added that the Prince had already presided at a festival
of the "Railway Benevolent Association," where he spoke with equal
warmth and sympathy for all classes of railway servants. There are now
other institutions with similar objects, partly provident and partly
benevolent, and it is an excellent kind of charity. The directors of
companies do their part, and, where there is any just cause, can be made
to do more, under the Employers' Liability Act. For unavoidable
accidents the men themselves contribute their money, on the principle of
mutual insurance, but there is need also for more of the benevolent
gifts of those who travel by rail.

CONVALESCENT HOME AT SWANLEY.

_July 13th, 1885._

On the 8th of July, 1872, the Prince of Wales, as President of St.
Bartholomew's Hospital, formally opened a new Convalescent Home, in
connection with that Hospital. This was an institution much needed at
the time, and its advantages had long been urged on the Governors by Mr.
Foster White, the Treasurer. At several existing Homes, such as at
Walton-on-Thames, and Bognor, patients from St. Bartholomew's had been
received, but it was desirable to have an establishment of its own, and
conducted by its own officers. The carrying out of this scheme would
require large expenditure, and a suitable building could not be provided
for a considerable time. A temporary home was obtained at Highgate,
through the generous munificence of Sir Sydney Waterlow, one of the
Governors of the Hospital. He presented as a free gift the lease, for
several years, of Lauderdale House, a mansion with many historical
associations, somewhat old, but with every convenience for use as a
temporary home for convalescent patients, and so it continued for
thirteen years. On the 13th of July, 1885, the Prince, accompanied by
the Princess of Wales, and the Princesses Louise, Victoria, and Maude,
visited Swanley, in Kent, to open the permanent Home, erected through
the generosity of Mr. Charles T. Kettlewell, one of the Governors of the
Hospital. It is a spacious building, with accommodation for forty-five
male and twenty-five female patients, standing in the middle of
beautiful grounds, comprising an area of fifteen acres.

Their Royal Highnesses having taken their places on the dais at the end
of a tent, Sir Sydney Waterlow, who had for several years given the use
of Lauderdale House at Highgate, read an address, which gave a summary
of the facts relating to