The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-26 00:00:00

London Institution.

The annual general meeting of proprietors was
held yesterday in the theatre of the institution ;
Mr. T. BARING, M.P., the president, occupying
the chair.

The report stated that the club accommodations
contemplated by the managers, or suggested by the
proprietors, liad been carried out at considerable ex-
pense. These arrangements were necessarily expe-
rimental. The subscription for the library of cir-
culation had been increased, by which the number
of volumes had bcon anernentpd to MO ; which ad-
ditional number had been fully required. Various
additions had been made to the newspapers and pe-
riodical works. The lectures of the present season
had principally consisted of short illustrative courses,
referring especially to the recent advance of several
departments of knowledge. The managers had re-
ceived an application from the Hunterian Medical
Society, of which Mr. Alfred Smee, one of their own
number, was the president, in consequence of the
intended removal of the premises which that society
at present partly occupies, requiring permission to
transfer its valuable medical library of above 2,000
volumes, and also its meetings, to the London In-
stitution. The proprietors would have received a
letter from one of their number with certain sugges-
tions for an amalgamation with the corporation of
the London Institution with the proposed new cor-
poration of the ➢fiddle-class Schools. The mana-
gers considered this scheme to be of so much im-
portance as to call for their careful and unpreju-
diced consideration, and this they had resolved to give
to it forthwith, so as to be able to issue to the pro-
prietors a report thereonlwithout delay. In the mean-
time the managers submitted to the proprietors for

their consideration the scheme as presented to their
board. These terms, which were appended to the
report, provided that dissentient proprietors should
be entitled to receive £25 for every share they held.
The entire property of the London Institution
was to be transferred to the School Corporation,
with full power to adopt some of the present
and erect other buildings for the purpose of a
day school, as contemplated by the School Corpora-
tion, such school to be denominated, " The London
Institution Middle-class School."

Mr. B. STANDRIXG moved the following resolu-
tion :—" That the report of the management be re-
ceived, approved, and adopted, and that it be re-
commended to the board of management to adopt
such measures as they may consider expedient to
carry into effect the amalgamation of the London
Institution with the proposed Middle Class School
Corporation on the terms suggested in the appendix
to the report." The alterations referred to in the
report had failed to revive the prosperity of the in-
stitution, and he felt that the institution was gra-
dually dying down, owing to the altered state of
affairs in the city since its first establishment.
(" No, no.")
Mr. CAZENOVE seconded the motion, believing it
to be the best course to adopt.
Mr. LLOYD disputed the position advanced by the
proposer of the resolution. lle was convinced there
were still elements of success in the institution if
only some more attractive features were introduced
into its programmes. It was not, he contended, for
the advantage of the middle class school that they'
They
should form part of their building. should
rather be carried two or three miles further off,
nearer to the homes of the likely scholars. He d, a
vised the proprietors to wait, and they would
see
their shares reach par. He moved an amendment to
omit all the words of the resolution after the word
adopted." (Hear, hear.)
Mr. ALFRED SMEE, in seconding the amendment,
protested against the proposed sacrifice of the pro-
perty. The railway companies were concentrating
their termini in the neighbourhood, and the London
Institution must soon become one of the central
points of the metropolis. (Hear, hear.)
J. P. GAsSioT, the vice-president, entered
into a calculation showing that the property was
vested in 940 proprietors. It consisted of Consols
and the freehold, which together were estimated
to be worth £74,000, and it was proposed to
unite with a proprietary of 82 possessed of
£54,000. The property of the institution would
remain intact, the theatre and library would be un-
t
"ched,the proprietors would be relieved from their
annual two guinea
hsubscription, and in view of all
these facts he thou, t the meeting ld be making
a fatal mistake ifit
resolved to rejectwou the scheme of
amalgamation. (No, no, and hear, hear.)
Mr. Tin, M.P., the honorary secretary, though
a warm advocate of the
education
movement, and
with what although heartily agreeing
athad fallen
from the vice-president, assured the
meeting that the
plan
managers had no desire to press thethe pro-
prietors did not thoroughly approve of it. -He had,