34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



compound. As a consequence wlien a Fellow of upwards of twenty 

 years' standing in the Society compounds now, he is permitted to 

 do so on payment of a fee £4 to £(j lower than the amount which 

 his ' expectation of life ' should entitle the Society to exact. Thus 

 the tendency under the present system is for an undue proportion 

 of our older Fellows to compound. An examination of our accounts 

 produces the unpleasant impression that this new tendency is 

 even more disadvantageous to the financial condition of the Society 

 than the one it has replaced. 



It is not unusual to find that a modification of our Statutes 

 leads to cousequences uncontemplated when the change was 

 resolved upon. The recent addition of a hye-law limiting the 

 number of Fellows illustrates this. In that case, fortunately, the 

 consequences of the change all promise to be beneficial. This 

 cannot be said of the bye-law in which our composition-fee was 

 altered from a fixed to a variable sum. 



Tluit particular change was intended, among other things, to 

 afford some relief as regards ])ayments to a particular group of 

 our Fellows. This was perfectly legitimate. Unfortunately 

 what is lawful need not be expedient. The Society offers the 

 option of compounding to every Fellow. Only some of us can 

 avail ourselves of the offer. The Fellow who compounds reaps 

 the benefit of the sliding-scale. But the Fellow who can com- 

 pound is the one who least needs this benefit. The sliding-scale 

 does not affect the annual contributions of the Fellow who 

 cannot afford to compound. This is unavoidable ; justit-e to one 

 part of a community need not advantage another part. J^ut the 

 fact that the annual contributor is no better off because the 

 compounder receives assistance shows that our well-meant effort 

 only partially fulfils its purpose. 



The resident Fellows are mainly responsible for alterations in 

 our Statutes ; space and time prevent non-resident ones from co- 

 operating. This is usually of small moment ; the Statutes 

 generally affect all Fellows alike. But the composition bye-laws 

 are exceptional, for in one of tliese we order new non-resident 

 Fellows, under special circumstances, to compound rather than 

 contribute. We see that our present l:)ye-law augments tlie fee 

 payabk) by these newly elected non-resident Fellows, in some cases 

 by the equivalent of three ' annual contributions,' notwithstanding 

 tiie fact that non-resident Fellows could take no part in passing 

 or in objecting to the bye-law. The Fellows affected have no 

 ground for complaint ; they are, after all, only asked to pay for 

 the convenience we afi'ord them what in their particular cases that 

 convenience is worth. Again, however, a change intended by us 

 to benefit all compounders is open to some objection. It adds to 

 the financial obligation of the only kind of compounder in whose 

 case compounding is not optional. 



This is not the oidy respect in which non-resident and resident 

 Fellows are. differently situated. The former cannot as a rule 

 consult our books and attend our meetings ; the latter may do 



