. Last Saturday the King, accompanied by the Queen, laid
the foundation stone of the huge new building into which Lloyd's will expand. Having outgrown its quarters in the Royal" Exchange, Lloyd's will move into a new home on the historic site of the old East India House in Lcadenhall and Lime Streets. Such has 'been the growth of a body which two hundred and fifty years ago found accommodation in a coffee-house ; which has never surrendered its spirit of private enterprise for State help, but has rendered invaluable services to the country. Lloyd's has a world-wide reputation some- what analogous to our Admiralty Court in so far as foreigners often make use of it in preference to their own institutions, and has a high value and responsibility for international peace. After prayers and the laying of the stone His Majesty made a striking speech expressing' good wishes for the future and especially commending the value of the patriotic services rendered by Lloyd's in the Napoleonic Wars and the Great War, particularly by providing marine intelligence which could have been found nowhere else. Incidentally, he is surely the first British Sovereign to quote in public and with approval a saying of Oliver Cromwell.
Previous page
