| RefNo | NLB/48/364 |
| AltRefNo | NLB/48 p222-225 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Copy letter from Alfred Bray Kempe, to The Secretary, H M Treasury |
| Date | 20 June 1913 |
| Description | Kempe has been requested by the President and Council of the Royal Society to call the attention of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury to the financial responsibility which the Royal Society is incurring by reason of the great increase in the work and consequent expenditure of the National Physical Laboratory. Gives increase in expenditure over thirteen years, £8,294 in 1900 to £32,058 in 1912. It has been necessary to create a reserve fund. The credit balance of this was £500.13.7 at the end of 1912. The difficulty and risk of conducting a large and increasing undertaking such as the Laboratory on so small a reserve are obvious.
The development of the work of the Laboratory shows no sign of slowing, and the financial responsibility of the Society must inevitably increase. Some steps should be taken to continue and develop without involving the Society in the financial responsibility which it is not in a position to incur. The Laboratory was founded by the Royal Society at the request of the Treasury in response to an urgent demand for such an institution. Parliament should relieve the Society from the danger of being compelled to expend its own funds.
The Council think a grant of no less than £5000, to be employed strictly as a reserve fund, and when drawn upon to be replenished as soon as possible out of income, would be sufficient to relieve the Society from anxiety. They would like the Lordships to take necessary.
President and Council think that they ought to add, as closely connected with the application, that it appears to them that it may also be necessary in the near future to approach the Lordships with a view to some augmentation of the grant of £7,000 which is annually made by Parliament for the purposes of the Laboratory.
Gives a tabulated breakdown of income and expenditure. |
| Extent | 4p |
| Format | Carbon |
| PhysicalDescription | Typescript |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA6638 | Kempe; Sir; Alfred Bray (1849 - 1922) | 1849 - 1922 |