can v '6btain -training 'irony- us" which he can 1 hardly : get elsewhere, and will have at the "ftinle time tho advantage of living'in Lon-..dohy-and' learning all that London can--1 -teach;. Wo. have a . very 'large• library of -. ■ :. boots on economics and modern, history, j i ..numbering 40,000- volumes; and -an enor- ! mous,collection of pamphlets and docu-.l !,-meats which is being added to daily. We { >' are specialising in modern pamphlets, and : • I> should like to make an appeal for any! ; gonial pamphlets on politics and econ-' ° miCS; they would be specially .welcome. ; t We have just arranged "to get a special s :; Supply- of Indian pamphlets, and I am > -extremely anxious to get colonial ones. I •.-.-forgot' to mention that statistics is, cf I courss, one of. our subjects. The sort of » people we are training now are the people ■; who will be employed by the Board of i Trade to make inquiries into the conditions i of life and labor, both in the United King- '-..!.#*" an <* in - foreign countries. The Board : .pf Trade look to us to provide them with >:. Unined investigators in the future. We -Jrain men to be Consuls, agents for tho ). Board of Trade arid the Foreign Office i;\Ye lay ourselves out to teach budding j Consuls international, law and forei^: trade. In addition to the library, whichT .ope of the most valuable, things we have } . S°t, theve is a refectory where studentr . ;can have their meals, a common room, anu ; a smoking room. We have also our Parillmment, in which debates are carried on, and which is occasionally addressed by r gentlemen and ladies from outside on 'special subjects.. Miss Christobel Pank•hurst was to have opened a debate on > female franchise, but, unfortunately, she } has another engagement, which will pre- , vent her being present, and a substitute . will have to bo provided. A school for . -journalism? Yes, it is essentially a school ; in which the kind of knowledge necessary '™ j hjl S her journalism can be acquired ( We do not, of course, teach shorthand or. } the writing of paragraphs, but half the . questions which come up for an active [ -journalist to write about are dealt with more or less fully in our school."