1872-82 MELBOURNE EXHIBITION COMMISSION 241 
manner worthy of the greatest commercial and 
colonial empire of the world.’ 
Writing on the same subject to Dr. Pearson 
Langshaw, December 21, 1879, he says: — 
‘ I nurse my old chronic “bronchitis ” by the 
fireside, whenever I can, hoping still to survive 
the arrangement in systematic order of the 
national treasures of natural history in their 
noble new building. But the halter of an Affghan 
is a costly affair ; so is a bullet in the body 
of a Zulu. Mr. Robert Lowe let the “ tail 
of the cat ” out of the bag, when he told the 
public that the sum for the purchase of books for 
the National Library had been cut down. If he 
had let out the “whole animal,” he would have 
dealt a better blow. “ We cannot afford the 
furniture,” &c., &c. ! and the. prospect of getting 
in, even in 1881, is poor, unless we have a 
Chancellor of the Exchequer who will lay on a 
i^. or i.y. 6ff. in the pound income tax, and pay 
the debts of the year within the year like decent, 
honest people.’ 
In 1879 a fitting tribute was paid to a man 
who had been an active member of the Com- 
mission for the first Great Exhibition. Nearly 
thirty years had elapsed between that appoint- 
ment and Owen’s nomination to be a Member 
of the Royal Commission for the British Section 
of the International Exhibition of Melbourne, 
1880. 
VOL. II. 
