The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-31 00:00:00

A.D. rm.

ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE
CORPORATION
(Established by Charter of his Majesty George the First)

FOR SEA, FIRE, LIFE, AND ANNUITIES.
Offices, Royal Exchange, London.
Branch Office, 29, Pall-mall.
OCTAVIUS WIGRAM, Esq., Governor.
GEORGE PEARIKER BARCLAY. Esq., Sub-Governor.
Sir JOIIN WILLIAM LUBBOCK, Bart., Deputy-Governor.

DIRECTORS.

lienry Bainbridge, Esq.
John Garratt Cattley, Esq.
Edwd. Maxwell Daniell, Esq.
William Davidson, Esq.
Thomas Dent, Esq.
Alexander Druce, Esq.
Fredk. Jos. Edlmann, Esq.
Charles Farquharson, Esq.
Riversdale W. Grenfell, Esq.
Robt. Amadeus Heath, Esq.
Wm. Tetlow Hibbert, Esq.
Jas. Stewart Hodgson, Esq.

Wilmot Holland, EsQ
Chas. Jno. Manning, Esq.
Hon. "Jno. T. Leslie Melville,
Sir Jno. Henry Pelly, Bart.
Hon. Jose. W. Percy, M.P.
Alexander P. Prevost, Esq.
Regnid. F. Remington, Esq.
Charles Robinson, Esq.
William Soltau, Esq.
Joseph Somes, Esq.
William Wallace, Esq.
Chas. Baring Young, Esq.

Medical Referee, SAMUEL Sotty, Esq., F.R.S.
NOTICE.—The usual fifteen days allowed for payment of
FIRE PREMIUMS falling due at Christmas will expire on
9th January.
FIRE and LIFE ASSURANCES may be effected with this
Corporation on advantageous terms.
In the Lite Department, assurances are granted with par-
ticipation in Profits, or, at lower Premiums, without such
participation.
The Reversionary Bonus on British Policies has averaged
nearly 2 per cent. per annum on the sum assured, or 48 Fir
cent. upon the Premiums paid.
Equivalent reductions have been made in the Premiums
payable by persons who preferred that form of Bonus.
The future divisions of Profit will take place every Five
years.
Auy sum not exceeding 415,000 may be insured on one
Life. .

This Corporation affords to the Assured—
Liberal participation in Profits—with exemption from
the liabilities of partnership.
A rate of Bonus equal to the average returns of Mutual
Societies—with the guarantee of a large invested Capital
Stock.
The advantages of modern practice,—with the security
of an Office whose resources have been tested by the ex-
perience of nearly a CENTURY AND A HALF.
SPECIAL NOTICE.

IN CASE OF DEATH occurring during the Thirty days
allowed for payment of a Life Premium, and before such pay-
ment has been made, the Corporation hold themselves liable
under the Policy, provided the Premium be subsequently paid
on or before the thirtieth day from that upon which it became
due.

JOHN A. HIGHAM, Actuary and Secretary.
ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON.

On Saturday her Majesty inaugurated the public
opening of this institution, and consequently the
bleak, inhospitable-looking moor on which the
building has unfortunately been erected, wore, for
the first time, such a busy aspect as was almost
sufficient to give an air of animation even to a spot
so desolate and cold. The precise locale of the new
College is not very easy to describe beyond saying
that it is situated near the valley of the Blackwater,
apparently many miles from any village, though in
reality, about three from Sandhurst and four from
Farnborough station. The country for a consider-
able extent round the building is of the same kind
of waste heath land as that on which the camp at
Aldershott is situated, with the difference that the
College land seems, of the two, even poorer and
more barren. The selection of a spot so wild and
cheerless is only attempted to be accounted for by
the fact that the 12 acres of land on which the Col-
lege and its outbuildings stand were presented to
the Wellington Memorial Fund gratuitously,
though clogged with the condition that all the
bricks used in the construction of the buildings
should be obtained from the munificent donor's
brickfields. This arrangement and the subsequent
purchase by the governors of the College of 120
additional acres of moorland must have quite re-
paid the gentleman who so generously gave the
the first 12 acres. It is now a matter of great
though useless regret that the governors ever ac-
cepted such an offer, and were led to erect a national
memorial on ground so utterly bleak and barren in
appearance, and the means of access to which by
rail are so circuitous that the journey occupies
nearly two hours. What by no means tends to
lessen the dissatisfaction with which the site is
regarded is the fact that, after the arrangement for
accepting the 12 acres was entered into, a gentle-
man, both of whose sons had fallen in the Crimea,
offered to convey to the Commissioners a small but
beautifully situated estate on which to build the
College in the neighbourhood of Windsor. This
generous offer, however, came too late, and unfor-
tunately could not be accepted.
The whole extent of ground belonging to the col-
lege is 132 acres. All the land not occupied by the
buildings will, in course of time, be converted into
a gymnasium, playground, shrubbery, parade, and
a large artificial lake on the north side of the build-
ing intended to be upwards of 20 acres in extent,
and in the formation of which, if we may judge
from the aspect of the ground, the contractors will
be wonderfully assisted by 'the efforts of nature.
The college itself may be described as a handsome
edifice, in the decorated Italian-or mixed style. The
whole building forms externally one large quad-
rangle, 260 feet long by 154 wide, tke east and west
sides of which are the wings or main portions of the
whole. The cross buildings which complete the
quadrangle at the top and bottom are the head
master's and secretary's house on the north-east, the
main entrance-hall on th e south-west end. The large
courtyard which is thus enclosed inside these build-
ings is subdivided into two quadrangles by the
intersection of the school for the junior boys. Such
is the ground plan. The two main wings are, from
their height and number of windows, especially
imposing. They are faced with orange and purple
bricks, in the style known among builders as gauge
work, and alternating with courses of white ma-
sonry. The effect of all this is warm and cozy-look-
ing. Each wing is divided in the centre by a wide
and lofty tower, 25 feet by 120 high. The view
from the upper stories of these towers, where are
placed the tanks which supply high-pressure fire
mains on every floor and landing, is as extensive as
could be desired. From the north side you overlook
Wokingham and Windsor ; the latter distinctly
visible though 12 miles distant. The south faces
immediately on that part of Hampshire known as
the Hartford-bridge Flats ; but over the hills which
bound it can be gained a view of an immense extent
of country, from Bearwood on one side to Strath-
fieldsaye upon the other. The towers, however, are
not the principal entrances. These are situated in
the centre of the cross buildings on the north-east and
south-west ends, the chief one being through the
latter, under a handsome clock tower dominating
the entrance hall. From this point of view the ap-
pearance of the edifice is striking, and when entirely
finished, and the niches which adorn the wings at
either end are filled in with appropriate statues,
the approach will be in every respect worthy of the
college and the hero in whose honour it is reared.
The internal subdivisions of the building maintain
the favourable impression produced by the exterior.
All the rooms without exception are spacious, lofty,
well ventilated, and well placed; the play, school,
dining, and domestic rooms being on the ground
floor, and the dormitories and dwelling rooms exclu-
sively. confined to the upper portions. This, how-
ever, is all that can be said of them, for the fittings
are of the very roughest and even poorest descrip-
tion. The brickwalls are 'merely whitewashed over.
The bedrooms, with their stone floors, seem cold and