at once.

superior sex delights in surrounding itself with. inartistic, as the eye is absolutely confused and bewildered by the multiplicity of petty objects, so that anything of real value is probably unnoticeable; and it is, to my thinking, as wanting in taste as for a woman to wear all her jewellery The Japanese, the most artistic race of the world, can in this matter, as in many others, teach us a lesson. Every home in the "Land of the Rising Sun," however humble, possesses a few works of art, which are kept carefully stored, and brought out one at a time for the pleasure of the inmates, and thus day by day come with the charm of freshness. We might do worse than follow their example. Such a course would render our rooms more sanitary, more easily cleaned, and far more comfortable-to the "mere male,' at any rate; and when the present craze for a multiplicity of petty objects has had its day, our wives, sisters, cousins, and aunts, will find they can be just as happy as their grandmothers were, before the era of cheap frivolities overwhelmed us.

"

It may be objected that the house I have sketched though slightly smaller in size than those of the present, would be much more expensive to build. I quite admit it. But the saving in domestic labour would more than compensate. Let us a assume a family of six persons. In an ordinary middle-class house, they would probably keep two servants. The cost of each servant for board and wages would be at least £50 or £60 per annum. With a properly arranged dwelling, one could be dispensed with, and instead of the other let us assume a highly trained lady-help, or a capable educated servant, coming daily to do her work, and leaving when finished. They would and should receive higher wages than at present. but a saving of one person's food, and say half her wages, would be effected, equal to about £40 per annum. This at 5 per cent. represents a capital value of £800, which would be available for extra expenditure on the dwelling. A very good house for a family of six can be built for £1200, so that with £800 added, £2000 would be at command without incurring a greater total annual expenditure than at present. But so much would be quite unnecessary, as £300 extra, or a total of £1500, would amply suffice for all the improvements I have suggested, and thus a saving of £500 in capital could be effected.

One further point I would like to emphasise; and that is the absolutely necessity of a better and more practical system of education for the whole community. Firstly, for the workers who build the house-and I am sorry to say

that in my opinion the skill of workmen is deteriorating, owing mainly to the craze for cheapness amongst employers, and also to the policy of the trades unions, whose sole aim seems to be higher wages, to attain which a restricted output, rather than enhanced skill, is fostered. Secondly, for house-users, a more practical training is absolutely essential, if the appliances I have suggested, and others that will rapidly follow, are to be a help instead of a hindrance. Every woman at the head of a household should know the why and the wherefore of all sanitary and mechanical appliances, how to use them, and keep them clean and in working order, and should be able on occasion to tighten up a nut, washer a tap, regulate a valve, drive a nail or a screw straight, or do at intervals the hundred and one little odd jobs that appliances of any kind entail; or otherwise, she will become, still more than at present, the prey of the predatory plumber, and the last state of that household would be worse than the first.

THE

TRAINING OF MINING ENGINEERS.

By HENRY C. JENKINS, A.R.S.M., Assoc. M. Inst. C.E.,

Victoria.

THE training of mining engineers is so important a matter in the Australian Commonwealth-where mining is directly and indirectly one of the main industries, and in some parts the main industry; and where the problem as to how to make a legitimate profit for shareholders becomes daily a matter more and more one calling for scientific skill-that it hardly needs any apology for being brought before the notice of the Association.

Both

The

It may, however, be asked, What is a mining engineer? And the term is certainly to-day both wide and vague- -as wide and vague as the allied term "mining manager.' of these terms are to some people synonymous as to persons who recognise the two classes, if indeed there be two classes, as persons whose business in life is to earn a profit for all concerned by actual mining operations, and who rather reserve the term mining engineer for those who by general training and wide practical experience have fitted themselves to be consulted with profit by clients, reserving, too, the term "mining manager" for those whose actual occupation at the moment is the direction of some definite undertaking. Such a manager may be, and should be, a man of high attainment in science, in practice, and in commercial skill, and one who would be in a lucrative consulting practice only that certain persons see it to their advantage to retain his full services for their own undertaking. manager may, however, have an undertaking of moderate size, or else a small one; and in the latter case, the drudgery that must be done, and the pinch of poverty that small concerns often feel, tends far too much to make the average manager in some parts of Australia merely the superior workman—a man who energetically follows his own limited stock of knowledge, and "follows the pick-point." Not but that there should be the easiest possible road made for the intellectual industrious man to acquire the necessary engineering and other knowledge that would fit him to take part in management-the men who rise by merit get this knowledge somehow or other, even though they do not know it by its proper name. The unfortunate fact is, that there is still a large class of manager that we cannot discuss further except to say that it will be all the better for the country when the technical college makes the race

extinct and people who are not managing mines, but who control them, learn that a manager has, or should have, far more intellectual and onerous duties than the directions of simple muscular effort. When it is recognised that a manager is the operating mining engineer, then there is some prospect of finding more mines laid out with well defined design; of finding more frequently proper and complete plans and records of all the workings, instead of an uncertain tradition only of the same; of finding proper means taken to secure ventilation; of economical means for handling the large amount of material that miners have to move daily, without everything being done! as is too often the case, by manual labour, often in the most awkward way; of finding the mine systematically worked, instead of each pocket being emptied as it is found-large dividends paid for six months, and then a long blank, whilst four or six men are painfully at work trying to find another patch, and as many more men, by no means fully employed, on the surface looking after them, and all the expenses of the staff, such as it may be, still going on; all the capital sunk in machinery, and the previous mine operations standing idle and costing money. As to the men who ought to be kept steady at work, they are looking for jobs elsewhere, and waiting for luck to turn. Such is the. state, too often, of the mine "paying calls"-waiting for the work that the directorate and the management should have done in the days of prosperity, when it would not have cost a third as much to do. Fortunate is such a mine if sheer grit and luck finally pull it through, and it gets at full work again; too often it shuts down, some one buys the plant, its pumps are drawn, and what might have been a source of profit to the whole district and its shareholders is lost practically for all time to the State. It is in marked contrast to some instances of mining that can be seen in Australia. And why? Simply the want of mining engineers on its directorate or management. To take another case, not so bad. How many mine engines would not be at once condemned as positive encumbrances of the ground if a few indicator cards were taken; or, rather, what a busy time there would be on valves and details in the machine and fitting shops of the district if a few good mechancial engineers were really let loose in some of our settled mining districts. Whether the wood-carters or the coal merchants would be at first equally well pleased is quite another matter; but their energies would be soon absorbed in consequence, probably to supply the fuel for a greatly increased output.

Shareholders would see more dividends, and the workers more employment. The mine manager should not be indifferent to mechancial engineering.

It will be obvious, upon examination of the matter, th there should be a far wider opening for mining engineers than the really limited scope for consulting practice. with which it is often confounded; but until this is more generally recognised by those who direct mining enterprise, it is to be feared that the really good candidates for employment will be drained from the districts in which they are really wanted, and will find better treatment elsewhere, paid by outside capital.

Although no real distinction can be drawn between mining engineers, or managers, nevertheless there be a broad line that can be drawn; but it is lower down the scale. The miner himself, for instance, is all the better for some instruction in addition to that involving his personal skill in using his tools, although this may itself be increased. The many foremen, as shift-bosses, need still more instruction; but the instruction remains of a limited kind. The moment, however, a man is put in charge of a plant, and has the responsibility of the direction of operations, it becomes necessary for him, unless the undertaking be a very feeble one indeed, to have an intelligent knowledge of a great many operations; he must be an engineer in the broader sense of the word before he can be successful. Just as the mechanical engineer has replaced the old millwright, so should the modern mine manager have room made for him-the leader of the operations should have a higher kind of knowledge to that possessed by his foremen in either case.

The proper kind of education for the operative, over and above the correct manipulation of his tools, will not be further discussed, as it is a subject all to itself, but one would urge that every facility that is possible should exist for those men whom nature has fitted to find their way to management, whether by evening study or actual scholarship. As the author had the honour to assist in recommendations upon this subject in Victoria quite recently, he will not now deal with this side of the matter, but deal at once with the case of the men who, from the outset, seek to prepare themselves for leadership.

The mining engineer has really an extremely complex set of conditions under which to work. He has, in the first place, often to make a profit for all concerned out of what may be at the start something of the nature of a