16

A.—9

John Staples, K.C.M.G.; Sir Frederick Abel, C.8., D.C.L., F.R.S. (Organizing Secretary of the Imperial Institute); Mr. W. H. Houldsworth, M.P.; Mr. J. H. Tritton (President of the London Chamber of Commerce), Mr. Nevile Lubbock, and Mr. A. Waterhouse, R.A. The following noblemen and gentlemen were also present: The Duke of St. Albans, the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, G.C.5.1.; the Duke of Beaufort, E.G. ; the Marquis of Bristol, the Earl of Bandon, the Earl of Bradford, the Earl of Caithness, the Earl of Cork, K.T.; the Earl of Cawdor, the Earl of Ducie, the Earl of Dysart, the Earl of Dartrey, Earl Granville, K.G.; the Earl of Howe, the Earl of Uchester, the Earl of Lanesborough, the Earl of Lucan, the Earl of Lovelace, the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, the Earl of Strafford, Earl Spencer, K.G.; the Earl of Verulam, Viscount Hampden, G.C.8.; Viscount de Vesci, Lord Ilothfield, Lord Hemes, Lord Harlech, Lord Kensington, Lord Rayleigh, Lord Wantage, V.C., K.C.8.; Lord Maurice Fitzgerald, the Right Hon. A. J. Mundella, M.P.; the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, the Right Hon. Sir G. F. Bowen, Sir James Paget, Bart.; the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Clark, Bart. (Lord Provost o" Edinburgh) ; the Lord Provost of Glasgow, the Right Hon. J. Terry (Lord Mayor of York), the Right Hon. Spencer Walpole (Governor of the Isle of Man), Sir J. R. Bailey, Bart.; Sir J. McGarel-Hogg, Bart., K.C.8.; Sir Henry W. Acland, Bart., K.C.B. ; Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P. ; Sir J. E. Millais, Bart. ; Sir Edward Colebrooke, Bart.; Sir H. Dashwood, Bart.; Sir Frederick Bramwell, D.C.L., F.R.S.; Hon. J. C. Dundas, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward H. Cooper, Mr. H. R. Hughes, Mr. C. W. Townley, Professor Huxley, Professor Tyndall, the Master of the Clothworkers' Company, the Master of the Mercers' Company, the Prime Warden of the Fishmongers' Company, the Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths' Company, the Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company, the Master of the Skinners' Company, the Master of the Grocers' Company, the Master of the Ironmongers' Company, Colonel Hambro, M.P.; Professor Michael Foster, Sir Somers Vine, the Mayors of Arundel, Andover, Abingdon, Ashton-under Lyne, Beverley, Bristol, Beccles, Bishops' Castle, Birmingham, Boston, Bideford, Bradford, Brecon, Bridport, Burslem, Barnsley, Bacup, Basingstoke, Barnstaple, Blandford, Bridgwater, Bury, Banbury, Blackburn, Brighton, Chippenham, Chorley, Cheltenham, Carlisle, Clitheroe, Croydon, Calne, Coventry, Canterbury, Crewe, Colchester, Chichester, Cardiff, Cambridge, Daventry, Darlington, Droitwich, Derby, Dudley, Dewsbury, Darwen, Devonport, Exeter, Eastbourne, Evesham, Flint, Folkestone, Gloucester, Guildford, Godalming, Grantham, Gravesend, Harrowgate, Hull, Hythe, Hanley, Huddersfield, Halifax, Huntingdon, Harwich, Hereford, Hartlepool, Hastings, Ipswich, Kingston-on-Thames, Keighley, Kidderminster, King's Lynn, Leamington, Lowestoft, Lostwithiel, Leeds, Llanfyllin, Lincoln, Longton, Louth, Lancaster, Lydd, Liskeard, Luton, Launceston, Leicester, Lews, Malmesbury, Maidenhead, Margate, Middleton, Maldon, Macclesfield, Mossley, Manchester, Maidstone, Montgomery, Norwich, Newport (Mon.), Newport (Isle of Wight), Nottingham, Northwich, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Newcastle-under-Lyne, Oxford, Plymouth, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Poole, Preston, Pembroke, Penzance, Queenborough, Ripon, Richmond (Yorkshire), Romsey, Rotherham, Reigate, Rye, Reading, Sheffield, Scarborough, Sunderland, Saltash, Southampton, Sutton, Coldfield, South Molton, Sandwich, St. Albans, St. Ives, Stamford, Stoke, Stafford, St. Helens, Salisbury, Stockport, Salford, Sligo, Stratford-on-Avon, Swansea, Saffron Walden, Totnes, Torrington (Great), Truro, Taunton, Tiverton, West Ham, Walsall, Winchester, Wokingham, Wilton, Wallingford, West Bromwich, Worcester, Wigan, Wolverhampton, Wareham, Windsor, Warwick, Wednesbury, Wexford, Weymouth, Yeovil, and Yarmouth (Great); the Deputy - Mayors of Chrstchurch, Rochester, and Yeovil; the Clerks of the Peace for several counties; the Provosts of Dumfries, Greenock, Haddington, Peterhead, Stirling, and Stranraer; the Town Clerks of Birkenhead, Bury, Brighton, Bradford, Devonport, Edinburgh, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Nottingham, Norwich, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Preston, Sheffield, Salford, Sunderland, Wolverhampton, and West Ham; and a large number of chairmen of the urban authorities of different parts of the kingdom, the meeting numbering altogether nearly five hundred persons. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales : My Lords and gentlemen—You are doubtless aware of the general feeling on the part of the public that some signal proof of the love and loyalty of Her Majesty's subjects (throughout her widely extended Empire) should be given to the Queen when she celebrates the fiftieth year of her happy reign. In order to afford to the Queen the fullest satisfaction, the proposed memorial should not be merely personal in its character, but should tend to serve the interests of the entire Empire and to promote a feeling of unity among the whole of Her Majesty's subjects. The desire to find fitting means of drawing our colonies and India into closer bonds with the Mother-country, a desire which of late has been clearly expressed, meets, I am sure, with the Queen's warmest sympathy. It occurred to me that the recent colonial and Indian Exhibition, which presented a most successful display of the material resources of the colonies and India, might suggest the basis for an Institute which should afford a permanent representation of the products and manufactures of the whole of the Queen's dominions. I therefore appointed a committee of eminent men to consider and report to me upon the best means of carrying out this idea. Upon the report of the committee being submitted to me, and after giving every clause my full consideration, it so entirely met with my approval that I accepted all its suggestions, and I therefore directed that a copy of that report should be sent to each of you. As I trust you have mastered the suggestion of that report, I do not purpose re-stating them to you in detail, but I would remind you that I propose that the memorial should bear the name of the Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies and India, and that it must find its home within buildings of a character worthy to commemorate the Jubilee year of the Queen's reign. My proposals also are that the Imperial Institute should be an emblem of the Unity of the Empire, and should illustrate the resources and capabilities of every section of Her Majesty's dominions. By these means everyone may become acquainted with the marvellous growth of the Queen's colonial and Indian possessions during her reign, and will be enabled to mark, by the opportunities afforded for contrast, how steadily these possessions have advanced in manufacturing skill and enterprise step by step with the Mother-country. A representative Institute of this kind must necessarily be situated in London,