}
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
21 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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The following is a list of the present members of what is now called the Visual Instruction Committee, most of whom have served from the first :-
The Right Honourable The Earl of Meath, K.P., Chairman, The Right Honourable Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, G.C.M.G.
Sir Philip Hutchins, K.C.S.I., late Member of the Council of the Secretary
of State for India.
Sir Charles Lucas, K.C.M.G., C.B., of the Colonial Office.
Sir Charles Holroyd, Director of the National Gallery.
H. F. Heath, Ph.D., Director of Special Enquiries and Reports, Board
of Education.
H J. Mackinder, M.P., M.A., late Director of the London School of
Economics and Political Science.
W. H. Mercer, C.M.G., Crown Agent for the Colonies.
R. D. Roberts, D.Sc., Secretary of the Gilchrist Education Trust. Professor Michael E. Sadler, LL.D., Professor of Education in the
University of Manchester.
John Struthers, ('.B., LL.D., Secretary to the Scotch Education Depart-
ment.
The Committee decided to begin with a set of lectures dealing with the United The Governments Kingdom for use in the Schools of the Dominions and Colonies. of the three Eastern Colonies of Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, and Hong Kong were approached, and undertook to bear the expense of a book of lantern lectures, written by Mr. Mackinder, for use in those Colonies. Other parts of the Empire were invited to have editions of the same book suited to their special requirements prepared at their own expense, and the lectures and slides are now in use in the Eastern Colonies, Mauritius, West Africa, the West Indies, and in India. The Indian edition has been re-issued for use in this country, and editions are in preparation for Canada and for South Africa.
The first part of their scheme being well on the way to completion, the Com- mittee turned their attention to its converse, the provision of lectures on the Colonies and India for use in the schools of this country, and of other parts of the Empire. The initial difficulty of funds was in part overcome in the year 1907, when Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, with the assistance of Lady Dudley and a committee of ladies, collected and placed at the disposal of the Committee a sum of £3.715 18s. Od. In addition free passages to certain Colonies were promised by the Chairman of the Royal Mail Company.
The Committee realised, as the result of their experience, that in order to secure the uniformity of treatment so essential to success the general supervision and the work of preparing the lectures should be undertaken by one man. They obtained the services of Mr. Mackinder for this work for a period of three years from the 1st of September, 1907.
The next step was the selection of an artist who was at the same time a competent photographer, to visit the Colonies and send home photographs and paintings which would form the material for lantern slides.
Mr. A. Hugh Fisher, of the "Illustrated London News," and a member of the Painter Etcher Society, was appointed for the same period of three years from the 1st of September, 1907.
On his first journey Mr. Fisher visited India, Ceylon, Burma, Aden, Somaliland, and Cyprus. His next tour was through Newfoundland and Canada, across the Pacific to Weihaiwei, Hong Kong. Borneo, and the Malay Peninsula, and back He is through Canada; thus securing views of Canada in winter and summer. now working in Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, and will return before the expiration of his agreement.
As the result of Mr. Fisher's work the Committee will have in their possession at the end of the three years, material for slides illustrating the greater part of the Empire. Mr. Mackinder has already written a set of eight lectures on India, accompanied by 480 slides, some of them in colour, which are now nearly ready for issue.
The Committee anticipate that the Princess of Wales's Fund will be exhausted by the 31st of August, 1910, the date on which the original agreements with Mr. Mackinder and Mr. Fisher will terminate.
South Africa, East, West, and Central Africa, and the West Indies still remain to be visited. The Committee trust that they will be enabled to complete a work
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which they are confident will prove of the greatest educational value. They believe that a further sum of at least £3,000 will be required, and they now appeal for assistance in raising that sum. The Mercers' Company have already made a grant
of 100 guineas. May, 1910.
8395
No. 18.
GOLDSMITHS' COMPANY to THE VISUAL INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE. (Received 26 May, 1910.)
MY LORD,
[Answered by No. 21.]
Goldsmiths' Hall, London, E.C., 25th May, 1910.
I BEG to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's letter of to-day's date* with reference to the work of the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial Office, and to say that the same shall be laid before the Court of my Company at an early date.
I think that the Court will desire to be informed how this Committee has been financed since the year 1907, and whether it receives any Government grant. If any report of the work has been published, with a statement of accounts, it would be very convenient if such could be supplied.
I am, &c., The Right Honourable
15200
SIR,
The Earl of Meath, K.P.
No. 19.
WALTER S. PRIDEAUX.
COLONIAL OFFICE to INDIA OFFICE.
Downing Street, 26th May, 1910. WITH reference to the correspondence ending with the letter from this Office of the 16th of November, 1907, on the subject of the scheme for the provision of lantern lectures on India and the Colonies for use in the schools of the United Kingdom, I am directed by the Earl of Crewe to enclose a proof of a set of eight lectures on India which have been prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee. The lectures have been written by Mr. H. J. Mackinder and have been very carefully revised and corrected.
They have been submitted to a number of persons who are authorities on India, some of whom are referred to on page vii. at the end of the Preface.
Prints of the photographs taken in the Khyber Pass, which have been used in
the preparation of slides Nos. 42-50 in Lecture VII., were submitted to the Political Agent at Peshawar, and his permission to use them was obtained.
In these circumstances, it is hoped that Viscount Morley will have no objection to the immediate issue of the lectures in their present form.
14982
No. 20.
FIJI.
I'm, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR. [Answered by No. 35.]
(Miscellaneous.)
SIR,
Downing Street, 27 May, 1910.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 69, of the 7th of April, and to express my appreciation of the attention which you were good enough to show to Mr. A. Hugh Fisher during his stay in Fiji.
• No. 17.
22001
† No. 205 in Miscellaneous No. 188.
‡ No. 15.
B2
/
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2. The Visual Instruction Committee will welcome a selection of photographs illustrating the coconut industry.
I have, &c.,
CREWE.