The Central Board was

proved a great boon to the country. reorganised for the first time, September 26th, 1856, and again April 15th, 1875. The statutes for 1875 are still in force. They are published in the Regierungsblatt für das Königreich Württemberg, 1875, pp. 271ff. They describe the functions of the Central Board in its double position as Government Board of advice and as an organ for the trading and commercial classes :—

The Royal Central Board gives judgment respecting the bills. and ordinances relating to trade and commerce, customs and shipping, as well as the regulations for both inland and international communication. It takes steps to propagate at home the advances made in foreign industries, to diffuse manufacturing, technological and commercial knowledge. And it is concerned to provide industrial and commercial training in general. It promotes industrial activity by exhibitions, distribution of prizes, and measures calculated to facilitate the disposal of produce, as well as by action relative to the moral and economical situation of the working classes. It makes statistical investigations in its own sphere and advises other Government Boards in matters relating to trade and commerce.

The Central Board is subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior. The president does the executive work. The Minister of the Interior has the right of attending its deliberations. The Board consists, over and above the president, of

(1) Administrative and technical officials, at present eight in number, and teachers connected with technical institutes, at present two in number, who are invited to become members by royal nomination.

(2) Co-councillors belonging to the commercial and industrial classes.

The Ministry of the Interior has the right to appoint individual officials to attend the deliberations of the Central Board who are specially expert in any matter to be discussed. Moreover, the same ministry may associate a permanent commissioner, having the power of voting, with the Board.

The office of co-councillor is honorary and is only re-imbursed by the payment of travelling expenses. The appointment of co-councillors to the office is assigned as follows:

(a) To eight members consisting of the collective chairmen of the Chambers of Trade and Commerce in the country.1

1 The Chambers of Trade and Commerce, eight in number, are legally sanctioned bodies of persons engaged in industry and commerce. It is their task to observe the collective interest of their own class in different parts of the country. They are especially the intermediaries between the wishes and needs of industry and commerce and the government boards, and have to adjudicate, when called upon, in industrial

(b) To two selected from the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce and to one from each of the other Chambers of Commerce.

The number of co-councillors may be increased by one-fourth the fixed number of the same on the solicitation of the Board, or when the request has been communicated to the Ministry of the Interior. The president and the members appointed by royal nomination constitute the executive committee. It despatches business in so far as this does not call for a general meeting of the Board. The general body has to decide when there is a question of important general arrangements and procedure in connection with giving aid to industry and commerce, and with the grant for promoting industries. The questions, on the other hand, which may devolve on the current executive procedure in consequence of these decisions are discussed by the executive committee. It is the duty of the latter to inform the general body, at its periodical sittings, of its resolutions respecting assistance given to industry.

If its tasks were many and arduous the Board rose to them and displayed an efficiency that was as comprehensive as-thanks to its excellent leaders-it was intensive. The first President was Director von Sauter, who was followed, 1855-80, by Privy Councillor Dr. von Steinbeis. The latter was gifted with far-seeing and penetrating vision, backed up not only by rare ability, but also by wide technical knowledge, by professional experience, commenced in early years, and by an energy that shrank from no difficulty. Through him the Board was raised to a position of great importance. And the present President, Dr. von Gaupp, is inspired by the same high aims and discharges his important duties with great penetration and efficiency.

The Central Board has had a far-reaching influence, first and foremost, on the economic legislation of Württemberg and also, subsequently, on that of the German Empire. In all measures of economic importance it has taken the keenest interest and shown it by sympathetic appreciation, notably in the introduction into Württemberg in 1862 of industrial laws based on complete freedom, in the acts relating to customs, trade, banking, coinage, weights and measures transport, and in many others.

In the second place the Central Board aims at being an educational influence in the industrial world. For this purpose it provides at head-quarters, under the immediate superintendence and guidance of the president, the following institutions, which have arisen gradually in response to particular needs as those made themselves felt and have since developed ;

1. The National Industrial Museum (Landesgewerbemuseum). The object of this establishment was identical with that of the South Kensington Museum, namely the education of popular taste by models of

questions. The members are selected from persons engaged in industry and

commerce.

ancient and modern works of art and of artistic manufactures. As early as 1850 the Central Board had established a collection of high-class national and foreign products of manufacture, under the name of the "Württemberg Model Exhibition" (Musterlager), at an initial outlay of 17,000 marks and an annual expenditure of 3,500. Its object was to provide the people with instruction, incitement and opportunities of imitating. It is the oldest industrial museum after the Conservatoire des arts et métiers in Paris (f. 1794). It contains both models of completed products and new methods of production. In the course of time and chiefly by aggregation and donations, it has steadily and considerably increased in size. One of its most striking peculiarities is the exhibition of machinery in motion. From time to time special exhibitions are displayed, both of machinery and of manufactured products. For instance, in 1875, there was an interesting exhibition of the work of students in English technical schools and of the South Kensington Schools of Art, which proved highly suggestive to their Württemberg confrères.

The collections were on January 1st, 1896, of the following number and variety :—

Of raw materials, products of industry and artistic manufacture (with the exception of textile industries), of instruments and tools, machines, motors, models, means of protection and weapons = 24,500 items. Of textile commodities, stuffs, embroideries, laces and carpets 6,100 items. Of models of French and English manufactures 282,000 items. Of French, English, and German wallpaper designs = 10,000 items; also a Japanese and Chinese collection = 8,900 items. Associated with these there is a collection of descriptions of patents, trade-marks, and directories.

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The National Industrial Museum has placed at its disposal at the present day an annual grant of 37,000 marks (£1,850). Of this 18,400 goes to defray salaries, 13,000 to purchasing additions, 6,000 to miscellaneous requirements.

The museum is open gratis. The number of visitors in 1897 was 82,130. The number of articles lent out was 50,000.

2. The library of the Central Board. This has five divisionsscience (1896, 45,000 vols.), art (10,300 vols. and 7,000 fugitive papers), education (3,700 vols., many maps, globes, models, and drawings), collections of designs and studies (32,200 specimens), journalism (203 files of newspapers). The library is intended to give every one an opportunity of gaining instruction respecting the most recent advances in industry, as well as the construction of machines,

In the year 1896 new buildings were erected for this museum, at a cost of 4,000,000 marks, designed by Professor Neckelmann, a work worthy to rank with the noblest monuments of modern architecture. It should prove now, and in the far future, a lofty token of the high appreciation felt by Württemberg's kings, government, and popular representatives in the nineteenth century, for the institu tions designed for the maintenance and promotion of labour and industry.

apparatus, tools, and manufacturing processes in general, also respecting mercantile and economic questions. And its works of art and collection of studies serve to foster authentic taste and culture. The latter collection and the Art library are especially resorted to, and exercise very beneficial effects throughout the country, but most of all in the larger towns. They reveal tasteful designs appealing not only to the simpler handicraftsman, whether he be bricklayer, carpenter, mason or joiner, paperhanger, locksmith, house-painter, plasterer, glazier, or bookbinder, but also to constructors on higher planes-to architects, painters and sculptors, etchers, engravers, wood-carvers, lithographers, wood-engravers, engineers, machinists, &c.--by the presentation of first-rate graphic work, valuable etchings on copper and steel, lithographs, zincographs, illustrated works of every kind, woodcuts, and coloured prints, splendid photographs and photogravures, and different reproductions of the highest class with explanatory text. These are exploited not only by experts, but also by works of popular instruction.

The Library has at its disposal a yearly grant of 26,000 marks (to salaries, 11,540; to the science division, 4,700; to the art division and collection of studies, 6,200; to the educational division, 800). The number of works lent annually-20,100; number of visitors-21,000.

3. The Collection of Casts. The nucleus of this was formed in 1849, through purchases made at a French exhibition. The number of casts is about 7,000, and comprises models for free-hand drawing, ranging from the simplest geometric forms up to the classic capitals, architectural ornaments, objects of vertu, casts of leaves, flowers, branches, fruits, of vessels and pottery from different artistic epochs. There are also casts of animals and animal heads, and finally of the human figure, presented as the crown of all. All these models are largely copied by members of very different crafts, by architects, sculptors, stucco-workers, cabinet-makers, turners, gold and silver smiths, engravers, wood-carvers, ivory-carvers, painters, photographers, &c. And their influence is largely felt in technical and artistic design. The grant annually assigned to the collection is 2,000 marks.

4. The Workshop for Plaster Casts. In order to multiply copies of works, the Central Board established in 1865 a workshop for plaster casts and for modelling in wood. The works turned out soon obtained a great reputation and even found some demand abroad. Apprentices are admitted into the modelling workshop, and have thereby an opportunity of qualifying for an artistic career. Many of them have turned out excellently. The stock of models in 1895 was 2,552. About 350 are sold annually. The grant assigned it is 3,000 marks.

5. The Chemical Laboratory. This was founded in 1850 with the object of promoting investigation into general problems of chemical technics, of answering and solving the difficulties of private inquirers by analytic and synthetic experiments, and of instructing particular specialists in the chemical processes and operations of the greatest

practical importance in their several branches of manufacture; further, of giving courses in chemistry to whole groups of such specialists in their evening leisure, paying special attention to their most pressing requirements. The Laboratory has at its disposal a grant of 11,160 marks. In forty-seven years (1851-97) 25,613 investigations were made. There were courses in chemistry held in 1884 for soapboilers, in 1885, 1890, 1891 for workers in metals; in 1886 for house-painters, in 1887 for photographers, in 1888 and 1889 for brewers, coopers, and distillers, in 1896 for bakers, &c.

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6. The Literary organ of the Central Board. This is entitled. the Gewerbeblatt aus Württemberg, started January 1, 1849. The Royal Commission for secondary technical schools is represented on its staff. The editor is the President of the Central Board, the post now held by Dr. von Gaupp. The Gewerbeblatt makes the world of industrial readers acquainted with all laws and ordinances specially affecting commerce and manufactories. The Central Board keeps it informed of its own proceedings, as well as of the proceedings of factory inspectors, of the Chambers of Commerce and Trade and of the Trade Unions.2 It also publishes all the more important consignments for the collection of models, for the art collections, and the additions made to the library. Thus the public is always exactly acquainted with whatever novelties are made accessible to them. The Gewerbeblatt, again, publishes the patents assigned to Württemberg inventors, gives intelligence concerning important technical progress, and takes heed more especially of the needs of the smaller industries by accepting technical notices and practical counsels.

Further, the Central Board has worked for the diffusion of industrial and mercantile technical knowledge, partly by the production of new books, or by procuring the translation into German of foreign. works, partly by assisting in the diffusion of writings published elsewhere in Germany. To give details would take us too far afield.

Again, in order to perfect workmanship in certain artistic trades, higher mechanics' institutes have been established with the advice and co-operation of the Central Board, a combination of school and workshop. These include the Technical School of spinning, weaving, and needlework at Reutlingen, opened in 1856, and supported by the Government, the town of Reutlingen, and a joint stock company (called from 1877 onward the "Webschulverein, Reutlingen "). Since then it has been ever on the increase. The object of the school is to turn out efficient manufacturers, draughtsmen, master

These inspectors are members of the Central Board, and it is their duty to see that the laws regulating the work of children and young persons and women are carried out, and to watch over the personal safety of the workers.

2 The trade unions (Gewerbe-vereine) are free local associations of tradesmen representing common trade interests. In their limited range of influence they do much useful work for trade. They form collectively the "League of Württemberg Trade Unions," embracing 128 trade unions, with a membership of 20,000.

No. 36.-VOL. IX.

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