LEGACY WORTHWHILE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 271, 31 October 1932, Page 4

LEGACY WORTHWHILE

MOST ROMANTIC VENTURE FAMOUS EXPOSITION. BENEFITS TO POSTERITY. * , In a quiet room in Marlborough House there takes place every year a board meeting of one of the most romantic ventures of the modern world. In the, chair is the Prince of Wales, and among his fellow directors are such distinguished figures as Lord Macmillan and Sir Richard Glazebrook. Behind Jhis simple but important meeting, says the News of the World, there lies the remarkable story of an exhibition which started over 80 years ago, paid handsomely, and still continues to pay. U has been the means of giving hundreds of young men great chances which otherwise would have been denied them. To this amazing institution, which goes under the title or “The Royal Commission for tho Exhibition of 1851,” they owe their foothold on the ladder of international success, There is a wonderful air of romance woven round the great exposition hold in London in 1851, and of which Queen Victoria in a letter to the then King ',.io Piligians vrote; “Dearest Uncle I wish you could have witnessed May 1, 1851 ,tho greatest day in our history, the most beautiful and imposing and touching spectacle ever seen, and the triumph of my beloved Albert.” A PRINCE AT THE HEAD. A small body of distinguished men, including tho Prince Consort, sat down and thought out how they could spend the profits ox tho exhibition. Eventually they devised the novel and sucpussful sclieme which survices to this day. There was a surplus fund of nearly £200,000, and, headed by the Prince Consort, a Royal Commission was appointed to deal with it. The Commission included such famous men as Earl Russell, Sir Robert Peel and Lord Granville. By supplemented charter these commissioners were given the widest powers to deal with the fund in any way most likely to promote the knowledge of science and art. With business-like acumen and initiative tho commissioners got down to work and exhaustive inquiries. According to their official report, everything pointed to “the inadequate and wholly unorganised character of the efforts of both private and public bodies in furthering the interests of science and arts. ’ ’

The plan eventually proposed was to provide a ‘ ‘ locality where, by the establishment of central institutions working in co-operation with provincial interests, it would be possible to develop a systematic organisation of forces in promoting education in industry. STROKE OF FINANCIAL GENIUS. The proposal was quickly acted upon and tho Commission eventually purchased the estate of Kensington Gore. On this estate have been built several museums and colleges. There is, too, the Royal Albert Hall, although the Commission disclaim association with the Albert Memorial, The stroke of financial genius happened in this way. On the land bought by the Commission were built huge blocks of houses and flats, and the income from these was applied with eare and discrimination in the best and safest of investments. At the present day it would be a conservative estimate to put the value of the Commission’s contributions to public purposes at nearly £2,000,000. The actual work of the Commission is to give bursaries and scholarships to anyone and everyone with ambition and a willingness to apply himself to study.

A miner’s son and a dock albourer’s son have chances equal- to those more fortunately placed in life. The official recor.ds of the Commission tell many wonderful stories of success—how young men have risen from the humblest circumstances to positions with four-figure incomes. Here is an example. About seven years ago the son of a North Country minor was nominated for a scholarship. What practical engineering he had he improved with technical training. Then, through the Commission, he went back to the practical side and started specialising. In a very short time he was offered a position at £2OOO a year. PROGRESSIVE PROSPERITY. .. On its art side the Commission is responsible for the foundation of the British School in Rome, which has turned out some of Britain’s most brilliant artists. Housed in an unpretentious but artistic building in South Kensington, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 is not, as many passers-by reading the name-plate might suppose, a semi-obsolete concern, but an up-to-date and prosperous business run by a young and enthusiastic staff. Since the Prince Consort first conceived the plan of utilising the surplus funds of the 1851 exhibition, the conera has been always carefully watched over by royalty. King ’Edward, as Prince of Wales, evinced a keen interest, and King George, when he was president of the Commission, played an equally active part in the work. Today the Prince of Wales is not only the president but the Commission’s chief counsellor and friend.