191 1 Irish Societies. 57 



Administration. 



Five years ago the Right Honorable Jonathan Hogg was invited to 

 accept the responsibihties of the Presidency. As the Society's rules 

 provide that the same person shall not be President for more than five 

 years in succession, he now retires, but the Council cannot allow his period 

 of ofhce to terminate without expressing their deep obligation to him for 

 his many and valued services. For twelve years before he became 

 President he acted as Honorary Treasurer, and during this time he placed 

 the Society on a sounder financial basis than it had ever been. By his 

 tact, geniality and devoted interest in the affairs of the Society he has 

 done much to promote the success of the Society and that of its gardens. 



The Council have great pleasure in proposing that this important 

 office of President shall be filled by Sir Charles Ball. Not only has he 

 been many years on the Council, but he has always evinced an exceptional 

 interest in the welfare of the animals and the Gardens. This was not 

 the only reason for his selection. Almost since the Society's foundation, 

 some members of his family have been more or less intimately connected 

 with the varied career of the Zoological Gardens and the Society. Dr. 

 Robert Ball, his father, was a former Secretary, and so was more recently 

 his brother, Dr. Valentine Ball, while another brother, Sir Robert Ball, 

 has occupied the Chair of President of the Society. 



The position of the Secretary is not limited to a number of years by 

 the statutes of the Society, yet Dr. Scharff has placed his resignation in 

 the hands of the Council because he felt he could no longer devote the 

 necessary time and care to the Society's affairs. The Council feel that 

 in accepting Dr. Scharff's resignation as Secretary they should place on 

 record their appreciation of the unfailing care and attention he has given 

 to the work of the Society and the various improvements that have been 

 made and carried out by him in the Gardens. They feel that they have 

 lost a most valuable officer, but trust that the Society may still have the 

 benefit of his counsel and advice as a member of Council. The Council 

 propose as his successor Professor Carpenter. 



In November, 1910, the Society's Treasurer, Dr. Cosgrave, delivered 

 a lecture in the theatre of the Royal Dublin Society (kindly granted by 

 the Council), illustrated by a series of beautiful lantern slides, and drew 

 attention to some of the most noteworthy features in the gradual growth 

 and development of the Dublin Zoological Gardens. The lecture was 

 much appreciated and largely attended. 



The Gardens. 



A special paragraph is devoted this year to the Gardens on account of 

 the noteworthy changes which have been mad*.- there. At the commence- 

 ment of last year the Distress Committee of the City of Dublin Corporation 

 sent twenty of the unemployed men free of charge to the Society. Under 

 Mr. F. W. Moore's skilled direction they were employed carrying out 

 several schemes long ago contemplated, but abandoned owing to lack of 

 funds. The old half broken-down fence and fallen tree-trunks around 

 the middle lake were first cleared away, stones and rubble of all sorts 



