A NATIONAL SCHEME FOR THE ENDOWMENT OF HOME SCIENCE.
[TO THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR:]
trust you will allow me to place before your readers the following particulars in regard to the National Scheme for Endowment of Home Science in connection with King's College for Women, University of London.-1 am, Sir, &c., ANGLESEY.
"A desire to mitigate the present gigantic yearly waste in infant life and the loss to the nation by preventable disease, due to ignorance, have led to the movement of which this scheme is tho outcome. It is proposed to foster a sounder knowledge of the laws which govern health, sanitation, and household economy. Tho moral and physical welfare of our country depends primarily on the training and healthy upbringing of its children. This is the special work which nature and custom have assigned to women, and it is by directing attention to the type of education provided for girls that the true remedy lies. By ensuring that in future every girl's education shall include some knowledge of the science which affects her home problems and some practice of the domestic arts the whole standard of home life would be raised, and trained experience substituted for instinct and tradition, which have hitherto been the chief guides for mothers. " To give practical effect to these ideas it was necessary for a University to open its doors to special courses for training women in the study of the science of the household, and thus ensure for our schools a continual supply of teachers trained to impart the knowledge on which the necessary reforms must be based. King's College for Women has made a most successful start in educating women on these lines, but the movement could not be carried to its ultimate goal without adequate endowment. No University courses are self-supporting in this country, and in all pioneer University work, first-class teaching is a necessity the cost of which cannot be met out of fees alone.
"The sum of .2100,000 was needed to carry out this far-reaching scheme ; £20,000 to provide a hostel for the practical training in domestic arts as a residence for women students ; .220,000 for building and equipping laboratories ; and .260,000 for the endow- ment of salaries for professors and lecturers. "The sympathy which her Majesty the Queen has always shown in matters connected with the home life of the nation is well known, and the success of this movement has been assured by the gracious interest which her Majesty has always taken in its development. It is proposed in this her Coronation year to establish the scheme and thus inaugurate a new era in home life. ".50,000 has been subscribed privately during the last two months. One generous donor has given .220,000 to build and equip laboratories ; another has given a like sum to found the hostel which her Majesty has graciously allowed to be called Queen Mary's Hostel so soon as the hostel is completed. "Of the £60,000 required for the endowment of professorships and lectureships of such subjects as chemistry, hygiene, physiology, and economics .210,000 has already been obtained, thus leaving .260,000 to complete the fund.
"A Trust Fund Committee has been formed to receive moneys given for the above purpose, composed of the following :—The Marquis of Anglesey (Chairman); Sir William Anson, Bart., M.P.; Mrs. Asquith ; the Rt. Hon. Arthur Balfour, M.P. •, the Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Buckley (Hon. Treasurer) ; the Viscountess Esher; Lady Meyer; Sir Arthur Recker, D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S.; Lady Rucker; Dr. John Atkins (Hon. Secretary).
" The funds will be administered in accordance with the terms of the trust deed by an Executive Committee, composed of repre- sentatives of the donors and of King's College for Women, in- cluding the Rev. Dr. Headlam, Professor Jackson, Dr. Miers (the Principal of the University of London), Miss Oakeley, Lady Rucker, and Prof. Smithella.
"Among those who have generously contributed to the fund raised for the purposes of the endowment of King's College for Women are :—The Marquis of Anglesey ; Mrs. Asquith ; the Duke of Devonshire ; Sir Richard Garton ; Sir Carl Meyer, Bart. ; Lady Mond ; Mr. Almeria Paget, M.P. ; Mrs. Almeria Paget ; the Earl of Plymouth ; Messrs. Rothschild and Sons ; the Marquis of Salisbury ; the Earl of Scarbrough ; Lady Wantage ; the Duke of Westminster."
[It is greatly to be hoped that the money required will be found before the year is completed. King's College for Women has already done admirable work on very small means in the field of Home Science, and we feel sure that it will make a good 1183 of the great opportunity which is now offered to it. Its ideal of giving a University status to the teaching and practice of Homo Science has often been sneered at, and still oftener misunderstood, but it has gradually won its way. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of the fact that the Queen has inter- ested herself in the scheme and allowed her name to be connected with it. Her Majesty, it is clear, realizes, and desires that the British people should realize, that the arts and sciences -which have to do with Home Life are worthy of the most careful study by those who must apply them.—En. Spectator.]
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