240 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. January 30, 1914. to enable them to improve their facilities in respect of the proportion of work allotted to them. On the other hand, the advantages to be derived by the University College, apart from the financial reinforce- ment, are obvious; for the school should act as an invaluable recruiting ground. Situated close to the most important centres of coal production, and within easy access of the largest collieries, it should be the means of tempting many of the more ambitious students in the existing secondary classes which are conducted by the county and borough authorities to proceed beyond the limits which have necessarily confined the domain of these authorities. This brings us to the second of the functions to be performed by the School of Mines ; for the T reforest school does not exist solely for the purpose of turning out the “ finished article,” and it is well to emphasise the fact that it is staffed and equipped to deal with two distinct systems of training, viz.: part-time and full- time diploma courses. At first, no doubt, the school at complete internal control over its own affairs, but there will be a co-ordinated syllabus in mining, a consulta- tive board representative of all the authorities and institutions having been formed. When certain temporary impediments have been removed the scheme will doubtless soon be in full operation. Incidentally it may be observed that one possible outcome of these deliberations will be the establishment of junior day technical schools in the coalfields so as to catch the product of the elementary school at the proper age. The Treforest School, as we have already stated, is situated close to the heart of the coalfield. It has been housed in a fine old mansion, considerably extended by the addition of a wing. The equipment is thoroughly up-to-date, comprising, in addition to the usual lecture rooms and drawing offices, separate well-fitted mining, gas-testing, geo'ogy, physics, chemical, heat and mecha- nical laboratories; also electrical and mechanical work- shops, equipped with the most modern machinery for have been made whereby the students will be afforded opportunities of visiting, under the control of the staff, the different collieries of the associated coalowners, and handling under working conditions the machinery and plant, with which they will subsequently have to deal. As the subscribing collieries will probably send some of their testing work to the school, students will have an opportunity of learning how to locate faults, trace their causes, &c., and generally to associate their technical training with working conditions. Visits will also be paid to other British and Continental coalfields. The courses of instruction comprise :— 11) A three-years full-time mining course, of 30 hours per week, for a 30-weeks session. (2) Part-time day courses for four years of one day of eight hours per week for mine managers, mechanics, electricians, and chemists, and a three-years course of one day of eight hours per week for mine surveyors. (3) Special courses of instruction for colliery officials in mining engineering subjects, such as mine valua- .«***»%' •• > ■■ f. w* . ■■ J \ /• } • Fig. 4.—Chemical Laboratory. Fig. 5.—Physics Laboratory. * !' t- I > , It • V « » •' '•■x' v, - Fig. 6.—Electrical Engineering Laboratory. Fig. 7.—Mechanics Laboratory. Treforest was regarded with some suspicion by the county and borough committees, who have done such excellent work in the coalfield. A typical example is provided by the Glamorgan County Council scheme which embraces a three-year course of evening classes in mining and other subjects, as well as summer courses, tours of British and foreign coalfields, &c. It is the object of the Treforest school to step in at the close rather than at any intermediate stage of this system, for it has been arranged that the students who propose attending Treforest school should spend at least three years in the County and Borough Council Education Committees’ classes to prepare them for the work done at Treforest. There the student will continue to devote only a moiety of his time to education, but instead of the division of work and learning being that of day and evening, one whole day in each week will be given solely to the school. It is now recognised, we believe, that the school is there to help, not to thwart or compete with the county schemes. It is important that this fact should be recognised, otherwise the value of the scheme would be largely discounted. For the purpose of avoiding any duplication or wasteful emulation on the part of the various authorities interested, a scheme has now been approved, so lately as last Saturday, providing for correlation and co-ordination between the different authorities and institutions. Each of these will retain Fig. 8.—Engineering Drawing Room. practical tests. These include lathes, drilling machines, smithy, steam testing plant, experimental winding engine, gas producer, gas engine, water turbine and generator, electric motors, 150-ton testing machine, &c., &c. A general view of the school is to be seen in fig. 1, whilst figs. 9 and 10 show the general arrangement of class rooms, laboratories, &c., and the intervening illus- trations show various of the interiors. An important part of the scheme is that arrangements tion, electrical equipment of collieries, colliery man- agement, mining law, &c. (4) Special course for surface foremen at collieries. Students taking the full time mining course will require to get at least four months’ practical experience in the mine during each summer. Facilities will be pro- vided for this by the Mining Board at one of the sub- scribing collieries in cases where students are not in a position to provide such experience for themselves. Students will be required to keep a diary during their four months’ practical training, to be signed by the colliery manager under whom they are employed, such report to be presented to the principal of the school at the commencement of the following session. The Mining Board is the governing body of the School of Mines, and is composed of two representatives from each constituent company. Sir Clifford J. Cory, Bart., M.P., is the first chairman of the Board, which comprises most of the principal colliery proprietors in South Wales. The constitution of the School of Mines is under a deed of trust, of which the Right Honour- able the Earl of Plymouth (Lord Lieutenant of Glamorganshire), the Lord Merthyr, G.C.V.O., and David Davies, Esq., M.P., are the three trustees. The expense will be borne by the coalowners by means of a tonnage levy on their declared output for the previous year of O ld. This will provide a yearly revenue of about £8,000, apart from fees.