The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-09-25 00:00:00

gke ,Stourbribu Oberber.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 18'36.

AN LAME RI AL INST l'ruT F 4.

SHOULD her Most Gracion; Maj.‘s-v.,4 liFe be
_ .

spared till then—as all true-hearte,i I;eitons
are hoping and fondly anticipa,ting it will
—next year will Witness the jubilee of her
remarkable reign. The half-century is one
of such wondeifful Imperial progress as this
realm has not before known, just as the r2,i9-,n
of Victoria the Good is also the happe,,t
which our land has ever experienced. There
will be widespread rejoicings in recognition
of the auspicious event, rejoicings reaching
from end to end of that vast Empire where
the sun is always somewhere shining over
which her Majesty sways her sceptre so
peacefully and well. High ceromonials,
fetes, galas, and grand prooessions will take
place ; there will be showers of honours to
representative men ; and so universal a car-
nival of thanksgiving for such a Queen, so
lc n.,,0• spared to her loyal subjects, will have
to be chronicled as cannot fail to make the
year to come a red-letter one in the history
of the nation. Bat if the idea is taken up
with the spirit it deserves and carried out to
the full, there will be no jubilee celebration
) worthy of lasting note as that shadowed
fortli by the Prince of Wales's suggestion
for the formation of the Imperial Indian and
Colonial'lnstitute to mark the completion of
Queen Victoria's fifty years' sovereignty.
Taking the present Indian and Colonial
Exhibition at South Kensington as a sort of
starting point, it is proposed that a perman-
ent institute should be established, a place
which should be at once a museum, an ox-
hibition, and the proper place for the discus-
sion of Indian and Colonial subjects. Such
a foundation has undoubtedly great possi-
bilities. It would be nothing more nor less
than an everlasting exhibition, mainly on
the Ems of the one which has been this sea-
son so popular at South Kensington that
some four millions of visitors have already
passed through the turnstiles. The Prince
of Wales, who is the Executive President of
the Exhibition, anticipates that arrange-
ments may be made whereby the more im-
portant collections in the various courts can
be placed at the disposal of the suggested
institute, the presidency of which he would
be Willing to undertake. Such an institu-
tion as the Heir-Apparent desires to perpetu-
ate, if maintained with sufficient attractive-
' nsss to hold its own as a place of popular
public resort, would, unquestionably, be
invaluable. It would, as his Royal High-
ness holds, be singularly appropriate for the
purpose it would thereafter communicate,
for it would illustrate in a manner most
pleasing the progress made during her
Majesty's reign in the Colonial and Indian
Dominions, while it would henceforth re-
cord Year by year the developement of the
Empire in the arts of civilisation. It would,
as. the Prince truly argues, be deeply inter-
esting to her Majesty's subjects, at home
and over seas; and would tend to simulate
emigration to those British territories where
it is really required, to expand the trade
between British communities; and to draw
more tightly together the bonds which unite
the T]rnpire. The idea, well and practically
expanded, is one which will at once com-
mend itself to the public. It is regarded as
a happy thought by the press generally, and
the Lord Mayor of London immediately
embraced the suggestion thrown out by the
Heir-Apparent, and offered to open a sub-
scription to carry the plan into effect. This
is all well and good : and there will, doubt-
less, be a good deal of. expense in embody-
ing the proposal on a permanent footing.
But with judicious management, which
wohld admit of our Colonial cousins having
the inducement of a big home advertisement
for their productions, and so command their
• full support, the Imperial Institute need not
cost so much as would at first sight seem
necessary for the maintenance of so big an
affair. A popular admission price might be
charged with advantage—not a prohibitive
one—on the principle that what costs no-
thing is not well appreciated. Such a charge
say, as the threepenny adult workmen's
tickets and three-halfpenny children's ad-
missions now available at the exhibition en-
tail. There might also be a reserve day, at
a higher price, after the manner of the re-
gulation Wednesday of this year's and former
South Kensington shows. A good and in-
fluential executive:could, out of receipts for
ground stands from interested exhibitors—
care being taken to prevent the commercial
element, which would form a financial back-
bone, from becoming unduly prominent—
together with the admission income, provide
a good many attractions in the way of light-
ing and music to brighten the place, and all
at such an expenditure that there need not
be much occasion for heavy State subvention.
There would, of course, be Government
grants of exhibits of the museum class, and
money would come in from private persons
also. We apprehend no unsurmountable
difficulty in the way of establishing a per-
manent institute of. the suggested sort in a
central site in London, and we trust it will
be formed for the Jubilee Year. It should
not be too dull and technical, but aim to at-
tract and interest as well as teach and ex-
emplify, then the institute would be of vast
benefit as a recreative resort as well as an
educational medium, a gigantic and pleasing
permanent object lesson for young and old
in all things Colonial and indeed Imperial.
Its advantages as a common gathering
ground and field for federation for people
from every part of the Empire are obvious,
inter-communion and discussion could be
carried on with facility, while commerce.
between the motherland and her best cus-
tomers, the Colonies, would be greatly helped
forward. Every success to the project,
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