assisting them to establish themselves in their avocations. If he turn to mercantile pursuits for a livelihood, he discovers that his education has unfitted him for commerce almost as much as it has done for manual labour, and before he can hope for success in this direction, he will not only have to learn everything peculiarly appertaining to ordinary business, but he must likewise divest himself of the habit of mind which has been engendered by his hardly-acquired literary accomplishments.

A consideration of these facts leads to the conclusion, perhaps not a particularly novel one, but still one which we have practically ignored, that our secondary educational system is at fault, in that it casts all its pupils in the same mould; and while we need not interfere with, but rather for many reasons which I shall not dilate upon, should carefully cherish the principles of literary training to which it now seeks solely to give effect, we ought also to let it branch out in a fresh direction, so that it may supply the real wants of the working as well as of the richer classes of the community, by furnishing our artizans and their sons with a facile means of acquiring special knowledge of a character which is likely to be useful to them in their daily employment. What I ask is, that schools and colleges shall be opened where artizans and trade apprentices can receive a technical education suited to their respective callings, and distinctions acquired in which shall be deemed of equal value with those conferred for literary attainments; in other words, new academical degrees should be founded for successful students of technical science, which would give them an equal status in our University with that held by the possessors of the present degrees.

Besides the reasons already adduced, another and most cogent argument is available for this project. In England the apprenticeship system which, until within the last few years, furnished a means whereby a lad intended for an artizan was enabled to gain a competent knowledge of his trade, has been much weakened, but in New Zealand it hardly seems to exist in the proper sense of the word. Many a lad in this colony picks up his trade haphazard, without indentures at all, while in cases where indentures are entered into, both masters and apprentices commonly treat the tie as a slight one, the indentures being made and cancelled, and the apprentice shifted and changed about from one master to another, in a fashion calculated to prevent him both from acquiring a thorough knowledge of his trade and from feeling a proper interest in it. This is largely due to the unsettled habits of our population, but we need not trouble ourselves about the cause. What we must keep in view is the effect upon the technical capacity of our future artizans. Lads brought up in New Zealand seldom stand a fair chance of becoming first-class workmen, and while they enter upon their career as artizans with an imperfect knowledge of their craft, they are doing

so at a period when industrial invention is more prolific than it ever was before; when not only are fresh contrivances daily springing from the brains of skilful mechanics, but the remarkable discoveries which have been made by scientists during the last century are being utilized in all directions for industrial purposes; so that year by year a more and more refined and comprehensive knowledge and skill are demanded of the handicraftsman. The whole community, too, is vastly better educated than it was half-a-century ago, and in numerous trades an artistic style of workmanship is demanded, which requires from the artizan, if he wish to rank as a good workman, a knowledge of art which was formerly needless on his part.

Moreover, and this I beg to urge most strenuously upon the notice of the Institute, our artizans will at no distant date be exposed to the competition of thousands of workmen trained in the technical schools and colleges of England and the Continent, where they will not only have learned the use of their tools and machinery from the best masters, but will also have been thoroughly grounded in the scientific principles of their respective trades, gained through a special education, in which everything necessary to their accurate comprehension of those trades has been included, and from which everything unnecessary has been carefully excluded, so that the student' energies have been focussed and concentrated upon the one object of becoming a master of his craft. What chance will the average colonial youth, learning his trade in the loose fashion which I have already indicated, stand against such formidable competitors when he arrives at manhood? Not only will these rivals possess a precise knowledge of their trade, of which he is utterly destitute, but with the aid of their special education they will also be able to follow and adapt themselves to new inventions in a manner beyond his reach.

I have just spoken of the Technical Schools and Colleges of England. The words may sound strange to the ears of old colonists, but recent arrivals from the mother country will be aware of how much has been done there in this direction of late years. Manufacturers and others concerned have vigorously exerted themselves to obtain for the British workman an opportunity of acquiring that technical education in matters relating to his daily employment which has hitherto been denied him, although it has been enjoyed to some extent by his Continental rivals. The practical outcome of the movement has been the establishment by the combined efforts of the Corporation of London and the City Guilds of an institution in London for the technical training of artizans called “The City and Guilds of London Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education.” This was started in 1879, and already a very large sum of money, apparently some £120,000 or £130,000, has been expended upon it.

In connection with this institution a number of technical schools and colleges have been founded in different parts of the country, the funds being provided by the trade companies, the manufacturers, and from other local sources, a technical school having been opened at Manchester as recently as September last. A similar school at Bradford, which has been in existence for some time, moved last year into a new building, which had been erected and fitted up for its accommodation at an expense of upwards of £30,000. In localities where sufficient money has not been available for the establishment of a properly equipped school, classes have been formed, whose pupils are registered on the rolls of the Institute. Altogether, according to the report presented at the annual distribution of prizes in December last, there are over 4,000 pupils receiving instruction in the registered classes of the Institute, and the system of technical examination undertaken by the Institute extends to more than 150 centres in different parts of the country. These numbers, however, give a very imperfect idea of the extent of the efforts which are being made to diffuse technical education amongst English operatives, as many technical classes are in existence which have not affiliated themselves to the Institute. Classes, for example, have been established in connection with the Young Men' Christian Institute at the old Polytechnic Institution in London, and were last winter attended by no fewer than 5,500 persons, while measures are being taken to increase the accommodation, so as to provide room for 8,000 students.

The principal college of the City and Guilds Institute is the Finsbury Technical College, opened in February, 1883, and which has been equipped in the most elaborate manner. Further, the Department of Science and Art is erecting a Technical College at Kensington, upon which a sum of £75,000 has been expended, in order that it may serve as a centre for the entire technical educational system of England, and more especially as a training school for teachers of technical science, whose want has been much felt. Hence, when the system gets into full swing, its influence can hardly fail to be marked, and in after years the men and lads who have been trained at the various technical colleges and schools will form an appreciable element in the industrial classes of Great Britain.

Looking at the superior field which this colony affords for individual enterprise, can it be doubted that these highly trained workmen will emigrate in considerable numbers to New Zealand? They will come here and occupy the positions of foremen and the best paid hands in the workshops, while our colonial-bred artizans will have to content themselves with subordinate posts.

We may depend upon it that the movement in England is full of vitality, and will grow to large dimensions. England' industrial supremacy depends upon her furnishing her artizans with a proper technical education, which they have hitherto lacked, and she cannot afford to let that education be either imperfect or confined within a limited circle of students. The Government have taken the matter in hand, and in 1880 appointed a Royal Commission, which I believe has not yet sent in its final report, “to enquire into the instruction of the industrial classes of certain foreign countries in technical and other subjects, for the purpose of comparison with that of corresponding classes of this country; and into the influence of such instruction on manufacturing and other industries at home and abroad.”

England, it must be remembered, although of all countries the most interested in the technical education of artizans, has been the last to take up the subject. Technical schools have existed in Germany for a long period; indeed, the system recently inaugurated in England is, I believe, modelled upon the Bavarian system. France possesses several good technical schools, the principal one, viz., the School of Arts and Trades at Paris, having been founded so far back as 1857. Switzerland has also a fine Polytechnic School in Zurich, which in 1879 was attended by as many as 1,000 students. Sweden is also well supplied in this way, there being technical schools of various grades, so as to suit different classes of workmen, the course of instruction being expanded or contracted with the object of meeting the pecuniary means and leisure times at the disposal of the persons attending the classes. Even in Russia, which is commonly supposed to be backward in educational appliances, technical education has not been forgotten. There is a large technical school at Moscow, while in some of the Government factories classes have been formed under the auspices of the Government for the purpose of furnishing technical instruction to the artizans. The proprietors and directors of some of the larger factories on the Continent have opened technical classes for the benefit of the hands in their employ; in fact, throughout the Continent, wherever manufactures are carried on to any extent, means of some kind exist for giving to artizans and apprentices to trades a special training suited to their ordinary avocations, and calculated to enable them to perform their daily tasks with an amount of intelligence and skill which cannot be expected from workmen who have not enjoyed the advantage of a technical education.

The Continental Governments recognize what the New Zealand Government, fairly zealous as it has shown itself in the promotion of new industries, has overlooked, viz., that if manufacturing industries are to

permanently flourish in any country under the altered conditions of modern times, it is essential that the workmen should receive a technical education, and hence they treat it as one of their ordinary functions to supply this want. A manifestation of this feeling was given when the French Government, wishing to stimulate the watch trade in France, opened schools for teaching watchmaking, the effect being to materially augment the home production of watches, and to diminish the importation of watches from Switzerland. The Swiss met this movement by reorganizing and enlarging their technical school system, so far as it related to the watch manufacture, and by this means recovered a part of their lost trade. In the United States, too, although less has been done for the cause of technical education than might have been expected from a people which has made such vigorous exertions for the establishment of manufacturing industries, some thirty technical schools are in full activity. Japan has a far greater number. In 1882 she possessed 98 technical schools, with 975 professors and teachers, and which were attended by 8,828 pupils.

Technical education must not be confounded with a scientific education. Science forms an essential feature in the course of instruction given in a technical school, but just so much science is taught as, and no more than, the student requires to know for the proper comprehension of his trade.

I will illustrate my meaning by quoting some remarks made by Mr. Cosee, the then President of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, in 1879, when announcing the intention to establish technical schools for the instruction of workmen engaged in the Pennsylvanian Iron Ore Works. “Our idea is to make the course of instruction as complete as possible. In mineralogy we shall require the student to become familiar with the principal types of minerals only. In geology much attention will be paid to the rocks and mineral deposits of Pennsylvania. We shall devote a large amount of time to the subject of framing, ordinary foundations, and the construction of such buildings as are required on our coalfields. In machinery attention will be paid to pumps, hoisting engines, apparatus for preparing coal, steam drills, etc. Mine surveying will be gone into with a great deal of detail, and in chemistry we shall try to impress upon the minds of the pupils those laws and phenomena which are of importance in understanding the ventilation of mines and the use of water in steam boilers.” This course of instruction is to a considerable extent that of a mining school, but it suffices to illustrate my meaning.

The science which is wanted is not that which is supplied in our High Schools and Colleges, hence it cannot be argued that I am asking for something which already exists. The object of a technical school is not to turn out scientific men or artists, but competent practical handicraftsmen. In

the technical schools of England and the Continent the use of tools forms a prominent item in the course of instruction. One of these schools is indeed a workshop, in which the apprentice or artizan is taught the use of his tools and the management of machinery by first-class teachers, while he is at the same time inducted into such branches of science and art as are requisite to enable him to understand the principles of his trade. Further, if he wishes it and the time at his disposal allows of it being done, he is taught collateral subjects, such as foreign languages, which are likely to be useful to him in his avocation. The Finsbury College is divided into four departments—viz., the mathematical and mechanical, the physical, the chemical, and the applied art department. In the day school such subjects as French and German are likewise taught. This will give an idea of the comprehensiveness of the course of study.

In these technical schools, as I have said, the course of instruction is varied considerably, to suit the purses and the time at the disposal of the pupils. There is the richer class of students, who can afford to attend the classes during the day, and are probably looking forward to becoming managers of factories or occupying similar positions. This class of students is able to go through a more elaborate course of instruction than the others, and to compete for certificates of the highest class. Then there is the class of artizans who are engaged in actual labour during the day, whose means are small, and who expect to receive instruction during the evening. To this class workshop practice is of prime importance. In Sweden, to meet the wants of artizan students, some of the technical schools are open not only every evening in the week, but on Sundays also. Finally, there is the class of apprentices, of whom the future workmen are to be made, who, like the artizans, are unable to attend classes during the day, although having all their lives before them they can afford to enter upon a more lengthy course of instruction, but at the same time their pockets must be consulted in the shape of reduced fees. For the purpose of dealing with these different classes of students, the City and Guilds of London Institute holds its examination in three grades, (1) honours, (2) advanced, (3) elementary. The first is intended principally for foremen, overlookers, and similar persons, or for persons intending to qualify for such positions; and the third for apprentices, but candidates for examination are permitted to enter themselves for any grade they choose.

It will convey a better idea of the eminently practical character of the instruction now being given through the means of the City and Guilds of London Institute, if I enumerate the principal subjects for examination this year:—Alkali manufacture, iron and steel manufacture, lace manufacture, photography, milling and flour manufacture, electro-metallurgy, electric

engineering—including telegraphy, electric lighting and transmission of power, electrical machine making, metal platework, plumbers' work, silver-smiths' work, watch and clock making, wood working, metal working, mechanical engineering, carriage building, carpentry and joinery, mechanical preparation of ores, marine surveying. The various schools and classes devote themselves to such branches as are likely to be most useful to the artizans of the localities in which they are respectively situated.

In order to make technical schools available to those for whom they are designed, the school fees must be fixed at a low figure, especially for apprentices. On the other hand, the cost of foundation and maintenance is considerable. They are not self-supporting institutions. Hence, if such schools were established in New Zealand, it could only be by outside assistance. In England the principal part of the cost is defrayed by the city guilds and the trade companies in different localities, although the Department of Science and Art is lending important aid in the shape of the Central Institute at Kensington. On the Continent such, schools appear to be supported partly by the Government, partly by the local bodies, and partly by aid given by private individuals. In New Zealand, however, nearly the whole cost would have to be paid out of the public purse in some way or other. That, however, is not a reason why we should refrain from taking steps for the establishment of technical schools. The expenditure of money upon this object could be justified by the same reasoning which justifies us in giving bonuses for the encouragement of new industries, only it would yield a hundredfold greater results. I admit that the present cost of education is excessive compared with the colony' means; but I do not think that the outlay involved in the opening of technical schools at the principal centres of population, say at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, (which would serve as examining centres for numerous classes in other places), would add perceptibly to the colony' burthens.

Viewing the matter in the aspect which I do, viz., as a remodelling of our system of secondary education, it would be a legitimate application if a part, and a substantial part, of the splendid endowments which have been set aside in New Zealand for secondary education were devoted to the establishment and maintenance of technical schools. These endowments have hitherto been exclusively applied to the support of scholastic institutions of great merit, but which are to a large extent a luxury beyond the means of the colony; while these institutions are in many cases bestowing a refined education upon persons to whom it will prove a curse rather than a blessing, and whose valuable energies will be virtually lost to the country for want of a sufficiently ample field for their exercize. Nor can we shut our eyes to the fact that our High Schools and Colleges are an eyesore to no

inconsiderable section of the working classes, who feel that as a body they have neither part nor lot in them; while they afford a cheap education of the higher kind to the children of rich men. I do not assert that these feelings are justified; I merely observe that they exist. Still they are well-founded, to the extent that our system of secondary education is not being conducted on sufficiently comprehensive lines. Much as I admire the noble High Schools and Colleges of Canterbury, I should rejoice to see some one of them in Christchurch replaced by a well-equipped Technical College, where our handicraftsmen and their sons could obtain a special education, which would enable them to hold their own against all-comers, and to easily advance with and adapt their methods of working to the changes and improvements which are being so rapidly introduced into the industrial arts, while at the same time their intellectual desires would be slaked, honourable and recognized distinctions would be within their reach, and the social status of the artizan would be raised in a marked degree, to the satisfaction of his own just ambition and the benefit of the community. The working population of Canterbury, at all events, have a right to ask this at our hands. They are entitled to demand that the wise intentions of the Provincial Council in their behalf should be carried into effect at the earliest possible moment.

Without however dwelling too much on this point, although it is an important one, I do maintain that we ought to interpret the term “secondary education” in a larger sense than as meaning the teaching of literary subjects and abstract science only. Doubtless it bore that meaning—and even a more restricted meaning—once, but the world has rolled on, and the statesman in this and other countries is now called upon to solve the great problem:—Given a working population, forming the mass of the community, who have eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and whose wants and desires, both mental and physical, have been sharpened and increased thereby, how will you keep them contented? The way to do so is by raising the status of the workman. It is not sufficient to tell him that his employment is honourable, and that no citizen is more useful to the State than he; you must give him a larger scope for his energies and in his own avocation, so that he may be enabled to achieve real distinction in it. We must dispel the prevalent idea—that if the artizan wants to rise in the social scale he must perforce abandon his own occupation, which is the natural field for the display of his abilities.

Leaving aside these reflections, however, our artizans are entitled to ask the rulers of the country to give them all reasonable assistance in their competition with foreign handicraftsmen. It is a reasonable request to make that technical schools should be established in the principal towns of