Abstract
We imagine that few, if any, members of the old Corporation of the Imperial Institute, which was dissolved by Act of Parliament in 1903, believed that within a very few years the institute would be able to produce the record of useful work which has just been presented to Parliament.1 The policy at first adopted, and persisted in long after it had been discredited, led to a failure, in so far as the complete fulfilment of the objects for which the institute was founded was concerned, and lent plausibility to the view that South Kensington was too “inaccessible” to become a centre of scientific and commercial information concerning the raw materials of the Empire. It has been amply proved, however, now that the original failure was not due to this cause. South Kensington is no longer inaccessible, and in any case the exact position in London of a central establishment, which has to be in close touch with distant parts of The Empire, whence its work chiefly comes, as well as with manufacturers throughout the United Kingdom, is a matter of secondary importance. Whatever may be urged against the South Kensington site, it has not stood in the way of the accomplishment of an increasing volume of work which, it is clear from the present report, must have taxed to the utmost the power and capabilities of the relatively small staff allotted to the institute.
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The New Imperial Institute . Nature 79, 343–344 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/079343a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/079343a0