320 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 3, 



Read the following letter from Mr. E. C. Bayley, Secy, to Govt, 

 of India, in the Home Dept. : — 

 Feom E. C. Bayley, Esq., 



Secretary to tlie Government of India. 

 To W. S. Atkinson, Esq., 



Secretary to the Asiatic Society. 

 Dated Port William, the 22nd May, 1862. 

 Home Department. 



Sir, — With reference to the correspondence noted in the margin, 

 ■From the Asiatic Society I am desired to inform you that, in the 



No. 308, dated 8th October, opinion of the Governor-General in Council, 

 1858. 



To ditto in reply No. 2700, the time has arrived when the foundation 



dated 8th December, 1858. ' of a p ublic Museum in Calcutta, which 



has been generally accepted as a duty of the Government, may be 

 considered with a view to its practical realization, and when the 

 proposition which emanated from the Asiatic Society in 1858, " for 

 the foundation of an Imperial Museum, to which the whole of the 

 Society's collections, except the Library, might be transferred" may 

 with propriety be entertained. 



2. This proposition was made conditionally on the approval by 

 the Society at large " of the locality, general arrangements, and 

 managements," of the Museum ; and it is, therefore advisable at once 

 to state generally the views of the Government on these points. 



3. The Governor-General in Council considers it to be essential 

 to the success and good management of the Museum that the control 

 of all the collections which it may contain should be always unreserv- 

 edly vested in one and the same authority. 



4. It is accordingly thought right that the whole of the collections, 

 including those to be transferred hj the Asiatic Society, those 

 contributed by the Government, and all future additions to the 

 Museum, shall be placed under the sole management of a Board of 

 Trustees. 



5. Plis Excellency in Council acknowledges the importance and 

 value of the collections which the Asiatic Society has offered to 

 transfer to the Public Museum, and the just claims which the Society 

 has to share in the management of an institution, the foundation of 

 which will be so much dependent on these contributions and on the 

 previous labours of the Society. 



