72 THE ESSEX FIELD C\M\). 



be taken from Chelmsford to I-oiidon. It would be a very great pity if an attempt 

 were made to do this ; it would be the first step towards making Essex a mere 

 appanage of the great metropolis. What could be better than to have a museum 

 built in the county town by the Field Club, where a room or rooms coidd be 

 provided for the county records ? Now that County Councils were the order of 

 the day he believed that a county record office would be a very suitable portion 

 of the county museum. Into this all Essex historical and genealogical manuscripts 

 should be gathered, and they should be under proper control and open for in- 

 spection under the conditions obtaining in the British Museum and the Rolls Office. 

 Mr. Fitch read an extract from the ' Antiquary ' for January last, stating that under 

 the New District Councils Bill, County Councils woulJ probably have to jirovide 

 county museums and libraries. He suggested that this probability should spur 

 them on to amalgamate with Chelmsford and form a county museum, and so 

 secure the support of the County Council in the event of the duty being cast upon 

 the county authority of providing a museum, so likely to happen as soon as we 

 had a newly-elected parliament. 



Mr. Fitch next dealt with the subject of Technical Instruction in Essex and 

 the part that the Club had taken in it. He said he much regretted that the well- 

 thought-out scheme which was so heartily approved at the last Annual Meeting 

 was not adopted by the County Council Committee. In its place they appointed 

 a Committee consisting of six members of the Technical Instruction Committee 

 andsix members nomiaated by the Club, who were known as the Organising Joint 

 Committee. This authority had done much in arranging for and providing 

 higher education in various parts of the county. Mr. Fitch gave the details of 

 the classes and lectures that had been held in forty-se^'en centres under the 

 auspices of this Joint Committee, with Mr. William Cole as Secretary. A con- 

 siderable amount of scientific apparatus had been purchased (costing upwards of 

 ^400), for the selection of which technical knowledge was indispensable, and 

 the county had profited much by the gratuitous advice rendered by members of 

 this Club. The experience of this Committee had shown that there was a 

 distinct desire in many localities for this teaching to be continued and further 

 developed, and from the reports of the lecturers really valuable results that 

 must contribute much to the intellectual and social impro\ement of the inhabit- 

 ants of this great county had already been obtained. He then demonstrated how 

 seldom it w'as that Joint Committees were satisfactory, and various causes had 

 made it evident that such was the case here; in future, six members of the 

 Club would be added to the Technical Instruction Committee, and there was 

 every probability that the good work already begun would continue to grow, as 

 was most desirable, and the Club would be recognised through its representatives. 



Proceeding, Mr. Fitch said that if anj'thing could be done to raise the status 

 of Essex he believed it would be b}^ the finding of coal in the county. He 

 was not a geologist, but from what he had gathered he believed that there 

 was every piospect of finding coal in their own county. If their Club had not 

 been burdened by other schemes, he would have proposed that the Club 

 continue the boring at Wickham Bishops, on land belonging to the count}', 

 another 200 feet, because if coal was there it would be found at a depth of about 

 1,000 feet below sea level. They had good reason to belie\e a seam extended 

 across the count)-, and Wickham was well within the limits of the seam. He 

 believed the work could be done for some ;^200 or ;^300 — it would not exceed 

 ;^5oo — and if, with the permission of the County Council, they undertook the 

 work and were successful, the success of the Essex Field Club would be assured 

 for all time. Ere long he might bring the matter again before the Club. Its 

 importance to the future wealth and progress of the county, should coal be discovered 

 in seams of workable thickness, could scarcely be over-estimated. Experimental 

 or trial borings, under good scientific advice, should certainly be made in Essex, 

 considering the results that have lately been arri\'ed at near Dover. If coal existed 

 under Essex, it was not at a depth prohibitive of its being successfully worked. In 

 conclusion, Mr. Fitch thanked the members for their support during the four 

 years he had been President, and bore testimony to the qualifications of Dr. 

 Laver for the office. [.\pplau?e.] 



I 



