"The evidence of the public interest in such Exhibitions, afforded by the vast concourse of visitors from all parts of the realm to that which is now closed, has led me to hope that the buildings which have been erected at so much cost, and which have so admirably served their purpose, shall continue for the next three years to be employed for Exhibitions of a similarly comprehensive character. "In considering what shall be the subject-matter of these Exhibitions, three topics of paramount interest to our community have presented themselves to my mind. These are Health, both bodily and mental; Industrial Inventions; and the rapidly-growing resources of our Colonies and of our Indian Empire. "I have expressed a desire that the Exhibition of 1884 will embrace the conditions of health, in so far as, like food, clothes, and dwellings, they fall under the head of Hygiene, or, like appliances for general and technical teaching, gymnasia and schools, under that of Education. "The question of the Patent Laws has for many years engaged the attention of all those interested in the progress of invention and the just reward of the inventor. I am advised that the Patent Act of last Session will afford a satisfactory solution of the difficulties which beset this subject, and will be especially useful to the poor inventor by enabling him to obtain protection for his invention at a considerably reduced rate, and in a manner which will be more advantageous to him. "Under these circumstances, it has appeared to me that much good may result from an Exhibition in the year 1885, showing the Progress of Invention, especially in labour-saving machinery, since 1862; that is to say, since the last great International Exhibition held in this country. "At the close of the Paris Exhibition of 1868, I had the satisfaction of receiving from the Colonial Commissioners an address, in which great stress was laid on the desirability of establishing a permanent Colonial Museum in London, as a powerful means of diffusing throughout the Mother Country a better knowledge of the nature and importance of the several Dependencies of the Empire, of facilitating commercial relations, marking progress, and aiding the researches of men of science, and also of affording valuable information to intending emigrants. "At that time I was able to do little more than to assure the Commissioners of my readiness to promote such a scheme, and to recommend the respective Governments to give it their full consideration.