The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-04-25 00:00:00

OPENING OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.

With respect to the Pritisli 3Th'satinti the Geological
Museum, and the Museum of the East _mild e..!thiipany,
your committee find that although many of the objects
they contain could not be as well inspected by artificial
light as by daylight, yet that a large portion of the col-
lections could be seen in the evening, and would afford
much interest and instruction to the people; while a
desire for a more intimate knowledge of such objects
Would no doubt be treated, and .could occasionally be
grati&d is t 1 daytime; on general holidays, and in the
summer evenings.
Your committee also find that clear, legible llat'efsin
English, placed against specimens, and simple cats=
logues sold at a small cost, as well as occasional short
popular lectures, are much appreciated by the working
classes, and very much tend to awaken a love for useful
knowledge and natural history, as well as works of art.
With regard to the second point, your committee are
atsttrOd; that altho,tjgh the Kensiugton Museum is,
from its distance, the most clicult of access to the
working classes of all the public insiltiitioffe, yet that
during the last three years, in which it has been opened
for three evenings in the week, upwards of half a
million of persons have visited it in the ercning ; and
the general superintendent stated in his evidence, that
"on Monday nights the majority of visitors are certainly
from among the working classes."
But from the extent of the metropolis, even the most
central institutions lutist tiedessarily be at a great dis-
tane froM those disttiets Which are peculiarly the
residende of. Niaicing ilia, and theteftife to t:isit them
would demand too great a sacrifice of tith and of triode),
to make them generally available to the majority di the
people; and yet, from the numbers even of working men
and their families who have at night visited the Ken-
sington Museum, there cannot be a doubt that, were
they open in the evening, quite as many would frequent
tlii British Musetm? ails' the National Gallery as could
be safely accomniodata

Your committee are, therefore, iniPreati inn the
conviction that the same course should be followed with
surplus works of art, and duplicate specimens at the
museums,. that has been tried with so much success
in the Government Schools of Design throughout the
country—namely, that there should be loans of such
works of art and objects of curiosity, under proper
regulations, wherever responsible parties would provide
&liftable premises flit their exhibition. Thus, instead of
our vast national colleitions tetni ilitiitillj, entombed
as at present, or becoming so vast as to bewilder, and
yet so crowded as to be hidden, profitable recreation
would be provided in the various crowded districts of
the metropolis, which would successfully compete with
places of demoralising amusement.
It appears that the hours of business are still so late
in some cases as to make it difficult for mechanics, arti-
sans, and Otliett, bottipled iii ttade to go to any distance
for purposes of recreation or itistructibn ; yet )*eur Coin,
mittee are glad to learn that there is a gradUal and
steady improvement in this respect, by the earlier *sing
of shops, the earlier. payment of wages, and the
extension of the Saturday half-holiday. In' any case the
Majority of working . men leave theii employments
' before seven in the evening ; and all the meetings at
Mechanics' Institutes and People's Colleges, and all
classes for mutual improvement, are held in the evening
'j'he e-t-strs. seems likewise the time when the wives are'
mostly in the LIM 4 going at liitii their husbands.
Your committee have also receii'ed eileldice el Various
movements among working men themselves in oielii to
obtain access to public institutions in the evening. It ap-
pears that the Council of the Society of Arts has presented
two memorials from Mechanics' Institutes to her Majesty's
Government, one of them signed by the representatives
of 300 such institutions, praying that the National Gal-
lery and the British Museum may be Opened in the.
e+eniogi id flit &ITT! e way as the Kensington Museum is
opened. Petitithis have likeifigd been forwarded from
the largest etigirieerin- establishuletits id the nietferolis,
signed in each case by all the mechanics belonging to
thetd, praying that they Might he allowed on Saturday
evetiino td visit the Collection of machinery in the
Itensingtott Museiltii. ISidreo+et, YMir committee have
found throughout their inquiry that wiieriore't le&nres
or interesting exhibitions have been available for work-
ing men in the evening, they have invariably been well
attended.
Your committee would therefore submit, that institu-
.

tbils such as the British Museum and the National
6dltery should be opened on week-day evenings to the
ptiblie, and that as the opportunity thus afforded of
bringing the iristriktiOn add pleasure to be derived
froth *Mit* the within the read' of those who are
occupied during ordinary woricing hours would - be
appreciated by them, it is desirable that they shotild
be thus opened, under due regulations, between the
hours. of seven and ten in the evening, at least three'
days in the week. Monday and Saturday appear to be
the most convenient days to the public at large.

The death of Lieutenant-Gsneral Fleming, Colonel of
the 27th Regiment, is ailisOunced:
Sir Harry Verney, in committe6 on the reform bill,
will move the repeal of clauses in an act, George 3rd,
which prohibits officers of the revenue voting in the
election of members of Parliament.
The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada's traffic returns
for the week ending the 3lst ult., as compared with
the corresponding week last year, shew a total of
515,88.585. against £10,391 ss. ld. ; increase,
£5,394 3s. ; aoldisicnat miles open, 90.
Dikni di -31 r9a/fgo'foistek—lVe have to an-
nounce the de41.11•. of M. Chu. de Bemiciere, the burgo-
master _of had been indisp‘Sseci lot some
dips, and iietime so much worse on Friday mofffing
early, that the physician saw his end was near. The
Dees ,-of-,6t- Gudule-.was sent for to administer the
sacraments, and at ten o'clock he expired. This sad
event has thrown an unusual gloom over Brussels, the
deceased. limetionary Having been much beloved. No
public functionary •was ever more popular in Bel-
gitim than the deceased, and the whole city mourns
his .I°4. lie was born at Maestricht on the 6th
Jannarv, i 756, gad •siens consequently in his 65th year.
In 1831 he was gad_
of War, and afterwards
Niinister of FinanCe, Director of the Mint of the Bank
Belgium, &e. He has held the 7 office of buritoniaster
eer since 1848. It was to him that Brussels is indebted
fO an admirable supply of water, and for the restora-
tie or construction of most of the public monuments.
To him likewise the city owes the construction or
imPwement of schools, churches, theatres, barracks ;
also 'le adoption of various sanitary measures. His
deathsras immediately made known to the public by a
proclatation from the Municipal Council; the doors of
the Mel de Ville were dosed as a sign of mourning,
and a leetiag of the Communal Council was imme-
diately died to adopt the measures rendered neceseary
by this imentable event.
CA NAIAN TRADE WITH PHANCT,.---T he Toronto
organ of the Canadian Government, after
expressitA its opinion that the. Canadian lumber trade
will suffelby the repeal of the differential duties in
favour of Conial timber, admits the justice of the free-
trade polio.which England has adopted, astd says:—
" Instead of ndulging in vain regrets, it will be better
to devise son plan that will repair the possible injury
to a hitheo protected interest from what had
become the ,
evirtable removal of the protection.
To this test the Finance Minister proposes to
apply himself. He has given notice of resolutions
the object of licit is to promote direct trade with
France. It is sindar how little trade of that kind now
exists, considerit the ancient connection between-
Canada and Free ; but the fact goes to show hOw
much it is capable' extension. Our ocean steamships
will tend to devel9lis trade. We now carry the French
mails; and this nmastance will cause the resources of
the province to becte better known and appreciated.
In France there exs a kindly feeling to an ancient .
colony, which was n lost by any act of disloyalty or
rebellion. The Fret, Government showed a ready
alacrity to enter into a,ngereents with that of Canada
for the conveyance of tmails; and there is no reason
to suppose that it wilms less disposed to increase the
facilities for direct trade. Napoleon has already shown
that he considers the Cancan trade worth looking after
by sending a consul to 114)ec. France is very bare of
timber. It contains hard any forests at all. Most of
the timber it possesses grs in rows along the road-
sides; And while the prodion has been thus limited,
the consumption has bsenreat. The poor of Paris
burn their wood tires at a cogiat cannot be much short
of $4O a cord. The result is till great deal of discomfort'
has to be submitted to. Bthis difficulty may be in
some measure removed by there admission of English
coal. But it will take Sonatime before coal will
come into general use for dome; purposes in France.
There is a prejudice against i‘r has a disagreeable
'odour to olfactories not accustoi to it, and it would
never do to cover Paris with a ccug of grime such as
makes Manchester and Sheffield, dingy, dirty, and
disagreeable to the stranger. "%limn atnpose fire_
wood is going to be sent from Csda to. Paris; but
any large increase of the whole entity of wood in
France by. importation would obeli that whioh
is
used for burning." • - • •

The repori,of the Seeetjoommittee appointed to
inquire whether it is iii tHil der of .Parliament
to provide, or of the House to reComrtieild,Orther
facilities forprotnoting the healthful recreation and
improvement of the people, by placing institutions
stipPOrted by general taxation within reach of the
•
largest section of fhb tai-payers, at hours on
week-days when, by the ordinary elYik.'Oms of trade,
such persons are free from toil, has been issued.
It is as follows :
Your committee have considered the question submit-
ted to them under the following aspects:—
First. Whether facilities can be afforded to the
people at large for visiting public institutions on week-
day evenings, without injury to the buildings or their
contents ; the evening being ordinarily the only time
when they could in any numbers find leisure to do so.
Seeoiidly. Whether, provided such facilitiefi' were
afforded, they afdil theMselves of them in suffi-
cient numbers to justify iiie lE6ieited expenditure that
would be incurred thereby.
With reference to the first point, your committee
would submit that, from the evidence brought before
them, the National Gallery, and portions of the British
and other public museums could safely be visited in the
evening, if proper precautions against fire can be taken.
It hie been stated in the evidence that, provided the
ventilation
.be gSocl, yietpres and other works of art
are not injured by the burnufg ilf gas. The experi-
ment has alreadY been tried in On 6 initaLifte—lflidt of
the Mtiseum at Kensington--.--With the moat ailecessiti
results, not the slighte4 cuniplaint having been made,
either En; to the effects of the lightitig or the bbhiviour
of the tislidt;