36 ANNUAL RKPORT OF 



finally decides 011 ihe louise of action wiih regard to membeis in arrear with 

 their subscriptions it is difficult to state the exact number of members. It may 

 Le put provisionally at about 420. 



In accordance with the intimation in last year's report, the Council very care- 

 fully considered the important question of the revision of tl.e rate of subscription, 

 and eventually, with some reluctance, decidetl to recommend the members to 

 adopt the foUovvinir proposals : — 



That the Subscription shall remain as before, viz., lOs. bd. per annum ^ but thai 

 each member wishing to receive the " Essex Naturalist " shall subscribe a furthtr sum 

 of ifS. 6d. in advance in each year io^cards the expensiS of publication, postages, 5fc. 



That the Life Membership shall be £?, 85. 



The reasons for these proposals were fully put before the members in a special 

 circular (which is set out in the E.N., vol. iv., pp. 228, 229), and need not be 

 repeated here. The question was simply whether the publications should be 

 curtailed, with an almost certain injury to the usefulness and prestige of the 

 Club, or whether the members should voluntarily tax themselves with an increased 

 subscription, and so enable the Council to carry on the work with vigour. The 

 latter course was adopted, and the Council feels assured that w^hen the slight 

 difficulties and friction consequent upon an}' changes of the kind have passed 

 away, the new rules will work well. 



The Council much regrets that, notwithstanding every reasonable economy, 

 the payments on the general account have again exceeded the receipts, and the 

 balance on the wrong side is now £^6 4s. 4d., as against ^41 l8s. lod. on the 

 31st of December, 1889, being an increase of ^"34 5s. 6d. A considerable portion 

 of this is, however, accounted for by the exceptionally heavy printers' bill which 

 was carried over from 1889, viz., ^46 2s. 6d., as compared with the one now due, 

 viz., £2^ 2s. 3d., and it is confidently anticipated that, under the operation of 

 the new rules as regards subscriptions, the debtor balance will rapidly disappear, 

 and the expenditure be eventuall}' brought well within the income. 



It will be observed by the balance-sheet that fair progress has been made in 

 collecting the overdue subscriptions, which have figured to so serious an extent 

 in former reports. Of the amount due at the end of 1889 a sum of £^0 was 

 estimated as gooJ, and of this about ;^35 (in subscriptions and entrance-fees) had 

 actually been received by the 31st ultimo, and £2 I2s. 6d. has since come in. 

 In round figures this item stood at about ;^8o at the close of last year, and of this 

 the Treasurer estimates £^0 as good, _^20 as doubtful, and fio as bad. Every 

 effort will be made to render it as productive an asset as possible, but the above is 

 as sanguine a view as can be safely adopted in the light of painful experience. 



The Council desires to direct attention to the fact that the amount of unpaid 

 subscriptions almost exactly corresponds with the excess of payments over 

 receipts, so that if the ladies and gentlemen who are in default had dul}' dis- 

 charged their obligations to the Club (as the Council had a perfect right to 

 expect) the accounts would have exhibited at least an equilibrium, instead of a 

 considerable deficit. 



In last year's report allusion was made to the proposed renewed attempt to 

 establish a Local Museum in Essex. This very important subject has received 

 great attention during the year. The Committee appointed in 1889 to draw up a 

 scheme for the amalgamation of the Essex and Chelmsford Museum with the 

 Essex Field Club, has now agreed upon such a scheme, which will be placed 

 before the members at the Annual .Meeting. .\s that meeting will be devoted to 

 a discussion of the scheme, it is unnecessary to enlarge upon it here. [It is set 



