| Description | Any cost of improvement of existing building should be borne by the new fund, not the Kew Committee. The purposes of the new Physical Laboratory come well within the definitions of the Gassiot Trust. A governing body might be appointed for the observatory and laboratory by the Royal Society on which present members of the Kew Committee might serve. The trust deed does not recognize any ex-officio members of the Committee but there can be little doubt that the Council of the Royal Society will always be glad to appoint the the Permanent Secretary of the Board of Trade as a member of the Committee.
Regarding the Treasury letter, the proposed cessation of the subscription of £400 per annum, by the Meteorological Council to the Kew Committee practically reduced the parliamentary grant from £4,000 to £3,600 a year. |