subject had been fully discussed during the recess. The difficulties in the way of legislation on the lines previously attempted were now clearly understood, and it was recognized that separate and distinct measures would have to be adopted for providing technical instruction in elementary schools and in schools of a higher grade. During the year 1889 three bills were introduced by private members. Two only of these bills were considered: the one dealing with elementary education, and enabling school boards to give technical teaching in schools under their management; the other enabling local authorities to establish or contribute to technical schools and classes. The former bill was fully discussed, but in the absence of any practical settlement of the voluntary school difficulty the government withdrew its support, and the bill was dropped. About this time the passing of another legislative measure helped very considerably towards the solution of the difficulty. The Local Government bill, which became law in 1888, enacted that “a council shall be established in every administrative county . . . and be entrusted with the management of the administrative and financial business of that county.” A number of new representative bodies Local Government Act, 1888. known as county councils were thus created, with powers similar in character to those possessed by the old boroughs. To these newly constituted bodies were transferred all business previously conducted by the quarter sessions. The act conferred similar powers on certain boroughs, according to their population, which were known as county boroughs. By utilizing these county municipal bodies for educational purposes the necessity of entrusting technical instruction to school boards was avoided; and accordingly, on the 24th of July 1889, the government introduced into the House of Commons a bill conferring upon county and county borough councils, and also upon urban sanitary authorities, the power to levy a rate not exceeding 1d. in the £ for the purpose of promoting technical and manual instruction in their district. This bill met with serious opposition from school board authorities and their friends, who resented the limitations it imposed on their educational aspirations; but the government was resolved to pass it, and after much obstruction it became law on the 19th of August 1889, having passed through all its stages in the House of Lords in a single sitting. The bill marked an epoch in the history of education, being the first legislative enactment dealing with technical instruction in England.
The act (Technical Instruction Act, 1889) provided that:
The expression “technical instruction” shall mean instruction in the principles of science and art applicable to industries, and in the application of special branches of science and art to specific industries or employments. It shall not include teaching the practice of any trade or industry or employment, but, save as aforesaid, shall include instruction in the branches of science and art with respect to which grants are for the time being made by the Department of Science and Art, and any other form of instruction (including modern languages and commercial and agricultural subjects), which may for the time being be sanctioned by that department by a minute laid before parliament, and made on the representation of a local authority that such a form of instruction is required by the circumstances of its district.
Although at first received with no great favour, the act proved useful, and is important as representing the outcome of a number of abortive attempts at legislation, occupying three years, and intended to give practical effect to some of the recommendations of the Royal Commission of 1884. The act definitely settled the question as to the local authority for technical instruction, and decided it against the school board. It contained no provision, however, for the supply of technical instruction to children in either voluntary or board schools, and even expressly excluded from any share in its benefits all scholars receiving instruction in the obligatory or standard subjects. A way was soon found, however, of providing for technical instruction in elementary schools without any fresh act of parliament, and the difficulty of reconciling the interests of voluntary and board schools, which had impeded previous attempts at legislation, was thus avoided.
Early in 1886 the School Board for London, finding that it was unable to expend on technical instruction any part of the London School Board Joint Committee. school board rate, applied to the City and Guilds of London Institute for financial help. The application was favourably received, and in the following year a joint-committee was formed, consisting of representatives of the Board, of the Institute and of the Drapers' Company. With the funds supplied by the Company and the Institute the committee were enabled to try some interesting educational experiments. Six centres for workshop instruction were equipped, and children were received into the classes from voluntary and board school. A scheme of instruction was prepared with the object of bringing into prominence the disciplinary character of the teaching, and of distinguishing it from the rule-of-thumb methods adopted in the workshop of commerce; and the experience of foreign schools, especially those in France, was utilized. The fears of trade unions lest the action of the school board would have the effect of increasing the number of trade carpenters were minimized, and the real value of manual training as a part of general education was for the first time illustrated. The experiment proved so successful that H.M. inspectors reported most favourably on the usefulness of the teaching, and on the value of the instruction in improving the general intelligence of the pupils, and particularly in rendering them more skilful and observant. Indeed, it was found that their progress in ordinary school studies was quickened by the practical training of the shop. As the result of these experiments the “use of tools” was recognized in the government code of 1890 as a subject of school instruction on which grants were to be paid, and towards the cost of which the school board rate was applicable. Later, following further experiments by the joint-committee, laundry-work and housewifery were included in the curriculum, and the problem of introducing so-called technical teaching into elementary schools was solved without any special legislation. Since 1890 manual training has formed a part of the elementary school system. The instruction includes the use of wood-working and metal-working tools, but stops short of teaching any particular trade, and is thus differentiated from the teaching given in the municipal schools of Paris. The new code also provided for a more rational system of object-lessons and of rudimentary science teaching, encouraging practical exercises and experiments to be worked by the pupils themselves. The joint-committee having completed its work, ceased to exist in 1900.
The act of 1889 and the code of 1890 enabled local authorities and school boards to provide out of the rates technical instruction for the working classes. The rate available under the act was limited to one penny in the pound, and very gradually, and with some hesitation, certain local authorities put the act in force. The motive power required for promoting technical instruction, other than that in elementary schools, was, however, still wanting, and might have remained so for some time longer if it had not been for the accident that in the following year, during the discussion in parliament of the question of compensation relating to public-houses, the residue of the beer and spirit duty was found to be unappropriated, and was allocated to county and county borough councils and made available for the purposes of technical education. The Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, which became law on the Local Taxation Act, 1890. 18th of August 1890, was “an act for the distribution and application of certain duties of customs and excise,” and it provided that the residue of the English share of these duties should be distributed between county and county borough funds, and made applicable “for the purposes of technical education within the meaning of the Technical Instruction Act, 1889.” By the express terms of this act this disposition of the residue, which then amounted to £743,000 for England and Wales, was revocable by parliament, and the allocation of the fund to education was left to the discretion of the local authorities. The grant accordingly was not generally regarded as permanent, and local
