LECTUEE VII. 



THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, 

 SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P., F.R.S. 



[Read before the Bankers' Institute, 22nd May, 1879.] 



Allow me to congratulate you, gentlemen, upon the 

 great success which has attended your efforts to found 

 this Institution, which now numbers more than 1,300 

 members, besides a considerable number of applicants 

 not yet elected. The object of the Institute is, as you 

 are aware, to facilitate the consideration and discussion 

 of matters of interest to the profession, and to afford 

 opportunities for acquisition of a knowledge of the 

 theory of banking. It will arrange meetings for the 

 reading, discussion, and publication of approved papers 

 on subjects connected with commerce and banking, 

 for courses of lectures on mercantile law, political 

 economy, banking, and other kindred subjects. It will 

 probably institute examinations and grant certificates, 

 and will eventually found a library of works on com- 

 merce, finance, and political economy. I must confess 

 that, when you did me the honour of requesting me to 

 become your president, I felt some scruples in accepting 

 the invitation, gratifying as it was, on these two grounds 

 • — firstly, because my time was already so much occupied, 



