TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 685, 3 August 1870, Page 3

TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.

The following remarks on the above subject were made by Sir George Bowen in his annual Presidential address to the members of the New Zealand Institute in the Colonial Museum at Wellington on July 23 :— I will now proceed to the examination of a question of the highest practical importance to the future progress of this community — I mean the assistance which this Institute can furnish towards the supply of technical and scientific instruction. It is well known that the relation of industrial education to industrial progress has for many years past excited keen interest in England and throughout Europe. In 1868 a Select Committee of; the House of Commons was appointed to enquire and report on this entire subject, and ' strongly recommended that ample public provision should be made for Schools of Arts and Mines, and generally for furnishing instruction in theoretical and applied science to the industrial classes. As the duties of the Governor of a colony possessing Parliamentary institutions are social rather than political, I have made it my business to study the volnminouß report of the above-mentioned Committee, and many other works of authority bearing on the same question ; and I Bball indeed be proud and happy if the information thus collected can in any way be turned to the advantage of this community; Let us begin by stating the exact meaning to be attached to the terms technical and scientific education. To quote a writer of authority : — "The education which acquaints a man with the natural principles of the art or calling which be professes is, to him, technical education. The general knowledge of fundamental principles and laws wbicb govern all material things is the result of scientific education. Thus the latter would include the former j and, were it rightly conducted, a general scientific education would form the basis on which a particular technical education might be afterwards raised ; and a young man who had first acquired an elementary knowledge of the physical or natural sciences would find it easy to build -upon this foundation, and to secure a Competent and increasing knowledge of the Scientific conditions of biß particular art or trade." The late International Exhibitions in London and Paris have forced the most eminent of the English men of science to the candid but painful admission that, in virtue of the better industrial education provided by Continental nations, England must, at no distant day — unless she bestirs herself in time, find those nations outstripping her in the arts of both peace and war. As sure as " knowledge |

is power," this must be the result. The concurrent testimony of those beat qualified to decide on this question has been summed up in the following terms: — " Broadly viewed, the whole system of technical education has, at this late day, to take root and grow in the English soil. The more we consider this deficiency, the more marvellous and melancholy does it appear. England, which has asserted and assumed her manufacturing pre-eminence over all countries ; — England, which at least for many years maintained her asserted industrial^up remacy— has done so, in spite of the* 'absence' of early education in' the very groundwork of her supremacy. She has been the birth-place and cradle of most of those great mechanical inventions which have changed the face of society, and given wings to commerce. The steam engine, the locomotive engine, the. application of steam to manifold uses, the steam-hammer, the planing machine, the spinning jenny, the power-loom, and numero us other machines-r---ail owe their invention or improvement to our country ; and the nearly exclusive use of theie machines and implements for many past years has been the principal cause of our manufacturing pre-eminence. But free trade, international exhibitions, and extended international intercourse have made these wonderful machines and appliances known and available to all Europe. During the last century we held our local and our natural advantages without serious rivalry, while we were separated from the rest of Europe by the sea and- exempted from long and desolating wars. All our natural possessions of coal and iron and other materials were then almost exclusively in our own hands and under own command. The case, however, at present is essentially different. Other countries enjoy peace, other countries have displayed energy and enterprise, and have seen and admired and adopted our tools and our machines." I have already shown that the Government and Parliament of Great Britain are at least fully alive to the danger of neglecting any longer that systematic education, that scientific, and practical training — in a word, all that tends to convert the mere workman into the artizan, and the mere empiric into the artistic and scientific manager of great industrial enterprises. It is keenly felt in the mother country that the inquiry now is not whether she has gained the highest place and reputation, but whether she can retain them ; and that to rest (so to speak) on her oars is to drift backwards, for the tide of the world's lifetime is fast ebbing. If you are convinced that it is of urgent importance to the parent state to promote the advancement of Art and Science, the soul and life of industry, you will readily appreciate the still more practical value to this new country, which has yet to be subdued and replenished for the use of civilized man, of the Museum, Laboratory, and the other scientific appliances collected under this roof , through the wise liberality of the Colonial Legislature. If this Government and the Institute are agreed in the desire at once to utilise this establishment by making it for New Zealand what the Ecole Centrale of Paris* is for France; that is, the heart and centre of scientific and technical education for this colony, it wijl be easy to devise a scheme. Strictly promising young men may be selected from every province and instructed here, with very little additional cost to the publio, in natural philosophy, chemistry, and zoology, together with the theory and practice of mining, and the elements of certain arts and manufacturing processes. It will not, I hope, be forgotten that I am now addressing you not as the Governor of the colony, but simply as a member of the governing body of the Institute. After careful enquiry and reflection, the board has determined to submit the following principal recommendations for the consideration of the Colonial Government and Legislature : — (1.) That a series of lectures should be instituted in connection with this museum, to be delivered during the winter months of the year. (2.) That this series should be of a twofold character : general- and scientific, or technical and practical: (30 That the scientific subjects should be divided into two courses ; the lectures being given on alternate days, or otherwise, as may be found most convenient. (4.) That the first course should comprise lectures on natural history, and the principles of classification, as illustrated by the elementary study of zoology and botany, and the application of these branches of science to physical geography and geology. (5.) That the second course should be devoted to the elements of experimental science, physics, chemistry, and mineralogy. (6.) That the technical or practical course should comprise mineralogy and chemistry. For the complete carrying into effect of these proposals, it would be necessary (a) that additional accommodation should be obtained ; (fi) that the requisite apparatus should be procured from England; and (c) that lecturers should be provided. But, in the meantime, and until the scheme is fully established, the Governors of the Institute are af- opinion that the working of it may be left mainly to the existing staff of the geological survey. Dr Hector, with his usual public spirit, has expressed his readiness to deliver lectures on the first, or scientific and general, branch of the proposed scheme ; while he is of opinion that tho services of his assistants might be, with great advantage, so arranged that they might work in the field during the summer, and help in the course of technical and practical instruction during the winter months. Thus, without materially increasing the cost of the present

* This is now the moat celebrated school of applied sciences in the world, and so great have been the services rendered by it that M. Michel Chevalier once said, "If the Ecole Cenlrale were not in existence, it would be necessary to create it as the complement of the Treaties of Commerce."

establishment, the resources of the Museum and Laboratory may forthwith be rendered available to supply the deficiency of technical and scientific education which is so much felt in thiß community. It should be added that the fees received from the students would probably be sufficient to cover the working expenses at the central institution ; while, by a judicious system of small endowments of scholarships for natural science in the chief public schools of the several provinces, the entire colony would be enabled to share in the benefits of the scheme' contemplated. * I have already detained you too long. Nor, indeed, is it necessary that I should, before the present audience, point to the general want of scientific knowledge, in its simplest and most elementary forma, as the main origin of the speculative manias by which the popular mind in new countries is frequently misled. Still less need I enlarge here on the vital importance of diffusing the blessings of a sound and practical instruction throughout all classes of the rising generation of this community. It is the character of the education placed within their reach which will enable them to continue the noble work begun by the early settlers, who encountered the hardships incident to the first colonisation of these islands ; and hereafter to determine the destiny of New Zealand by the manner in which the; shall wield the unfettered powers of self-government conferred on this country by its Constitution. I will now conclude this imperfect address by quoting the eloquent warning and exhortation of one of the great chieftains of art and science — I mean the late Dr Lyon Playfair : — " Practice and science must now join together in close alliance, or the former will soon emigrate to other lands. The time is past when practice can go on in the blind and vain confidence of a shallow empiricism, severed from science, like a tree from its roots. The rudest sailor may steer his Bhip in the direction of a landmark, but without compass and sextant he dares not traverse the expanse of ocean. Ignorance may walk in the path dimly lighted by advancing I knowledge, but she stands in dismay when science passes her ; and she is unable to follow, like the foolish virgin having no oil in her lamp. Depend upon it, an empirical knowledge of practice is not the way now to succeed in the struggle of individuals, or in the struggle of nations. Intellect is on the stretch to get forward, and that nation which holds not by it will soon be left behind. For a long time, practice, standing still in the pride of empiricism, and in the ungrateful forgetf ulness of what science has done in its development, reared upon its portal the old and vulgar adage that 'an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory.' This wretched inscription ac<ed like a Gorgon's head, and turned to s'one the aspirations of science. Believe it not ; for a grain of theory, if that be an expression for science, will, when planted, like the mustard seed of Scripture, grow and wax into the greatest of trees. The pressure and difficulties of the age, and the rapid advancement of intellect in continental nations, have been the Perseus to cut off this Medusa's head from the industry of England, and to fix it on the shield of Minerva, who turns to tstone those that believe that science should be ignored by practice j but, reversing her shield,, wisely conducts such as are willing to go further under her guidance. It is now sure to find men who openly avow, although they actually entertain, a belief in a necessary antagonism between theory and practice. Theory is in fact the rule, and practice its example. Theory is but the attempt to furnish an intelligent explanation of what is empirically ascertained to be true, and is always useful, even when wrong. Theories are the leaves of the tree of science, bringing nutriment to the parent stem while they last, and by their fall and decay affording the materials for the new leaves which are to succeed." The Hon. Mr Fox, tho Premier, in returning thanks, on behalf of those present, to His Excellency for his able and interesting address, said : — I am aware that in an institution of this sort, on an occasion of this kind, it is not usual to express by any form a vote of thanks of the bodies who have been addressed to those who have been so kind as to address them ; but I am sure I am only expressing the sense of what iB felt by every one present when I express in a few words the strong feelings myself and all entertain of His Excellency's kindness in giving us so able an address as he has done upon this occasion, and in bringing so prominently before the Institute the history of its proceedings during the past year. lam not vain or foolish enough, in the midst of such a galaxy of distinguished stars of science as I see around, to offer any ideas of my own in the form of a speech. My occupation, unfortunately, leads me in the way of severer studies and severer employment, and prevents any devotion of my mind to those higher topics and intellectual subjects which are mure properly within the province of such an institution as this ; but I cannot help responding to those remarks which His Excellency made with reference to the practical uses to which this institution may be put by the establishment of scientific schools. I can only say — speaking on behalf of the Government — that as the Government has hitherto been ready in giving the most earnest co-operatioa in that direction, it will for the future continue to act in the same manner; and I trust it will be for us this year to co-operate in carrying out those plans which his Excellency has just sketched, to come under the practical object which is in view. It is perhaps taking too low a view of the functions of the Government to limit its usefulness in that direction ; but it is to a great extent the practice of Governments, and indeed of all people colonising during the present day, to undervalue the result of any exertions in pursuit of science, especially those of any institution or body which has not a cash balance as the chief end in view; and in this country

though there will be many minds who Will bi attracted to the pursuit of science solely for its own pleasure, which can only aid? in' tht development of higher scientific knowledge, every person, however low his standard 6! education may be, will estimate highly tht object of schools fcr Bcience to aid us in the development of our great mineral and other resources, and to make them reteal them selves from their sources, and yield up their hidden treasures. I will not trouble you with any further remarks, except to repeat the deep sense of obligation under which we all are to his Excellency.