ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11505, 11 February 1903, Page 5

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

- ♦ ••_■'' (FROM OPB OWN COB^EStONDEKT.) LONDON, January 2. I learn that a well-considered scheme i on foot for organising a colonial and ladiai Exhibition, to be held in May, 1904, trade the auspices of the. British Empire League It 'will be tnnch on the lines of <the Exhi bit ion of 1886, and negotiations are in pro grees for securing the grounds of thi Royal Botanic Society in Regent's Park containing eighteen acres, as a site for thi necessary buildings. . By next mail I maj be able to give more detailed information There can be no doubt that the present i* a most favourable time in every reaped for such a movement, because the mind* of ail thinking men are directed toward th* Colonial Empire and its future possibilities, Speaking generally, the idea is the prac tical outcome of the Prince of Wales's sug geetive. tour of the King's Possessions yond the Seas. The scheme is being elabo. rated on a basis that seems to ensure 8 brilHant success. The benefit to the colonial represented will, it is believed, b« enormous. The total number of visitors te the series of exhibitions at South Kensington—the Fisheries, the Inventories, an<3 ■th<fc Colinderies, ac they were respectively distinguished—was sixteen millions, more than ten millions of whom were registered at the Colonial Exhibition, the last of the series. Another Wild-West Show of the "Buffalo Bill" kind is being organised at Earl's Court for the coming season, but that wil b? of t-lie .spectacular order, wliereas this contemplated by the British Empire League is, oi course, of an educational and commercial character. "Some little time ago," says a London paper, "a home, perhaps a relative of the nag that fhe late Captain Fitzgerald successfully jumped over his regimental mess table at Ipswich, without tie glass and dishes being removed, perceiving a train of empty trucks passing through Palmerston, New Zealand, and recognising that in an age that boasts itself ae. horseless as a Remount Department it was unseemly /or it to flaunt itself in the face of Lord Macaulay's or any one else's New Zealander, dashed at the vehicles, which were moving at the rate of eight miles an hour, and jumped, with only a few resultant flesh wounds, into fame and the apology for a rolling platform. That one never knows what one can do until one tries is an aphorism that is inculcated from early youth into humanity, with the view of providing an object for the existence of the Patent Office, but it was never intended for quadrupedal consumption. The action of the New Zealand equine marvel is therefore to be deplored, for, should ite example be widely followed, some equine gymnast will nnd itself in front of an express train, with the result that the approach of the horseless age will receive a considerable impetus." It is announced that, "in accordance with the Imperial Institute (Transfer) Act, 1902, the management of the Imperial Institute will be vested in the Board of Trade from vlalnuany Ist, 1903. In carrying out these duties under the Act, the 'Board of Trade will be assisted by an Advisory Committee representing various Government departments, and the Indian and Colonial Governments. The Institute will be managed by the Board of Trade, through their commercial, labour, and statistical department, of which Sir Alfred Bateman, K.C.M.G., is Comptroller-General. The Board of Trade has appointed Professor Wyndham Dunstan, F.R.S. (now director of the scientific and technical department of the Institute) to be director of the Imperial Institute at South Kensington. Professor Dunstan will continue in charge of the scientific investigation of economic products, and will supervise any other branches of work carried on by the Board of Trade in the building at South Kensington, including the collections of products of the Empire co-far as they will'be under the control of the Board. The work carried on by the Commercial Intelligence Branch of the Board of Trade, which, subject,to the Comptroller-General, is under the direction of Mr Thomas Worthington. Interviewed by a London Press representative on the subject of the new move, Mr W. P. Reeves is reported as saving: "I have always believed, and'still believe, that there is scope for the Imperial Institute—plenty for it to do. Some three years ago I visited Philadelphia, and saw the Commercial Museum and the.Bureau of Manufactures, which they have there. Their purpose ie to exhibit products, circulate commercial information, and generally help to develop trade. Since then I have thought that something of the kind might be undertaken in this country by the Imperial Institute. My idea was that the Imperial Government should itself take a direct interest ml the matter. Accordingly, I think the taking over of the Imperial Institute by the Government is a good step. The rest depends on what is done with it—what vigour is put into it, and the extent to which the sympathy of outlying parts of the Empire can be enlisted." A leading London daily paper has this week some anticipatory remarks on the probabilities of the New Zealand general election, which took place some weeks age! . ;