Speeches and Addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888 Part 26

The Archbishop of Canterbury having offered a prayer, the Prince declared the Exhibition open.

CLOSING OF FISHERIES EXHIBITION.

_October 31st, 1883._

If there ever had been any doubt as to the success of the International Fisheries Exhibition, it had been thoroughly removed long before the end of the season drew near. The popular interest had been shown from the beginning, and the number of visitors exceeded all expectations. The total number of visitors was 2,703,051. The daily average of visitors, including Wednesday, when half-a-crown was the price of admission, was 18,388. The financial result was sure to be satisfactory when such vast numbers had been attracted.

On the 31st of October, the day appointed for closing, Mr. Edward Birkbeck, M.P., Chairman of the Executive Committee, read to His Royal Highness the President an address, presenting the chief statistical and other official reports of the undertaking. One novel feature was the report on "the fish dinners" supplied with the co-operation of the National School of Cookery. No less than 209,673 dinners were supplied, at sixpence a head, and with satisfactory pecuniary results.

A Report as to the work of the Juries having been presented by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales thus replied to the address of the Executive Committee:--

"I have listened with great pleasure to the Report of the Executive Committee.

"Her Majesty has followed with much interest the success which has so signally attended this Exhibition, and I have had the gratification of receiving, this morning, a telegram from the Queen, begging me to inform you of these sentiments, and likewise to express Her Majesty's fervent hope that lasting benefit to the fis.h.i.+ng population may be the reward of those who have shown so much interest in the welfare of this Exhibition.

And it is as much a matter of satisfaction to my brothers as to myself to have contributed towards the success of an enterprise, respecting which, at the outset, nothing was certain but the heavy responsibility of those who had engaged in it.

"I am well aware that Her Majesty's Government, the Governments of Foreign Countries, and of our Colonies, through their respective Commissioners, and the various public bodies and private persons to whom you have alluded, have afforded most valuable and indeed indispensable aid to our undertaking; and I desire to add my own thanks to yours for their very important a.s.sistance.

"But it is just that I should supply the only deficiency which I observe in your Report, by pointing out that without the administrative capacity and unremitting toil of the Members of the Executive Committee, and especially of its Chairman, the eminently satisfactory results which you have reported to me could not have been attained.

"I learn with much pleasure that, after all expenses are defrayed, a substantial surplus will remain in your hands.

"The best method of disposing of that surplus is a matter which will need careful consideration. It would be premature to allude to any of the various suggestions which have already been put forward; but I am of opinion that no proposal will be satisfactory to the public, unless it is immediately directed towards the carrying out of the objects of the Exhibition from which the fund is derived; namely, the promotion of the welfare of Fishermen, Fisheries, and the Fis.h.i.+ng Industry in general.

"And I think our duty towards the supporters of the Exhibition will not be discharged until we have done something towards the alleviation of the calamities fatally incidental to the Fisherman's calling; and until we have also done something towards the promotion of that application of Science to practice from which the Fis.h.i.+ng Industry, like all other industries, can alone look for improvement.

"I believe, that apart from what may be effected by the judicious use of the Surplus Fund, the latter end may best be attained by the formation of a Society, having for its object the collection of statistics and other information relative to Fisheries; the diffusion among the fis.h.i.+ng population of a knowledge of all improvements in the methods and appliances of their calling; the discussion of questions bearing upon Fis.h.i.+ng Interests; and the elucidation of those problems of Natural History which bear upon the subject. Such a Society, as the representative of the interests of the Fisheries, would naturally take charge of the scientific investigations which bear upon those interests, and would, no doubt, be brought into relation with the Aquarium which you wisely propose to offer to the Government, and with the already existing Fishery Museum of the Department of Science and Art, which is founded on the Collection bequeathed to the nation by the late Mr. Buckland, but which has been immensely enlarged and enriched by the liberality of many of our exhibitors.

"You have rightly divined that it is a source of great gratification to me to be able to continue the work commenced by my father in 1851; and, by giving scope for the peaceful emulation of the leaders of industry of all nationalities in public Exhibitions, to divert the minds of men from those international rivalries by which all suffer, to those by which all gain.

"The evidence of the public interest in such Exhibitions, afforded by the vast concourse of visitors from all parts of the realm to that which is now closed, has led me to hope that the buildings which have been erected at so much cost, and which have so admirably served their purpose, shall continue for the next three years to be employed for Exhibitions of a similarly comprehensive character.

"In considering what shall be the subject-matter of these Exhibitions, three topics of paramount interest to our community have presented themselves to my mind. These are Health, both bodily and mental; Industrial Inventions; and the rapidly-growing resources of our Colonies and of our Indian Empire.

"I have expressed a desire that the Exhibition of 1884 will embrace the conditions of health, in so far as, like food, clothes, and dwellings, they fall under the head of Hygiene, or, like appliances for general and technical teaching, gymnasia and schools, under that of Education.

"The question of the Patent Laws has for many years engaged the attention of all those interested in the progress of invention and the just reward of the inventor. I am advised that the Patent Act of last Session will afford a satisfactory solution of the difficulties which beset this subject, and will be especially useful to the poor inventor by enabling him to obtain protection for his invention at a considerably reduced rate, and in a manner which will be more advantageous to him.

"Under these circ.u.mstances, it has appeared to me that much good may result from an Exhibition in the year 1885, showing the Progress of Invention, especially in labour-saving machinery, since 1862; that is to say, since the last great International Exhibition held in this country.

"At the close of the Paris Exhibition of 1868, I had the satisfaction of receiving from the Colonial Commissioners an address, in which great stress was laid on the desirability of establis.h.i.+ng a permanent Colonial Museum in London, as a powerful means of diffusing throughout the Mother Country a better knowledge of the nature and importance of the several Dependencies of the Empire, of facilitating commercial relations, marking progress, and aiding the researches of men of science, and also of affording valuable information to intending emigrants.

"At that time I was able to do little more than to a.s.sure the Commissioners of my readiness to promote such a scheme, and to recommend the respective Governments to give it their full consideration.

"I trust that the British Colonial Exhibition which I propose to hold in 1886, may result in the foundation of such a Museum--the inst.i.tution of which would secure for the people of this country a permanent record of the resources and development of Her Majesty's Colonies; and I hope that an important section of the proposed Exhibition of that year may result from the co-operation of our fellow-subjects, the people of India, in a suitable representation of the industrial arts of that Empire.

"In conclusion, I desire, as President of these Exhibitions, to thank the Special Commissioners, the Members of the General Committee, and the Jurors, for the time and labour they have devoted to the business of the Exhibition; and to express my high approbation of the cheerfulness and a.s.siduity with which the members of the Executive Staff have discharged their very onerous duties.

"And I must finally signalize, as especially deserving of our grat.i.tude, my brother, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the other foreign and English gentlemen, to whom we are indebted for the bestowal of much time and thought upon the papers which have been brought before those Conferences, which have formed so interesting and so useful a feature of the Exhibition. I am glad to hear that the value of the contribution to Fishery Literature, effected by the publication of these papers and the discussions to which they gave rise, has received authoritative recognition."

FINANCIAL RESULTS OF FISHERIES EXHIBITION, AND DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS.

After all the affairs of the Exhibition of 1883 had been wound up, including the financial accounts, a meeting of the General Committee was held on Sat.u.r.day, March 22nd, 1884, to receive the Report of the Executive Committee. Details of receipts and outlay were presented.

Reference was made to the wide interest awakened by the Exhibition, the attendance of fishermen from many lands, as well as from all parts of the United Kingdom, and the success of the attempt to sell fish at prices. .h.i.therto unknown in our great towns. The Report and Balance Sheet having been presented, the Prince of Wales thus spoke:--

"You have all listened, I am sure, with great interest to the report that has been read to you by the Chairman of the Executive Committee. From what we have heard, I think it is patent to all that the late Fisheries Exhibition has in every point of view been a success. It has been a financial success, and it has also been a success as regards the enormous number of people who have visited it, not only of our own countrymen and those from our colonies, but from every part of the globe. It is unnecessary for me on an occasion of this kind to enumerate the objects of this Exhibition, but I maintain that its two salient objects--viz., the scientific and practical ones--have fully justified its existence: its scientific object by the display of every possible kind of modern appliance, thus showing the great improvements that have been made in the fis.h.i.+ng industry of the world; and its practical object because it not only showed to our own countrymen, but to all the world, what a valuable means of subsistence fish is. Many, I believe, had no idea of its value; while the existence of varieties of fish was made known which had not even been heard of by the great majority of people. Well, gentlemen, you have all heard that there is a surplus amounting to 15,243, and the question is naturally how to employ that sum. In the address that I read to you at the closing of the Exhibition I held out some hope that this might be applied in a useful and practical manner, and I would therefore now suggest to the General Committee that one of the best objects by which to perpetuate the results of this successful Exhibition would be to appropriate, say, about 10,000 to alleviate the distress of widows and orphans of sea fishermen. I use the words 'alleviate the distress' because I do not wish to bind any of you to our erecting an orphanage. That would cost a great deal of money, and, I think, would possibly be a mistake. If we were to embark in any great building enterprise of that kind, and in future find ourselves in debt, we should have frustrated the very object we have in view, viz., supporting the widows and orphans of those brave men who peril their lives at sea. I would also suggest that 3000 should be given as an endowment to a society, which might be called the Royal Fisheries Society. What shape that might take will be for your future consideration; but possibly some society might be founded under such a name or character, similar to the Royal Agricultural Society. We shall then have a surplus of about 2000 left, which, I think you will all agree, will be a good thing to keep in reserve. It would be for the general public in future to show their interest in this scheme by supporting it to the best of their ability. I beg, therefore, to move the following resolution:--'That a sum of 10,000 be invested, with a view to applying the proceeds to the a.s.sistance of families who have suffered the loss of a father or husband in the prosecution of his calling as a sea fisherman; and that a further sum of 3000 be applied to the formation of a Fisheries Society, such as was suggested by His Royal Highness the President in his reply to the report of the Executive Committee on the 31st of October, 1883.'"

That suggestion was that a society should be formed, having for its object the collection of statistics and other information relative to Fisheries; the diffusing among the fis.h.i.+ng population of a knowledge of all improvements in the methods and appliances of their calling; the discussion of questions bearing upon fis.h.i.+ng interests: we wish we could add, "the interests of the public," in obtaining more and cheaper fis.h.!.+

NEW CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL.

_December 12th, 1882._

The large and commodious building on the Embankment, which is the new seat of the old "City of London School," was formally opened by the Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Princess of Wales, on the 12th of December, 1882. The Lord Mayor, in state, the masters of the princ.i.p.al City Companies, and a large a.s.sembly of civic and educational notables were present. The Lord Mayor having given an address on the history of the school, and the work done by the Corporation in connection with it, asked the Prince to declare the new building open.

The Prince, after expressing the gratification it gave to himself and the Princess to take part in the proceedings of the day, and, having thanked the Lord Mayor for the historical address, said:--

"After what you have all heard with regard to the existence of this school, it will be hardly necessary for me to add more than a very few words. I also express my fervent hope that a school such as this one, which has flourished for a s.p.a.ce of between forty and fifty years, will continue ever to do so. It is a palpable fact that many pupils have gone up to the Universities, and taken high degrees, both in Cla.s.sics at Oxford and in Mathematics at Cambridge. The present Head Master is one of those who took high honours at Cambridge. Last, but not least, the Lord Mayor himself was educated in this school, and is the first boy who has reached that high position.

"I must congratulate the architect, and all those who have designed and built this school. I feel convinced from what we have seen that it is an admirably suited building for all educational purposes. Its site, close to the Thames, where it will get fresh air, and the admirable manner in which all the rooms are constructed, promise well for the future. Let me once again express a fervent hope that, under the blessing of G.o.d, it will continue to flourish and prosper. I now declare the new buildings open."

The announcement was received with great cheering, with a flourish of trumpets. The present Head Master, Dr. Abbott, worthily sustains the reputation which the school held under Dr. Mortimer.

THE NORTHBROOK CLUB.

_May 21st, 1883._

The opening of the club, in Whitehall Gardens, named after the Earl of Northbrook, for the use of native gentlemen from the East Indies and their friends, attracted a large and influential a.s.semblage. By the request of Lord Northbrook the Prince of Wales declared the club open.

He said that, after the clear and full statement by Lord Northbrook, he had little to say about the objects and advantages of the club. After expressing his gratification at being invited to be present, he said:--

"I have not forgotten--and I address this especially to those gentlemen who come from India--nor am I likely ever to forget, the magnificent reception I met with in India, not only from the Native Princes, but from every cla.s.s in India; and the interest I take in all that concerns Her Majesty's Indian empire I a.s.sure you will ever continue. I think it highly desirable that a club of this nature should have been formed, so as to bring natives of India into direct communication with our own countrymen, and that facilities should be afforded them to find a comfortable place where they can meet together for the interchange of ideas, and where they can seek relaxation after their labours in the professions which they have come here to study. That it will be found in every respect desirable, I am sure, and I have not the smallest doubt that it will be successful. I am glad to hear from Lord Northbrook of the money which has come from India. It is gratifying to know that the Indian Princes have been magnanimous in their subscriptions, and have shown the great interest they take in the success of the undertaking. I heartily wish prosperity to the Northbrook Club."

Some letters from India having been read, and several native gentlemen having been presented, the Prince made a tour of the club with the committee.