Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/189

 and manipulation. Nor should India continue to buy at a great price in silver any commodity which an increase of industrial capacity may enable her people to produce well and cheaply for themselves, again, there is the growth of population liberated in a great measure from the checks of war and famine. We have districts in which a margin of only 5 or 6 per cent, of land is left available for the extension of tillage. Either the land must soon produce more under higher cultivation, or other means of industrial livelihood must be opened out. Undoubtedly there are great difficulties. Industries have to be created, others rehabilitated rather than merely improved by science. An indebted peasant proprietary is not the most capable of utilizing the steam plough or the chemical factory. Yet we see around us signs of a renascence of manufactures. Our mill industry, though now struggling with difficulties, has promise of a great history. Indian silks, muslins, gold and silver brocade, carved work, dyes—all old Indian products —are in evidence in the international exhibitions, and where manufactures touch the province of the Fine Arts, we have the old forms and traditions, which, if now productive in a somewhat mechanical way, are still among us as suggestive guides to excellence. It may be said that to organize technical education is the duty of the Government which provides such educational means and appliances as seem suited to the needs of those whom it rules rather than of the University which confers degrees for proficiency in the use of those means. This must be frankly admitted. The Government must lead the way, and I had it in view when indicating technical education as in my opinion that object to which public expenditure in this department may now be directed with the greatest benefit to the Indian people. Examples in this matter may best be sought on the Continent of Europe. Twice in the last twenty years the English Government has turned for instruction to those examples. In 1867 there was reason to fear that England, though possessed of great advantages in raw material, was being rivalled and surpassed in its own specialities by nations which had developed their manufacturing skill by well-organized technical education. Exhibitions and Royal Commissions revealed the fact that France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were counterbalancing the initial advantages of England by the scientific education of masters and foremen, and the industrial training of workmen. The report of the Commission of 1884, full of most interesting information as to the comparative progress of industrial teaching on the Continent and in England, shows how much has been done in both under