A FEW years ago, amidst much rejoicing, the Imperial Institute was opened to the public. There seemed to be some doubt about its exact object, and perhaps it is not quite right to call it a common (or garden) exhibition. That there was a magnificent inaugural ceremony is patent to everyone who read the descriptions in the daily papers. A vast number of seats were occupied by Fellows of the Imperial Institute, and I fancy that the qualifications for Fellowship were what may be termed elastic. Still it must be remembered that the Institute is not confined to India, Canada, and the Colonies, but extends to Great Britain. So I wrote when the Institute was inaugurated, but recent events have proved that my view of the future, to say the least, was rose coloured. For all that, the Imperial Institute assisted to create that cordial feeling of good fellowship that we find in existence between the Colonies and the Mother Country at the end of the century.