7

H.—25.

was only a question of time when the first instalment of a New Zealand contribution would be voted, in addition to the grants made by Canada and the Australias. Steps were at once taken for providing additional room in the Imperial Institute, in preparation for the sample collections of products and industries which all the Colonies of Australasia had agreed to send to the Institute; and, in August, 1889, Sir Frederick Abel, the Organizing Secretary of the Institute, addressed His Excellency the Governor, asking to be informed what arrangement was desired by the colony for the nomination of the New Zealand members of Council on the permanent Governing Body. In February of this year Sir Frederick Abel addressed a letter to yourself, expressing, by command of the Prince of Wales, the gratification with which His Eoyal Highness had learnt the cordial reception which your Government had given to the proposals submitted by Sir Somers Vine. Sir Frederick Abel explained that the Institute buildings were expected to be completed early next year (1891), and that the formal opening would probably take place about the anniversary of the Queen's accession to the Throne, when it was hoped that the first instalment of the collection of New Zealand products might be available for exhibition at the opening in an effective manner. His Eoyal Highness also directed Sir Frederick Abel to ask for an early confirmation of the aid that has been promised through Sir Somers Vine, and for a notification of the extent to which your Government would be able to meet the suggestions laid before you. I take the opportunity of sending you the reports sent in by Sir Somers Vine after his visit to all the colonies. The Institute buildings have taken a longer time than was then anticipated, and, as there is no prospect of their being completed early enough next year to allow the opening to take place then, it has been decided that the Institute shall not be opened till the spring of 1892. A proposal is now before the Governing Body to hold a special exhibition of mining and minerals at the opening; and a meeting is to take place next week between the High Commissioner for Canada, the AgentsGeneral for the Australasian Colonies and the Cape, and the Organising Secretary of the Institute, in order to consider whether such an exhibition is practicable, and whether the colonies are likely to take part in it. ' The Governing Body had hoped that, if not in 1889, then in the session held this year, the necessary vote would have been passed by the House of Eepresentatives to enable New Zealand to take her part in the work of the Institute, and to carry out the proposals that had been submitted to you; but this not having been done, the Prince of Wales now asks for the decision of Parliament to be given. I feel sure that the Government will recognise the necessity of giving an early answer to His Eoyal Highness, and I earnestly hope I may be informed by cable that your Government intend to bring down a vote for the Institute on the re-assembling of Parliament. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

Enclosure in No. 7. His Eoyal Highness the Peince of Wales to the Agent-Geneeal. Marlborough House, Pall Mall, 22nd November, 1890. Deab Sic Fbancis Dillon Bell, — Having recently asked for information respecting the money contributions made by the colonies to the fund which has been raised for the establishment of the Imperial Institute, in addition to the receipt in 1887 from the Government of Canada of the sum of £20,000, I learned that the Premier of Victoria wrote in February, 1888, to Sir Graham Berry, to the effect that the Australian Colonies had arrived at an understanding to contribute together, in proportions which had been fixed upon, the sum of £20,000 towards that fund, exclusive of £2,000 which the Government of Western Australia had already paid. I am also informed that the Premier of Victoria at the same time forwarded the sum of £5,922, being the amount of the Victorian contribution to the above-named subscription ; that £2,029 was shortly afterwards received from the Government of Queensland as the proportion of the Australasian contribution due from that colony; and that the Government of Tasmania has since paid two instalments of its contribution ; but that nothing has, as yet, been received from the Governments of New Zealand, New South Wales, and South Australia. The despatch from the Premier of Victoria above referred to stated, I am told, that, although the Colony of New Zealand had been included in the original apportionment of the sum of £20,000, it was understood that the Government of the colony had since agreed to give £1,000 per annum for ten years. The record of the Queensland Parliamentary Debates on the estimates for 1887-88 shows that the Colonial Treasurer quoted telegrams received from the Premier of Victoria, dated July, 1887, and November, 1887, to the effect that the Government of New Zealand had promised and agreed to give £1,000 per annum for ten years. A letter addressed to me in May, 1887, by Sir William Drummond Jervois, late Governor of New Zealand, informed me that the Governor of the colony proposed to submit to Parliament that an annual grant to the Institute of £1,000 for ten years should be voted. The main building of the Institute is now approaching completion, and the necessary measures have to be taken without loss of time for equipping the building, and for providing the necessary additional accommodation for the exhibition of the sample collections to be received from the several colonies ; the contributions made and promised from different sources are consequently now required to cover the necessary expenditure.