THE NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL FOR COOKERY.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1426, 10 September 1878, Page 3

THE NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL FOR COOKERY.

[From the “Field.”] The fifth annual report of the executive committee, with a financial statement of the Sshool of Cookery, was laid before a meeting of friends and subscribers at Grosvenor House on Friday, July sth. Among those present were Earl Grosvenor, Lord Granville, Viscount Sydney, Lord Shaftesbury, Sir Daniel Cooper, Sir Harcourt Johnstone, and the Duchess of Leeds. The chair having been taken, in the unavoidable absence of the Duke of Westminster, by Mr Leveson-Gower, chairman of the committee, Miss Incledon, the secretary, proceeded to read some portions of the report, which shows a far more satisfactory state of things in every point of view than existed last year. The school was then not free from debt, but now it is quite self-supporting, no longer in debt, and seems to have a good prospect of continuing to enlarge its sphere of usefulness. The total receipts of fees have amounted in the course of the year to £2065 15s, an increase of £167 Os 6d since last year’s report. Out of fiftytwo students who have been through a course of ironing as teachers, forty-five have been considered deserving of diplomas; 2169 pupils have attended the school, again an increase of DOS pupils over the number in the previous year. The short and clear statement of Mr C. Clarke, the 1 ly superintendent, us to the wo; Icing of the school, also points to the extension of the work in the past year. Classes have been started in all parts o' Lcnuon and the suburbs, as well as in the provinces, consequently a larger staff of teachers lias been required, and much experience has been

gained by those employed in tho difficult task of imparting instruction. On the other hand, with the increase of fees, students, and facilities of local teaching, there has been a considerable falling off from the donations and subscriptions ; and another loss of income lias arisen from the smaller sale ol recipes, owing, it is supposed, to their publication in a single volume. By way of obtaining improvement in the art of cooking among the artisan classes —a desideratum only to be attained through the medium of the rising £• neration—a special ki'chen has been appropriated to the use of school children. This is fitted up with the most homely kitchen utensils, and with small portable stoves, suited to the means and use of working people, _ _ Sir Uarcourt Johnstone, in moving the adoption of tho report, spoke of the substantial good that tho school was doing to the country at large. Teaching, as if; does, economy in its higher and more comprehensive sense, with a knowledge of house management, a due regard to thrift, comfort, and tho (rue principles of domestic happiness. Sir Daniel Cooper seconded tho motion, and mentioned that no small amount of harm accrued from inexperienced persons being employed as (onchers, some with no connection whatever with tho school, others who had perhaps gone through a short course of instruction, but who, yet, were not qualified to teach as certificated instructors. By (his means discredit, is brought on the South Kensington School of Cookery, whereas, if application were properly made to the lady superintendent, all “muddle” would be avoided, and the classes would be conducted at a profit instead of a loss. Lord Granville congratulated the school committee on their success. He deprecated the little advance that has been made in this country in the art of cookery; and while admitting that no small amount of harm might arise from too good living, was of opinion that a far smaller percentage of persons suffer from too good cooking than from too bad. Baedeker, from whom ho quoted as an authority on national cookery, while courteously saying that tho badness of English food has been somewhat overstated, is of opinion that, nothing could bo worse than our treatment of vegetables. Lord Granville considers that the science of cooking may be put almost on a par with other intellectual studies, on tho ground that it promotes tho study of physics and chemistry, and, from a moral point of view, induces patience, forethought, thrift, and industry. Amid some laughter, he made allusion to tho many good dinners being given to the Plenipotentiaries at Berlin, hoping that they might, conduce to tho bodily strength and mental vigour of Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury. Sir T. Ackland in a few words drew attention to the necessity of an intelligent knowledge of cookery 7 in the hospitals, and Sir C. Russell amused his audience with an anecdote of the late Earl Russell, who insisted upon cooking a rice pudding at. South Kensington, but, having made it, was fearful that “a little knowledge might prove dangerous,” and, consequently, could not be induced to partake of it. The report having been adopted, Mr Lrvefon Gower, in returning thanks, deplored the enforced absence, tlie first time at their annual meetings, of Sir Henry Cole. To Ids energy and perseverance he attributed much of the success of the school; he was the first to suggest that cooking should bo taught in classes, and to advocate the experiment of systematic practical teaching among all classes. Assistance was asked, not in money, but in the promotion of women’s education in this branch of study. Some stress was laid upon the influence that good cookery 7 might have in arresting the fearful scourge of drunkenness which now embitters many a home, and lays the seed of misery not only in this generation but in those t o come.

Lord Shaftesbury, Mr MacGregor, and some others having addressed the company, the meeting adjourned amid general satisfaction.