1885.] 



President's A ddress. 



289 



the Reports will be published, and the work connected with the expe- 

 dition brought to a close. 



In the Treasurer's address last year the Society was fully informed 

 of the action taken by the President and Council in the matter of 

 the position of this country with respect to the international " Bureau 

 des Poids et Mesures." I am happy to be able to report to the Society 

 that, last December, we received a letter from the Treasury, stating that 

 my Lords had asked the Secretary of State to. instruct the British 

 Ambassador at Paris to make known to the Comite International des 

 Poids et Mesures that Her Majesty's Government were willing to 

 join the Convention on the terms described in our Secretary's letter 

 of the 18th August, 1884, and that the proposal had been accepted. 



Your President is, ex officio, Chairman of the Board of Visitors of 

 the Royal Observatory. As such, it was my duty to preside at a 

 recent meeting of that body, when my colleagues agreed to recom- 

 mend the adoption of a day, commencing, at midnight, in all observa- 

 tories and in the Nautical Almanac, from and after the commence- 

 ment of the year 1891. 



Much to my regret, I have been unable to take part in the work of 

 the City and Guilds Institute during the past year ; but I have reason 

 to know that considerable progress has been made towards the 

 attainment of its object — the advancement of technical education in 

 London and in the provinces. The Finsbury Technical College is 

 fulfilling its purpose in the most satisfactory manner, and its day and 

 evening classes are so numerously attended that an extension of the 

 building is under consideration. About 250 technical classes in 

 different parts of the kingdom are now affiliated to the Institute, and 

 some of them are already developing into efficient technical schools. 

 The assistance which the Institute is enabled to afford to these classes 

 is restricted by want of means ; but there can be no doubt that far 

 larger opportunities of obtaining evening instruction in the appli- 

 cation of the different branches of science to industry are afforded 

 to the artisans of London now than was the case even four or five 

 years ago. 



Large additions have been made to the equipment of the Central 

 Institution at South Kensington. The engineering laboratory and 

 the extensive chemical and physical laboratories are organised, and 

 the systematic instruction of students has commenced. Scholarships 

 of the value of £30 a-year, tenable for three years, have been offered 

 to and accepted by the Governors of a number of public and other 

 schools. These scholarships are to be awarded by the head master 

 (not necessarily on the result of a competitive examination) to any 

 pupil who is competent to pass the entrance examination of the 

 Central Institution. 



