"It is now my pleasing duty to bring before you the toast of the evening, 'Prosperity to the Royal Cambridge Asylum for Soldiers' Widows.' When I see how I am surrounded and how large a gathering is present, I feel sure I shall not call on you in vain in the interest of those whom we are concerned in benefiting on this occasion. As my illustrious relative has mentioned to you, this institution was established as a memorial to his illustrious father, the late Duke of Cambridge. The object was to provide a home for the widows of privates and non-commissioned officers of the Army. No such institution previously existed, and it is still the only one of its kind in the country. In it the widows are provided with a furnished room and an allowance of 6_s._ a week, besides a grant of 2_s._ 6_d._ per month for coals. While the expenditure is great, exceeding £2000, the funded income, including £50 a year, called the Princess Mary Fund for Nurses, amounts to little over £500 a year. It was originally intended to have, if possible, 130 inmates, but at the present moment there are only 57, for there is no room for more, and our great object is to make the institution a success by increasing the numbers. On philanthropic grounds alone it is almost unnecessary to say a word as to its excellence. But when one thinks of the soldier, who has not only to expose his life in battle, but to run the risk of sickness and disease in a variety of different climates, away from home, often leaving his wife for many years behind him, it is impossible not to see that it must be a comfort to him, especially if ill or dying, to think there is an institution where his wife, if he succumbs, has a chance of being provided for. Among soldiers there can be but one feeling on this subject, and I am sure that on this occasion I shall not appeal to those who are present in vain.