Beport of the Forty-Fourth Annual General Meeting. 213 



the Institute had derived the greatest possible advantage. It was the feeling of the' 

 Council, and he hoped of the Fellows also, that he should continue to carry on the good 

 work which was now really only at its beginning. If the time should come when the 

 present Chairman felt it necessary to resign the Council had a very efficient under- 

 study in the person of Sir Godfrey Lagden, who, he felt confident, would discharge 

 the duties with ability and zeal. 



Sir Godfrey Lagden, K.C.M.G., seconded the motion. 



Hon. A. P. Matheson, who explained that he was discussing the matter simply as 

 one of pohcy and not from any personal point of view, reminded the meeting that these 

 rules were adopted after much consideration only three years ago, and the Committee 

 who considered them came to the conclusion that one of the most essential things was 

 that there should not be the same stereotyping of membership of the Council as there 

 had been in the past. It was, therefore, settled that one-eighth of the Council should 

 retire and should not be ehgible for re-election, and also that the Chairman should hold 

 office for one year, but be eligible for two, the latter limit being a sine qua non. In his 

 opinion every member of the Council should feel that he was in a position to look 

 forward to holding the office in rotation. For these and other reasons he most strongly 

 deprecated the proposed alteration. 



Hon. Sir John Cockburn, K.C.M.G., urged that, as the Fellows had taken steps to 

 provide themselves with a vigorous Council, the Council could be trusted to take steps 

 to provide themselves with a vigorous Chairman. 



Mr. A. Moor-Radford reminded the meeting that during a critical state of affairs. 

 Sir J. Bevan Edwards had carried the ship vigorously onwards. In his opinion to 

 make any change now in the man at the helm, contrary to the wishes of the Council, 

 would be suicidal. 



Mr. Ian D. Colvin suggested, as a possible way out of the difficulty, that five 

 years should be made the hmit. 



Mr. R. Bewley was quite ready to admit that they were under the greatest 

 obHgations to the Chairman, but that, he considered, was not a valid reason for 

 altering a carefully considered rule. 



After further discussion : — 



The Chairman said he was one of the small Committee who drew up the Rules 

 and spent a good deal of time upon them, but he did not hesitate to say from an 

 experience of three years that they required amendment. The position of Chairman 

 was one which, for one thing, took up a good deal of time. This year, when the question 

 was again raised, he said he certainly could not continue in the office unless the rule 

 was altered. Whether he went on or not he considered the rule a bad one. He 

 reminded the meeting that he had not yet been re-elected. He was entirely in the 

 hands of the Coimcil. He strongly recommended the meeting to alter the rule. It 

 took a man three years' sohd work to get to the bottom of matters, and he found they 

 were really only at the beginning of much of the work they ought to take up. 



The motion was carried by a large majority. 



The appointment of Messrs. Price, Waterhouse & Co., as auditors of the accounts 

 for 1911, was confirmed and they were appointed auditors for the year 1912. 



Lieut.-General Sir Edward T. H. Hutton, K.C.M.G., C.B., moved a vote of 

 th?nks to the Hon. Treasurer and Hon. Corresponding Secretaries for their services 

 during the past year. The Hon. Treasurer, for reasons of health and otherwise, had 

 resigned the position he had held for twenty-four years, and he was sure the Institute 



