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Canadian Record of Science. 



resolved by the General Committee " that it is of urgent 

 importance to press upon the Government the necessity 

 of establishing a Bureau of Ethnology for Greater Britain, 

 which by collecting information with regard to the native 

 races within and on the borders of the Empire will prove 

 of immense value to science and to the Government 

 itself." It has been suggested that such a bureau might 

 with the greatest advantage and with the least outlay and 

 permanent expense be connected either with the British 

 Museum or with the Imperial Institute, and the project 

 has already been submitted for the consideration of the 

 trustees of the former establishment. 



The existence of an almost unrivalled ethnological 

 collection in the Museum, and the presence there of 

 officers already well versed in ethnological research, seem 

 to afford an argument in favor of the proposed bureau 

 being connected with it. On the other hand, the Imperial 

 Institute was founded with an especial view to its being a 

 centre around which every interest connected with 

 the dependencies of the Empire might gather for informa- 

 tion and support. The establishment within the last 

 twelve months of a Scientific Department within the 

 Institute, with well-appointed laboratories and a highly 

 trained staff, shows how ready are those concerned in its 

 management to undertake any duties that may conduce to 

 the welfare of the outlying parts of the British Empire : a 

 fact of which I believe that Canada is fully aware. The 

 Institute is therefore likely to develop, so far as its 

 scientific department is concerned, into a Bureau of 

 Advice in all matters scientific and technical, and 

 certainly a Bureau of Ethnology such as that suggested 

 would not be out of place within its walls. 



Wherever such an institution is to be established, 

 the question of its existence must of necessity rest with 

 Her Majesty's Government and Treasury, inasmuch as 

 without funds, however moderate, the undertaking cannot 



