The scheme had been promoted by a number of the friends of the higher education of women, in order to assist those who desired to engage in teaching. It was impossible to get appointments unless the applicants had a certificate from a university, and it was found that many of the women who were qualified for this work were unable for want of funds to go farther than the stage to which the intermediate examinations would carry them; and to assist those women it had been considered desirable to promote scholarships by which those intending to engage in the work of teaching might be enabled to avail themselves of collegiate studies. They had all observed with much interest the effort made in Derry in connection with the very successful institution in that city. A number of Mrs. Byers's pupils being anxious that her school should not be behind any school in the province, they rallied round her, and originated this series of lectures, for the purpose of establishing one or two scholarships. They all knew what Mrs. Byers had done for education in this part of Ulster, and the successes that had attended her pupils in both intermediate and university examinations. Perhaps the highest testimony of the success of the school had been the interest with which Mrs. Byers's own pupils have entered upon this undertaking, the success of which had already been indicated by the fact that £80 had been obtained in connection with the movement, and of this £66 had been invested. Mrs. Byers had asked him to read the following:-"The Scholarship Committee, consisting of former pupils, met yesterday. Sixty pounds have already been received from the sale of tickets, and this money is now invested. The committee instructed the secretaries to announce that a scholarship will be given value forty pounds, that is, twenty pounds a year tenable for two years. This scholarship will be competed for at 'the first Royal University examination in arts,' and is open to young ladies from this school who have already matriculated. The remaining twenty pounds will be given in the form of two ten-pound prizes, which will be open to pupils entering from the Ladies' Collegiate School who will matriculate next autumn. From the £250 kindly invested by Rev. George Shaw there will be £30 of interest available next midsummer for a scholarship. Two friends of this school offered to increase the sum to £50 should the scholarship be given in connection with the Girton examinations to be held in Dublin in March, 1883, provided three candidates from the Ladies' Collegiate School be willing to compete at the proposed examination. Should the terms of the gift not be fulfilled, and should the proposed scholarship be allowed to lapse for want of a sufficient number of candidates for Girton, the thirty pounds interest on the sum invested will be appropriated for a scholarship for Mrs. Byers's resident pupils who will compete next year at the Royal University." They would agree with him in saying that a most successful beginning had been made. WOMEN AS TOWN COUNCILLORS.

The following letter appeared in a Hull paper :SIR, The Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, provides as follows:-Section 10 (sub-section 3), "Every

person shall be qualified to be elected and to be a councillor who is, at the time of election, qualified to elect to the office of councillor ;" and section 63.-"For all purposes connected with, and having reference to the right to vote at municipal elections words in this Act importing the masculine gender include women." Query, will not women be eligible for the offices of town councillor, alderman, and Mayor after the close of this year, when the Act comes into operation?

Hull, 21st November, 1882.

Yours truly,

C. J.

THE INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF WOMEN. The readers of the REVIEW are well aware that for many years there has existed in Dublin an Institution for technical education called "The Queen's Institute," the design of which was to aid gentlewomen, in reduced circumstances, by either finding them congenial work or giving them such instruction as would enable them to obtain remunerative employment. From various reasons, the Queen's Institute has ceased its work, whilst the need for an Institution of this kind, is more imperative than ever.

A meeting was held in Dublin, at the residence of Mrs. Brown, 8, Merrion Sq., North, on Nov. 18, to consider the advisability of reviving the Queen's Institute, or of forming some similar institution for the industrial education of women; Prof. BARRETT was the principal speaker. He referred to the history of the Queen's Institute and its work, since its establishment in 1861. Its earlier objects were to promote the higher employment of women, and to provide such training as was necessary for the purpose. It commenced operations under the name of the Society for Providing Employment for Educated Women. Several hundred women applied in the first year for employment, but as it was found they required some preliminary training, a modification of the objects of the Queen's Institute was effected to meet the difficulty, and on that basis it had worked since. For various reasons the institute had now closed its doors, and the question had arisen, should the work attempted by it be continued or entirely cease? It was hardly necessary to point out the necessity that existed for providing this technical education. At present the chronic distress in Ireland was intensified by the disturbed state of the country. The Society for the Relief of Ladies in Distress through the Nonpayment of Kent had relieved nearly one thousand during the time it had been in operation. How many of these ladies would be glad of some addition to their income. The question arose, Would the ladies make use of the learning which would fit them for some technical work by which they might support them

selves? He thought the records of the Queen's Institute to a certain extent answered that. In the first year of its operation they found that there were 200 pupils in it-in the tenth year over 500, the average being about 400. Of these doubtless many entered to get a cheap general education but he found that there were on an average 100 students engaged in technical training every year. The total of the pupils engaged in technical work was 1,301, and of these 762 were employed in the twelve years to which the report from which he quoted referred. When they remembered that half the Englishwomen and Irishwomen over fifteen years old had to seek for some remunerative employment, no further words were necessary to show that the training of women was an imperative duty. The question was, what employment was open to women? The fact that there were 762 of the pupils of the institution employed during the twelve years to which he referred gave, to some extent, an answer; but it was necessary, to enable them to understand it, to turn to the records of kindred associations elsewhere. In London there was a society called the Society for the Employment of Women, presided over by the Earl of Shaftesbury. In 1880 the number of applicants seeking employment though it was 472. Of these regular employment was found for sixty-eight, temporary employment for 238, and the number put in training was forty-nine. Half of those permanently employed found situations as clerks and bookkeepers, and more than half of those temporarily employed were taken as general scriveners. A great number of employers were on the books of the society, and afforded employment to many of the applicants. Professor BARRETT then referred to plan-tracing, wood-engraving, and wood carving as means of employment for women, and mentioned that there was another Society in London called the Working Ladies Guild of which Lady Mary Fielding was president which procured employment for a large number of women. He thought the Queen's Institute should be revived.

Mr. THOMAS COOKE TRENCH moved:-"That this meeting is of opinion that a Society for the employment of women in Ireland is desirable." He trusted that the teaching would be of a practical and useful nature. Mr. JONATHAN PAIN said it was perfectly clear that where nicety of touch was required the advantage was on the side of women, and where headwork was required they had shown they were quite competent to be entrusted with it. He had known cases in mercantile business where women did their husband's or father's work very well. In France, for instance, the books of many mercantile houses are kept by women. But a technical education was necessary to enable them to perform work for payment.

This resolution having been adopted, the Rev. Dr. HAUGHTON proposed "That a provisional Committee be appointed to frame a scheme for the remunerative employment of women, and to report to a future meeting; and that Miss L'Estrange be requested to act temporarily as Hon. Sec. of such Committee. He hoped that the new institution would be conducted on a very broad basis. He had been told that the employment of female clerks in the post and telegraph offices had the tendency to prevent matrimony, for the female clerks when they found that they could support themselves by their own earnings did

not take the first young fellow that offered as they did formerly, but waited and looked round them until an eligible young man offered, and then married him, and thus they had as much choice in the selection of a husband as the husband usually had in the choice of a wife. He could corroborate all that had been said of the aptitude of women as book-keepers: the experience of all employers that he had spoken to on the subject was that they were more trustworthy than young men.

Con

The Hon. the RECORDER seconded the proposal. He thought it was extremely bad news for the city of Dublin that the Queen's Institute should have fallen to the ground, as it had occupied a position in the link of the great chain of social duty within the city. stantly ladies of rank and position were, by change of circumstances thrown out upon the world, and their previous position, so far from being an assistance to them in gaining a means of support, was a hindrance.

The resolution was adopted, and Professor BARRETT said an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy had undertaken to give instruction for a whole year in the art classes. He hoped the next meeting would urge the Science and Art Department to found a chair of High Art.

THE LANCASHIRE LADIES' ART SOCIETY has opened a depôt for the sale of ladies work at 79, Bold Street, Liverpool. The Earl and Countess of Derby are among the patrons, and there are already more than 200 contributors. No work can be admitted which does not satisfy the Committee for its excellence.

YORKSHIRE COLLEGE BUILDING FUND.

CONTRIBUTION BY LADIES OF YORKSHIRE.

The following letter on the part of Mrs. Heaton and the Yorkshire ladies who have contributed one thousand guineas to the Yorkshire College Building Fund, with the acknowledgment by Sir Edward Baines, on the part of the College Council will be read with interest.

FROM MRS. HEATON AND OTHER LADIES TO SIR EDWARD BAINES.

Dear Sir Edward Baines,―The Yorkshire College has from the first thrown open its class-rooms and laboratories to both sexes alike.

At the date of its foundation, such ready facilities for acquiring the higher education were but rarely afforded to women; and the fact that a similar course has since been followed elsewhere is, no doubt, in some measure due to the success which has hitherto attended it in Leeds.

It has occurred to a number of Yorkshire ladies that such special service in the cause of women's education deserved special recognition; and we are glad to be able to inform you that the sum of one thousand guineas (£1,050) has been paid in to the College bankers

as a contribution from Yorkshire women to the building fund. A list of the contributors is enclosed; and, on behalf of the subscribers, we remain, dear Sir Edward, faithfully yours,

Claremont, Leeds, Oct. 26th, 1882.

FANNY HEATON.

ALICE SCATCHERD.
S. A. BYLES.

MARY V. MARRIOTT.
JANE ELEANOR CROSSLEY.

SIR EDWARD BAINES TO MRS. HEATON AND OTHER YORKSHIRE

LADIES.

Leeds, Nov. 9th, 1882.

To Mrs. Heaton, Mrs. Scatcherd, Mrs. Byles, Mrs. Marriott, and

Mrs. Edward Crossley.

Dear Ladies,―The large and generous subscription raised by yourselves, and other Yorkshire ladies through you, in aid of the New Buildings of the "Yorkshire College," has laid all the friends of that institution and of higher education in our county under great obligations.

With characteristic modesty, you give to your benevolence the form of paying a debt of gratitude to the first College which opened its doors wide to your sex; and you ascribe to our example, in some degree, the other openings which have been made in our day for the higher education of women. If we are entitled to any credit on that score, it was really only for our recognition of the services which the fair sex were already rendering to education, to literature, to art, and to industry, as well as to the refinement and elegance, and the humanity, virtue and goodness of social life. It was we, not you, who owed and were paying debts.

However this may be, you and all your friends will be glad to hear that the action of the Yorkshire College has been abundantly justified by the attendance of women at our lectures and classes, both in science and literature,—that in the last session one hundred and eighty were entered on our books as "registered," "occasional," and "evening students," that during the last two years two ladies took College scholarships, in competition with men, for attainments in science, each of them of the value of £30 a year, tenable for two years, and that those ladies have been appointed as science teachers, one in the Girls' High School of Leeds, and the other in that of Bradford.

The competition of the sexes in intellectual work is manifestly an advantage to both; and we receive your students with as much satisfaction as your pecuniary help.

Will you permit me, however, to assure you that the bounty of the ladies is a most welcome relief to our funds, and a valuable addition to the amount previously received from our fellow Yorkshiremen. And as we are engaged in a great work, both architectural and educational, we nope that the gentlemen who may not already have subscribed may be stimulated by the example and influence of the ladies to assist in an undertaking which will tend to restore prosperity to our trade, and remain as a blessing to future generations.