fluence on the young men and women of the
Metropolis, for whose mental advancement it has been erected.
Many of the students in the old building have worthily
distinguished themselves, and it behoves those who partake of
the greater advantages of the new institution to emulate the
noble examples which have been set by their predecessors.

"The movement initiated by Dr. George Birkbeck was a very
remarkable one, and the foundation of the old institution was an
event of historic importance. We are informed that this movement
has spread not only throughout the Kingdom, but that its
ramifications have extended to different parts of the world, and
the presence to-day of representatives of our Colonies is to me
one of the most interesting features of the proceedings. The
success of Dr. Birkbeck's work is to be traced in the fact that,
in the words of Professor Tyndall, 'it responded at the proper
time to a national need, and to a need of human nature.'

"This institution has anticipated some of the beneficent
movements of the age, and by its technical instruction, and the
admission of both sexes to its advantages, has exerted a very
powerful influence for good. With a vitality so potent we may
look forward to the time when even this extensive building will
be insufficient for your needs. It is a subject for
congratulation that the institutions which by the establishment
of the Birkbeck Institution have been called into existence are
being so wisely adapted to the requirements of the age, and are
exerting by their development such a beneficent influence among
the people at large. I desire to thank you most heartily for the
kind welcome you have given us here this afternoon, and I
earnestly hope that this great institution will continue to
flourish, and that we may hear from time to time of its
increasing prosperity.

"This building, which will be regarded as a memorial of my dear
brother's devotion to the great cause of education, I have now
the gratification to declare open, and, in his words, 'to
dedicate it to those noble uses which it is intended to serve.'"

The thanks of the audience to the Prince were proposed by the Lord
Mayor, and seconded by Sir Charles Tupper, High Commissioner for Canada.

RAILWAY GUARDS' FRIENDLY SOCIETY.

_July 5th, 1884._

At the ninth triennial