Welsh Journals

but applied science may not. It follows at once that the success or failure of the Welsh University Col- leges as schools of applied science will depend upon the extent to which they meet the demands of the industries which are centred in Wales. Side by side with the teaching and research required for University degrees in pure science, and essentials of any school of applied science, each College must develop the branches of applied science that are appropriate to the industry of its district. With these conclusions in mind, we may proceed to discuss the situation in more detail. The main branches of applied sciences in Wales may be distin- guished as Engineering, Mining, Metallurgy, Agri- culture and Commerce. And from this mere enumeration, one conclusion is almost irresistible. Agriculture and Forestry naturally falls to Aberyst- wyth or Bangor but the natural, indeed, the inevi- table centre for all the others is the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire. As a matter of fact, departments in all these branches, except Commerce, are already established in Cardiff and from the recent report to the Treasury by the Commissioners on University Grants, it appears that Cardiff has asked for funds to establish a depart- ment of Commerce, and that the Treasury Com- missioners were impressed by the justice of the request. It is. in one way, unfortunate that the balance of power in this matter leans so heavily to South Wales. But the inequality is not of man's making, but of Nature's. On the other hand, there is the compen- sating circumstance that this natural inequality, if it is recognised and used, does make for the establishment of one great and promising school in Wales. We We have sufficiently shown how such a school must be in direct touch with industry. And it must also be in a peculiarly unfettered condition. It must be free to adapt its teaching and diplomas in applied science to the conditions of the world of practical technology. These conditions are constantly chang- ing and though it is true that the applications change, the principles never change," it is neverthe- less important for a school to keep abreast of the applications. It must, therefore, in some measure change with changing conditions, and all the more so because only thus can it win and keep the confidence of the authorities who are concerned with the supply of well-trained men, and rally to itself the financial support which it requires. The central position of the College of South Wales in the very heart of Welsh industry makes it possible for it to conform to these conditions. There is unquestionably a very great future before it if it gets the opportunity to which its natural situation entitles it, and has enlightenment enough to use it well. It must elect one of two courses. Either it must become in reality the Technological University of South Wales, meeting the needs of the great industries of the coalfield and the metallurgical area, or it must become reconciled to a condition of permanent mediocrity, as a school of science. In conjunction with the Treforest School of Mines, it must develop teaching and research in Coal Mining and Applied Geology. Along with the Swansea Technical College, it must build up a school of Metallurgy, second only, if it need be second, to that of Sheffield. And with greatly improved equipment, and an increased staff, it may hope to create a South Wales School of Engineering on broad and expanding lines. How, then, is this ideal to be attained ? So far as one can gauge the public mind, there appear to be two clear and divergent ways in front of the Welsh Colleges at the moment. And it is impossible that there can be any doubt as to which of the two ways should be chosen so far as concerns the tech- nological education of Wales. Either the University College of South Wales will continue as a constituent college of a Federal University, with its controlling authority largely external to itself, or it will become an independent university. In the former event, there can be no doubt that its autonomy will be less than it is at present, and whatever other reasons there may be for this course on other grounds, it is plainly not the way of the development of a real technological school. The case of the Imperial College of Science is not without significance for the problem in Wales. This College enjoys a unique position both as regards the training of practical scientists, and the placing of them in important posts throughout the Empire. Its success is due to an enlightened policy, which has been consistently adhered to only in virtue of the autonomy of the College, and its freedom from the trammels of elaborate degree syllabuses. In this respect, it is the envy of the other London Colleges, having gained for itself strong financial support and a lively contact with industry, and for its students a measure of practical recognition of their diplomas which is usually denied to the science degrees of the University of London. It seems almost unnecessary to elaborate the point further. The School of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire gains nothing by federation, and it can lose much. If it is grouped with other science schools, its regulations must necessarily be more complex and conservative than