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technical classes in the event of the School Board for London providing suitable class-rooms. The Committee called the attention of the Board to the fact that, in the case of children drawn from ordinary instruction given in public elementary schools during school-hours in order to attend the proposed technical classes, such attendance at the technical classes would probably not count as a school attendance, inasmuch as the subjects to be taught were not defined as "specific subjects" under Article 16 of the (then) new code. The Committee recommended the Board to address a communication to the Education Department, asking their Lordships to recognise technical instruction as a "specific subject " under the last paragraph of Article 16 of the (then) new code, which paragraph read as follows: " Any other subject than those (i.e., obligatory and optional) mentioned in this article may, if sanctioned by the department, be taken as a specific subject, provided that a graduated scheme of teaching it be submitted to, and approved by, the Inspector." The Board, acting on these recommendations, instructed the Committee to prepare and forward to each of the city guilds and to the Education Department respectively the letters on the subject of technical instruction which had been authorised by the Board in the month of April, 1886. The Committee accordingly forwarded letters to each of thecity guilds informing them that the Board had, in various parts of London, class-rooms and unused buildings in which manual instruction might be given, submitting that the classes might be made available , (a) for children in attendance in Board schools, and (b) in the evening for young persons who were free from the obligation of attending an elementary school; submitting, further, that the Board had no funds by means of which they could provide fittings for such classes, or supply them with teachers, apparatus, or tools, and that, even if the Education Department should ultimately consent to award a grant in aid of the classes attended by children from Board schools, such grant would be applicable only to current expenditure. The letters, however, expressed on behalf of the Board the hope that each company might be ready to co-operate with the Board in promoting the establishment of such classes by making a grant towards their establishment and maintenance, the Board being prepared to submit a list of rooms which might be made available in various parts of the metropolis, and also a list of subjects in which it was proposed to give technical instruction ; but adding that the Board would be glad to receive any suggestion from the guilds. A letter was also forwarded to the Education Department on behalf of the Board, enclosing a copy of the communication which had been sent to each of the city guilds, asking, with reference to the last paragraph of Article 16 of the (then) new code, whether the subjects taught in such classes would be sanctioned by the department as " specific subjects " with the understanding that a graduated scheme of teaching would be submitted to, and the approval of Her Majesty's Inspector asked for. The letter further stated that the Board proposed that, as in the ease of the cookery classes, children from various schools should be collected together at centres for manual instruction ; and it was desired by the Board to ask whether attendance at such classes might be reckoned as attendance at the schools, on registers of which the children were marked, as in the case of the cookery classes. The Education Department replied that, in accordance with the statement made by the VicePresident of the Council in Parliament, their Lordships must reserve their decision on the question thus raised until the question of technical education should have been fully considered by Parliament. At the close of the session of 1889 the Technical Instruction Bill received the Eoyal assent, which Bill authorised local authorities— i.e., either County or Borough Councils or urban sanitary authorities —out of the local rate, to supply, or to aid the supply of, technical and manual instruction. The Act further prescribed that this contribution should not be made on account of scholars receiving instruction in elementary schools in the obligatory or standard subjects prescribed by the minutes of the Education Department for the time being in force. [Section I. (1) (a) of the Act.] In the (then) new code provision was made for manual instruction being included in the curriculum. A letter was also addressed by Mr. Diggle, the then chairman of the Board, to the chairman of the Council of the City and Guilds of London Institute for the advancement of technical education. The result of this correspondence was a reference of the subject from the larger and more prominent city guilds to the City and Guilds Institute, with one of the sub-committees of which a deputation of members of the School Board were invited to confer, with the view of ascertaining more fully the exact nature of the proposals of the Board. In the month of July, 1886, a deputation, appointed by the educational endowments committee, waited upon the sub-committee of the executive committee of the City and Guilds Institute, and were very courteously received. In May, 1887, a letter was received from the City and Guilds Institute asking the Board to appoint a deputation to consult with a number of their members for the purpose of considering a scheme for the equipment and maintenance, for one year, of four schools for elementary technical education, at a cost of about £1,000. A special committee was accordingly appointed by the Board, which committee met the representatives of the City and Guilds Institute. After a consultation, the appointment of a joint committee was agreed upon, consisting of eighteen members, of whom nine were to be appointed by the School Board and nine by the City and Guilds Institute. Owing to an extension of the work originally intended, and to the funds having been augmented by contributions from the Worshipful Company of Drapers (a more detailed reference to which is made in another part of this report), the Joint Committee was increased so as to consist of twenty-four members, including twelve appointed by the School Board, nine by the City and Guilds Institute, and three by the Drapers' Company. In April, 1892, three members were, by consent of the bodies interested, appointed by co-optation. The Joint Committee, therefore, now (1895) consists of twentyseven members.