of many of our exhibitors.

"You have rightly divined that it is a source of great
gratification to me to be able to continue the work commenced by
my father in 1851; and, by giving scope for the peaceful
emulation of the leaders of industry of all nationalities in
public Exhibitions, to divert the minds of men from those
international rivalries by which all suffer, to those by which
all gain.

"The evidence of the public interest in such Exhibitions,
afforded by the vast concourse of visitors from all parts of the
realm to that which is now closed, has led me to hope that the
buildings which have been erected at so much cost, and which
have so admirably served their purpose, shall continue for the
next three years to be employed for Exhibitions of a similarly
comprehensive character.

"In considering what shall be the subject-matter of these
Exhibitions, three topics of paramount interest to our community
have presented themselves to my mind. These are Health, both
bodily and mental; Industrial Inventions; and the
rapidly-growing resources of our Colonies and of our Indian
Empire.

"I have expressed a desire that the Exhibition of 1884 will
embrace the conditions of health, in so far as, like food,
clothes, and dwellings, they fall under the head of Hygiene, or,
like appliances for general and technical teaching, gymnasia and
schools, under that of Education.

"The question of the Patent Laws has for many years engaged the
attention of all those interested in the progress of invention
and the just reward of the inventor. I am advised that the
Patent Act of last Session will afford a satisfactory solution
of the difficulties which beset this subject, and will be
especially useful to the poor inventor by enabling him to obtain
protection for his invention at a considerably reduced rate, and
in a manner which will be more advantageous to him.

"Under these circumstances, it has appeared to me that much good
may result from an Exhibition in the year 1885, showing the
Progress of Invention, especially in labour-saving machinery,
since 1862; that is to say, since the last great International
Exhibition held in this country.

"At the close of the Paris Exhibition of 1868, I had the
satisfaction of receiving from the Colonial Commissioners an
address, in