Page:King Edward VII, his life & reign; the record of a noble career 4.djvu/21

Rh The Earl of Kimberley, Secretary of State, in replying for the toast of the evening, "The British Colonies", congratulated the Lord Mayor on the happy notion of bringing together this assembly, which must have an equally happy effect in promoting good feeling both here and in the Colonies, inasmuch as it is a type of the union which ought to bind all the British dominions together.

Two days later the Prince of Wales was engaged with another public movement of vast importance—the advancement of technical education, a subject in which the Prince Consort had been an originator in this country. Some of the City companies had become alive to their duty of training artisans, a main purpose of their foundation, and in 1880 the "City and Guilds of London Institute" was incorporated. In May of that year the Duke of Albany had laid the foundation stone of the Finsbury Technical College, the first building in London exclusively devoted to this practical training. Other schools of like character arose, and it was thought well to establish a Central Institute, at the cost of many of the City companies, for the systematic teaching of the practical applications of science and art to the trades and industries of the country. The Prince of Wales, as president of the associated Institute, now attended at South Kensington, to lay the foundation stone of the building. He was accompanied by the Princess of Wales, and, in reply to an address from the Lord Chancellor (Lord Selborne), Chairman of the Committee of the Institute, the Prince dwelt at length on the importance of technical training, and spoke of the "peculiar pleasure he felt in the fact that the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, of whom I am the president, have been able to contribute to this important undertaking by giving the ground upon which the college is to be erected, with a sufficient reserve of land to ensure its future development". The stone was then laid with the usual ceremonies. The work of the Prince on this occasion proved very valuable in promoting the establishment of other technical institutes and schools in London. August brought the usual Cowes Regatta, in which