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received certificates carrying with them a certain annual payment in addition to salary. The salaries were to be paid partly by the fees of the pupils and partly by a grant from the Treasury. Under these auspices, schools were actually opened in several seaports; but they broke down after a very short time, because the Treasury refused the money, and the Government abandoned its educational experiment in 1864. All the schools (except that at Hull) came to an end, or were only continued as places for preparing men for the examinations.

The Board of Trade Examinations alone do not furnish the means of supplying a training in navigation and nautical astronomy. Indeed, so far as I have been able to gather the opinions of leading commanders in the mercantile marine and of examiners, they simply encourage cramming. I am told that the candidates rarely care to know more than will barely suffice to pull them through the examinations, and that the knowledge thus acquired (slight to begin with) is extremely evanescent-so much so that, in many instances, a week after a candidate has passed he could not again successfully undergo the same ordeal. I read also, in a recent very useful work, by an eminent commander of the port of Liverpool,* that many young men have absolutely no groundwork of education, and pass the examinations merely by dint of hard cramming. This being the case, the Board of Trade Examinations, without schools, scarcely meet the requirements of the case.

Ten years after the institution of the Board of Trade Examinations, the Science and Art Department at South Kensington began to examine in navigation and nautical astronomy in 1864, with a view to giving a stimulus to the teaching of these useful branches of knowledge. So far as they go, these examinations must have done unmixed good, but in the absence of schools their influence is necessarily

*"Wrinkles in Practical Navigation," by Captain Lecky,

limited. From 1868 to 1881 the average number of candidates for the navigation was 290, and for the nautical astronomy examination, 80. Last year (1881) there were 338 for the former and 66 for the latter. But the greater number come from one place, namely, Hull. There are a few from Greenwich, Yarmouth, and the science school at Gosport, occasionally one from Plymouth, and stray candidates from other places.

So that Great Britain is deplorably deficient in schools for giving a thorough grounding in the subjects, a mastery of which is necessary for a navigator or an explorer by land. The principal one is at Hull, in connection with the old Trinity House, which was founded in 1785, and re-organised under the direction of Dr. Lyon Playfair in 1855. It was founded with two objects-to supply a practical education for boys, and to increase the knowledge of adults. From 150 to 160 boys are at the school, who are clothed at the expense of the Corporation, and two-thirds are wholly exempted from tuition fees. The course of instruction embraces mathematics, navigation, nautical astronomy, magnetism of iron ships, use of instruments, chart drawing, and use of charts. The Hull boys have obtained fifty of the Queen's medals awarded by the Science and Art Department for navigation and nautical astronomy, since 1868, and in 1881 there were as many as 38 candidates from the Hull Navigation School for the nautical astronomy examination at South Kensington, out of a total of 66, and of the 38 as many as 28 were successful. This school seems to be thoroughly efficient, and is the only one on the same scale in Great Britain.

At the Greenwich Hospital School about 62 boys are taught navigation and nautical astronomy, and the honours lists at South Kensington show the teaching to have been very successful. Navigation and nautical astronomy are also taught in the nautical school at Christ's Hospital, and on

board the "Worcester" and "Conway," where excellent instruction is given to 160 young gentlemen in each of those ships. At Gosport there is a school of science, commenced in 1873, where the number of students, in navigation and astronomy, averages from three to fifteen, at ages from thirteen to nineteen. This school has also been successful at South Kensington. The master reports, however, that few mercantile seamen join the classes, because "rule-of-thumb methods are entirely ignored." At Yarmouth there is also a class of about twenty boys. At the excellent navigation school, established in 1862, and conducted by Mr. Merrifield, at Plymouth, the principal work is preparation for the examinations; but two evenings every week are devoted to classes where a course is given of plane and spherical trigonometry, the use of instruments, and method of fixing the position of the school by observation. An endeavour is also made to give those who attend some knowledge of natural phenomena. The average attendance at these evening classes is about twenty, mostly young lads. At South Shields there are some good navigation schools, and there are able and experienced teachers in London, and at Liverpool, Sunderland, Leith, Dundee and Aberdeen, but they are all mainly employed in preparing adults for the examinations.

At Bristol the class for teaching navigation, which was founded by the Guild of Merchant Venturers in 1738, was recently given up, on the ground that scarcely any pupils attended, and a navigation class was substituted at the Trade School, which is supported by the Guild. But this was also discontinued in 1879, and there is now no provision at all for the thorough instruction of sailors and explorers in Bristol. At Liverpool there are, I am informed, at least five private establishments for preparing candidates for the Board of Trade Examinations, and some excellent

teachers, but there are few students who study the subjects thoroughly. The navigation classes which were opened from 1874 to 1879, in connection with the Science and Art Depart ment, under the management of the Liverpool School of Science, have been given up, owing to the want of pupils. Glasgow and Greenock are as destitute as Liverpool.

Navigation is taught, to some extent, in a few other places, as shown by the South Kensington Reports. But there is no system in this country for supplying instruction to sailors and explorers—the instruction that was considered to be so necessary in olden times. There is no endowed navigation school for thoroughly training young lads belonging to the poorer classes at London, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, or at any of the great seaports except Hull. Such training was deemed essential to the prosperity of Spain in the height of her power, of Holland when she sent forth her expeditions of discovery, of England in the days of Elizabeth and the first Stuarts. Nor is it neglected in neighbouring countries.

In France, for example, liberal and effective means of education are provided for the seafaring classes. An Instructor, paid by the Government, resides in each of the principal seaports, and affords instruction free of charge to all seamen who desire it.

In Holland there is a great navigation school at Amsterdam-"de Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart"-which was founded in 1780. Here about fifty boys are clothed, fed and boarded for a hundred guilders (£10) a year. There are also ten other navigation schools in Holland, where, by the latest report, 440 students received instruction. When we consider that the population of Holland is 4,000,000, and of Great Britain 30,000,000, we may form some idea of the difference between the two countries in their appreciation of the importance of supplying instruction to their sailors.

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