The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-31 00:00:00

rim SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 31, 1860.

on Saturday night week given by Mrs. Davis was
contradicted in some material points, though she
was corroborated by some of the witnesses as to
the general conduct of the deceased to his wife,
owing to his suspicion of her unchasteness. The
principal witness was a young man named William
Wilson, who is employed at the brace and belt
manufactory of Mr. Perkins, in George's-street, and
according to his evidence a very serious quarrel
took place between deceased and his wife on Satur-
day week. Mr. Perkins' workshop overlooks the
yard in which the unhappy couple lived, and as
Wilson was at work about six o'clock he heard the
wife cry out " Murder." He opened the door of
the workshop and looked out, and deceased was
then pushing his wife down the steps. Deceased
told her " he did not want her any more, and that
she ,might go away," and when he had put her
stothe bottom of the steps he retired into the
house. The wife, in a passion, took up a stone,
and threw it at the window. She also cried
out, " Give ma the child, and I will go." The
deceased came to the door and said, " I would
not let you have the child to make it as bad as
you are yourself." The prisoner then began to
upbraid him, upon which he ran down the steps
towards her. As he came up to her, the prisoner
seized a mallet (weighing about slbs., and used by
Mr. Perkins' men to assist them in punching holes
in braces and belts) and struck him on the head
with it. She kept the murderous instrument in
her hand, and did not heave it at him. The effect
of the blow was to make the deceased's head bleed,
for young Wilson distinctly saw the blood trickling
down Willan's face. Willan then got hold of his
wife by the shoulders, knocked her down, and
bumped her head several times on the floor. As the
prisoner arose her husband went up again into the
house, and she again commenced abusing him, but
finally walked away through the passage as if to-
wards George's-street. This was all Wilson saw of
the quarrel, but deceased afterwards came out of
the house and told the neighbours that he was
jealous of another man, that she had persuaded him
to leave his work, and go with her about the coun-
try attending feasts and fairs with the hurdy •
gurdy, and that he had seen her speak to another
man at a feast, and had been jealous of her ever
since. It was evident that some information was
not forthcoming which was required for the pur-
poses of justice, and the coroner consequently ad-
journed the inquest.

CLOSE OF THE COVENTRY STRIKE.

COVENTRY, AUG. 30.
The event which I indicated in my communica-
tion of Tuesday has come to pass—the Coventry
strike, which has been maintained over so long a
period, and attended with so much privation and
suffering to the working classes and such vast loss
to the general trade of the town, is virtually at an
end. For some days previous it was evident that
the pressure of want was becoming too powerful for
the committee to hold together the organised mass,
and the resolution initiated by that body on Tues-
day that contract work should be resumed was con-
sidered by a large number of the operatives at the
time of its proposal to be significative of a break-up
of the strike. It was argued that, as there were
hundreds who had contracts uncompleted of vary-
ing quantities of goods, there could be no guarantee
that the weaver, under the pretext of completing
a contract, might not undertake ten times its
amount of new work at the same or any lower terms
which he could obtain from the manufacturer.
General confidence was evidently shaken, and yes-
terday morning its result was seen in the large
number of men and women surrounding the prin-
cipal factories in the town, with the view of apply-
ing for work. At a later period of the day a meet-
ing of the operatives was held, when the considera-
tion of the resolution submitted to the meeting on
Tuesday was resumed. Mr. M'Lean, one of the
committee, in submitting the motion, observed that
" the committee was desirous this struggle should
now terminate, and he therefore hoped the resolu-
tion would be passed." It was in the following
terms :
" That in the opinion of this meeting it is desirable that
all factory hands, and all out-door hands should finish their
present contracts, but that no new ones should be made
except on the piece principle, in accordance with the rules
orthe trade ; and that all who act upon this resolution pay
liberally for the support of those who cannot go to work
on ti ese conditions, and that under no circumstances shall
weekly wages be accepted. Each person going to work to
receive the authorised card of the trade."
The motion, which was put to the meeting and
carried, was followed by a resolution of a more
sweeping character, and which seems to supersede
it, inasmuch as it really permitted the operatives
to consult their own discretion in reference to the
terms on which they should resume work. This
was also initiated by the committee, and was to
the effect :
" That the hands should treat with their several em-
ployers and resume work on the best terms they could, the
committee, however, being empowered to withdraw the
hands from any factory they may select, with the view of
carrying out the list of prices and the piece principle of
payment."

In support of the resolution the advantage of
fighting the manufacturers singly was strongly in-
sisted upon, and it was very clearly indicated in the
course of the remarks made upon the subject that
the resolution was directed more particularly
against those manufacturing establishments in
which the system of weekly wages prevailed.
In fact, the names of several of the manufacturers
adopting this mode of payment were broadly men-
tioned by persons in the meeting of those upon
whom the experiment of a "call out" would be
first tried.

Other resolutions, having reference to the organi-
sation of the " Association for the Protection of
Labour," having been passed, the proceedings were
brought to a close.
Immediately subsequent to this break-up of the
strike the operatives pressed forward in great num-
bers—l may say in hundreds—to offer their labour
at the factories, and for some hours in the afternoon
those streets of Coventry in which the factories are
situated presented, in consequence, a scene of more
than ordinary animation. I am assured that in
every case work was resumed on the employers'
terms, both as to amount of wages and mode of
payment. I ascertained last evening that the hands
had returned to the following factories on weekly
wages :-111c.,srs. Hart and Co., Spencer and Hors-
fall, Iliffe, Peters, and J. and I. Cash ; and I have
been informed that to-day all the other factories
have their " hands " all in, i.e.—as many as they
can find employment for. In fact, the experience
of yesterday and to-day must have awakened the
operatives as from a dream. Throughout the whole
period of the strike they seem to have acted on the
assumption that there was more labour than hands
to perform it. They have.found that the question
is no longer one merely of " the men going to work,"
so much as of whether they can get work, and I
regret to say that a demonstration has already been
afforded in a very unpalatable shape that, as it
respects the ribbon trade of Coventry, the case
is the reverse of that of "two masters wanting
one man." I saw last evening a number of
men who informed me that up to that time they
had been unable to get work. While not only
the weavers, but other parties in Coventry have
been standing in apprehension of the bolt that was
to scatter ruin over them in the shape of the French
Treaty, two events less under legislative and
human control—an untoward season, and the pre-
ference which our countrywomen have given
" broad brims" and the other varieties of the straw
hat and the ribandless bonnet over bonnets with
riband decorations—have done more than the
treaty to bring the Coventry riband trade to a pass
at which employment is scarce. During the period
of the strike a large portion of the summer trade
has gone by, and the trade fer winter and spring
goods has not commenced. I regret to say that
even with the close of the strike the prospects of
the Coventry trade are sufficiently gloomy to war-
rant us in anticipating that for some time to come
there will be hundreds of operatives out of work.
Should this struggle, as indicated at the meeting
of yesterday, be prolonged, it will really be a con-
test between weekly wages and piece-work ; and in
the shape which the demands of the operatives at
present assume this will, in point of fact, act as a
check on the improvement of the producing power
of the machinery that may be employed in the
riband trade, while all the circumstances by which
we are surrounded indicate that it is in bringing
more skill and capital into the trade, that we have
the best chance of success in that field of competi-
tion on which we have recently entered with our
Continental neighbours.

MURDER BY POISON.—The modern poisoner has
discarded the rough agencies of his earlier brethren. He
treats you secundanz artem, and gives you the benefit of the
latest discoveries in toxicology. He considers your circum-
stances—your little peculiarities of constitution—your
habits, and then passes his arm under your own, and, with
soft expressions of sympathy and commiseration, blandly
edges you into your grave. He knows that the business in
hand is a ticklish one. He is playing a game at chess—
with poisons and antidotes for his pieces—against Mr.
Herapath of Bristol, and Dr. Alfred Taylor of Guy's Hos-
pital for his adversaries, and must give them check-mate--
or stale-mate at the least—under very sharp pent-hies in
case of defeat. The two gentlemen named are supposed to
possess some skill at the game.—Once a Week.

THE FRENCH OYSTER FISIIERY.—The port of
Cancale now possesses 291 fishing boats,. manned by 1,700
men. There aro 41 birge fishery establishments along the
coast, extending over a space of not less than 10 miles;
there arc, besides, 1,200 parks for oysters, capable of con-
tqining more than 89 millions of those shell• fish. The pro-
duce of the boat fishery (fish, lobsters, &c.) at Cancale
amounts overy year to about 1,700,000 f. The monoy dis-
bursed
annually amounts to about 100,000 f. The Minister
of Marine, struck with the importance of Cancale, has
made that port the chief town of the maritime inscription
of the district.

SOUTH KENSING7ON MUSEUM.

At the time of its publication, a short time since, we gave
a brief analysis of the report of the select committee ap-
pointed to inquire and report concerning the South Ken-
sington Museum. We now present our readers with the
document in its entirety t--

Your committee, looking to the terms of the reference,
have limited their inquiries, as far as possible, to the South
Kensington Museum, and have not thought it their duty
to enter at any length upon the many large and important
subjects involved in the institutions for promoting science
and art—viz., the School of Mines, the Geological Museum
and Geological Survey, the Museum of Irish Industry,
the Royal Dublin Society, the Industrial Museum of Scot-
land, the 12 Navigation and Science Schools, and the 80
art schools, throughout the United Kingdom, all of which
are under the Science and Art Department. The general
superintendence of and pecuniary grants to these institu-
tions are administered by the Lord President of the Coun-
cil and the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on
Education, at South Kensington; but these institutions
did and might exist quite independently of the South Ken-,
sington Museum itself, which indeed was added to them as
late as 1857. The art schools, however, have direct rela-
tions with the museum, in respect of the collections and
books of art; and your committee have accordingly inves-
tigated these relations,

1. Your 'committee proceeded, in the first instance, to
ascertain the nature, cost, and uses of the objects deposited
in the South Kensington Museum, and the reasons why
they had been placed in that locality. They find that the
collections consists of-1. Objects of ornamental art as ap-
plied to manufactures, with an art library ; 2. British pic-
tures, sculpture, and engravings; Architectural examples;
4. Appliances for scholastic education ; 5. Materials for
building and construction ; 6. Substances used for food ;
7. Animal products ; 8. Models of patented inventions ; and
9. Reproductions by means of photography and casting.

2. It is on behalf of the ornamental art collections of va-
rious kinds that the state has made the principal outlay.
The system of purchase commenced as early as 1838, in ac-
cordance with the recommendation of a committee of the
House of Commons of 1835-6.

A sum of £lO,OOO was voted in 1840 to purchase examples
of art for the schools of design; £5,000 was voted to buy
examples from the Exhibition of 1851; and in 1855 Parlia-
ment granted £20,000 to buy specimens from the Bernal
Collection. It appears that the State has expended during
the last 22 years on purchases of art specimens and books,
now in charge of the South Kensington Museum, nearly
£50,000. Mr. Cole produced an inventory which shows the
classes of objects which have been deposited in this depart-
ment of the museum. They illustrate various manufactures,
pottery, glass, metal-working, furniture, woven fabrics, and
the like; and their date extends from the 12th century to
the present time. The committee of the House of Commons,
in 1836, recommended that "specimens from the era of the
revival of arts, everything in short which exhibits in com-
bination the efforts of the artist and workman, should be
sought for in the formation of such institutions. They should
also contain the most, approved modern specimens, foreign
as well as domestic." This recommendation has been car-
ried into effect by the South Kensington Museum.
The system by which purchases are made was fully de-
scrilied by various witnesses. It is the duty of Mr. Robin-
son, the Superintendent of the Art Collections, to find out
and select suitable specimens, which after consultation with
the Inspector-General for Art, Mr. Redgrave, R.A:, and
the Secretary and General Superintendent, Mr. Cole, are
submitted to the Lord President or the Vice-President.
If they are approved, a minute is made either for an abso-
lute or conditional purchase. If the purchase be condi-
tional the object is exhibited in the museum, pursuant to a
minute passed by Mr. Henley, President of the Board of
Trade in 1852, and the public criticism is invited upon it.
All purchases are registered, and an inventory of them is
published and sold, which enables the public to know the
history, the date, and the price which has been paid for
each article. The objects are well arranged for public in-
struction as far as the limited space allows. Every article
is fully labelled in the museum, so that the visitors are not
obliged to refer to a catalogue. The collection seems to
have been economically made. Sir F. Scott, chairman of
the Birmingham School of Arts, and a collector himself,
considers that the objects would fetch from 7 to 10 per cent.
more than has been paid for them. Mr. Webb would "like
to give double the price paid for many things." Mr. Cole
produced a letter written by Mr. Hope, which stated " that
if Government is inclined to speculation it will realise a
handsome profit on the sums originally expended."
3. Your committee have investigated a complaint often
made against the South Kensington Museum and British
Museum, to the effect that the officers of these institu-
tions compete with each other at public sales. After exa -
mining Mr. Panizzi, the officers of the South Kensington
Museum, and Mr. Webb, the agent who buys for both in-
stitutions, your committee find not only that such competi-
tion has never occurred, but that a concerted action has been
always taken between both institutions, by the employment
of one buyer for the two to prevent any such competition.
The report appears to have originated from the fact, as
stated by Mr. Webb, that the British Museum and the
Ordnance Department once competed for a suit of Greek
armour, the British Museum being in ignorance that the
Ordnance Department contemplated such a purchase for
the Tower of London.
4. Evidence was produced to your committee showing
the great extent to which the public are disposed to co-
operate with the state in assisting exhibition. Exclusive of
the Kohi-i-noor diamond, and the British pictures, the
liberality of the Queen and of private individuals, during
the last seven years, has given the public the benefit of
loans and gifts of ornamental art, which have been esti-
mated at a value exceeding £460,000.
5. The objects have not been merely exhibited in the
metropolis, but a system of circulation, first recommended
by the committee of 1836, has been matured, and very suc-
cessfully carried into effect by means of a travelling museum,
the exhibition of which offers many advantages to schools
and museums in provincial towns.
Her Majesty has been pleased to allow objects of great
value and very fragile nature, such as Sevres porcelain, to
be circulated in this manner; and her example has been
followed by many private gentlemen, benefactors to the
museum. It is remarkable that, although the collection
has travelled through the United Kingdom,and been packed
and unpacked 56 times, not a single article has been lost or
broken.

Alderman Dunn, chairman of the Sheffield School of
Art; Sir F. Scott, Mr. M. Campbell, chairman of the Stoke
(Potteries) School of Art ; Mr. T. Fairbairn, chairman of
the late Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester, and seve-
ral other witnesses, testified to the public importance of the
principle of circulation, by which the public collections are
not circumscribed to a merely metropolitan use, but are ren-
dered national. Your committee are glad to find that the
trustees of the National Gallery are willing to permit the
circulation of national pictures which will not be necessary
to the central collection.
The Fine Arts Committee of the House of Commons ex-
pressed, in 1841, an opinion that, " independently of the
beneficial and elevating influence of the fine arts upon a
people, every pecuniary outlay, either for the purpose of
forming or extending collections of works of art in this
country, has been directly instrumental in creating new
objects of industry and of enjoyment, and therefore in
adding at the same time to the wealth of the company."
Evidence, illustrated by actual specimens, was brought be-
fore your committee, which proved the soundness of these
views, and showed how by a judicious cultivation of the
taste of purchasers and manufacturers, and by their action
on each other, new branches of ornamental manufactures
had been created within the last few years.
The art collections when first formed were placed in
Somerset House, then transferred temporarily to Marl-
borough House, and were removed to South Kensington
when it became necessary to give up Marlborough House
for the residence of the Prince of Wales.

6. The collection of British pictures at South Kensington
was commenced by Mr. Sheepshanks, who in giving them
to the nation stipulated that his pictures must be kept
either in the immediate neighbourhood of Kensington in a
suitable building, or, failing this, at Cambridge. This gift
of some of the choicest pictures of the British school has
been valued at £52,595. It has lately been followed by a
gift of water colours by Mrs. Ellison, valued at £2,996,
and other gifts to the nation are in prospect if Parliament
is disposed to find room to receive them. Mr. Sheepshanks
approved of the building erected from Captain Fowke'a de-
sign to receive his pictures, which are admirably displayed
in it, both by day and night. He also expressed his desire
that the local schools of art should derive some benefit from
his pictures, and some of the drawings of his collection
are now in circulation. The specimens of British sculpture
are valued at £7,130, and have been entirely contributed by
gift or loan. The collection of engravings and etchings has
also been formed by gift or loan, without expense of pur-
chase to the public.

7. Other British pictures are exhibited to the public at
South Kensington. They form part of the collections be-
longing to the trustees of the National Gallery, and consist
of the bequests of Messrs. Vernon, Turner, Jacob, Bell, and
others, together with the British pictures purchased with
the Angerstein Collection. They were first exhibited in
the basement of the National Gallery, in Trafalgar-square,
and were then removed to Marlborough House. When it
was necessary to give up possession of Marlborough House
to the Prince of Wales, it was proposed to fit up the old
riding-school at Charlton-terrace, and to remove the pic-
tures to this building, which was not fireproof. It was held
to be a better plan to erect fireproof buildings of a plain
and very economical character at South Kensington, and
this was done at a cost less than would have been incurred
by a provisional arrangement at Carlton-terrace, if the
value of the land on that site be taken into consideration.
The transfer of these pictures from Marlborough House to
South Kensington has been attended with increased facili-
ties to the public for seeing them; they are now °pen to
view by day, every day in the week, and also on tIY:Te even-
ings.

8. The collections illustrating architecture are partly the
property of the public and partly belong to the Architec-
tural Museum Committee. The collections of that com-
mittee are valued at £3,000, and were brought from some
lofts in Cannon-row to commence a National Gallery of
Architecture. These collections, for want of room, are at
present ill-arranged and crowded, They aro muck

suited by artisans employed in architecture. r The same
want of room has hitherto prevented the department from
taking possession. 'of the architectural casts obtained as
models for the Houses of Parliament, purchased by the
public at £7,000, and now costing the Office of Works
a year for the house•room at Thames-bank.
9. The collection of books, maps, diagrams, models, and
apparatus, used in primary education both at home and
abroad, has been made chiefly by private liberality. This
collection was begun by the Society of Arts, and first exhi-
bited at St, Martin's-hall in 1854, and at the close of the
exhibition numerous objects were presented to the Govern-
ment to form the nucleus of an Educational Museum. The
collection remained for some time afterwards unexhibited
for want of room, and was sent to South Kensington. it
has cost the public £2,101, whilst the value of the gifts and
loans is estimated at £5,085. It is now chiefly supported by
the producers of educational works, who voluntarily send
them for exhibition. The catalogue of the collection shows
its comprehensiVe and practical nature. It excites great
interest among the visitors, and is attended by clergymen
and others especially interested in schools. Your committee
regard it as a highly useful collection.

10. The collections of materials for building and construc-
tion, food, and animal products, have been almost wholly
made by private individuals without cost to the State. The
greater part of them were given to the Commissioners of
the Exhibition of 1851 by exhibitors, and for several years
were packed away in It ensington Palace until space was
provided at the Kensington Museum to receive them.
Whilst the State has purchased objects of the value of
£371, the public has supplied objects valued at £14,290.
These collections greatly interest the public, and are useful
to commerce. The Rev. W. Rogers states that they espe-
cially attract the notice of the working classes, and your
committee consider that they are well worth preserving.
Whenever sufficient space is provided for the natural
history collections belonging to the public, it may be
worthy of consideration if the animal products collection
ought not to be united with them.
11. The collection of models, of patented inventions under
the Commissioners of Patents is placed in a portion of the
iron building at South Kensington, and is mush cramped
for room.
12. The collections of reproductions by photography and
casting have been made primarily to furnish models for the
use of the eighty art-schools in connection with the Depart-
ment of Science and Art; they are obtained from public
collections at home and abroad. After providing for the
art-schools, it has been thought right to give the public at
large the benefit of the photographs at cost price, for the
promotion of general art-education. The Science and Art
Department express a desire to avoid any competition with
professional photographers by limiting their sales to photo-
graphs taken from Government collections, to which, ex-
cept in rare and special cases, the trade is not admitted ; but
it has been objected by one commercial firm, enjoying pecu-
liar privileges of admission to collections, and by Mr. Fen-
ton, a photographer of eminence, that even such a limited
sale by the department is an improper interference with pri-
vate enterprise.
There is 931 obvious distinction between copying and pho-
tographing pictures and works of art belonging to the pub-
lic. Copying is attended by no very serious inconveniences,
while photography almost invariably requires the removal of
the object, deprives the public of the exhibition of it, exposes
it in the light, to the risks of breakage, rain, &c., which can
only be guarded against by great vigilance, requires a special
apparatus of considerable bulk, and uses chemicals which are
always unpleasant and often dangeroul. Mr. Panizzi shows
that the only fire ever known ct the B.:iasb. Museum was
caused by the negligence of a photographer. Under such
circumstances, all the witnesses agree that a general
right to photograhy cannot be conceded to all,
like the right to copy. Mr. Fairbairn stated that, at
the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition, the pho-
tographic professors were pests, and that it was
found absolutely necessary to limit the privilege to one per-
son. In order to execute photographs in public collections
there must be a monopoly somewhere. If it be proposed to
grant this privilege to a limited number of competent per-
sons, as was at one time the practice at the British Museum,
the difficulty arises, which was felt by the trustees, of de-
ciding who is competent. Mr. Panizzi considers it " a very
difficult thing to determine who is competent ; ' and the
trustees were forced to say, " We will only admit our own
photographer." For a public department to attempt to de-
termine this question in the case of every application would
lead to constant difficulties and heartburnings. Moreover,
the favoured persons having the monopoly among them
might league among themselves to make the public pay an
unfair toll for the use of their own property. These objec-
tions would apply all the more strongly to the appointment
of a single private individual or firm, as the monopoly would
be all the closer. The experience obtained at the British
Museum, as well as at the South Kensington Museum, has
led to the conclusion that the only feasible course for public
interests is to employ one responsible public officer ; and by
harmonious co-operation between these two departments,
one photographer i 3 employed for both. A tariff of moderate
prices is published, at which the public may obtain negatives
and print positives for themselves. Any
_publisher may
thus produce and publish, at his own prices, any object in
the British Museum or the South Kensington Museum.
As respects " positives" of public objects, the sale of
them by the department to the public is limited to objects
in public collections tehich is not permitted to pri..-ftto en-
terprise [to photograph, and to a price only covering the
cost of production. Your committee consider that there is
no other course 'so free from objections or so good for the
public at large as the present system of the department.
The printing of photographs stands on the same footing
as the yrinting of Parliamentary papers, and the publishers
might, as well as the photographers, complain of the
low price at which they are sold. If the price
were increased, there is no doubt that the sales would be
greatly diminished, and the spread of knowledge of parlia-
mentary proceedings arrested. The trustees of the British
Museum attempted to supply the public with photographs
of objects in the British Museum, at the same time allowing
their photographer the privilege of publishing, but they
abandoned the system after considerable losses.
Your committee have investigated fully a complaint of
Mr. Scott, in respect of the photographs taken by him from
Raffaelle's cartoons. Mr. Scott complains that Mr. Caldesi
was obstructed by the officer of the Department of Science
and Art in taking his photographs, and that he has been
undersold by the department ; but Mr. Redgrave proved
that Messrs. Caldesi would have been unable to have pro-
duced any satisfactory photographs unless the department
had permitted them to have the benefit of the removal of
the cartoons by their officer, and that as the sale of the car-
toons by the department cannot yet be said to be in opera-
tion, the apprehension of being undersold is 'at least pre-
mature. At any rat 6, the public have no reason to regret
that Mr. Scef t's suggestion of vesting in his first an abso-
lute monopoly of the photographs of the cartoons has not
been complied with. The arrangement by which a private
was joined to an official photographer was almost sure to
lead to disputes, and should not be repeated.
13. Your committee find that the total cost of the South
Kensington Museum in its collections, land, and buildings
has been £167,805. This amount is exclusive of the annual
cost of management, which so far as it can be separated
from the cost of the general administration of the Science
and Art Department and the cost of the Art Training
Schools, exclusive of the Supply of furniture and postage,
and official stationery, is estimated at about £7,000 a-year.
14. Your committee are informed that above one million

and a half of visitors have inspected the museum during the
first three years since its opening, on the 22d of June,
1857. Such a result in so short a time proves that the
museum has met a public want. This success is clearly due
to the great care taken to meet the convenience of the
public, especially by admission in the evening. The returns
show that very neatly half the number of visitors attended
in the evening, although the hours for admission in the
evening are less than one-fourth of those in the day time.
Much cost for lighting and vigilant superintendence arises
from opening in the evening ; but as the arrangement makes
the museum accessible to labouring men and their families,
who would otherwise scarcely be able to visit it, your com-
mittee consider the money well laid out, and the experi-
ment deserving of imitation. The success of the museum
has also shown that an institution, although it may be
situated in the suburbs, may be rendered so attractive as to
compete in point of the number of visitors with other insti-
tutions nearer the centre of the metropolis.
15. So vast is the metropolis, and so ready are the people
to avail themselves of every convenient opportunity for in-
tellectual improvement and recreation, that similar institu-
tions, if properly managed, in other parts of London, hold
out fair prospects of a similar success; and it would be
within the means of the South Kensington Museum to faci-
litate the formation of such institutions by loans of objects,
made on a principle similar to that of the circulating

museum.
16. The principles upon which the administration of the
museum is conducted have been explained fully to your
committee, and documentary details are given in the appen-
dix. Authority for every measure is obtained direct from
the Lord President of the Council, or the Vice-President of
the Committee of Council on Education. The accounts cer-
tified by the vice-president are sent, monthly, to the Audit-
office. The rules for the appointment of officers are calcu-
lated to exclude incompetency. Finally, a full annual report
of proceedings has been always submitted to Parliament.
17. Having arrived at the opinion that the South Ken-
sington Museum, in respect to its action, as well through-
out the United Kingdom as in the metropolis, is exercising
a beneficial influence, and that it is fully deserving of con-
tinued Parliamentary support, your committee next turned
their attention to the state of the buildings at South Ken-
sington.
18. The South Kensington 11Iuseum is sivate on a plot of
ground consisting of about 12 acres, which under the Act
21 and 22 Vic., cap. 36, have been reserved by the Treasury
for the use of the science and art department, at the origi-
nal cost, namely, £5,000 an acre. The land has therefore
cost the country £60,000. The land is at present occupied
by various buildings, the nature and uses of which are
shown ey different colours on a plan attached to this report.
In 1855 Parliament voted £15,000 for the erection of a
temporary iron structure to receive various collections pre-
sented to the public. The object in view was to obtain the
greatest amount of covered space at the least possible cost.
So large a building of iron, applied for the first time to such
purposes, was altogether a novelty in this country, and ex-

perience has shown, both in this case and at the Art Trea-
sures Exhibition at Manchester, that an iron building,
owing to its variations in temperature and the difficulty of
keeping it water-tight, is not suitable for the preservation
of works of art. Mr. Braidwood, also, does not consider it
secure from fire. Much expense is required to keep it in
good order. The officers of the department report that the
more delicate and valuable works of art suffer from cold,
heat, damp, and the leakiness of the roof, and ought to be
removed out of it as soon as possible.
In 1856 Parliament voted £lO,OOO to remove the offices
of the Science and Art Department and the Art Training
Schools, the latter built of wood, from Marlborough-house
to South Kensington, and this amount was expended, as
well on; this object as in rendering four old houses useful
for class rooms and official residences.
The wooden schools are not secure from fire, and a fire
has recently occurred in them. If they were not public
property they would be condemned under the Building Act.
The old houses are dilapidated, full of dry rot, and built in
such a way as to be extremely liable to fire ; one of them
was on fire a few weeks ago, owing to the presence of a
wooden beam in a chimney; another has had a story re-
moved to save it from falling. They should be taken down
without delay.

In 1857 Parliament voted £3,500 to erect a permanent
building to receive Mr. Sheepshanks's gift of British pic-
tures, and in 1859 a sum of £8,198 was voted for fire-proof
buildings to afford accommodation for the Vernon and
Turner pictures, which it was necessary to remove from
Marlborough house. These are solid and convenient build-
ings, and have been erected as part of a general plan which
was laid before your committee by Capt. Fowke, and is ap-
pended to this report.

It results from the account above given of the state of
the iron building that additional space for the accommoda-
tion and exhibition of the art collections should be provided
at once. Capt. Fowke states that the cheapest mode of ob-
taining this space would be to complete the quadrangle of
brick buildings, which was commenced by the Sheepshanks,
Vernon, and Turner Galleries ; and to glaze it over. HO
estimates that this might be done for £17,000, and by doing
so the art collections now in the iron museum would be

placed in safety, others not properly shown would be effi-
ciently exhibited, whilst space would be provided in the
iron museum to receive and exhibit the architectural casts
procured as models from the Houses of Parliament, which
at present lie unexhibited in buildings at Thames-bankf
costing the annual rent•of £490.
The danger arising from the use of the wooden school.
and dilapidated houses renders it equally necessary to re-
move these buildings, and instead of them to provide at
once safe buildings for official residences and the art train-
ing schools. The cost has been approximately estimated by
Captain Fowke at £27,000.
Your committee recommend these works as matters of
extreme urgency, the completion and covering in of the
quadrangular court as a means of rescuing much valuable
public and private property from a receptacle quite unfit for
it, the removal of the wooden schools and the dilapidated
houses from considerations of safety, and therefore of real
economy. The iron building and the temporary brick
buildings your committee see no reason to disturb at pre-
sent ; they can be usefully employed, and may well be al-
lowed to stand for some years to come.
Your committee are by no means anxious to involve the
revenue in large expenses for mere ornament. The museum
is yet in course of formation, and they think it unwise to
commit the country to a heavy expense in anticipation of
its wants. The committee recommend that any plan which
may be adopted for the building to be erected should be
capable of being worked into a general plan which would at
once fully occupy the ground, and be susceptible of a pioper
amount of decoration. Such a plan has been laid before
the committee by Captain Fowke.
August 1, 1860.