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Lilley, George Charles, 146, Stapleton Hall-road, Stroud-green, N., and 10, London-street, Fenchurch-street, E.C.

Lindholm, O. W., Vladivostock, Siberia.

Low, A. Maurice, 1410, G.-street, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

Lowber, James William, M.A., D.Sc., Ph.D., LL.D., 113, East 18th-street, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

McClelland, James, 3, Custom House-square, Belfast. McConnell, William Dunbar, 64, Burma-road, Clissold-park, N.

McDonald, James, 57, Cadogan-square, S.W. Mackinlay, James Tennant Caird, Kinning-park Smelting Works, Glasgow.

McMahon, John Joseph, A.M.I.Mech. E., Corporation Tramways, 55, Piccadilly, Manchester. Magoun, Professor Herbert William, Ph.D., M.A., Redfield, South Dakota, U.S.A., and Alewive, Maine, U.S.A.

Malloch, William Farquhar, Town Office, Uitenhage,
Cape Colony, South Africa.

Mamede, Dr. Ceciliano, Pernambuco Water Com-
pany, Pernambuco, Brazil, South America.
Marin, Don Estéban, Rosales 10, Madrid, Spain.
Marriott, T. Bruce, F.I.C., The Himan Concessions,

Ltd., Bogosu, via Tarkwa, Sekondi, West Africa. Martin, Edward, 4, Vine-street, York-road, Lambeth, S.E.

Marx, Robert J., 133-139, Finsbury-pavement, E.C.
Mehta, Sorab Bomanjee, Bombay, India.
Meikle, John, Messrs. Meikle Bros., Umtali,
Rhodesia, South Africa.

Messervy, Henry, British Guiana Diamond Syndicate,
Ltd., Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana.
Meyrick-Jones, Leonard Meyrick, A.M.I.Mech.E.,
Wroxham, Norwich.

Michaux, Daniel, A.R.S.M., The Van Ryn Gold Mines Estate, Ltd., P.O. Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa.

Minifie, Rev. William C., D.D., The Retreat, Clytha park, Newport, Mon.

Mole, Walter, F.R.G.S., The Memorial Hall, Farringdon-street, E.C., and Syltorvan, Cheshunt,

Herts.

Moore, George, M.Inst.C.E., care of Manila Rail-
way Co., Ltd., Manila, Philippine Islands.
Moore, Robert Thomas, 142, St. Vincent-street,
Glasgow.

Morgan, Gwyn Vaughan, 1, St. James'-place, S.W. Morrell, George Henry, 29, Fermoy-road, Maidahill, W.

Morriss, Job S., 57-59, Ludgate-hill, E.C.

Muller, A., Messrs. Henry Maurer and Son, 420 East 23rd-street, New York City, U.S.A.

Neher, Clemens, 29, Nottingham-place, Marylebone, W.

Nelson, Major John Yeates, M.I.E.E., Postal and Electric Telegraph Dept., General Post Office, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia.

Newton, William M., 96, Wood-street, E.C.

Norman, Frederick Charles, F.S.S., Cranleigh, Egham, Surrey.

Norton, Captain John Smedley, 3, Remenham Hillterrace, Henley-on-Thames.

O'Meara, Major Walter Arthur John, R.E., C.M.G.,
Simla-lodge, Sunbury.

Patel, Munchershaw J., Bombay, India.
Patey, Arthur Pettman, A.M.I.E E., Resident Engi-
neer, Houses of Parliament, Westminster, S.W.
Pearson, James Davis, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., G.K.
Railway, Barano P.O., viâ Giridih, Hazaribagh
District, India.

Pearson, Captain William McMullen, I.M.S., care of
Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son, Bombay, India.
Perez, George Victor, M.B., M.R.C.S., Puerto
Orotava, Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Perryman, Charles Wilbraham, J.P., 41, Charingcross-road, W.C.

Petherbridge, R. C., The Kinta Association, Ltd., Tanjong Rambutan, Perak, Federated Malay States.

Pope, Reginald, A.R.I.B.A., 17, Cheriton-place, Folkestone.

Pope, William Waller, M.I.Mech. E., Hatfield, The Grove, Slough,

Price, Albert Edward, A.M.I.Mech. E., Cleveland Works, Wolverhampton.

Pries, Robert, A.I.E.E., 82, Bunhill-row, E.C. Pring, Francis E., A.I.E.E., Hazel Dene, Ty Maurroad, Llandaff Station, Cardiff.

Ramsell, A., 187, Wolverhampton-st., Dudley, Worcs. Rao, Mangalore Basti Subha, B.A., Superintendent, Observatory, Hyderabad, Deccan, India.

Reade, John, F.R.S.C., 270, Laval-avenue, Montreal, Canada.

Richardson, Major Edwin Hautonville, Panbride, Carnoustie, Forfarshire, N.B.

Ross, Charles Edmonstone, Chepauk, Madras, India. Rowbotham, James McKean, M. Inst.C.E., Calle Corrientes, 951, Buenos Ayres, South America. Rutson, Mrs. Mary E., 74, Eaton-square, S. W. Salimollah, Hon. Nawab, Bahadur, Dacca, Eastern Bengal, India.

Salmon, A. E., South African Art Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

Samuel, Hon. Jacob Henry, Government Secretariat, Abeokuta, via Lagos, West Africa.

Sanders, Carl, care of Messrs. Hatton and Cookson, Ltd., Chiloango, Landana, Portuguese Congo. Scrutton, T. C., The Borneo Company, Ltd., Bidi, Sarawak, Borneo.

Silver, Hugh Christopher C. C., 23, Redcliffe-square, South Kensington, S.W.

Simpkin, Frank Henry, A.M.I.Mech. E., 159, Firthpark-road, Sheffield.

Smart, Miss Mary A., 31, Shandon-road, Clapham. common, S.W.

Smith, Albert, A.I.E.E., 54, Hounds-gate, Nottingham.

Smith, Oberlin, M. Am. Soc.C.E., Ferracute Machine Co., Bridgeton, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Snow, Andrew Waugh, 2, Culford gardens, Cadogan-gardens, S.W.

Spicer, H. Norman, P.O. Box 123, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

Spindler, Vyvyan, Kenmore-house, Middle-street, Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony, South Africa.

Spoor, James Lockhart, Portinscale-house, East Putney, S.W., and 8-12, Brook-street, Hanoversquare, W.

Starnes, Herbert S., Avenue-corner, Crook Log, Bexley-heath, Kent.

Stevenson, John L., 39, Victoria-street, Westminster, S.W.

Tasker, Edward Ernest, 59, Lennard-road, Penge, S.E.

Tate, Harry Russell, Fort Hall, Nairobi, Mombasa, British East Africa.

Templeton, William S., M.A., B.Sc., Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper's-hill, Surrey. Thomas, Captain F. W., 150, Gloucester-terrace, Paddington, W.

Thomson, William Charles, 33, Castle-street, Cape
Town, South Africa.

Trinham, James Samuel, The Waverley Iron and
Steel Co., Ltd., Coatbridge, N.B.
Trower, Percy Bence, 39, St. Mary-at-Hill, E.C.
Ullyet, Reginald Heber, M.I.M.E., P.O. Box 5283,
Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa.

Unna, Alfred Ernest, Royal Palace Hotel, Kensington, W.

Viccajee, F. K., F.C.S., H.H. The Nizam's Mint, Hyderabad, Deccan, India.

Wade, Charles H. Stuart, J.P., Fort Edmonton. Alta, Canada.

Wagner, Felix, 1, Hamilton-road, Highbury-park, N. Wakelin, John Frederick, 5, Tottenham-street, Tottenham-court-road, W.

Waldron, Derwent Hutton Ryder, M.B., Senior Medical Officer, Elmina Castle, vid Cape Coast, Gold Coast Colony, W. Africa.

Walker, William Izett, A.M.I.E.E., 133, Georgestreet, Edinburgh, and Greenfield, Tollcross, Glasgow.

Warner, Frank, 3 and 4, Newgate-street, E.C.
Webster, John, M.Am.I.M.E., Houtpoort, Ltd.,
Heidelberg, Transvaal, South Africa.
Westall, George, 87, Chancery-lane, W.C.
Weston, Maximillian John Ludwick, A.I.E.E., 57,
Argyle-street, Birkenhead.

Wheeler, George, 64, South-park, Canonbury, N.
Wheelwright, J. B., 16, Burmester's-buildings,
Adderley-street, Cape Town, South Africa.
Whensa-Nicholl, Charles, B.Sc., A.M.I.E.E., 33,
Hamlet-gardens-mansion, Ravenscourt-park, W.
Williams, John, R., A.M.I.E.E., 72 Burngreave-road,
Sheffield.

Willis, William, 36, Frances-road, Windsor. Winebloom, Albert Victor, A.M.I.Mech.E., 84, Savernake-road, Hampstead, N.W.

Wodson, T. W., Old Deer Park, Gardens, Capetown, South Africa.

Woodbridge, Samuel Homer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. Woodhouse, Lister, A.C.A., Westminster City Hall, Charing-cross-road, W.C.

Woolf, Albert Edward, 832, West End-avenue, New York City, U.S.A.

Wright, Rev. Dr., M.A., 796, Astor-street, Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A.

The CHAIRMAN delivered the following

ADDRESS.

We are now entering on the 150th year of the existence of the Society of Arts - for it was founded in 1754. At that date, only two learned or scientific societies were in being, viz., the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries, and from the nature of the times it has been called upon to occupy very varied spheres of usefulness. Before the Royal Academy was founded, it held exhibitions of pictures. It encouraged engineering and chemistry before the various special societies which now look after these subjects of science were established, and it promoted arts and industries in the Colonies more than a century before the Colonial or Imperial Institutes were established to fulfil this special purpose. As different societies sprung up in connection with the various subjects of natural knowledge, it became less necessary for this Society to foster them with the care that it had previously done, and it turned its attention to other kindred but unoccupied fields, and is doing so up to the present time. As it divested itself of one care, others, due to the progress of our race and times, have taken its place, and at present it has far-spreading bounds within which it has ample scope to expend its energy in benefiting the public. The varied programme which it issues indicates how wide are the boundaries of the field within which it works. It has been the establisher of International Exhibitions-on which blessings and the reverse have been showered by the commercial public, owing to their too oft recurrence the work of the 1851 Exhibition having been carried out by it, till it handed it over to a Royal Commission, and it has taken an active part in the higher education of the country. To this latter subject I shall revert shortly. In reviewing the past and comparing it with the present, it is satisfactory to know that the Society stands higher than ever in the estimation of the public, as its numbers are larger this year than before, and last, but not least, its finances are in a more

satisfactory position than they ever have been, though it has never, I believe, had to struggle against deficits which some societies have had to war against.

I am sure that all here to-night will re-echo my wish that the Society may continue its useful work in the future with the same marked success that it has done in the past.

The question of remaining in our present house for long is somewhat uncertain. The original lease expired in 1897, when a further lease of seven years was granted, which expires next year, but the landlord has agreed to take us on year by year with two years notice, so that we may consider ourselves as occupants of these rooms for about another three years at least. The accommodation, however, is barely sufficient for our present immediate needs. It is especially deficient in library accommodation. It is the opinion of those who are conversant with the management of the Society, that if we had more room we might increase our usefulness. The circumstance that our lease has expired when our necessities for space have become greater, may be the means of enlarging our borders. One of the pieces of work for which room can scarcely be found is our examination work, and the mention of that work brings me back to the educational work which the Society has performed and is performing. I will only give a very brief history of what it has done in this direction.

In 1857 its first local examinations in various subjects of science and general education were instituted. In 1871 the Society added technological subjects to its syllabuses, and in 1876 a commercial certificate on the results of its examination was established. aminations in technological subjects it handed at once bodily to the care of the City and Guilds of London Institute, but retained those which tested the instruction in commercial subjects.

The ex

They have been carried on ever since, with one slight interval, an interval that an interested public would not suffer to be prolonged.

The term of "Commercial Education" has become a very favourite expression, but it is one which it behoves us to use with some reserve, as it may mean a good deal more than it ought to do, and may be used in a sense which is more harmful than good. Whilst I was in the late Science and Art Department, the Ministers responsible for education had many memorials urging them to provide for the commercial education of this country;

amongst others, one from the Associated Chambers of Commerce, which ran as follows:

"That in the opinion of this Association it is desirable that young persons intended for commercial careers should, besides passing through the ordinary curriculum of a secondary school be specially instructed in subjects appertaining to commerce, and that in order to encourage the provision of such instruction and with a view to securing that the facilities for commercial education in the United Kingdom shall not be inferior to those of any continental country, it is urgently necessary that Government aid should be extended to the teaching of commercial subjects, as it now is to the teaching of science and art."

The wish expressed in the first part of this resolution is excellent, and cannot be too fully endorsed, since it inculcates that the ordinary curriculum of a secondary school should be carried out and should have superadded to it at some time or another the teaching of subjects appertaining to commerce. It is in exact conformity to the resolutions which have from time to time been passed at international conferences on Commercial Education, two of which I attended as an official delegate.

The resolution almost invites a statement as to the aid that the State is actually giving to commercial education. In the first place I propose to give some details which may help us to form an idea of the encouragement which it offers localities for the instruction of those who have left the day schools and who can be induced to attend evening classes. Their attendance is probably due to their having found out their deficiencies and having realised what will be of use to them in gaining advancement in the actual sphere of business in which they are employed. It has been largely lost sight of by many of those who think Government should take up the question of supplying Commercial Education that in the evening schools and classes, which are mainly supported by the Board of Education, no small sum of money, in the shape of grants, is annually paid for such instruction. Amongst the long lists of subjects which are aided, we find the following:-Commercial history and geography, commercial correspondence, modern languages, book-keeping, arithmetic, mercantile practice and law, shorthand, with typewriting, economics, and commercial English. It appears that some of these subjects are taken in a large number of the largest centres.

I have taken the curricula of 31 repre

sentative places of instruction, and find that 21 take commercial correspondence, 30 bookkeeping, 31 French, German, and shorthand, 11 commercial geography, 7 economics, 15 Spanish, 6 Italian, 2 Portuguese, 2 Russian, I Danish, 6 commercial arithmetic, 1 law for surveyors, and that substantial grants were paid to the schools in which they were taught. I must remind you that evening schools and classes have been opened in some 6,000 centres, and it is possible at each of these to earn grants for instruction in commercial subjects.

For

The grants are based on the attendances made by the students, and as it provided that the students must attend at least 14 lessons before they can earn a grant for the school, it may be supposed that all those students who do earn grants, must have received some benefit— small it may be-from the instruction. every 20 attendances, the student earns a minimum of 2s. 6d. or a maximum of 5s., according to the efficiency of the instruction. The latter rate is, however, only payable when the instructor possesses high qualifications in the subject he teaches, and it is also limited to languages and some of the more difficult subjects.

As a student may make 160 paying attendances in all, it follows that the State may aid the instruction of each student between the limits of £r and £2 per head: not a bad rate when it is considered that each hour counts as an attendance. The Board of Education inspects the classes and issues the rate of the grant on the report of the Inspector, but it does not hold examinations or grant certificates in these subjects. Here it is that we-the Society of Arts-step in. We hold the examinations, and it is not unfair to say that most of those who sit for them and endeavour to gain the Society's certificates come from the schools supported by the Board of Education. Out of the above 31 schools I find that at least 25 take our examinations and perhaps more. The rule in these evening classes is that no child under 12 or who is in attendance at any day school can be taught in them, but there is no superior age limit imposed. There have been cases where pupils of over 40 and 50, and even over 60, have earned attendance grants, and I believe some with such ages been successful candidates at these examinations.

Our examination returns indeed give one a good idea of the age at which a study of commercial subjects is most generally entered upon.

The annexed Table which has been compiled by the Society's staff shows the total number

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at 14 are fewer than those who succeed at 15, those at 15 fewer than those who succeed at 16, and that the percentage of the three ages together forms a small proportion of the total successes. The percentage of success of those who were examined at 14 years of age is 33 ; at 15 it is 66; at 16 it is 100, or at 14, 15, and 16 together 20 per cent. of the total. We may come to the conclusion that of those who study commercial subjects some 80 per cent. are 17 and over. I am informed that

the largest percentage is for students between 17 and 24. As 15 to 16 may be taken as the age at which boys leave ordinary secondary schools in which these examina. tions are not as a rule held, it indicates with some certainty that candidates below 16 are boys who have been educated at the public elementary schools, and who are therefore in subordinate positions in the business houses in which they are employed.

A further analysis of the Table is one of considerable interest besides that which it furnishes in regard to age. If we refer to the return of the Elementary Examination, Grade I., we see that the subjects most largely taken were shorthand and book-keeping, and if we add to the latter arithmetic, we find that no less than 68 per cent. of the whole of the successes were in these two subjects. These are the subjects above all which are required in the lower walks of business life. Languages come next with 16 per cent., and these are the subjects which are of use where the candidates are a grade higher in a business probably connected with foreign trade. As for commercial geography, which is only of direct use for the still higher grade, not 1 per cent. of the total successes is allotted to it. If we critically examine the successes in the higher examinations we shall find a similar state of things, and it points to the fact that, as the posts in a business house get higher in value, the number is a vastly diminishing one. It also indicates the possibilities which exist in advancement in home and foreign trade.

The above Table which Sir Henry Wood kindly caused to be got out for me is a most instructive one, and taken with the evening school returns of the Board of Education furnishes data of great value regarding the progress and possibilities of commercial education which exists in regard to adults who have not continued at school, but who have found it advisable to study further. I may add that if we study the technical side of the evening school curriculum we find that the students attending it are if not in a minority approaching thereto, and that the State is aiding commercial education as much as it aids the technical, except in the case of science and art, to which I shall immediately allude.

It appears then that so far as evening classes are concerned the demand for State aid has been fairly met, and it is only necessary for the localities to use such aid to meet their full requirements.

Now, it is often asserted that the aid to

science and art in evening schools is far greater than that given to commercial subjects. So far as elementary science and drawing is concerned this is not the case. They are identically on the same footing. But where science has to be illustrated by experiments, incurring sometimes costly apparatus, and where practical science is taught which involves the provision not only of apparatus but of laboratories. there is no doubt that the aid is considerably higher. Now it is not to be supposed for one instant that any one wishes to level down the grants but to level up, and I, personally, should like to see a certain amount of levelling up. But it is only where the same precautions as to the qualifications of the teacher are taken, as are taken in the case of the more highly paid portions of science and art, that I wish to see increased payments made for instruction in commercial subjects, and then only for those subjects which demand high qualifications of the teachers. Languages, for instance, I should like to see more largely aided, but only where the teacher is a specialist in the subject. It would serve no useful purpose if the village schoolmaster, whose acquaintance with (say) French was extremely limited, was paid at a higher rate for giving instruction, but I should vote for increased remuneration where a professor of the language was employed, who could carry his pupils far beyond the home made teacher, and who could teach them not only to write but to speak French with a decent accent. The plan of paying by the attendance of students is perhaps the best that is at present possible. I have often thought over the subject, and devised schemes which would make the teacher less dependent for his remuneration on the number of pupils he had in his class. The most obvious plan is to pay the teacher so much a lesson, and make any increase depend on the size of his class, but there are great difficulties in any such plan, as some committees who govern the classes are quite equal to taking what I should call an unfair advantage of any regulation which might be manipulated to earn an undue grant. Most certainly the sizes of all classes ought be regulated, and instruction to overgrown numbers at one time must always be provided against. Under the present system of payment it is the small classes where the remuneration for instruction in insufficient, and a committee may reasonably refuse to start a small class for (say) commercial law, or Russian, if it cannot earn a fair amount towards its cost. It is these classes that suffer most, and I should be

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