820 'Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 8, 
Read the following letter from Mr. E. C. Bayley, Secy, to Govt, 
of India, in the Home Dept. :— 
From E. C. Bayley, Esq., 
Secretary to the Government of India. 
To W. S. Atkinson, Esq., 
Secretary to the Asiatic Society. 
Dated Fort William , the 22nd May , 1862. 
Home Department. 
Sir, —With reference to the correspondence noted in the margin, 
From the Asiatic Society 1 am desired to inform you that, in the 
No. 308, dated 8th October, opinion of the Governor-General in Council, 
To ditto in reply No. 2700, the time has arrived when the 'foundation 
dated 8th December, 1858. 0 f a p u t)]j c 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. 
8. 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 by 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. His 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. 
