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ties will be able to impress on the authorities their needs. The large majority of those whose views I share in this matter are not opposed to or distrust the good effects of those parts of education which date from ancient times. The great men who have come under their sway are living proofs that they can be effective now as they have been in times past, but we look to the production of greater men by the removal of the limitations which tradition sets. I myself gratefully acknowledge what the public school at which I had my early education did for me, but I think my gratitude would be more intense had I been given some small elementry instruction in that natural knowledge which has had to be picked up here and there in after life.

There is one type of college which I have not alluded to before, and that is the technical institutes. These have been fostered by the localities in which they are situated, and been largely supported by the whisky money, supplemented by Government aid. I am glad to see that in the last regulations of the Board of Education these colleges will receive grants for higher scientific instruction, and I have no doubt that in the near future such institutions and schools

of science will receive a block grant, which will give them even still greater freedom than they now enjoy. These are colleges to which students from secondary schools will gradually find their way, where they wish for higher education of a type different from that to be gained at a university.

I have endeavoured to give a brief historical sketch of what the State has done in helping forward instruction in natural knowledge amongst the industrial classes, adults and children, and how gradually its financial aid has been extended to secondary schools. I have also endeavoured to indicate the steps by which practical instruction has been fostered by it. I have done this because I am confident that ninetynine educationists out of every hundred have but little idea what the State has been doing for the last

fifty years. Some connected with secondary schools -I have personal knowledge-were till lately ignorant that the State had offered advantages to them of a financial nature. I may say that the work of the late Science and Art Department was largely a missionary work. It was abused, sometimes rightly but more often wrongly, for this very work, and it had more abusers at one time probably than any other Government Department. Even friends to the movement of modernising education found fault with it as antiquated and slow, but I can assure you that no greater mistake can be made in pressing forward any movement by any hurried change of front or by endeavouring to push forward matters too rapidly. In the first place, the Treasury naturally views untried changes with suspicion, and this fact has to be dealt with more particularly when there is no great expression of public opinion to reckon with. At the same time it cannot be stated too strongly that the Treasury has in recent years dealt in a friendly and enlightened

spirit with all matters which could affect the spread of science. Again, there is a hostility to great and rapid changes in the minds of those whom such changes affect.

The policy must always be to progress as much as is possible without rousing too great an opposition from any quarter, and I think it will be seen that the progress made during the last twenty-five years has, by the various annual increments, been perhaps more than could have been hoped for, and gives a promise for even more rapid advances in the future.

CUSTOMS REPORT.

The forty-seventh report of the Commissioners of His Majesty's customs for the year ended 31st March, 1903, lately published, contains the following particulars:

The Gross Imperial Customs Revenue collected in the year 1902-3 amounted to £35,499,723, or, after deduction of Drawbacks and Repayments, to £34,460,685. This is £3,414,125 more than the produce of 1901-2, and 739,315 less than the Budget Estimate for the year. The Customs Revenue has thus brought in 2.1 per cent. less than was anticipated, but nearly 11 per cent. more than it produced in 1901-2, and very much more than was ever raised in this country before, by Customs duties, in any one year.

The amount which was paid to the Exchequer in 1902-3 was £34,433,000, which compares with £30,993,000 in 1901-2, showing an increase of £3,440,000.

The gross and net receipts from the duty on exported coal, culm, coke, and cinders in the two years since its imposition were :—

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The increase of £680,061 in the net receipts in 1902-3 is chiefly due to the lessened quantities of coal exempted from duty, or on which the duty was remitted, under the pre-duty contract clause.

The duty upon foreign chicory produced £53,012 in 1902-3, a small decrease as compared with the preceding year.

Cocoa of all sorts yielded in duty £225,816, a decrease as compared with 1901-2, of £29,485, or 11.5 per cent.

The falling off has occurred principally in connection with raw cocoa, the clearances of which were 8,041,652 lbs. smaller in 1902-3 than in 1901-2. The larger clearances of 1901-2 took place in January and February, 1902, and were chiefly due to War Office

demands for the South African campaign, and to Budget anticipations.

The gross receipts from the duty upon coffee in 1902-3 were 194,152, and the net receipts £178,628. The gross receipts show a decrease of £26,749, or 12.1 per cent., whilst the net receipts show an increase of £4,286, or 2.5 per cent., as compared with 1901-2, the cause of these movements being due largely to the reduced quantities sent away on drawback, owing to the cessation of the South African

war.

The net yield of the corn duties amounted to £2,346,796, of which wheat and wheat flour contributed 58.6 per cent.

The imports of wheat in the financial year 1902-3 were 8 million cwts., and were the highest yet recorded, but the imports of wheatmeal and flour were lower than they have been for some years. Partly owing to the failure of the North American maize crop of 1901, the imports of maize in 1902-3 were lower than they have been since the year 1895-6.

The currant crops of 1902 were both good in quality and quantity, and the receipts from the duty have exceeded those of 1901-2 by £14,585, or 14'4 per cent. The amount received in 1902-3, viz. £115,524, is not, however, equal to the receipts o 1898-9 and 1899-1900-the two years preceding the unfavourable crop of 1900, which was so much damaged by peronosporos. Prices of currants were much lower than in 1901.

. Duties upon sugar, glucose, molasses, saccharin, and articles manufactured with or preserved in sugar, were imposed by the Finance Act of 1901, and the year 1902-3 was consequently the second during which the duties have been in force.

The duties upon glucose were originally fixed at 2s. the cwt. for liquid glucose, and 2s. 9d. the cwt. for solid glucose, but in consequence of the imposition of the Corn Duties, it became necessary to add to these amounts in order that the home manufacturer should not be placed at a disadvantage as compared with his foreign competitor. The Finance Act of 1902 accordingly raised the rates to 2s. 6d. and 5s. 3d. respectively.

The net receipts from the Sugar duties in 1902-3 were £4.478,707, as against £6,399,228 in 1901-2, a decrease of 1,920,521, or 30 per cent.

This very

large reduction is due chiefly to forestalments or postponement of clearances in enticipation of changes of duty. These operations resulted in an abnormal reduction of the revenue of 1902-3 by about £1,500,000.

The revenue from the tea duty in the last financial year was £5,975,483, as against £5,792,967 in 1901-2, an increase of £182,516, or 3.2 per cent. Towards the end of the year 1902-3 it was generally anticipated in the trade that the duty, which had been increased from 4d. to 6d. per pound in 1900, would be reduced, and clearances were postponed. Had this not occurred the increase would have been somewhat greater.

The crops of 1902 were not so large as was originally expected, and prices, which during the summer and autumn had been at a very low level, rose in consequence. Between July, 1902, and February, 1903, the rise in price may be put at 1d. per lb., the London sales of Indian tea in the latter month averaging 73d. per lb., and of Ceylon tea 7 d. per lb.

The exports of tea from the United Kingdom during the financial year 1902-3 have been about 4,600,000 lbs. in excess of those of the preceding year, and this has also helped to raise the price.

Of the total revenue in 1902-3, tea from India contributed 57.8 per cent.; tea from Ceylon, 34.2 per cent.; tea from China, 4.6 per cent.; and tea from all other countries, 5:4 per cent.

The duties upon tobacco realised £12,451,473 in 1902-3, as compared with 10,5667,705 in the year 1901-2, an increase of £1,883,768, or 17.8 per cent. This large increase is not, however, wholly due to greater consumption, for the clearances of 1901-2 were considerably reduced by the forestalments which were made at the end of 1900-1 in anticipation of a rise in the duties. It is probable that, if allowance be made for those forestalments, the increase in 1902-3 would be about 3 to 3 per cent.

The wine duties yielded £1,523,856 in 1902-3, an increase of £74,169, or 5.1 per cent., as compared with the receipts of 1901-2. The consumption of wine showed a downward tendency during 1900 and 1901, and the improvement of 1902-3 may to some extent be attributed to the cessation of the war.

General Notes.

AN EARLY PURPLE FISHERY.-The island of Leuke, off the south-east coast of Crete, an important fishing-station in antiquity, has recently been explored by Mr. C. T. Currelly and Mr. R. C. Bosanquet. Among sand-hills on the north shore they found a bank of shells, some whole but mostly crushed, of the variety Murex trunculus, which is known to have been used in the manufacture of the purple dye. Scattered through the heap were fragments of pottery and of a stratile bowl, which marked it as not only præ-Hellenic but præ Phoenician. Further digging within a few yards of the heap brought to light characteristic Cretan vases of the Kamáres type and the foundations of a house. evidence shows that the extraction of the purple-juice was practised in Crete at least as early as 1600 B.C. Hitherto the Phoenicians have been credited with the

The

discovery of "Tyrian purple." It appears, however, that in this matter, as in the art of writing, and perhaps in other inventions attributed to the Phoenicians by Greek authors, the Minoans of Crete were the real pioneers.

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The Committee of this Exhibition have invited a party of the members of the Society of Arts to visit the Exhibition at Earl's Court on Wednesday, October 14th (afternoon and evening), and inspect the exhibits, including those to which the Society of Arts medals will have been awarded.

The members accepting the invitation will also have an opportunity of seeing the historical pageant and modern fire service display known as "Fighting the Flames."

The members will assemble at 4 p.m. inside the Warwick-road entrance of the Earl's Court Exhibition.

A round of the exhibits will be made in three parties, and the exhibitors will be requested to be in attendance at their exhibits to explain or demonstrate their appliances or work.

Modern fire appliances will be demonstrated at the lake from 5 to 6 p.m. (long ladders from 5 to 5.30 p.m. and fire engines from 5.30 to 6 p.m.).

The three parties will start to view the exhibits respectively as follows:

Party "A."-Ducal Hall, 4.5 p.m., going by way of Queen's Palace, to Imperial Court. Party "B" will start viewing in Imperial Court, at 4.10, visiting the Lake, Queen's Palace, and end at Ducal Hall.

Party "C" will commence in the Queen's Palace, 4.10 p.m., visiting the Lake, Ducal Hall, and ending at the Imperial Court.

The London Salvage Corps, by kind permission of Lieut.-Col. Fox, will turn out and drill in the Western Gardens at 6.30 and at 7.30 p.m.

SECTIONAL COMMITTEE.

The following is the list of the Colonial Section Committee as appointed by the Council :

Jones,

COLONIAL SECTION COMMITTEE.
Sir William Abney, K.C.R., Sir Alfred L.
D.C.L., D.Sc., F.R.S. K.C.M.G.
(Chairman of the Council).
Sir Westby B. Perceval,
K.C.M.G. (Chairman of
the Committee).
Earl of Aberdeen, G.C.M.G.
Lord Belhaven and Stenton.
Lord Brassey, K.C.B.
Hon. Sir John A. Cockburn,
K.C.M.G.

Sir Chas. Malcolm Kennedy,
K.C.M.G., C.B.

Hon. Henry Copeland,
Agent-General for New
South Wales.
H. Bertram Cox, C.B.
Edward Dent.

Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Went

worth Dilke, Bart., M.P.
Hon. Alfred Dobson, Agent-
General for Tasmania.
Hon. Sir Charles W. Fre-
mantle, K.C.B.

Hon. Thomas E. Fuller,
C.M.G., Agent-General for
the Cape of Good Hope.
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton,
Bart., G.C.M.G.

Hon. Henry Bruce Lefroy,
Agent-General for Western
Australia.

Sir Nevile Lubbock,K.C.M.G
Chairman of the West India
Committee.
Charles Prestwood Lucas,
C.B.
Admiral Sir Erasmus
Ommanney, K.C.B., F.R.S.
Sir Montague F. Ommanney,.
K.C.M.G.

Sir E. Montague Nelson,
K.C.M.G.

Sir Walter Peace, K C.M.G.,
Agent-General for Natal.
Hon. W. Pember Reeves,
Agent General for New
Zealand.

Alexander Siemens.
Sir John Smalman Smith,
M.A.

Earl of Stamford.

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Proceedings of the Society.

CANTOR LECTURES.

PAPER MANUFACTURE.

BY JULIUS HÜBNER, F.C.S.

(Director of the Dyeing, Printing, and Paper - making Department, at the Municipal School of Technology, Manchester.)

Lecture III.-Delivered February 16th, 1903. Beating Sizing Loading Colouring Stuff chest-Regulator- Sand tables-Strainer- Handmade paper.

The treatment of the rags or other raw materials has now been considered up to the stage at which the half-stuff enters the potcher or the steeping chest. The halfstuff still contains fibre bundles, and further, the fibres are not present in lengths convenient for the manufacture of the various classes of paper. The final treatment which the half-stuff has to undergo, as also various auxiliary processes such as the loading, the dyeing, and the sizing, are conducted in the 'beater." The operation of beating forms one of the most important links in the chain of processes constituting the manufacture of paper through which the fibres have to pass, and is one which largely influences the properties of the finished product. Prior to the invention and introduction of the Hollander, rags were disintegrated in the so-called stamping or hammer-mill; the process of disintegration as carried on in this apparatus being accomplished either by hammering or squeezing the pulp, it resulted in the splitting up of the filaments into single fibres and in a further disintegration of the single fibres, by splitting them lengthways, into fibrillæ.

The action of the Hollander roll, though similar, is, however, not the same as this, for in addition to the squeezing or breaking, a cutting or tearing of the fibres, mostly crossways, also takes place. Micro-photographs of papers which were made before and after the introduction of the Hollander show quite plainly the difference in the fibrous structure. The beating is necessarily varied according to the nature of the fibrous material and according to the properties desired in the finished paper.

Long fibres, such for instance as those of flax and cotton, require breaking and brush

ing, that is, splitting into fibrillæ, whilst short fibres, such a hose of straw. esparto, &c., simply require separating without further disintegration. Cutting of the fibres should, however, in any case be avoided as far as practicable. These considerations lead to the conclusion that it is inadvisable to treat fibres possessing widely different structures at the same time in the beater.

The beating engine (Fig. 12), is similar in construction to the breaker, but variations are frequently made in the number and in the arrangement of the knives in the roll and in the bed plate. To avoid the injurious action of iron in the manufacture of certain classes of papers, such as photographic papers, &c., the knives should be made of either bronze or gun-metal.

Beater rolls made of stone have also been used, and quite recently Schmidt patented a roll and bedplate made of a special kind of basalt-lava, into which the knives are cut. Owing to the porous nature of the lava, the beating surface is considerably increased and the time of beating correspondingly reduced.

The time occupied by the beating varies very considerably according to the structure of the fibres and to the result required; if it is desired to preserve the fibrous nature of the pulp, it is necessary to extend the beating • over as long a time as possible and to use blunt knives, both in the roll and in the bed plate. Some beaters are provided with stuff propellors a kind of paddle-wheel to accele rate the circulation of the pulp.

Considerable attention has been paid by engineers to the construction of modern beaters, the objects being the saving of time and of power, and in order to achieve these ends engines have been constructed with two and even more beater rolls.

Apart from the beating, the circulation of the pulp in the Hollander has to be maintained by the roll, and a considerable amount of power is thus consumed quite apart from that expended in the actual beating. The credit of designing a beater in which the roll is exclusively used for the beating is due to the engineers Debiè, Granger, and Pasquier; a roll of considerably smaller diameter and less weight, placed above the level of the pulp, is used in this beater, whilst the circulation of the pulp is produced by means of a large paddle-wheel placed immediately in front of the roll. A considerable number of patents have been taken for beaters similar in principle

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