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the nature and amount of efficient technical and manual instruction supplied by these schools or institutions respectively, and with a view to their further development under the Act and having regard to the requirements of the city. 3. That each of such schools be requested to submit to this conference its own suggestions as to the amount and character of the aid desired from the local rate. 4. That in framing the scheme to be submitted it shall be shown that no undue competition of schools in any locality is permitted, and that the instruction in the lower science and art schools shall be contributory to the higher art and technical schools. 5. That the amount of the rate to be levied in the first instance shall not exceed one halfpenny in the pound, and shall not be more than adequate to provide for efficient instruction in the schools now existing-such amount to be determined after the school managers have furnished the conference with their requirements." At that conference Sir H. E. Roscoe, M.P., and Mr. W. Mather, M.P., emphasized the fact that it was felt by those who took part in the conference that it would enable the Local Authority to arrive at a quick conclusion as to its duty if a scheme were presented to them containing the practically unanimous opinion of all those interested in the carrying out of the Act. It would prevent a great deal of discussion in the Town Council, and probably a scheme so submitted would receive their assent at once. The whole question was the possibility of School Boards taking advantage of the Act to constitute themselves secondary educational authorities. Since he had something to do with the proposing of those amendments which brought the School Board in, he might say that there was no doubt on the part of the authorities to whom any question would finally be submitted as to the interpretation of the Act so far as the position of the School Board was concerned. Hitherto School Boards had been able to carry out science and art instruction only by a sort of underhand method; but in the Act as it now stood the School Boards were no longer regarded simply as self-constituted committees to carry out science and art instruction, but they were bona fide authorities, whose business it would be to carry on secondary education under the provisions contained in the Act. Each locality must determine for itself the best way of bringing the Act into force, for the Act recognized local option as its first principle. If the local authority was not inclined to move, the ratepayers could move for themselves, and if they prepared a definite scheme the local authority would submit to the will of their constituents and carry out the Act in all its integrity for the benefit of the general community.

As one of the most recent evidences of the spirit of emulation in this department which is making itself felt, the case of Stockport may be cited. Here a large number of industries are carried on, ranging from the making of jam to the building of boilers and engines.

The Stockport people have agreed among themselves that the building, which was opened by Sir John Lubbock, M.P., in November, 1889, is the most handsome building in their town.

This admirable institution owes its origin chiefly to a thrice Mayor of Stockport, Alderman Joseph Leigh, J.P., who, in 1886, suggested that a number of local gentlemen should consider the best means of providing the industrial population of Stockport and the neighbourhood with efficient means for obtaining technical and art instruction. A joint committee was formed, a deputation from which visited the principal technical schools in the kingdom in order to ascertain how to best provide for the special needs of Stockport. The then Mayor further said that if the question were taken up heartily, and £7,000 or £8,000 raised as an endowment fund, he and an unknown friend would contribute a sum of money sufficient to erect the building. Local patriotism lies deeply embedded in the heart of Alderman Joseph Leigh, and he has in many ways done what one would like to see other successful manufacturers doing. He has allowed his native town to participate in his success in life. This handsome building has a frontage of 97 feet, and from front to back is 145 feet. It is the design of Mr. G. Sedger, and is a simple treatment of English Renaissance. Internally the building is noticeable for one thing in particular-adaptation to requirements. The latest improvements are introduced, even to the door knobs.

The work of the school is divided into two distinct departments designed to meet the requirements of different classes of students. For those students who have a sufficient amount of time at their disposal during the day the curriculum provided in the department of day classes will probably be found most advantageous, inasmuch as the time devoted to each subject is generally greater than can be allowed in the evening classes. On the other hand the department of evening classes will be found to provide efficient training in the higher branches of knowledge for the numerous class of students whose daily occupations prevent their attending the day classes. In the department of day classes provision has been made for instruction in the following branches:-Art and design, chemistry, dyeing, and mathematical and physical science. In the department of evening classes the following branches of science, technology, and art, and of literary and commercial knowledge, and domestic economy will be fully provided for :-Science— Mathematical and physical science, chemistry and metallurgy, and natural science. Technology-Building trades, mechanical engineering, dyeing, bleaching, and calico printing, textile industries, and hat manufacture. Art-Drawing, painting, modelling, and designing. Commerce and Literature-Commercial geography and arithmetic, grammar and composition, shorthand and bookkeeping, and French and German. Domestic Economy-Dressmaking and millinery, art needlework, and cooking. This illustrates the thoroughly comprehensive scope which has been mapped out, and it is very satisfactory to note that about a thousand students have joined the different classes, some of them coming from a distance. This school bids fair to take a first place among the technical institutions of the country. Stockport has ever been among the most progressive towns of

the country, and the establishment of this school proves that in the march of technical instruction the town means to occupy a prominent position. The Act has been adopted for its maintenance.

The schools at Manchester, Nottingham, Keighley, and Huddersfield are doing excellent work, and altogether a universal spirit of inquiry is abroad as to the bringing into operation of this new Act. By far the best plan, however, is to set the Public Libraries Acts in force first, and the latter to be the outcome and corollary of the older institutions. There is no reason again why grants should not be made from the income from the rate for technical instruction to Public Libraries for the purchase of works of technical literature.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Mechanics' Institutes, Workmen's Clubs, and their Relation to Public Libraries.

W

HATEVER feeling of rivalry and antipathy there was at one time on the part of the managers of mechanics' institutes and other similar institutions appears to be rapidly disappearing, if indeed it has not already become a thing of the past. It is impossible to question the fact that mechanics' institutes have occupied a most important place in the education of the people. Too much praise cannot be given to the real work which has been accomplished by them. Previous to the establishment of these institutions the means of education among the working classes were of a scanty nature; and about sixty years ago, when the need for increased educational facilities began to be more acutely felt than at any previous period, mechanics' institutes were established, and it was felt that they would soon take their places as colleges for working-men. The highest hopes were entertained respecting them, and many of these expectations have been realized. More than this, there are not a few mechanics' institutes which may to-day be reasonably proud of the work they are doing. But even the most sanguine friends of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs would not claim for them that they have fulfilled every promise and every hope which was held out with regard to them. The causes of the apparent failure are not far to seek. The phrase "apparent failure" is used for the reason that over and above whatever appearance of failure there may be, the good record which lies behind them has been so vital that no educational history of the last half century would be complete which did not fully recognize the place they have filled.

The origin of mechanics' institutes is interesting. Somewhere about sixty or seventy years ago, Dr. Birkbeck was acting as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Andersonian Institution, Glasgow. Some apparatus required to elucidate one of his lectures was out of repair, and two or three artisans were sent

for by him to remedy the defects. After he had given them the necessary directions, one of the men observed-"How much better we should be able to do this work, if we understood the objects of these instruments, and the principles upon which they are constructed." The Professor replied, "My friends, will you listen to me if I try to explain them to you?" "Oh yes, sir, certainly, if we stay till to-morrow morning," was the answer. It was given in so sincere and thankful a tone, that, although it was then late at night, the benevolent Doctor commenced an elaborate explanation, and the rays of the next morning's sun were shining when that group separated-one going to his repose, the others to their daily toil. The readiness and the zeal of these craftsmen to acquire intellectual information produced such an effect upon the Doctor that he invited all the artisans of Glasgow to attend his lectures gratuitously. A mechanics' class was subsequently formed, and not long after mechanics' institutes sprang up in various localities. Thus it will be seen how small an incident may lead to a great public good.

One of the chief causes which have militated against them is that they have not been made sufficiently practical in the sense that the artisan classes understand that term. It has not been enough for a working man with his limited means to be told that if he became a member of one of these institutes, he would so increase his knowledge as to render it probable that he might thereby improve his condition. That has not gone far enough; and small as the quarterly subscription has been, before parting with it he has tried to see pretty clearly that he would derive some immediate advantage equal to the outlay. Others again have said that the subscription was too low, and that the education which can be procured for little money is but indifferently valued. This is not a particularly good argument, especially at the present time, when on all hands education has progressed by leaps and bounds, and the need for far greater educational facilities is being expressed on all sides. A more important drawback associated with them is that amusement and recreation have very largely usurped the educational work of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs. But this again is only partially true, and had these institutes been bereft of rational amusements, and left to possess the sombre character of the cloister, the probabilities are that there would be more to lament with regard to them than is heard at the present time. Still, so strong has the recreative element become that draught and chess boards, billiard tables, and dramatic performances have only too frequently elbowed aside the educational character of these institutions, and now many of them are little more than respectable lounges for men fairly well-off, who dislike the smoke-room of the publichouse or hotel, and prefer the quieter and less objectionable place.

The library and reading facilities afforded by these institutions have not been and are not particularly great. The libraries have consisted too largely of fiction and other books gathered together indiscriminately, and the newsroom has been so indifferently

supplied with a comprehensive choice of periodical literature, that what has been supplied has often made the poverty in the stock of ephemeral literature the more apparent. The one fatal obstacle, however, is that there is no continuity of life in the management of these institutes. The individual mechanics' institute or workmen's club invariably owes its existence to the activity and energy of two or more individuals, who have galvanized the whole idea into life and useful existence, and the place begins with all the enthusiasm and publicity possible. As long as these heads and originators have remained, life and activity have characterized the work of these institutes. By-and-bye, however, as deaths and removals have decimated the ranks of those who brought the whole thing into completion, a change in the spirit of management has come about, and decay has set its talons upon the institution. The roll of membership has in very many instances declined, and debt and restricted resources are fast accomplishing utter congestion and collapse of all the original purposes of the institution. Far too large a number of them have fallen almost entirely in the hands of cliques, and it is to be feared that in some cases personal ends dictate what shall be done. The one vital difference between mechanics' institutes, workmen's clubs and rate-supported Public Libraries is that the management of the two former has no representative character attaching to it, whereas in the other case the continuity is assured by the corporate nature of the institution. A Public Library forms part of the corporate life of the town, and is administered by the elected representatives of the people, who have to give an account of their stewardship to those who elect them to the governing body in which they sit. This applies to the smallest parish which may adopt the Acts, as well as to the very largest city. And hence the main reason why Public Libraries are so rapidly extending and taking the place of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs. The subscription character of the latter has tended to restrict the membership, and the national and universal character of Public Libraries has been the keystone of their life and vigour.

The purpose of this chapter is to indicate how the educational character of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs can be maintained, and these institutions fill the true place for which they were originally intended. To save them from misuse and falling into the hands of cliques is the earnest desire of many who have at heart the welfare of the buildings in which they have been so long interested. A very considerable number of these institutions have formed the nucleus of Public Libraries, and an excellent beginning has thus been made by a happy wedding of the old love with its creditable past and the new love with its enlarged prospects and solid chances of success. A new lease of life has thus been secured. The managers of other institutions are seriously contemplating what can best ensure a useful future for their institutions. It is to these that a sincere hope may be expressed as to the step which they will ultimately

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