6r8 



NA TURE 



\_April 28. I J 



'/ 



were so intimately identified with the tiiumphs of the recent 

 Exhibition. 



The Committee to whom you, Sir, intrusted the elaboration 

 of a scheme for carrying this conception into effect, became per- 

 suaded by a careful consideration of the subject that such an 

 Institution as your Royal Highness desired to see spring into 

 life, to be a memorial really worthy of the Jubilee of Her 

 Majesty's reign, and to fulfil the great purposes which you had 

 in view, must not be confined in its objects to particular por- 

 tions of Her Majesty's Dominions, but must be made thoroughly 

 representative of the interests and of the unity of the whole 

 Empire. 



The outline of the scheme for the establishment of an Imperial 

 Institute for the United Kingdom, the Colonies.'and India, which 

 met with the cordial approval of your Royal Highness, was 

 necessarily concise in dealing with the very wide extent of ground 

 which the operations of the Institute are intended to cover ; but 

 those who have carefully considered it, and rightly interpreted its 

 proposals, have not failed to realise that it aims at very much 

 more than the creaiion and maintenance of collections illustra- 

 tive of the natural resources of our Colonies and of India, and of 

 the development and present condition of the chief industries of 

 different parts of the Empire. 



One of the primary objects of the Institute will certainly be the 

 establishment of thoroughly well selected, carefully arranged, and 

 efficiently maintained representations of the natural products 

 which constitute the treasures, and are emblematic of the impor- 

 tant positions in the Empire, of those great colonial possessions 

 which, during the fifty years of Her 'Majesty's reign, have, in 

 many instances, experienced a marvellous development in extent, 

 in commercial, social, and even in political importance.' The 

 recent Exhibition not only afforded conclusive demonstration of 

 the great interest and value to the United Kingdom which must 

 attach to such collections if properly organised ; it also served, 

 by such illustrations as the magnificent collections of valuable 

 woods, from nearly every colony, many quite unknown in Eng- 

 land, and the great variety of valuable economic products from 

 India, of the existence of which we at home had little idea, to 

 convince us that our knowledge of the great countries which 

 constitute the chief portion of the Empire is very limited and 

 imperfect, and that tlieir resources are in many directions still in 

 the infancy of development. Our Colonial brethren cannot, on 

 their part, fail to be greatly benefited by being thoroughly repre- 

 sented in a well-selected and carefully organised assemblage of 

 illustrations of the sources of prosperity which constitute the 

 sinews of their commerce, and upon a continued exploration and 

 cultivation of which must depend the maintenance of their 

 influence upon industrial and social progress. Neither can they 

 fail to reap substantial advantages by pursuing a friendly rivalry 

 with each other in demonstrating the advances made from time 

 to time in the development of the resources of the respective 

 portions of the Empire in which their lot is cast. 



The hearty co-operation and important material support to 

 which the great Colonies, through their representatives in 

 London, pledged themselves when the scheme for the proposed 

 Imperial Institute was in the first instance limited to this branch 

 of the great work which it is now contemplated to accomplish, 

 afforded conclusive evidence of their earnest desire to be in all 

 respects thoroughly represented in the mother country, and to 

 take their places permanently in our midst as fellow-labourers in 

 the advancement of the prosperity of the Empire. In furtherance 

 of this important end, a notable feature of that building which, 

 in its char.acter, will, it is hoped, be worthy of the momentous 

 epoch which it is to commemorate, will be the attractions and 

 conveniences presented by it, as a place of resort and a 

 rendezvous for Colonists visiting England, and, it is also anticip- 

 ated, for the important Societies which represent the Colonies and 

 Asiatic possessions in this countiy, and the facilities which it will 

 afford for reference to literature concerning the Colonies and 

 India, for conferences on matters of common interest and value 

 to the Colonists and those at home, for the interchange of in- 

 formation between the British manufacturer and those in the 

 Colonies who are directly interested in meeting his requirements, 

 and generally for the cultivation of intimate relations and good 

 fellowship between ourselves and our brethren from all parts of 

 the Empire. 



The Institute will, however, not only operate actively under its 

 own roof in promoting the cultivation of a better knowledge of 



1 Statistical statements illustrating the development of the colonies during 

 ttie yueen s reign are appended. 



the geography, natural history, and resources of our Colonie^i 

 and for the advancement of the interests of the Colonists in this 

 country ; it is .also contemplated that representative collections of 

 the natural products of the Colonies and India, carefully identified 

 w ith the more elaborate collections of the head establishment, 

 shall be distributed to provincial centres, .and that the provinces 

 shall be kept thoroughly conversant with the current information 

 from the Colonies and India, bearing upon the interests of the 

 commercial man, the manufacturer, and the intending emigrant. 

 Although the formation and maintenance up to date of col- 

 lections illustrative of the development and present condition of 

 the important industries of the Empire also forms, as I have 

 stated, a part of the programme of the Institute, the scope of its 

 activity in relation to industry will be of a much more compre- 

 hensive character ; indeed, it is to be hoped that the work 

 which it will achieve in furtherance of the development and 

 progress of industries and their future maintenance in the 

 United Kingdom at least upon a footing of equality with their 

 conditions in the great Continental States, will be most pro- 

 minent in securing to the Imperial Institute the exalted position 

 which it should occupy as the National Jubilee Memorial of Her 

 Majesty's reign. 



There is no need for me to recall to the minds of an audience 

 in the Royal Institution the great strides which have been made 

 during the last fifty years in the applications of science to the 

 purposes of daily life, to the advancement of commerce, and to 

 the development of the arts and m.anufactures. Nor is it neces- 

 sary to dwell upon the fact that this country is the birth-place of 

 the majority of the great scientific and practical achievements 

 which have revolutionised means of intercommunication, and 

 have in other w.iys transformed the conditions under which 

 manufactures, the arts, and commerce are pursued. These very 

 achievements, of which we as a nation are so justly proud, have 

 led, however, by many of their results, to our becoming reduced 

 to an equality of position with other prominent nations in regard 

 to important advantages we so long derived from the possession 

 in this country of great material resources e.asy of access and 

 application, .and from the consequent pre-eminence in certain 

 branches of the trade and industry which we so long enjoyed. 



In 1852, Sir Lyon Playfair was impelled by the teaching of 

 ihe preceding ye.ir's Great Exhibition to point out that " the raw 

 material, formerly our capital advantage, was gradually being 

 equalised in price and made available to all by the improvements 

 in locomotion," and " that industry must in future be supported, 

 not by a competition of local adv.antages, but by a competition 

 of intellect." If this was already felt to be the state of the case 

 six-and-thirty years ago, how much more must we be convinced 

 of the full truth of this at the present day, by the conditions 

 under which the British merchant and the manufacturer have 

 to compete with their rivals on the Continent and in the United 

 States. 



It is still within the recollection of many that almost the 

 whole world was in very great measure dependent upon Great 

 Britain for its supplies of ordinary cast iron. Even as lately as 

 1871, the United States of America received from Great Britain 

 nearly one-fiflh of its total produce of pig iron ; but from 1875 

 all importation of British iron ceased for over three years, and it 

 was only in consequence of requirements in the States exceeding 

 the capabilities of production, that some small demands arose in 

 1879, which were for some time maintained. 



Within three years, however, the make of iron in the United 

 States increased by 70 per cent., and although, since 1882, the 

 actual make has not increased, the capacity of production has 

 risen enonnously, it being at present estimated at nearly 300 per 

 cent, greater than it was in 1S79. Looking nearer home, we 

 find that the iron of France, Belgium, and Germany not only 

 competes with ours in the open market, but that Belgianand 

 German iron is actually imported into, this country to a moderate 

 extent. 



From time to time the ground which we have lost through the 

 development of the resources of other countries has been more 

 than retrieved temporarily by improvements elTected through the 

 more thorough comprehension and consequent better application 

 of the scientific principles underlying processes of manufacture, 

 but the ultimate effect of advances of importance has not un- 

 frequently been to improve the position, in relation to the 

 manufactures concerned, of other nations less favourably 

 circumstanced than Great Britain. 



The history of the development of steel manufacture during the 

 last twenty-five years affords a most instnictive illustration of the 



