606 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



year with a balance to the good. This is a matter for satisfac- 

 tion, but it has mainly been brought about by constant watchful- 

 ness on the part of the Council to in every possible way keep 

 down the cost of publication. The necessity for the utmost care 

 in this matter will be apparent when I point out that a recent 

 re-investment of £2,000 of the Society's capital had to be made 

 at the rate of 3 J % interest, the lowest which we have ever 

 received. This item alone means a reduction of XI in the 

 Society's income, which, as you know, has already been affected 

 by the shrinkage in the interest-bearing value of money to an 

 extent which was never anticipated by our revered patron, Sir 

 William Macleay. 



For the reasons mentioned the Council found it necessary to 

 postpone temporarily the publication of the Macleay Fellow's 

 first paper, on account of the length of the MS., and the numerous 

 illustrations required. A beginning will, however, be made with 

 this paper at the April Meeting. 



In addition to the full number of ordinary meetings, a special 

 meeting was held in January last, at which Dr. W. A. Roth, 

 Chief Protector of Aborigines, Queensland, gave a most luminous 

 and instructive lecture on the Aborigines of North Queensland, 

 illustrated by a quite unique collection of lantern slides. ]t is a 

 pleasure to place on record our very high appreciation of the 

 work which is being carried out by Dr. Roth, in the fulfilment 

 of his important duties in furthering the best interests of the 

 Aborigines, and in his extremely valuable ethnological observa- 

 tions. 



Nine Ordinary Members were elected during the year, and two 

 resignations were received, a nett increase of seven. As the 

 names of twenty-five non-effective Members were removed from 

 the Roll just before the issue of the new edition of the Rules 

 and List, the number of Members remains at about 120. 



The Society has to regret the loss of the oldest surviving 

 Honorary Member, Captain F. W. Hutton, F.R.S., Curator of the 

 Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand, whose connec- 

 tion with the Society dated from 28th October, 1878. Captain 



