306 Royal Colonial Institute. 



passing he wished to say that they owed a debt of gratitude to those who, some two 

 or three years ago, were responsible for calling the Conference on the subject. There 

 were many of them, he said, who felt that emigration within the Empire required 

 control, direction, and assistance, and the work of the Committee, he thought, promised 

 well for the future. 



Mr. P. Wood cordially concurred in Colonel Allen's suggestion as to the importance 

 of some official representative of the Institute visiting the various Dominions. 

 Provided they could get the right man to go, nothing but good could come of it. It 

 would tend, among other things, to a better feeling between the Mother Country and 

 the Colonies. We wanted to know one another better. That was to be brought 

 about by friends from other parts of the world coming to see us, and by our going to 

 see them. He was exceedingly glad the Council were beginning to accumulate a 

 Eeserve Fund. He wished the excellent library connected with the Institute was 

 used even more than it is. It was a great pleasure to go there and get the information 

 that one wanted, and the officials, he said, were exceedingly helpful in finding any 

 reference required. 



Dr. A. N. Ledingham was of opinion that our legislators at home ought to be 

 better acquainted with the Empire, and he suggested the formation of an Anglo- 

 Imperial Council on the model of the Indian Council in matters relating to the Colonies. 



Mr. D. Hope Johnston shared with the Chairman the hope that the Institute 

 would in time reach a membership of 100,000 ; but, speaking as one who knew Sydney 

 pretty intimately, he assured the meeting that the Institute was comparatively 

 unknown there at present. There were thousands of Imperialists in Sydney. If 

 the Chairman or Mr. Boose were to pay them a visit he thought the result would be 

 a large ncrease in members. He suggested that in every capital city a large body 

 of correspondents should be appointed. If they had a large number of such 

 representatives the annual dinners at Sydney, Melbourne, and Wellington would be 

 very big affairs indeed and would result in a large addition to the membership. With 

 regard to Sir Frederick Young, he had a very lively feeling of regard for him. He 

 had always found him kind and considerate to those who came to the Institute 

 practically as strangers. He was the first to take them by the hand and make them 

 feel at home. 



Mr. Alfred Moor-Radford was unfeignedly glad to see the Institute branching 

 out in all directions and doing such a great deal of good. With regard to emigration, 

 he hoped those directing that matter would confine themselves only to one side of 

 the subject, and that was child emigration, for in a general way nothing could be done 

 with emigrants as a whole except under the a3gis of governments. He agreed that 

 the Journal could be improved. It should be made of some practical use to those 

 in the Dominions, and an epitome of current events for the months would be useful. 



Mr. J. Saxon Mills was of opinion, speaking with a pretty wide experience of 

 London institutions, that the Institute was the most efficiently managed and admir- 

 able of any of them. He referred particularly to the Library and paid a tribute to 

 the excellent services rendered by the Librarian. As one who unfortunately had 

 to make his living by his pen, he could not possibly dispense with the Library of the 

 Institute. Something had been said about emigration. As usual, it was all about 

 the emigration of the working classes. The unfortunate middle classes of this country, 

 who were between the devil and the deep sea, ground beneath the heel of the capitalist 

 on the one hand and taxed to death for the support of the working classes on the 

 other, had very little done for them. They had 7,000 members of the Institute, 



