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APPENDIX I. 



COEEESPONDENCE WITH THE TEEASUEY ABOUT THE NATUEAL 

 HISTOEY COLLECTIONS. 



(No. 1.) 



British Association for the Advancement op Science, 

 22 Albemarle Street, London, W. 



March 25, 1879. 



To the Might Hon. the First Lord of the Treasury. 



My Lord, — In accordance with a resolution adopted by the General Committee 

 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at their last meeting, 

 the Council of the Association beg leave to call your attention to the following 

 circumstances. 



1. In their fourth Report, presented to Parliament in 1874, the Royal Commis- 

 sion on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science, having fully con- 

 sidered the present state of the Natural History Departments in the British 

 Museum, and taken evidence thereon from the principal scientific authorities of the 

 country, state that they have come to the conclusion ' that the objections to the 

 present system of government of the British Museum by a Board of Trustees as 

 at present constituted, so far as relates to the Natural Histoiy Collections, are well 

 founded, and that they have been unable to discover that the system is attended by 

 any compensating advantages.' They, therefore, recommend : — ' (1) That the 

 occasion of the removal of these collections to the new buildings now being 

 erected a,t South Kensington for their reception be taken advantage of to effect a 

 change in the governing authority and official administration of that division of the 

 Museum. (2) That a Director of the National Collections should be appointed by 

 the Crown, and should have the entire administration of the establishment, under 

 the control of a Minister of State, to whom he should be immediately responsible, 

 and that the keepers of collections should be responsible to the Director. That the 

 appointments of keepers and other scientific officers should be made by the 

 Minister, after communication with the Director and with the Board of Visitors 

 (hereinafter referred to). And that the Director should prepare the estimates, to be 

 submitted, after consultation with the Board of Visitors, for the approval of the 

 Minister. (3) That the present Superintendent be the first Director. (4) That a 

 Board of Visitors be constituted. That the Board be nominated in part by the 

 Crown, in part by the Royal and certain other scientific Societies of the metropolis, 

 and, in the first instance, in part also by the Board of Trustees ; the members to be 

 appointed for a limited period, but to be re-eligible ; and that the Board of Visitors 

 should make annual reports to the Minister, to be laid before Parliament, on the 

 condition, management, and requirements of the Museum, and should be empowered 

 to give him advice on any points affecting its administration.' 



2. Exactly the same view as to the desirability of effecting a change in the 

 government of the Natural History Collections was taken in a memorial presented 

 to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1866, and signed by the Presidents 

 and other well-known members of the Royal, Linnean, and Zoological Societies, a 

 copy of which is appended hereto. 



3. Notwithstanding these expressions of opinion, in which nearly all the leading 

 naturalists of the day fully concur, an Act was passed at the close of the last 

 session of Parliament by which the Trustees of the British Museum have been 

 authorised to transfer the Natural History Collections into the new building at 

 South Kensington without making any change whatever in the present mode of 

 their administration. 



