On Wednesday, at a great meeting of those interested in
the proposed Imperial Institute, the Prince of Wales, who pre- sided, announced that the enterprise had the full approbation of the Queen, who thought the foundation of such an Institution would be the beat memorial of the Jubilee of her reign. At a -subsequent meeting in the Mansion House, attended by a large number of representative men, the same view was expressed, .and a subscription was opened, which it is hoped will reach half-a-million sterling. The plan is to erect a great building in South Kensington, which has been finally selected as the site, and to house in it collections from the whole Empire, which will, as the Prince of Wales thinks, with their accompanying libraries and conference and intelligence rooms, help to diffuse a profitable knowledge of its commercial and industrial re- sources. Too much is probably expected from the project, but it is sound in itself, and it allows that element of time which has hitherto been wanting to these vast Exhibitions. In -twenty years, if the Institute succeeds, it should be a vast -museum possessed of large endowments, and supplying to the whole Empire a centre of industrial information. The objection raised at the Mansion House meeting, that it will benefit only the moneyed classes, is unreal. Every new and successful business raises the rate of wages all round.
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