REPORT FROM THE COUNCIL 



ANNIVERSARY MEETING, MAY 1, 1848. 



The Council in making their Annvxal Report to the Horticultural 

 Society regret that they cannot claim exemjjtion from the conse- 

 quences resulting from a year of unprecedented distress, both 

 social and commercial. Though their finances, in common with 

 those of all similar institutions, have suffered, they are happy to 

 state that they see no reason to suppose that the public interest in 

 Horticulture has diminished ; and while tliey have to lament the 

 loss of an vmusual number of Fellows from death, or from resigna- 

 tion in consequence of impaired incomes, they have also to report 

 the accession of forty new Fellows, a number not much below 

 the average. 



The financial statement by the Auditors, which accompanies 

 this Report (Appendix A), explains the diffierent heads of receipt 

 and expenditure, and it also draws a comparison between the 

 assets and liabilities of the Society. 



With the prospect of diminished resoiu'ces, the Council have 

 felt themselves imperatively called on to exercise the strictest 

 economy in every branch of ordinary expenditure, and to incur 

 no liability that could be avoided ; they have therefore declined to 

 sanction any outlay of money on new works at the Garden. 



Complaints having been made in the summer of 1 847 of defi- 

 cient and irregular attendance in the Library and Accountant's 

 Oflftce, the Council directed a register-book of attendance to be 

 kept, in which all paid officers should insert their hours of arrival 

 and departure — a practice adopted at many of the public and 

 Government offices. 



The Librarian having declined to comply with this regulation, 

 the Council accepted his resignation, which they received with 

 much regret, as it deprived them of the services of an able and 

 excellent officer, who had been many years in the employment of the 

 Society. Punctuality of attendance during office-hours is essential 

 to the proper discharge of the various duties connected with this 



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