The King's labours were not exhausted by this tour. On
Thursday he was back in London to lay the first stone of the new buildings of the Imperial College of Science and Technology. The Imperial College, it may be remembered, was founded under a Royal Charter granted in 1907, and represents, as Lord Crewe said in his address, the latest and most effective development of the great movement towards scientific and technical education which began at the Exhibition of 1851. Funds for the new work have been contributed by liberal grants provided by the Government, the London County Council, and by the generosity of private donors, including the late Mr. Alfred Beit and other members of the firm of Wernher, Beit, and Co., the Goldsmiths' Company, and the Bessemer Memorial Committee. Even at the risk of seeming to adopt the courtier-like attitude which finds all words that fall from Royal lips semi-inspired, honesty compels us to say again that the King's speech was singularly wise in substance as well as happy in expression. "In recent years," said his Majesty, "the supreme importance of higher scientific education has, I am happy to say, been fully recognised in England ; and as time goes on I feel more and more convinced that the prosperity, even the very safety and existence, of our country depend on the quality of the scientific and technical training of those who are to guide and control our industries."
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