"But if, as may possibly be the case, the Government are willing to establish this class of subordinate Civil Engineers independent of the regular department of Public Works, as an encouragement to native industry and talent, and as a means of supplying deficiencies in the public service, then it appears to the Council that the general details of the Bombay scheme are well adapted for their object, with reference to the state of education at that Presidency, to the moderate scale of remuneration proposed, and the strong opinions expressed by the Bombay Board that it is not desirable to insist upon a higher knowledge of English for admission into the proposed subordinate establishment, than ability to read and write.

"The plan proposed by the Bengal Military Board for extending and improving the subordinate department of Public Works in this Presidency, appears to the Council, so far as they are able to judge of it as applicable to the Military department only, to be judicious and well calculated to raise the importance and improve the condition of its members; but the Council quite coincide in the views of the Board as to the restrictive and injurious tendency of confining such offices to Military men, both as limiting the field from which the selection is made, as rendering the department liable to suffer from the Military exigencies of the State remanding incumbents to their regiments, as closing the avenues to an important branch of the service in which it is believed that native agency could be economically, profitably, and successfully employed, and as thereby operating as a serious source of discouragement to native education.

"Independent of mere theoretical and practical qualifications, there are many positions and occasions, in which climate, exposure, a want of intimate knowledge of the habits and language of the people, and similar causes, would render the employment of Europeans who have to contend with many difficulties not experienced by an inhabitant of the country, much less economical and advantageous than that of natives.

"The plan of the Bengal Board above referred to, does not enter into the question of qualification; but as the scale of pay and pension is fixed at a very liberal rate, the Council are of opinion that an extended knowledge both of English, and the branches of Pure and Mixed Mathematics required in Engineering, could readily be obtained. In connection with this, and with a view to render the higher Officers of the department competent to investigate the mineral resources of the parts of the country in which they may be employed, as well as to become acquainted with the sources from which the best and cheapest building and other materials are to be obtained, the Council beg strongly to recommend that the education of every member of the department, should comprehend, in addition to the usual routine of study, a course of Mineralogy and Geology-the means of teaching and illustrating which efficiently, are at present in the Medical College, and for which an able and competent lecturer exists in the person of Surgeon John McClelland. Should the Military Board concur in this view, the Council would recommend its being brought to the prominent notice of Government at an early period, as Mr. McClelland is now unemployed in Calcutta, and his services are available for the object contemplated. *VII. GEOLOGY.-" Although the primary obThe accompanying ject of this Science is to observe and determine the extract* from a report structure of our world, and from the consideration by Mr. F. W. Simms,

of the various phenomena presented to our view in the disruptions of the strata forming the crust of the earth, to eliminate a theory of the successive changes that have taken place therein, and of the agencies by which those changes have been brought about, yet it is of great importance to the Arts; to Engineering and Architecture, to Botany, to Agriculture, to Medicine, and other departments of Science. As respects its utility to the particular subject of this letter, namely, Engineering, I need only remark that by its aid all our mining operations are carried on, whether for the metallic ores, or for coal, in tunnelling operations, in excavations and embankments, in obtaining water from borings, and in the choice of building materials, it is of the first importance, and in short it enters very largely into nearly all the operations of the Civil Engineer. For these pur poses it is essential that he should possess a good general knowledge of the whole subject, but in one portion thereof, that which I may call Geology proper, or the stratification of rocks he should be thoroughly well grounded; the other part of the subject called Paleontology, which is the study of fossil remains, is of but comparatively small importance to him, because so much of it only is needful to a sound knowledge of Geology proper, as will enable him to identify and classify rocks; which can only be correctly done by means of their fossil remains. For the accomplishment of this object it will be sufficient for the Engineer to be familiar with the characteristic fossils of the several strata, or group of strata only, as for instance, the Inoceramus of the Galt, the Paludinæ and Cypris of the Wealden, the Gryphoea of the Lioes, &c. &c.

upon the duties, qualifications, and course of instruction necessa

ry for a Civil Engineer will shew the importance which he attaches to a knowledge of Mineralogy and Geology.

"In all cases, the Council are of opinion that it would be advisable to employ candidates, whether European or Native, and whatever might be the extent of their theore

tical qualifications, for such time as may be necessary, in the practical duties of the subordinate grades before promoting them to the higher positions; and this promotion should, in addition to conduct and character, be desult of examination bependent upon the refore a competent tribunal.

"The Council understand that a College for Civil Engineers has been established at Roorkee in the North Western Provinces, but as the course of instruction laid down in, and other details connected with it are not before them, they are unable to say how far the plan there adopted is adapted for introduction into all other Institutions in which Engineering or any of its branches, may be taught. The Military Board probably is in possession of information upon the subject."

I am inclined to lay very considerable stress upon the importance of Geological Science not merely for the Engineering class, but as a general branch of instruction. In India, I consider this to be particularly the case, that a taste for this study may diverge from the Hindu College and spread over the length and breadth of this great Empire. As the prosperity of every country greatly depends upon its productive resources, and as part of those resources are its mineral contents, it follows that all the facts and particulars relative thereto should be brought to light. In Europe and in America this has been accomplished to a wonderful extent, but in India it is far from being the case, and I fear will remain a desideratum for a long time to come, unless some more extensive and systematic means be adopted than has hitherto been exercised. At present we are indebted to Europeans alone for the knowledge we have at our command, those gentlemen have usually had public duties to perform and have followed Geology as a recreation, thus making their pleasures subservient to the advancement

us.

of Science, and although much valuable knowledge has thus been collected, yet it is all very little in comparison with the great field that is yet before A great difficulty will always be experienced by Europeans in these researches arising from the nature of the climate, which will materially tend to retard the progress of our knowledge of the mineral resources of India, but if a taste for this branch of study was diffused amongst the native youths to whom climate presents no such obstacles, we might expect very great results in the course of a few years; a knowledge of the subject would early be impart. ed to a numerous class, and at a subsequent period an extensive and minute Geological survey of India might be instituted by Government with a corps of native Geologists directed by a few qualified European heads. The establishment of a class exclusively Geological would become a source from whence much good to the country at large, and to the Government might hereafter, be expected. What I have therefore to propose to the Council of Education is the establishment of a chair of Geology, not confined simply to teaching sufficient for the purposes of the Engineer, but to embrace in full the whole range of the Science, as being important to and connected with other branches of learning. In Agriculture for instance, the character of the rocks determine that of the subjacent vegetable soil, and hence its products. Nothing more need be added to show the importance of this subject as the basis, as it were, of improvement in other arts, and that it is so considered throughout all the highly civilized portions of the world is evidenced by every state, every university, and in many cases, individual Colleges having their Professors of Geology. It is not however every one who professes to some acquaintance with the Science that would be qualified to do justice to such a chair; to be a good Geologist in the full sense of the word, the professor ought to possess no mean knowledge of several other branches of learning, namely, Botany and Zoology, but especially Conchology and Ichthyology, without which no man can be a Paleontologist. Comparative Anatomy also comes into requisition; and these qualifications are by no means of every day occurrence amongst persons professing to a knowledge of Geology."

Public Works.

11. In August last, Major Goodwyn, then officiating as Native Subordinates Superintending Engineer of the in the Department of South Eastern Provinces, applied to the Council to assist him in introducing a more highly educated class of native subordinates into the Engineer department, those at present employed possessing such a rudimentary knowledge of reading, writing, and accounts as fitted them only for discharging the ordinary indoor duties of writers; whereas Overseers and Darogahs acquainted with mensuration, capable of taking a section of a road or embankment, and of drawing up simple plans and estimates, were required.

The salaries attached to these offices range from a minimum of 10 to a maximum of 25 Rupees a month; Major Goodwyn was, therefore, informed that it was hopeless to expect natives possessed of the requisite qualifications, to enter a department in which a considerable amount of personal exposure was required, while the prospects held out were inferior to those which individuals of a much lower scale of acquirement could at present command in any other line of life they chose to adopt.

The salaries mentioned are inadequate for the maintenance of any respectable native, and it is feared that educated men who would accept of employment in such circumstances, would only do so with the hope of adding to their incomes by the dishonest means which such low salaries would tempt them to resort to, where the chances of detection are remote, and dismissal a very inadequate punishment for those qualified to gain a much more ample maintenance by honest labour.

Education must spread to a greater extent than can reasonably be anticipated for many years to come, before the competition is so great as to secure native agency of a high standard of qualification for very moderate provision and no chance of ultimate competence.

12. The subject of English History Junior English has been added to those already containScholarships. ed in the standard of junior scholarships. 13. In paragraph 2, p. 4 of our report for 1846-47, it was mentioned that junior scholars of one year's standing should for the reasons therein detailed be required to pass their examination in the junior subjects, and that 75 per cent. of the whole number of marks allowed, should be required to entitle a holder of such scholarship to retain it.

Retention of Junior
Scholarships,

In consequence, however, of the results of the late scholarship examinations, and because some of the best students of the year forfeited their scholarships under the existing regulations, the Council have reduced the standard from 75 to 65 per cent.

14. In addition to the 3d and 4th Fasciculi of the Atlas of Books connected with Anatomy, and the portion of a Education published Manual of Anatomy in Hindusduring the past year. tani devoted to the Brain and Nervous System, referred to in the special report of the Medical College, the Revd. K. M. Banerjea has published three addi* History of Egypt. tional parts of his Encyclopedia BenMiscellaneous Reading galensis. Dr. Yates has compiled a Geography. class book in History, which has been printed by the Calcutta School Book Society, and Mr. Sutcliffe, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Hindu College, has prepared a series of algebraical examples, which the same Society has undertaken to publish.

[pt. 2.

The Council have reprinted Dr. Reid's Inquiry on the Human Mind, which is sold at 1-8 per copy, placing it within the reach of the pupils of Schools and Colleges in this country.

D

15. The Committee appointed for the examination of can

Committee of Exami

nation for Employment in the Education Department.

didates for employment and promotion in the education department met four times since the publication of the last report, and conducted the important duties entrusted to them with a degree of care and attention which entitles its members to the best acknowledgments of the Council.

Thirty-seven candidates presented themselves for examination, of whom six passed for the 3d grade and six for the 4th; the remainder obtained no grade.

The Normal School referred to in various reports of previ

Normal and Model Schools.

* Para. 23, p. 7, Report for 1842-43.

Para. 11, p. 12, Report for

1843-44.

Para. 4, pp. 14, 15 and 16, Report for 1845-46.

ous years as noted in the margin,* has at length been organized, and placed under the charge of Mr. W. Knighton, a gentleman familiar with the system upon which such Institutions are organized in Europe, and who had already conducted one with success in the Island of Ceylon.

In accordance with the suggestions of the Hon'ble the Depu

"In the first place it occurs to the Deputy Governor, that the exclusive principle upon which the School Society's School is conducted, none but Hindu boys being admitted, offers an insurmountable obstacle to its conversion into a Model School, of which a necessary condition must be, that it shall be open to all classes of the people. If the School Society's School remains closed to the children of all but Hindus, it cannot possibly be made the nucleus of the proposed

Normal Institution.

The object of a Normal School is, as the Deputy Governor understands, to instruct practically in the art of education, those who intend to follow the profession of teachers either in public or private schools, and at the same time to impart to a larger number of general students instruction in those branches of knowledge which it is thought necessary they should acquire, and which are usually taught in other Government schools. With this view the Normal School consists of two distinct parts; namely, the Model School and the Normal class properly so called.

Hereafter, when the system has been matured, and when the requisite experience has

ty Governor of Bengal, contained in Letter No. 291, dated 14th April 1847, from Mr. UnderSecretary Beadon, and quoted in the margin, the plan originally sketched and recorded at the 14th page of our Report for 1845-46 was modified to the extent mentioned, and a separate Institution organized, for which a house has been temporarily engaged in the Bow Bazar, until the experience acquired in the working of the system will afford the data requisite for the construction of a suitable building,