Preece Family Tree

THE ROYAL INSTITUTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE CAMBRIAN."

SIR, - I perceive an effort is being made to raise subscriptions for the erection of a new house, attached to the Royal Institution, for the use of the resident keeper, Mr. Evan Lewis. The present accommodation is such, and the sanitary arrangements so defective, that probably (according to medical evidence) the death of one of the keeper's children, is to be attributed thereto. I would not, therefore, for a single moment throw cold water upon the efforts of the Council of the Institution; my only object in directing public attention thereto being the hope that they will look at the question in a far more comprehensive view, and deal with the whole subject of the Institution in a spirit more in accordance with the present times. It has long been felt that the Royal Institution does not meet the necessities of the present day. I do not say that the charges for membership are too high, but the air of exclusiveness which has always surrounded it prevents the classes for whose benefit it should exist from sharing in its advantages. A working-man, in his corduroy trousers and fustian jacket, would no more think of entering the reading-room of the Royal Institution to read your valuable journal than he would of going to fashionable St. James's Church or the equally fashionable Congregational Chapel in his working suit. It may be very wrong and very foolish to have such qualms - but there the thing is, and we must deal with matters as we find them. Then, again, the site of the Royal Institution is much against its usefulness. After business hours that part of town is almost deserted, and people won't walk a mile or more to read a newspaper, especially when there are so many attractions on the way thither. All observant people, too, must see that very shortly the Royal Institution premises must be utilised for other purposes - they will be required for some of the great public improvements which are in the not far distant future. If the Council of the Institute, therefore, are wise in their day and generation, they will even now be on the qui vive for another site upon which to erect other premises rather than incurring the expense for a new house for the resident keeper. The Royal Institution possesses a nucleus of a far more usefl Institution than at present exists, and if removed to a more convenient site would be of far greater advantage than at present. I, for one, therefore, hope the Council will take up the whole question in a far more comprehensive spirit than them seem inclined to do, and instead of soliciting subscriptions for a new house for the resident keeper, consider whether they should not take steps to remove the Institution to a more central and convenient place, where its great benefits could be more easily attained.

Yours, &c.,
SENEX.
Swansea, June 30, 1874.