The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1901. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 219, 25 September 1901, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1901. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

As a valuable contribution to the discussion on technical education an interesting retrospect is published in the Trade Review upon the'trade Bf'the Old Country. This survey or opinion, the digesting of which should 'have a very silutary effect, has a reference, i% appears, as well, to our deficiencies no less tban t> those for the stage is reached by us when we must' conserve of production which can be improved by intelligent' skill as worthy of sedulous cultivation. A ' higher order of administrative ability has become essential for the effective control of British manufactories, so] must it be with colonial manufactories, j and a vital condition of future pros-j j parity makes it evident that the; cap-1 tains of indust.jr should" possess a| science training of a high standard.,! The elementary institution in science | of the rank and file of workers was no I substitute for this, and in itself was of <j no great value The trouble was, thej7' were suffering acutely from dire educational neglect and destitution, and. that worse kind of poverty, insensibility to their deficiencies. The English system of scientific and technical education was not equal to the present needs of the' country, seeing how severely pressed ! they were on every side by the most; energetic and intelligent competition. They wore giving to the classes at the bottom of the industrial ladder a disjointed smattering of science of no great value, though probably good so far as it went, while they were neglecting thoroughly to educate those upon whose shoulders would soon rest the weight of the management of ourgreat manufacturing industries. A scientific training of university standard for our manufacturers and for our technical chiefs was .an absolute necessity. One of the most pressing requirements of the moment demanded j not only in the interest of chemical] industry but in that of our manufactur-! ing industries generally, was the ade- / quate endowment and encouragement) of reeearch. The advances in know- [ ledge and the consequent revolutionary changes that had taken placo in almost every branch ot chemical industry during the last hundred years were probably not greater than those further changes that would have been seen at the end of the present century, for change brought about by scientific discovery grew ever swifter and more sweeping, But change was the natural order of thiDgs, and so long as it was in harmony with progress and improvement it was to be welcomed. To benefit by it and to take complete advantage of it, however, demanded the fullest measure of assistance that education, energy, and enterprise coald unitedly give. If, as wo entered the darkness of the future, we firmly grasped the guiding hand of science with full faith of the result of her leading, we might go on with a full assurance that we should be led in the way of prosperity.