The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-10 00:00:00

NEM POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.

A public meeting, very respectably attended, was
held on Wednesday at the London Tavern, to pro-
mote the formation of a limited liability company
for the revival and continuance of the Polytechnic
Institution. The chair was taken by S. Gurney,
Esq., M.P.
The prospectus and report of the provisional com-
mittee, read by the Rev. Mr. Owen and Mr. Grea•
torex, referred back to the meeting held on Aug.
12, at Willis's Rooms, where Lord Raynham pre-
sided. It was then stated that in consequence of the
lamentable accident which occurred on the premises
of the Royal Polytechnic Institution, on Jan. 3d
last, that useful society would shortly be compelled
permanently to close its doors to the public. The
institution having no reserve fund to meet the ex-
penses and liabilities contingent upon the accident,
the society was placed in a state of pecuniary embar-
rassment, from which extrication was impossible,
except by a sale of its property and the winding up
of its affairs. The prospect of the discontinuance
of an institution which had for so many years ex-
ercised so beneficial an influence, had been enter-
tained with such regret, that it was considered
highly desirable to found a company (under the acts
of Parliament limiting the liability of shareholders
to the amount subscribed), having for its objects
the purchase of the whole of the property of the
Royal Polytechnic Institution, and continuing in the
same building exhibitions and lectures of a popular
character, with such extension of its means of in-
struction, blended with amusement, as would be
consistent with the moral purposes of the original
institution, and as might be suggested by the new
mianagement. The Royal Polytechnic Institution,
founded by royal charter in 1838, expended the
whole of its capital, £35,000, in acquiring its pre-
sent commodious building, together with the requi-
site machinery and plant. The sum required for
the purchase of this property, including the pre-
mium on a new lease, by which the rent of the
great theatre will.be reduced from £442 to £5O per
annum, for re-constructing the staircase on a secure
plan, rendering fire-proof the entrance-hall, and for
completeley repairing, altering, and renovating the
entire property, does not exceed £ll,OOO. The
proposed alterations in the buildings would pro-
duce an immediate rental of £3OO per annum to the
new.institution. Upon an estimate of the income
from the receipts at the doors of the Royal Poly-
technic Institution on an average of ten years, after
setting aside an ample sum for working expenses, a
tolerable dividend may be fairly calculated upon.
The receipts for laboratory, diving-bell, lectures,
and pupils, amount annually to a sum that would
be an adequate remuneration to a manager. In
addition to dividends on capital, it is proposed that
holders of shares shall be entitled to free admission

to all lectures and exhibitions. The public advan-
tages which have already been derived from the
existing Polytechnic were particularly set forth.
It was remarked that the original founders chiefly
aimed at establishing a sound model institution of
a national character, with a view to cooperate with