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glad to see some extra encouragement given to them.

As I have said before, the State is giving certainly a large amount of help towards instruction in commercial subjects, as taught in evening classes, but I should like to see more help given on the lines indicated above.

We may next consider the support direct and indirect that the State has given to any instruction in commercial subjects in any secondary schools. The resolution I have quoted asks that besides a good secondary instruction the pupils should have special instruction in commercial subjects. It is somewhat difficult to see exactly how that can be done without shortening to some extent the pupils' general education. Some very few years ago the London County Council took means, through its Technical Education Board, to ascertain the opinion of a number of typical employers of labour in London as to the value of commercial education. I cannot do better then quote from a paper written by our Secretary for the Venice Congress as to the conclusion at which the Committee arrived :

"It is somewhat remarkable, considering the recent demand for commercial education on the part of employers, to find that the witnesses before the committee were practically unanimous in the opinion that for the lower grades of commercial employés special school training was undesirable. They all expressed their preference for a boy fresh from school, with the best elementary education, over the boy who would come a year or two later into the office after having passed the additional time in acquiring a probably imperfect knowledge of so-called commercial matters which probably would have no application in their special house of business. An intelligent boy, they said, coming into the office at 14, would at 16 be far more valuable to them from the special knowledge he had acquired, than a similar boy coming to the business at 16 with an imperfect equipment of so-called commercial education. It was urged that a few years later the boy who had had the more advanced instruction would then be the more useful of the two. This was admitted as possible, but, as a rule, the commercial experts seemed disinclined to allow even this much. They were, however, prepared to admit that boys, as a rule, left school much too early, and that it would be a great advantage if the school age could be extended for another year or two. But they were unanimously against early specialisation, and they one and all held to the point that, though it would undoubtedly be an advantage for boys to have another year or two's schooling, those years must be devoted to general education, not to instruction in commercial matters, or even to any attempt to acquire a knowledge of general business routine. It goes without saying that the education

ought to be a modern one, and if classical languages were to be admitted, they were to have but a small part in it. Modern languages were important; bookkeeping and shorthand should be included; and elementary mathematics were essential. All these subjects, too, should be taught with a view to their practical application-languages from a commercial, not a literary standpoint.

"On the question of higher commercial education, opinion was very much divided. The system of carrying on sham commercial transactions at school, which is strongly advocated by many Continental authorities and by some educational experts in England, met with scant support. It was considered that this was merely playing at business, and that the training so acquired would be of little use in practice. Some witnesses preferred for their higher posts, when these were not recruited from the lower ranks, University men; others considered that the last year or two of educational life could best be spent in a foreign country acquiring a knowledge of its language and its business methods. On the whole, opinion was favourable to such institutions as the London School of Economics previously mentioned, in which special teaching could be given to those who had made up their minds what line of business they were about to adopt, or were even already engaged in it.

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Eventually the Committee decided to recommend (1) the establishment and encouragement of continuation schools for those who entered business offices at about the age of 14, that is to say boys trained in the elementary schools; (2) that departments should be established in many of the secondary London day schools for the preparation for commercial life of boys leaving school at 16, the education to be given being of a general character-modern languages, arithmetic, and commercial geography; (3) that there should be formed in at least one secondary London day school of the first grade, a department for the preparation for business life of boys leaving school at 18 or 19, the teaching of which should qualify its pupils either to enter the higher ranks of commercial life, or to pursue an advanced course of study in some institution of higher commercial education; (4) that in the reorganisation of the London University, which is now under consideration, provision should be made for the establishment of a separate faculty of economic and commercial science, to which pupils of Class 3 could go."

It appears that the Chambers of Commerce take one view, and the individual employers consulted by the London County Council take a somewhat different one, and it is hard to reconcile one view with the other. It seems to me almost axiomatic that before any specialisation ought to take place a good general education must be given to all boys who enter a secondary school. Parents themselves are not always wise, and they usually think that unless the education given at a school has a

very direct bearing on the boy's future life, it is time wasted. They forget that the aim of education is to train and exercise the mind, as it is the aim of physical exercise to train the body.

As regards physical exercise the boys themselves are wiser than their parents, for they usually take the matter into their own hands, and the utilitarianism of football does not enter into their heads, but they are satisfied that they are all the better for it. The mental gymnastics that are performed in a good solid secondary education may not be directly utilitarian, but they train the faculties and render them capable of being turned in profitable directions at a later time of life.

The presence of a well-educated man or boy, who has passed through the usual curriculum of a good secondary school, makes itself felt, not only by his employers, but by his colleagues. There is about him a something which is not to be found in one who has not had that advantage. He has been at school with those who have not taken his own career, and he has had his character trained; and it is not too much to say that whether he is conducting inside the office or outside it, he will have a greater weight and be able to negotiate on more equal terms than others who may be said to have risen from the ranks. He is, in nine cases out of ten, more to be trusted and more diplomatic if he has had the training that a gentleman should have. For this reason, if for no other, the attempt to shorten the secondary school education proper, by introducing in it specialisation which will take the pupil away from his ordinary classes is to deprecated. One other reason may be given, and that I have already implied, the boy will be more ripe for specialisation than if it is forced on him earlier.

It is the few, compared with the many who go to elementary schools, who can be sent to secondary schools, and it is the few who can hope to obtain the moderately high posts in business houses. The inferior posts are held by those who as a rule have to be contented with elementary education up to the age of 14. Boys at secondary schools remain in them up to 16 and to 19, according to the grade of the school, and it may be taken as an unfortunate fact that the largest bulk of those who pass from the secondary school to business have been in schools where the leaving age is between 16 and 17. It is only those who are certain of employment in the highest posts in a business house who can afford to stay in a

first grade school where the leaving age is 19, and we hear that if they proceed to the universities they are preferred.

The State in recent years has aided secondary education in perhaps what may be considered an indirect way, but it has done so very effectively. It is very largely due to its action that the non-leisured classes have had the possibility of being educated on modern lines, lines which are at least equally as effective in training the mind as were the old and more time-honoured mediæval methods. The benefit of the modern education, besides giving mental training, is that it is a direct preparation and foundation for subsequent specialisation. To be taught English well-history and geography being collated together as a part of the same subject-and in a scientific manner, is an excellent foundation for all commercial work. The recently developed methods of teaching practical mathematics and modern languages are also excellent preparations for what must come after in business education; and, again, the training of the observational and reasoning faculties by studying natural knowledge (science) must also give a stability to the intellect which must prove a very valuable asset to the commercial man.

In aiding such a secondary education the State has been of infinite benefit to commercial education, but when it comes to specialisation it has so far considered that its aid should cease when specialisation commences. It equally refuses to aid other forms of technical instruction in day schools. The instruction which it aids is that suitable for youths up to 16 or 17, ages below which it is, as already said, inadvisable to encourage specialisation. There are two classes of secondary schools which it aids-one in which there is a predominance of science teaching, if mathematics are included, and the other in which the minimum of science which can be considered satisfactory according to modern views is taught. The grants to these schools are nominally made for the science instruction, but it enforces a preliminary qualification. It has to be shown that the non-science instruction is well carried out. Further it insists that at least one modern language must be taught. I look upon this condition as a most important one. It is quite possible to get up such subjects as book-keeping and mercantile law in a short time, but it is impossible for youths, as a rule, to become really proficient in a language. unless they have some elementary scientific training in it in their early school career.

If a business man wishes for adequate representation for his trade abroad, it is not to be supposed that the language acquired for home consumption will suffice, but it must be such as will be understood in the country to which the representative is sent. The employment of foreigners in English business houses is a standing slur on the instruction in foreign languages that used to be given in the ordinary school. A glance at the Table will show how few under 16 are successful in languages, the examinations being based on modern methods of teaching. The foundation only but not more can be laid before that age. Time has to be given to the study of the language from an analytical point of view, and not merely to its cheap and uncultured utilitarian aspect. If a modern language be taught with the same attention and analytical skill as Latin, and added to this there is taught the power of expression with a good accent, the days of the foreign invaders into mercantile houses are surely numbered. In the encouragement of teaching languages the State, it may be said, is almost directly aiding, during school-days, what will be of future use to the pupil. In regard to what are called "schools of science," there is nothing taught in the elementary course (which lasts two years, and in which the ages of pupils vary from about 13 to 16) which every boy ought not to be acquainted with. The English subjects, the language, and the notions of elementary science (taught practically) are equally as necessary for the business man as they are for those who are going into industrial pursuits or the professions. If a boy has profited by his elementary course of study, including his science, he is well prepared for carrying on his studies further. The rub is the further. There is some excuse for allowing specialisation of study after such a course, and it appears to me that a commencement of the study of subjects that are applicable to commerce might be entered upon, but only taken with the subjects which are necessary for continuing the general education. At this stage it would be useful if the State allowed a differentiation of study to be made, and that the pupils might be kept at school to learn a little of those subjects which have a bearing on their career, rather than being obliged to take a strictly science course to the end. I need scarcely remind the Society that a knowledge of science is of extreme use in commereial enterprise. It is impossible to pick up intelligently a knowledge of materials, for instance, without having

studied chemistry, so that science in some degree ought to be carried on to the end of the school career. Side by side with these schools of science there are often the other class of schools which are aided by the State. These spread out the elementary course of science over four years. When the two classes of schools are within easy reach of each other, or in the same town, there is not the same necessity for giving an option as to modifying in the higher course of the school of science. The pupil who intends to go into business can go to that one where the opportunities and facilities for specialising in commercial subjects are greater. This, however, is a matter of detail, into which it is unnecessary to enter. It must also not be lost sight of that in the "whiskey money" the new education authorities (as had the County Councils under the Technical Instruction Act) have a large sum of public money at their disposal for aiding technical, agricultural, and commercial instruction. This money has been mortgaged up to the hilt, it may be said, in most cases, in furthering all these spheres of instruction, but it has to be confessed that the technical has perhaps had the best of it. There is, however, a proviso in the Education Bill of 1901 that the local authorities have power to raise a rate for the purposes of secondary education, and certainly commercial subjects should come under the benefits of the rate. I am not certain what is intended at the present moment, but up till last year it was a rule that scholarships to schools might be given for varied purposes, the cost of such scholarships being met by practically equal contributions from the locality and the State. The rate raised by the locality was recognised as meeting the local contribution. If the same rule exists now, as did such a short time ago, it is a form of State aid which might be wisely used in keeping promising pupils at school till they had specialised in those subjects which would ultimately be of use in their after careers.

So far I have dealt with the action of the State in regard to commercial education without more than a brief reference to the examinations by the Society. I must say a few words regarding them. In the first place I will refer to a paper by Sir H. T. Wood read in 1897 at the International Congress of Technical Education which was held in these rooms, and which has since been republished with the necessary additions in August of this year. It appears that each decade has shown a large increase in the popularity of these

examinations. In 1883 there were 808 candidates and 35 centres of examination; in 1893 3,702 candidates and 109 centres; in 1903, 10,616 candidates and 322 centres of examination.

If a freehand curve in which these numbers and years and the intermediate numbers and years are shown as ordinates and abscissæ respectively it will closely resemble a logarithmic curve (y = ax where a is 0648 and x is zero in the year 1869), and though it is unwise to rely too much on extrapolation, yet it is right to use it to see to what numbers of examinees might be expected in future years. The following Table is deduced from the curve and the extrapolation of it :—

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correct approximately, this means that in five years time the numbers examined will be rather more than doubled. As mentioned in the beginning of the address, this house is barely sufficient for our actual wants at the present time, and throwing on the Society double the number of papers to be looked through by the examiners, and tabulated and collated by the staff, means that much additional space will be required, and more staff, in order to cope with the increased work. It is a matter for rejoicing that the popularity of the examinations is increasing. But the popularity must ever be a severe tax on the Society-not, however, a money tax, for the examinations so far pay their own cost, and the cost of examination per individual diminishes somewhat as the numbers of examinees increase. But it will tax the Society to find space in which to conduct the work, and will give additional responsibility to our secretary, to whom very much of the success attained already is due. It may soon, however, be a question whether the State itself ought not to take over this work. It cannot be dropped. It must continue, but when the dimensions become unwieldy it is evident that relief from the burden will have to be found in some direction. I believe the country and the members have every reason to be satisfied with this part of the work of the Society. It was originally a small part only, but it is gradually increasing into being a very large part of the Society's work. It must in no case interfere with those other useful functions for which the Society exists.

The question of improving or slightly enlarging the scope of the examinations is under the consideration of the Council, and if it is found that there is a desire for a raising of the standard of qualification in order to pass in the highest grade, or perhaps to add an additional grade, I believe that the Council will undertake to carry out the improvement, and will organise the further examination.

I have not touched upon the other functions of the Society, as I have felt that the subject of our examinations alone is a theme on which a sufficiently long address can be made. I fear I have taxed your patience in regard to details.

After delivering the Address the Chairman presented the Society's medals which were awarded for papers read during last Session.

For papers at the Ordinary Meetings :

To DR. GUSTAVE GOEGG, for his paper on "Le Tunnel du Simplon, et la nouvelle ligne de Chemin de fer directe Anglo-Italienne pour l'Orient."

TO ARCHIBALD P. HEAD, Mem. Inst.C.E., for his paper on "The South Russian Iron Industry.”

To PROF. W. SMART, LL.D., for his paper on "Industrial Trusts."

TO DR. BENEDICT W. GINSBURG, for his paper on "The Port of London."

To ALFRED C. EBORALL, M.I.E.E., for his paper on "Application of Polyphase Motors to the Electrical Driving of Workshops and Factories."

To GABRIEL J. MORRISON, for his paper on "The Construction of Maps and Charts."

To E. NORTH BUXTON, for his paper on vation of Big Game in Africa."

"Preser

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For 80 feet Long Ladders :

Gold medal to Mr. C. D. Magirus, of Ulm.

Bronze medal to Messrs. J. C. Braun, of Nuremberg.

For Chemical Engines for Town Use :Silver medal to Mr. W. Busch, of Bautzen. (Heavy.) Silver medal to Messrs. Merryweather Ltd., of London. (Light.)

Bronze medal to Messrs. J. C. Braun, of Nuremberg. (Heavy.)

Bronze medal to Messrs. Sinclair and Co., of London. (Light.)

For Compressed Air Engine for Town Use :Silver medal to the Kühlstein Wagenbau Gesellschaft of Berlin.

Sir JOHN WOLFE BARRY, K.C.B., said it was a matter of profound satisfaction that the destinies of the Society would be directed by so distinguished a man as Sir William Abney, who was a past president of the Astronomical Society, of the Physical Society, of the Photographic Society, and Section A (Physics) and Section L (Education) of the British Association. As a photographer, the Chairman was, he supposed, more distinguished than any other gentleman who had directed his attention to the subject, either in this or in any other country. But, apart from such matters, Sir William had taken a long and absorbing interest in the great subject of education. He was for some considerable time head of the scientific branch of the Board of Education at South Kensington, having only recently retired from that position. Therefore he spoke as one who was more thoroughly acquainted with the subject of education, both scientific and commercial, than anybody whom one could meet in the Kingdom; and as such he had dealt with the details of a subject, the importance of which could not possibly be exaggerated. a real service to the subject forward in his opening address, in so thorough a manner. He also thought that everybody who gave

Sir William had done Society in bringing the

careful consideration to the subject of education, would be at one with the Chairman on the general condition he laid down-that a student should first of all lay a thorough grounding of general education before attempting to specialise in the various subjects to which he intended to devote his life. It was easy to think that one could take a short cut to full scientific or commercial education; but the experience of everybody acquainted with the subject was that that was impossible, and that unless a youth was thoroughly grounded first, it was hopeless to arrive at a good result by early specialisation. He thought the members ought to be grateful to Sir William for laying down that canon with all the authority which belonged to him, from his careful study and great experience on the subject. It was a great source of gratification to him, as a past chairman of the Council of the Society, to be able to hear from Sir William's lips that the progress of the Society in the matter of education was at least as great, if not greater, than it was when he himself occupied the chair of the Council, and that the great progress which had been achieved in the past would be continued in the future. He felt certain that, under the careful guidance of the Chairman and Sir Henry Trueman Wood, the progress would continue, and that the utility of the Society would grow greater and greater as time went on. He assured Sir William, on behalf of those who were able to be of any assistance to him, that they would be proud and anxious to devote the best of their ability to the support of the Chair of the Council. He concluded by proposing a hearty vote of thanks to the Chairman.

Sir OWEN TUDOR BURNE, G.C.I.E., in seconding

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