THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM,
THE COLONIES, AND INDIA.

The Imperial Institute was erected at South Kensington as the National Memorial of the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, by whom it was opened in May, 1893.

The principal object of the Institute is to promote the utilisation of the commercial and industrial resources of the Empire by arranging comprehensive exhibitions of natural products, especially of India and the Colonies, and providing for their investigation and for the collection and dissemination of scientific, technical, and commercial information relating to them.

Until the end of 1902 the Imperial Institute was managed by a Governing Body, of which H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (now H.M. the King) was President, and an Executive Council, including representatives of the Indian Empire and of all the British Colonies and Dependencies. In 1900 the building became the property of H.M. Government, by whom the western portion and galleries were leased to the Governing Body of the Imperial Institute, the greater part of the eastern and central portions being assigned, subject to right of usage, for occupation by the University of London. In July, 1902, an Act of Parliament was passed transferring the management of the Imperial Institute to the Board of Trade, assisted by an Advisory Committee, including representatives of India and the Colonies, and of the India and Colonial Offices, the Board of Agriculture, and the Board of Trade. This Act took effect on January 1st, 1903.

On the 1st October, 1907, in virtue of an arrangement between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Board of Trade, and with the approval of the Secretary of State for India, the management of the Imperial Institute was transferred to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, subject to the responsibility of the Board of Trade under the Act of 1902. A Committee of Management of three members, one nominated by each of the three Government Departments chiefly concerned, has been appointed, and at present consists of the Right Hon. Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, G.C.M.G., Sir Alfred Bateman, K.C.M.G., and Colonel Duncan Pitcher (late Indian Army). The first Director of the Imperial Institute was Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, Bart., G.C.V.O., K.C.B., F.R.S., who held the office until his death in the autumn of 1902. The present Director is Professor Wyndham Dunstan, M.A., LL.D., F. R.S., who was appointed in 1903. The Staff of the Imperial Institute includes officers with special qualifications in the sciences of chemistry, botany, geology, mineralogy, and in certain branches of technology in their relation to agriculture and to the commercial utilisation of economic products.

A Report by the Director on the work of the Imperial Institute in 1906 and 1907 has been presented to Parliament (Cd. 3729-49, Colonial Reports, Annual, 1908).

The following is a brief account of the principal Departments of the Institute.

The Colonial and Indian Collections. The collections of economic products, etc., illustrative of the general and commercial resources of India and the Colonies, are arranged, together with other exhibits, on a geographical system in the Public Galleries of the Imperial Institute.

The following British Colonies and Dependencies are represented by Collections :

Canada, Newfoundland, Jamaica, Turks Islands, British Honduras, British Guiana, Bahama Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Windward Islands, Leeward Islands, Bermuda Islands, Falkland Islands, Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Transvaal, Orange River Colony, Rhodesia, Nyasaland, St. Helena, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Northern Nigeria, Southern Nigeria, British East Africa, Zanzibar and Pemba, Uganda, Somaliland, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Malta, Cyprus, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Seychelles, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, and India.

The Indian and Colonial collections are open free to the public daily (except on Sundays, Good Friday, and Christmas Day), from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in summer, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in winter. Special arrangements are made for the conduct of schools and institutions desirous of visiting the Indian and Colonial collections for educational purposes.

The

A stand has been opened in the centre of the Main Gallery to facilitate the supply of general information and the distribution of literature. Pamphlets, circulars, hand-books, etc., containing information relating to the commerce, agriculture, mining and other industries of the principal British Colonies, and also to emigration, are available for gratuitous distribution or for sale. publications of the Emigrants' Information Office, established by the Colonial Office, may also be obtained. The principal Indian and Colonial newspapers may be seen on application. An officer of the Institute is in attendance at this stand, which is in telephonic communication with the departments in the main building.

In 1908 the Public Galleries were visited by 110,189 persons, and 9,922 Colonial and Indian publications were distributed.

The Scientific and Technical Department. The research laboratories of this department, which occupy the second floor of the Imperial Institute, were established in order to provide for the investigation of new or little-known natural products from India and the Colonies, and of known products from new sources, with a view to their utilisation in commerce, and also to provide trustworthy, scientific and technical advice on matters connected with the agriculture, trade and industries of India and the Colonies.

The work of this department is chiefly initiated by the Goverment of India and the Home and Colonial Governments. Arrangements have been also made by the Foreign Office, whereby British representatives abroad may transmit to the department for investigation such natural products of the countries in which they are appointed to reside as are likely to be of interest to British manufacturers and merchants.

Materials are first investigated in the research laboratories of the department, and are afterwards submitted to further technical trials by manufacturers and other experts, and finally are commercially

valued.

Except under special circumstances, investigations are not undertaken for private individuals. A reference sample room is maintained in this department, in which are arranged samples of the principal materials which have been investigated and commercially valued during recent years.

The Scientific and Technical Department is now working in co-operation with the Agricultural and Mines Departments in the Colonies, whose operations it supplements by undertaking such investigations and inquiries as are of a special scientific and technical character connected with agricultural or mineral development, as well as inquiries relating to the composition and commercial value of products (vegetable and mineral) which can be more efficiently conducted at home in communication with merchants and manufacturers, with a view to the local utilisation of those products or to their export.

A very large number of reports on these subjects have been made to the Governments of India and the Colonies, a first instaliment of which has been printed in a volume of "Technical Reports and Scientific Papers," published in 1903, whilst a selection of the later reports has been printed in the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute.

Mineral surveys, under the supervision of the Director of the Imperial Institute and conducted by surveyors selected by him, are in progress in Ceylon, Northern Nigeria, Southern Nigeria and Nyasaland, and preliminary arrangements of a similar nature have been made in connection with British East Africa, and with the Anglo-Congolese Boundary Commission in Uganda. All minerals found which are likely to be of commercial importance are forwarded to the Imperial Institute, where they are examined and their composition and commercial value ascertained. Reports by the Director on the results of the mineral exploration in Ceylon, Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria and Nyasaland have been printed in the Miscellaneous Series of Colonial Reports.

In connection with the operations of the Agricultural Departments of West Africa, and with a view to correlating their work and that of the Imperial Institute, an Inspector of Agriculture for British West Africa (Mr. G. C. Dudgeon) has been appointed, who visits West Africa each year, and on his return has his headquarters at the Imperial Institute, in communication with the Director and with the operations of the Scientific and Technical Department.

Tropical Service Training Course.-Courses of instruction in Accounting, Law, Tropical Hygiene, and in Tropical Cultivation and Products are now given at the Imperial Institute to candidates selected by the Colonial Office for administrative appointments in East and West Africa. The instruction in the last-named subject is given by Members of the Staff of the Imperial Institute.

Library and Reading Rooms.-The library and reading rooms of the Imperial Institute contain a large collection of Indian and Colonial works of reference and are regularly supplied with the more important official publications and with many of the principal newspapers and periodicals of the United Kingdom, India, and the Colonies.

The library and reading rooms are on the principal floor, and admittance to them is obtained through the entrance at the west (Queen's Gate) end of the building. These rooms are available for the use of Life Fellows of the Imperial Institute, and of other persons properly introduced. Books and newspapers may be consulted for special purposes by permission.

Colonial Conference Rooms.--Three large rooms, specially decorated and furnished, are reserved on the principal floor for use by representatives of the Colonies for meetings and receptions.

The Cowasjee Jehanghier Hall.-The Bhownaggree corridor and rooms in connection with this Hall are in the occupation of the Imperial Institute, whilst the Hall is available for lectures, meetings, etc.

The Bulletin of the Imperial Institute is published quarterly, price 18. (annual subscription 48. 8d., including postage), and may be purchased at the Imperial Institute, or from Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, London, E.C., or from Agents in India and the Colonies. The Bulletin contains records of the principal investigations conducted for India and the Colonies at the Imperial Institute, and special articles, chiefly relating to progress in tropical agriculture and the industrial utilisation of raw materials (vegetable and mineral).

The following Societies have their headquarters at the Imperial Institute :

British Women's Emigration Association.-The British Women's Emigration Association has been assigned an office on the first floor, which is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and advice and information respecting emigration and prospects for women in the Colonies may be obtained there free of charge. This Association works in co-operation with the Emigrants' Information Office in Westminster.

Colonial Nursing Association. --This Association has been assigned an office on the first floor of the Imperial Institute, Its principal object is the selection of trained hospital and private nurses for service in the Crown Colonies and other British Dependencies.

African Society. This Society, which is concerned with the discussion and publication of all matters connected with British African Possessions, has been assigned an office on the Mezzanine floor, and holds meetings at the Imperial Institute for the discussion of African questions. The Journal of the African Society is published quarterly.

The following is a list of the principal members of the Staff of the Imperial Institute in 1909 :— Director.-Professor Wyndham R. Dunstan, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.

Secretaries to the Director.-J. H. Preston, M.A.; Major E. J. Lugard, D.S.O.

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT.

Principal Assistant.-T. A. Henry, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.C.S.

Senior Assistants.-H. Brown; E. Goulding, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.C.S.; G. S. Blake, B.Sc. (Lond.), A.R.S.M., F.C.S.; T. Crook, A.R.C.S.I., F.G.S.; A. E. Andrews.

Special Assistants.-H. H. Robinson, M. A. (Oxon), F.C.S.; J. W. Evans, D.Sc. (Lond.), F. G.S. Assistants.-S. J. Johnstone; R. G. Pelly, A.I.C.; S. J. M. Auld, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Wurzburg); F. W. Barwick; S. S. Pickles, D.Sc. (Vict.); H. E. Watt, D.Sc.; R. J. R. Hill, B.A. (Cantab.); W. O. R. Wynn; V. M. Weil, B.Sc. (Lond.); N. C. Akers, A.I.C.; G. M. Davies.

MINERAL SURVEYORS IN THE COLONIES AND PROTECTORATES.

Ceylon.-J. Parsons, B.Sc. (Lond.); J. A. Daniel, B.A. (Cantab.).

Southern Nigeria.-A. E. Kitson, B.A. (Melbourne), F.G.S.; E. O. Thiele, B.Sc. (Melbourne). Northern Nigeria.-J. D. Falconer, M.A., D.Sc. (Edin.); A. Longbottom, B.A. (Cantab.). Nyasaland.-A. R. Andrew, B.Sc. (N.Z.); T. E. G. Bailey, B.A. (Cantab.).

Uganda.-J. E. Coates, B.A. (Cantab.) (attached to the Anglo-Congolese Survey Commission). British East Africa.-K. Joll.

COLONIAL AND INDIAN COLLECTIONS.

Technical Superintendents.-W. G. Freeman, B.Sc. (Lond.), F.L.S.; C. H. Nicholls, B.A. (Oxon.), F.L.S.; S. E. Chandler, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.L.S.; H. Spooner.

COLONIAL GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION AGENCIES AT CALCUTTA.

For the purpose of meeting the wants of planters and others in certain Colonies Agencies have been established in India for over fifty years for the collection and despatch of natives of India to work as field labourers.

There are at present two Government Agencies in Calcutta: one representing the Colonies of Trinidad, Jamaica, Mauritius and Fiji, and the other representing British Guiana and Natal. The officers in charge of both Agencies are members of the Colonial Civil Service, appointed by the Secretary of State. The staff of the Agencies is recruited locally in Calcutta, and their appointments are non-pensionable. Each Agency has a depôt in its grounds, with accommodation for over 1,000 coolies, together with quarters for its staff, besides a hospital and a dispensary in charge of a resident native doctor. All procedure connected with Colonial Emigration is controlled by Indian law, and the Agencies are in close touch with the Bengal and Indian Governments.

The greatest care is exercised as to the medical fitness of the emigrants, who are passed, in the first instance, by the civil surgeon of their own districts as physically fit for service before they are brought down to Calcutta, where they are subjected to a further series of searching medical examinations prior to their embarkation for the colony. The supply of coolies varies greatly, as it depends entirely on the agricultural conditions prevailing in India at the time being, large numbers seeking to emigrate in famine years, while in times of plenty coolies are procured only with considerable difficulty.

The first of the above agencies, which is situated in a compound of 20 acres, has a depôt staff of 120. The sub-agents and recruiters in the districts number upwards of 400. Recruiting is carried on throughout Bengal, the united Provinces of Agra and Oudh, the Central Provinces, the Southern Punjab and Ajmir.

In view of its situation on the River Hooghly, with a pier at which ocean-going vessels may be moored, the embarkations and disembarkations for all Colonies take place at this depôt, some 10,000 emigrants being despatched annually under average conditions. Considerable numbers of these people settle in the Colonies, about 4,000 to 5,000 only arriving in the annual return ships. The prosperity of the coolie in the Colonies is attested by the fact that the average savings brought by the emigrants arriving in each return ship amount approximately to the sum of 10,000/., and that the remittances made annually by emigrants in the Colonies to their friends in India aggregate several thousand pounds more.

AGENCY FOR TRINIDAD, JAMAICA, MAURITIUS AND FIJI.

Address, 21, Garden Reach, Calcutta.

Telegraphic Address, "Colonial, Calcutta."

Government Agent, A. Marsden, Esq.

Assistant Government Agent, W. F. Bolton, Esq.

Depot Surgeon, Lieut.-Colonel G. F. A. Harris, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S., I.M.S.

AGENCY FOR BRITISH GUIANA AND NATAL.

Address, 61, Garden Reach, Calcutta.

Telegraphic Address, "Guiana, Calcutta."

Government Agent, R. P. Gibbes, Esq.

Depôt Surgeon, Lieut.-Col, H. W. Pilgrim, M.B., F.R.C.S., I.M.S.

EMIGRANTS' INFORMATION OFFICE,

31, Broadway, Westminster, S. W.

Office hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 1,30 p.m.

This Office was established by the Government in October, 1886, for the purpose of supplying intending emigrants with useful and trustworthy information respecting emigration to the British Colonies. The office was placed from the first, and has remained, under the general supervision of the Colonial Office, It was intended to give information only, and not either to encourage or to discourage emigration,

The Secretary of State for the Colonies is nominally the President of the Committee, but does not actually preside. He nominates all members of the Committee, and all points on which any serious doubt arises are referred for his decision, but the expenditure of the Parliamentary grant and the management and working of the office are left to the discretion of the Committee.

The Government at the outset allowed an annual sum of 650%, to cover rent of rooms, and all office expenses, in addition to free printing and postage, After the report of the Colonisation Committee in 1891, the sum was raised to 1,000., postage and printing being still supplied as before, the grant was in 1897 again raised to 1,5007., and further increased to 1,7007. in 1908. The receipts from sales of books are taken by the Government and credited to His Majesty's Stationery Office,

Originally the scope of the office was confined to the British Colonies, and to those Colonies only which are outside the Tropics and are fields of emigration in the ordinary sense; but of late years it has been found necessary to widen the scope and to give information (though more limited in extent) not only as to certain Tropical Colonies but also from time to time as to various foreign countries, and especially it has been found necessary to issue warnings in certain cases,

In regard to foreign countries, the Committee derive their information almost entirely, through the Foreign Office, from His Majesty's representatives abroad. In regard to the British Colonies, they derive it partly from official, partly from unofficial sources,

The publications issued by the office are as follows:--
I. A Quarterly Poster, exhibited in all Post Offices

II. Quarterly Circulars on Canada and the Australasian and South African Colonies. An
endeavour is now made to keep the information in the circulars up to date by the issue
of a monthly supplement. The circulars and supplements will be sent regularly to
any one desiring them

III. Circular on the Emigration of Women

Free.

Free.

Free.

Professional Handbook, showing the necessary Colonial qualifications for barristers and solicitors, chemists, civil engineers, civil servants, commercial travellers, dentists, medical men, mounted riflemen, nurses, police, railway employés, surveyors, teachers, etc. Emigration Statutes and General Handbook, dealing with all British Statutes on Emigrant Ships and Emigration, Emigration Societies, etc.

All the above 14 Handbooks and Maps bound together

It should be added that the office is in touch with the Labour Department of the Board of Trade, and supplies a column on labour in the Colonies to the monthly "Labour Gazette,"

The office has depôts or branches at the public libraries at Manchester and Swansea, and the Mitchell Library at Glasgow, At these branches publications are on sale and inquiries are answered, the clerk in charge being paid a small fee by the Committee, but in most cases, including

1,100 free libraries and institutions in all parts of the kingdom, the Committee have sent notice-boards, together with an ample supply of their free posters and circulars.

There are collections of the products of the various Colonies at the Imperial Institute, South Kensington, and information is given with regard to them which may be of interest to intending emigrants.

The work of the office consists principally in answering the inquiries of the poorer classes of emigrant, but an attempt has been made to meet the needs of other classes. In 1908, 16,463 letters were received, and 95,605 despatched,

The total number of circulars distributed in 1908, including not only those given to applicants in person or by letter, but those sent to libraries, trade and other societies, and the press, was 435,500 in addition to 213,000 copies of the monthly supplement.

The accounts of certain Crown Colonies and Protectorates are audited in the Exchequer and Audit Department, under the direction of the Comptroller and Auditor-General, on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and those of Nyasaland, East Africa (including the Uganda Railway), Uganda and Somaliland by direction of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury.

The accounts of the Zanzibar Government are also examined by the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral at the request of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

ESTABLISHMENT.

Head Quarters :-Exchequer and Audit Department, Victoria Embankment, E.C.

Principal Clerk-C. W. A. Trollope.

Senior Clerks-A. E. Stephenson, J. A. Barnes.

Chief Examiners-W. D. Bathurst, G. Burley.

Examiners-F. B. Montague, R. F. Backwell, A. Bune, C. H. Brooks, N. W. Lindsay, H. LI. M. Bebb, W. R. Banks, H. T. Barlow, L. G. Angas, E. L. Gueritz, R. de C. Baldwin, J. Craig.

BECHUANALAND.

CYPRUS.

FALKLAND ISLANDS.-
GIBRALTAR.-

GOLD COAST.

HONG KONG

WEIHAIWEI.-
SEYCHELLES.-

SIERRA LEONE.—

ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE COLONIES.

Acting Local Auditor-H. J. Roberts.

Local Auditor-E. A. Grannum.

Chief Clerk-H. S. Brain.

Clerks A. Giovanni, L. C. Lucaides, E. Tchopanoglou, A. J. Shellish.

The Colonial Secretary acts as Local Auditor.

Local Auditor-F. L. Francis.

Clerk-A. Day.

Local Auditor-R. H. Stokes.

Assistant Auditors-H. D. Fisher, J. Walsh.

Clerks R. R. Ardayfio, G. C. Cobblah, W. Q. Bampoe, J. H. Adams,
J. E. Fleischer, S. L. Morgan, S. A. Laryea, J. S. Akuerter.

Local Auditor--H. R. Phelips.

Asst. Auditor-R. F. Brayn.

Clerks--M. Leitao, A. M. R. Pereira.

Local Auditor-The Local Auditor of Hong Kong.

Local Auditor-L. O. Chitty.

Local Auditor-E. Du Boulay.

Assistant Auditors-P. L. Tengely, R. H. Jebb.

Clerks-H, A. Williams, G. P. Coker, D. A. Williams, J. L. Mannah,

E. W. Coker, M. B. P. Reader.