Report of the Forty-Sixth Annual General Meeting, 345 



accept or reject the proposal the Council will receive 5''our verdict with equanimity. 

 The discussion must at any rate have an educative influence. Some two or three years 

 ago we were anxious to increase our membership in Canada. We got into correspond- 

 ence with sympathisers, and from that quarter we received representations that the 

 name of the Institute is an obstacle to its progress an,d extension. That could not 

 surprise any of us acquainted with Canada. It is undeniable that young Canadians, 

 speaking generally, do not nowadays call themselves Colonials, and they do not think 

 of Canada, as a Colony, and that change in sentiment, due to the growth of the country, 

 is true also in a considerable degree of the rising generation in Australia. (No.) I 

 have been there myself, and I record my imj)ression. It is even true I should say of 

 New Zealand, though perhaps in a less degree. But perhaps the most signal proof of 

 the obsolescence of the term is that in 1907 the Colonial Conference resolved to call 

 itself in future the Imperial Conference, and since that time the self-governing Colonies 

 have become Dominions officially. Thus, at the present time, the title of this Institute 

 is strictly applicable only to the Crown Colonies and Dependencies, which represent 

 only one section — though an important section — of our membership and interests. 

 When we got these representations from Canada, we took all these considerations 

 into account, and primd facie there was considerable argument for changing the 

 name. On the other hand, we were fully conscious of the objection. All the old 

 Fellows of the Institute must retain a considerable affection for the old name, just as 

 when the name of the Colonial Conference was changed many men of repute said that 

 they sincerely regretted the change. There is this further objection, that although the 

 name may be out of date, it does not follow it is a hindrance to the work of the Society. 

 It is not dilTiCult to find examples of other societies which have quite modernised their 

 aims and methods but still retain a name which is not only out of date, but which, 

 perhaps, has acquired some unfavourable stigma. Take for example, the Hudson's 

 Bay Co. The official title is the Honourable Company of Adventurers in the Hudson 

 Bay. But " adventurers " nowadays has quite a different sense, and some of the 

 shareholders might not like to have themselves so described. Then, of course, you 

 cannot make any change of this kind without causing an uf)set which, for the 

 time being, will be a drawback to the progress of the Society. Finally, there is 

 the objection that after all we are not standing still, that we are making progress. 

 These were considerations w^e had before us two years ago. We thought then the proper 

 thing to do was to try and test the feeling of the Fellows, and that we might do so by a 

 referendum. In the Journal for 1912, therefore, we enclosed a voting paper for each 

 Fellow, asking : (1) whether he favoured any change, and (2) whether he would indicate 

 what change he desired. We put forward fifteen alternative different names suggested 

 from various quarters. The result was somewhat disappointing. Of only 592 answers 

 received, the majority 344, were in favour of change, 160 were against, and 88 were 

 apparently neutral. Among those who favoured a change many were in favour of 

 other names than those put forward, so that now we have a list of twenty-six names. 

 We took that as a mandate to go a little further, and so we tried to select a new name, 

 but we found it so difficult that presently we decided to put the matter in a pigeon- 

 hole. However, last year a new development occurred. We received a large accession 

 of new members from South America. It is, I submit, very sound policy to try and 

 enrol British subjects wherever they ma}^ happen to live, for there is one interest 

 common to British subjects, the preservation of the union of the Empire. We thought 

 South America a very fertile field for recruiting new Fellows, but as soon as we had 

 recruited them, this question came up again. It was represented to us that the nam,e 



