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EVIDENCE.

Monday, 4th September, 1905. Professor Scott, of Canterbury College, Christchurch, delivered an address on " Some European Technical High Schools." Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, —In 1889 and again last year I visited some of the professional and technical schools of Europe. These visits were not made with a view to the preparation of any report on technical education, but lather from a desire to become familiar with modern developments in the theory and method of teaching my own profession. My observations were in consequence more particularly directed to physical and applied science and the various branches of engineering. Much, too, of the information obtained was derived from conversations with friends teaching these subjects, and has therefore no pretentions to statistical accuracy. : In Great Britain there is no generally agreed-upon definite scheme of technical education. It is recognised that the matter is in a transition state, and on the one hand there are many examples of universities undertaking work which should lie within the province of the trade schools, on the other of trade schools adding to their curriculum subjects which can only be properly dealt with in a university college or technical high school. :• To a great extent this is due to a sudden realisation that technical training is needed to keep England in her place amongst manufacturing nations. This has given rise to an ardent desire to do something, and that something has differed materially with the personal characteristics and environment of those controlling her educational institutions. '' The paucity of our language, too, has perhaps had its influence. We have but one term by which to designate the scientist, who designs and calculates the future performance of the largest undertaking, and the man who slogs a chisel through the bars used in its materialisation—they are both engineers, and apparently it is sometimes thought that the training of both should be similar; but it is only when it is fully realised that the education of the director or designer—the industrial leader —must be of an entirely different order from that of the worker with his hands that it is possible to obtain a satisfactory solution of the problem of " technical education." The brain worker, it goes almost without saying, should be selected from those who have shown considerable mental capacity, and after receiving a sound education in which especial attention is paid to modern languages, mathematics, and science, should be systematically trained in the application of the latter to his future work. This training it is the function of the technical high school or of the university professional school to supply. : The worker with his hands requires far less preliminary education before he receives instruction on the handicraft of his trade, and in those of the elementary principles underlying his work a knowledge of which will render him the more efficient as a worker. It is the function of the trade school to provide such instruction. These are practically the views held on the Continent, and although the system adopted may not in all cases be perfect, it is, thanks to State control, an ordered and almost universal one; one, too, which has been in vogue for a considerable number of years and has achieved remarkable success. In Germany, for instance, opinion is almost unanimous in ascribing the present industrial position of the country to the liberal provision made for technical instruction and research. It is to the Continent, therefore, that we must look for the results of a lengthened experience in systematic technical education, and I now propose to relate some of the information gathered during my visits to the Continental schools. Switzerland. — Zurich Polytechnische Schule. —The Polytechnische Schule, Zurich, is one of the oldest, as well as one of the most celebrated, of the great Continental technical schools. It is a Federal institution, administered by a Council appointed by the Swiss Government, from which it receives a subsidy of about £40,000 per annum. Applicants for admission must be over eighteen years of age, and are required to pass an entrance examination or to produce the leaving certificate of a Swiss gymnasium, the standard in either case being about that needed for our B.A. degree. A Swiss boy destined for the Polytechnic enters a primary school at about six years of age. Here he spends four years, then goes for two years to a secondary school, and then to a gymnasium for seven—he is now nineteen years of age and has spent thirteen years at .school. Then follows the Polytechnic course of four years, the student receiving his diploma at twentythree. The Polytechnic comprises the following separate departments : (1) Architecture, (2) general engineering, (3) mechanical engineering and technology, including electro-technics, (4) chemical technology, (5) forestry, (6) agriculture, (7) land engineering, (8) mathematics and physics, (9) natural science. In 1903 there were 1,263 regular students and 657 zuhorers, or a total of 1,920 names on the books. The zuhorers (hearers) are outside students not taking any regular course, the admission of whom is controlled by the professors whose classes they wish to attend. The teaching-staff consists of 111 professors and 62 assistants, or a total of 173 without minor assistants and attendants. This gives 7 - 3 students per teacher. ; .. Here, as at all the Continental universities and technical high schools, the most marked features are, specialisation on the part of the teachers, and repetition on that of the students. The large number of professors and instructors render these features possible. For instance, at Zurich there are no less than seven full professors of chemistry, with many assistants, the subjects being divided into (1) general, (2) analytical, (3) inorganic technical, (4) organic technical, (5) pharmaceutical, (6) electrical, and (7) agricultural. ■■• ■■ ■':.-.■ .