Abstract
THE satisfaction that has been expressed with the recommendation that the Imperial Institute should be maintained at South Kensington is accompanied with a still wider regret that the collections are to be abolished to make room for the War Museum. The Committee which has made these recommendations appears to regard the collections as of use only as trade samples and accepts the view that those at the offices of the Australian agencies in the Strand are more useful. The Imperial Institute collections, however, are much wider in their scope. The Imperial Conference urged the need of extended teaching of the geography of the Empire, and the Imperial Institute collections are unique as an illustration of the life, resources, and scenery of every country within the Empire. It is the only collection in Great Britain which can be compared with the geographical museums of Germany. The Institute is naturally of less value to the great Dominions, which can afford well-equipped research departments and show rooms in the centre of London, than it is to the smaller colonies and dependencies. Hence Australia in pre-War times contributed to the Institute only 500l. per annum against loool. given by Ceylon. The smaller dependencies, and especially those in the tropics, are in increasing need of the help that may be given by an Imperial co-operative organisation. Emphatic testimony to the educational value of the galleries is quoted in the minority report, in which New Zealand offers an increased subsidy if they be maintained. The collections are also condemned on the ground that they are only of value to people in London, a drawback shared by all national metropolitan institutions. The leasing of the galleries is recommended as a means of raising 8000l. per annum for the general revenues of the Institute. For this amount costly collections made and presented by governments and individuals are to be scrapped, and a building largely raised by private subscriptions, and the site given by the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition for an Imperial scientific institution, are to be handed over to a War Museum. Mr. H. M. Lidderdale, Secretary to the executive council, has been appointed Acting Director pending the reorganisation of the Institute.
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Current Topics and Events. Nature 112, 838–842 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/112838a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/112838a0