The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-30 00:00:00

RAILWAY BILLS.

yesterday, in the House of Lords' committee held
in room C, the Neath and Brecon Bill was passed
with amendments.

In the House of Commons' committee on group
7, the preamble of the Midland Bill was proved.
The preamble of the Tewkesbury and Malvern Bill
was also proved. In group 12, the London, Chat-
hr.m, and Dover was proceeded with and ad-
journed until Friday ; the London, Chatham, and
Dover (No. 3), the London, Chatham, and Dover
(No. 2) were adjourned ; and the London, Chat-
him, and Dover (No. 4) Bill was adjourned until
Friday.

Industrial Education.

The following correspondence appeared in the

Times :

sir,--After the distribution of prizes at the Lon-
don University this year, I made some remarks on
the lessons which the late war in Germany and the
present Exhibition at Paris afford to us, if we wish
to hold our own with other nations in the arts of
peace and war.
I quoted a speech of the President of the Civil
Engineers as to the superior progress made in ma-
chinery by foreigners. I spoke from the informa-
tion which I had received from a gentleman inti-
mately acquainted with the iron trade as to the
greater improvements made in the manufacture of
iron in France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria.
It was only from general report that I stated the

little advance we have made in most departments of
industry, excepting those of furniture, glass, and
china.

Since then I have seen the enclosed letter from
Dr. Lyon Playfair. The subject is important, and
his authority is great. I have therefore obtained
his permission, and that of Lord Taunton, to ask
you to publish it.
The inquiry of 1853, to which Dr. Playfair
alludes, was chiefly owing to the information given
him by the Prince Consort, than whom no one was
more keenly alivo to the want of generally diffused
scientific instruction in this country, or more active
in stimulating all classes to remedy the defect.—l
am, Sir, your obedient servant, • GRANVILLE.
16, Bruton-street, W., May 28.

FRONI Da. LYON PLNTFAIR.
" London, May 15, 1867.
" My Lord,--As you desire that I should .put in
writing the substanc; of the conversation which I
had the honour of having with your Lordship this
morning, I willingly comply with your request.
" I have just returned from Paris, where I acted
as a juror in one of the classes of the Exhibition.
In this capacity I had no other opportunities than
any other juror of forming a judgment in regard
to it ; but, having had the charge of the working
of the juries in the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1802,
I naturally made the acquaintance of many emi-
nent men of different nations, and, meeting with a
large number of them congregated on the Inter-
national .Juries in Paris, I endeavoured to gather
their opinions as to the position which England
occupied in this great industrial competition.
" I am sorry to say that, with very few ex-
ceptions, a singular accordance of opinion pre-
vailed that our country had shown little inventive-
ness and made but little progress in the peaceful
arts of industry sincelB62. Deficient representatives
in some of the industries night have accounted for
this judgment against us, but when we find that out
of 9') classes there are scarcely a (1)7,al in which
pre-eminence is unhesitatingly awarded to tv, this
plea must be a%-nnione I. My o pinion is
worthy only of the confidence which might be sup-
posed to attach to my knowle Ige of the chemical
arts; but when I f0u.,1 .r 0h;,4 machani
cal and civii.engineers lamenting the want of pro-
wess in their industries, and pointing to the won-
derful advances which other nations are making;
when I found our chemical and even textile m inu-
facturers uttering similar complaints, I naturally
devotel attention to elicit their views as to the
causes. So far as I could gather them by conversa-

tion, the one cause upon which there was most una-
nimity of conviction is that France, Prussia,
Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland possess good
systems of industrial eineation for the masters and
managers of factories and workshops, and that
England possesses none. A second cause was also
generally, though not so universally, admitted, that
we had suffered from the want of cordiality between
the employers of labour and workmen, engendered
by the numerous strikes, and more particularly by
that rule of many Trades' Unions; that men shall
work upon an average ability, without giving free
scope to the skill and ability which they may indi-
vidually possess.
"Dumas, well known as a 'savant,' and who,

from his position as a Senator of France and Presi-
dent of the Municipal Council, has many opp)r-
tunities of forming a correct judgment, assured me
that technical education had given a great impulse
to the industry of France. In going through the
Exhibition, whenever anything excellent in French
manufacture strikes his attention, his invariable
question is, Was the manager of this establishment
a pupil of the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufac-
tures ?' and in the great majority of cases he received
a reply in the affirmative. General Morin, so well
known as the Director of the Conservatoire des Arts
et Metiers, has lately sat on a commission to examine
into the state of technical education in other coun-
tries, and to extend it in France, and he informed
me that their recommendations were likely to be
promptly and largely acted upon. I mention for
your Lordship's information that General Morin
was of opinion that the best system for the techni-
cal education of workmen is to be found in Austria,
though the higher instruction of masters and mana-
gers is better illustrated in France, Prussia, and
Switzerland.
"In 1853 I published a little work on ' Industrial
Education on the Continent,' in whic% I pointe 1
out that as an inevitable result of the attention
given to it abroad, and its negl !ct in England, other
nations mast advance in industry at a much greater
rate than our own country. I fear that this result
is already attained for many of our staple industries.
But as my opinion is only that of an individual, I
trust that it may accord with the objects of the
commission over which your lordship presides to
take the evidence of some of the leadingsas m
yjurors,self
many of whom had as good opportunities
of judging of the position which our country has
taken iu this great international competition.
"Permit me also to make another suggestion.

My inquiry of 1853 into industrial education on the
Continent was a private one, and had neither offi-
cial aid nor sanction, and now antiquated. It would
be important that the Government, either through
your Commission, or through the Committee of
Council on Educ ►tion, should hold an official in-
quiry on this subject, awl should tell the people cf
England authoritatively what are the ra,:ans by
which the great States arc attaining an intellectual
pre_emineucj among the industrial classes, and how
they are making this to bear on the rapid progress
of their national industries.—My lord, I have, &c.,
" LYONT PLAYFAIII.
" The Right Lion. Lord Taunton."

AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL PROCEEDING.—Pork and
walnuts for supp:)r.—Ptinch.
[ADVERTISEMENT.] —:lolloWay'S Ointment and Pills.
Nature's blquitor.—Pain is the indicator of some disorder
or disease, and should never b 3 neglected, for the pain of
to-day may prove the agony of to-morrow. Holloway's
medicaments stand pre-eminently forwara, and are every-
where commended for quickly removing all maladies when
the least uneasiness I as discovered their seat and kind.
These remedies so purify the blood and regulate its circu-
lation that every organ .acts perfectly and every secretion
is natural, which is health, and may be secured by every
invalid at a trifling outlay. The purpose of Holloway's
remedies is to mitigate suffering, abolish pain, and extin-
guish disease, and they nobly effect this object.
.036 trial
will convince the most sceptical.