knowledge of the theory and practice of their particular
avocations; [1] and a considerable subsidy, in aid
of the efforts of the Society, was liberally granted
by the Clothworkers’ Company. We have here
the hopeful commencement of a rational organisation
for the promotion of excellence among handicraftsmen.
Quite recently, other of the livery companies have
determined upon giving their powerful, and, indeed,
almost boundless, aid to the improvement of the teaching
of handicrafts. They have already gone so far
as to appoint a committee to act for them; and I betray
no confidence in adding that, some time since, the
committee sought the advice and assistance of several
persons, myself among the number.
Of course I cannot tell you what may be the result
of the deliberations of the committee; but we may
all fairly hope that, before long, steps which will
have a weighty and a lasting influence on the growth
and spread of sound and thorough teaching among the
handicraftsmen [2] of this country will be taken by
the livery companies of London.
[This hope has been fully justified by the establishment
of the Cowper Street Schools, and that of the Central
Institution of the City and Guilds of London Institute,
September, 1881.]
* * * *
*
Footnotes:
[1] See the Programme for 1878, issued by the
Society of Arts, p. 14.
[2] It is perhaps advisable to remark that the important
question of the professional education of managers
of industrial works is not touched in the foregoing
remarks.
ADDRESS ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR
THE PROMOTION OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION
[1887.]
Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen,—It must be a matter
of sincere satisfaction to those who, like myself,
have for many years past been convinced of the vital
importance of technical education to this country to
see that that subject is now being taken up by some
of the most important of our manufacturing towns.
The evidence which is afforded of the public interest
in the matter by such meetings as those at Liverpool
and Newcastle, and, last but not least, by that at
which I have the honour to be present to-day, may
convince us all, I think, that the question has passed
out of the region of speculation into that of action.
I need hardly say to any one here that the task which
our Association contemplates is not only one of primary
importance—I may say of vital importance—to
the welfare of the country; but that it is one of great
extent and of vast difficulty. There is a well-worn
adage that those who set out upon a great enterprise
would do well to count the cost. I am not sure
that this is always true. I think that some of
the very greatest enterprises in this world have been
carried out successfully simply because the people
who undertook them did not count the cost; and I am
much of opinion that, in this very case, the most instructive
