TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1169, 16 November 1871, Page 2

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

'■- . :♦. ■ , 7.? ... ■\:-\i:- i :-,l:l>. (From the. Examiner.) \ .. uvk The project for the establishment of a national university for industrial and technical trainings with. colleges in various parte ofjvjthe country, is now being brought. , beforev the public by a society which, has, 1 organised, a series of meetings in the principal centres o,f industry throughout the "kingdom. ■-', Four qf these meetings have already, been held, and at each the object of the society haa, been .cordially approved by large bodies of citizens interested in the progress of trade and' manufactures. It iB how universally admitted that several continental. countries surpass Britain in many branches of manufacture in which it was f ormerly pre-eminent, and that one of the chief causes of 'this decline is the relative inferiority of ; our. artisans in;, the matter of technics e^pation. Within "ireeent' years this truth has been forced'vpdixitis in a variety of ways, and there

is a growing disposition to remedy the defects of our industrial system. The more intellifent of our manufacturers and operatives are eenly alive to the importance of improving the state of technical education, in order that Britain may retain or regain her high position as a manufacturing country. In 1867 several of the most important Chambers of Commerce in England, in reply to a circular issued by the Vice-President of the Council of Education, reported that the branches of trade with which they were specially acquainted had suffered great injury through the want of technical education ; and the skilled workmen sent to the Paris Exhibition by the Society of Arts in the same year corroborated this testimony. The Birmingham Chamber stated that '" every trade in Birmingham and the district" was placed at a disadvantage, owing to the absence of means of technical education for the workmen, and "those trades the most in which the cost of the articles produced consists most of /labour and least of the raw material." To this report was appended a list of nearly one hundred articles made in Birmingham and the hardware district, on which the manufacturers were losing their hold, and it is significant that it is precisely those articles that require a knowledge of chemistry and other sciences and of art for their successful manipulation that have been most largely replaced in the markets of the world by foreign productions. "Ofttimes; woollen fabrics are spoilt in the dyeing," says the Dewsbury Chamber, "for want of a. knowledge of chemistry," and the report adds that ignorance of the various processes hinders progress in the improvement of textile fabrics, and that engineers and machine; makers imperfectly discharge their duties . .through ignorance of the first principles of mechanics. The Batlcy Chamber declares that "the shawl trade of Leeds has been absorbed by continental manufacturers, by reason bf ( ..their technical knowledge, especially as Eegatrds the laws of form and colour." The Sbuttiof Scotland Chamber again reports that f*M»e manufacturers of Verviers (Belgium) have absorbed a large portion of the Ywoollen-yarn trade in Scotland, by producing a superior article at the price," arid it appears that this was accomplished "by young men who had been at the technical school ait Mulheim, who made the greatest progress in business." The written reports of thftjikilled workmen sent to the Paris Exhibition 'at 1867 by the Society of Arts tell a similar tale. Speaking of his own trade, Mr Lucraft, chairmaker, says, *' our defeat is ignominious, and, I fear, as disastrous as it is possible to conceive." .The working lace-makers of Nottingham. " are unanimous in opinion that French laces display a decided superiority in design and quality of material over the English goods." Nor is any doubt entertained as to the cause of the inferiority of the, English in the higher branches of industry. * ;<t The superior education which is given to the working classes on the Continent," says;; Messrs Kendal and Caunt, hosiers, " gives them an advantage in some respects over' Englishmen ;" and Mr Connelly, stonemason, after noticing "the large placards which are posted up at the ends of the bridges and other public • buildings " in Paris, " informing workmen where they can be taught drawing and modelling every evening, free of expense," remarks that "it is impossible to estimate the loss which is entailed upon England though the neglect of art culture in every department of industry." " Through it," he concludes, " we are reduced to mere hewers of wood and drawers of- water for other nations." At the meeting for the promotion of the Technical University, at Stratford, on Wednesday, Sir Antonio Brady stating that we were losing our watch trade, and that Belgium was making serious inroads upon our iron and glass manufactures in consequence of the .•defective technical education of our artisans as compared with their continental competitors. Facts like these are preparing the way for the movement in which the National Technical University Society are engaged, and whether the scheme they advocate be adopted or not, the importance of the object at which they are aiming can hardly he overstated. Regarding the urgent need for the improvement, or, to speak more correctly, for the creation of a system of technical education in England, all who have paid any attention to the question are agreed. It is now several years since Professor Tyndal pointed out that " the facilities for scientific education are far greater on the Continent than in England, and where such differences exist, England is sure to fall behind as regards those industries into which the scientific element enters ;" and other competent authorities, before and since, have loudly warned us that the neglect of technical education will inevitably be fatal to our commercial and manufacturing ascendancy. The visible signs of decadence are as yet comparatively few ; but the downward process has commenced, and every effort should be made to arrest it. We are about to establish a complete and thorough system of primary education, and the time is undoubtedly favourable for prosecuting a movement for a national system of technical education. In the course of another ten or fifteen years we may reasonably expect that every child in England will have a certain knowledge of the " three R.s," and that the general standard of education throughout the country will be sensibly improved. That the wide-spread dissemination of elementary instruction will have a direct and powerful beneficial effect on our trade and commerce cannot be doubted, for the improved education of the treat mass of the people must of necessity inuence the quality of the work by which they earn their living. And it is equally manifest thatJb£.-Werkman.Kho. haa attended the primary school will be more desirous of improving bis 'knowledge of the trade he follows, and more ready to avail himself of any opportunity that may be afforded him qf acquiring technical informatibtaytthan ••tife workman who has not been^ grounded in reading, ;y*riting, and arithmetic. ; When ' elementary'■instruction becomes universal, it will soon be dia-

covered that no system of popular education which does not directly help the pupil to win a livelihood is complete and satisfactory. It would hardly be fair to criticise the scheme which the National Technical University Society has promulgated, as it is avowedly immature and incomplete. The preparatory programme of the society is rather confused, but we gather from it that the scheme includes a Central University, with colleges for training operatives and professors of technology, the latter being destined for the provincial colleges to be established in the industrial provinces into which the country and the colonies are to be divided. It is also proposed that certificates attesting various degrees of proficiency in the different trades' curricula shall be issued by the authorities of each of the colleges, and that provision shall be made for the training of women, both as teachers and for industrial occupations. The National Technical University Society is a numerous and influential body, and we are glad to observe that a beginning has been made in the formation of a fund for the establishment of "a powerful and well-centralised voluntary organisation for supplying science and art in the applied and practical form demanded by our manufacturing and commercial industries." The object is one of vital national importance, but the means by which it is to be best attained will require more consideration than they have, to all appearance, yet received.