tions in England supported by State aid. The Central Institution in London has more in common with the German polytechnic school than any other institution in Britain. This school is designed for the technical instruction of teachers, engineers, architects, master builders, and industrial chemists. It was built and equipped at a cost of 100,000l., and is at present maintained by an annual grant from the City and Guilds of London Institute.

Such is a brief outline of the means provided for the technical education of masters in different parts of Europe. It will be seen from the foregoing statement that efforts are now being made to bring Britain more nearly on a level with other countries in the provision of those kinds of instruction which are best adapted to the different classes of producers. But as yet only a beginning has been made, and in England the number of technical students receiving the higher education is far less than in Germany.

CHAPTER III.

MERCANTILE TRAINING-SCHOOLS OF COMMERCE.

THE question of how best to adapt our existing educational machinery to the requirements of commercial life, and of the additions, if any, that should be made to it, is now engaging the serious attention of merchants, manufacturers, teachers, and statesmen. The importance of the question is no longer doubted, and discussions of the subject are invited, with the view of eliciting the opinions of persons who, by their own knowledge and experience, are able to contribute to the solution of what must be regarded as a problem of national importance. To this end, an important conference was held under the auspices of the Chamber of Commerce, on November 23, 1887, when Sir John Lubbock, who is specially qualified to speak on this subject, delivered a very suggestive address, in which he pointed out many of the reasons which prevent our children from obtaining in our secondary schools, as at present organised, the preliminary training which might best prepare them for practical and commercial pursuits. He was followed by Dr.

Percival, who rightly said: 'The true educational method for an industrial and commercial population like ours is to fix our attention far more than hitherto on the practical needs of our population, and so to endeavour to liberalise what were called the practical studies; and to dismiss, once for all, the old-world idea that studies which have a direct bearing on the needs of boys growing up in our schools somehow lose their humanising qualities.'

The development of our trade and commerce may be said to depend on knowing not only how to produce at least cost what is most wanted, but also how to buy and sell with the utmost advantage. We may take it for granted that the full benefits of technical instruction will fail to be realised unless opportunities are afforded by which our youths may obtain that especial kind of training which is calculated to make them good business men.

The economy of production is closely associated with that of distribution in the machinery of commerce, and the connection between the factory and the merchant's office is very intimate, and tends daily to become more so. The progress of science is gradually converting the factory into a laboratory, in which raw materials are altered in substance or in form ; and the success of productive industry depends on the skill and ingenuity with which this process of conversion is carried on. But mercantile success depends not only on the skill and ingenuity shown in the production

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of goods, but also on the care exercised in the purchase of the material employed, and on the special knowledge and ability displayed in the sale of the manufactured products. The highest technical knowledge might be employed in producing goods for which there was no demand; or, as has so frequently happened, for which the demand had ceased, and commerce would not thereby be advanced. Or, goods might be produced, excellent in quality, but unsaleable except at a loss at places already fully supplied. What is needed for the development of commerce is not only the faculty of production, but also of distribution. A market is a necessary adjunct to a factory.

The consideration of the kind of training which is best calculated to fit a person to buy and sell, and to engage in any of the operations, including banking operations, connected with the work of distributing, and of bringing home to the consumer, the products of industry, is the problem of commercial education.

The questions of technical and of commercial education are so closely associated, that it is difficult to consider them except in connection with each other. Speaking generally, technical education may be said to have reference to the work of production, and commercial education to that of distribution; but, as the character of the goods produced by the manufacturer must depend, to a great extent, upon the tastes and requirements of the consumer, which should be ascertained by those engaged in the work of distribution,

mercantile success may be regarded as a function of two factors, one of which has reference to the skill displayed in the processes of manufacture, and the other to the activity and economy shown in bringing the products of industry into the hands of the con

sumer.

Hitherto, owing to the necessity of previously considering the question of technical education, the closely allied question of commercial education has remained somewhat in the background. The progress that has been made during the last few years in providing the necessary supplemental instruction for persons engaged in productive industry is, on the whole, satisfactory. Our University Colleges, under the influence of the demand for technical teaching, have recently added on important technical departments. In the Polytechnic Institutions which it is proposed to erect in London on the model of the People's Palace, provision will be made for the technical instruction of a large proportion of the workpeople of the metropolis. The Charity Commissioners have framed schemes for the curriculum of endowed schools, in which science instruction and manual training occupy part of the time formerly devoted to the study of classics. Some of our School Boards have, so far as the iron regulations of the Code permit them, introduced the teaching of drawing, science, and handicraft into the schools under their control. The Science and Art Department has made its examina