November 15th, 1872. Cloudy; rain.

As we were travelling, we had been unable to celebrate Emperor Meiji's birthday last month, so this evening we held a celebratory dinner at our hotel. We invited Sir Harry Parkes, General Alexander and Mr. Stewart of the Oriental Bank. Japanese government officials and other Japanese of importance all attended. After dinner there were speeches.

November 20th. Fine.

At six o'clock in the evening we attended a dinner given by the London Goldsmith's Company. We returned to our hotel at half past ten.

November 25th. Cloudy in the morning; in the afternoon it began to rain.

At twenty to ten in the morning we left our hotel for Paddington Station, in the north of the city. We boarded a special train and departed at ten o'clock for the town of Reading, which we reached at eleven o'clock after a journey of thirty-five miles. It is known for the manufacture of biscuits and the production of seeds. There are many biscuit manufacturers in Britain, but it is recognised that the Reading firm leads the field.

The Reading factory belongs to the family firm of Huntley and Palmers. Thirty years ago, the Huntleys had been a local family in humble circumstances, whose entire wealth would not have amounted to much. They scraped a living baking biscuits, employing only three or four workers.