The Imperial Institute was established in 1887 to promote research that would benefit the Empire. While completely separate from the Geological Survey, there is a direct lineage of the overseas work of BGS derives from the former Imperial Institute. There was a strong focus on mineral statistics, mineral surveys and research and identification. This publication is the annual report of activities. Annual reports were published from 1926. Prior to that earlier annual reports of the Imperial Institute were published in the Colonial Reports - Annual series (and the Annual Report of the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau). From 1957 onwards the Institute was renamed the Commonwealth Institute, and a new series of annual reports was started.