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

FROM DR. LYON PLXYFAIR.

" London, May 15, 1867.
" My Lord,—As you desire that I should put in
writing the substance 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 1862,
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 is 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 since 1862. Deficient representatives
in some of the industries rn'ght have accounted for
this judgment against us, but when we find that out
of 90 classes there are sc LIT:Ay a d.am in which
pre-eminence is unhesitatingly a-varded to us, this
plea must be abanflone I. My own opinion is
worthy only of the confidence which might be sup-
posed to attach to my knowlelge of the chemical
arts; but when I found same of our chief mechani
cal and civil engineers lamenting the want of pro-
gcess in their industries, and pointing to the won-
..

derful advances which other nations are making ;
when I found our ohmic and evsm textile m tnu-
facturers uttering simi!ar complaints, I naturally
devote 1 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-
❑imity of conviction is that France, Prussia,
Austria, Belgium, and Switzerland possess good
systems of industrial education 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 rossess.
"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 oppor-
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
inanuticture strikes his attention, his invariable
question is, Was the manager of this establishment
:► pupil of the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufac-
tures ?' and in the great majority of cases he rezeived
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 educ ttion in other coati -
tries, and to extend it in France, and he infornied
me that their recoil-I:nen latious 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 bc found in Austria,
though the higher instruction of masters and mana-
gers is better illustrated in France, Prussia, and
Switzerland.

"In 1853 I rnblished a little work on Industrial
Education on the Continent,' in which I pointel
out that as an inevitable result of the attention
given to it abroad, and its neglect in England, other
nations must 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 leading jurors,.
many of whom had as good opportunities as myself
of judging of the position which our country has
taken in this great international competition.

"Permit me also to m tke 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 Commis3ion, or through the Committee of

Council on Educ %don, should hold an official in-
(inky on this subject, and should tell the people of
England authoritatively what are the mans by
which the great States are attaining an intellectual
pre-eminence among the industrial classes, and how

they are'rnaking this to bear on the rapid progress
of their national in lustries.—My lord, I have, &c.,

" LYON PLAYFAII:

" The right Hon. Lord Taunton."

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