Colombo, when first on his way to Tasmania. He had then 

 telegraphed to assure them of the interest he would always 

 take in the proceedings of this Society, and he could further 

 assure them that this interest would continue as long as he 

 had the honour to serve His Majesty as his representative in 

 Tasmania. 



The Rev. E. H. Thompson, the Rev. A. H. Mitchell, and 

 Lieut. -Colonel E. T. Watchorn were elected Fellows of the 

 Society. 



REPORT. 



The report of a Committee appointed to consider the ques- 

 tion of a possible reduction in the rate of subscription of 

 Fellows was read by the Secretary to the Council. In this 

 report the Committee trace the history of the Royal Society 

 for the past sixty years as gathered from the records in the 

 Library. In 1848 the number of members was 123, and the 

 subscription £1 per annum. In 1853 the number of members 

 was 236, with a corresponding increase in the amount of sub- 

 scriptions paid. In 1854 the subscription was raised to £1 10s. 

 per annum, and this at first considerably increased the income 

 of the Society, but in the suceeding years the records show a 

 gradual falling off, until in 1861 the number of members, now 

 called Fellows, is reduced to 106, the amount realised being 

 £159 10s. In this year, at the Annual Meeting, a motion is 

 submitted for a return to the original rate of subscription, but 

 this is negatived by the casting vote of the Chairman. The 

 report traces in detail the gradual declension in the next twenty 

 years, the minimum being reached in 1880, when the number 

 of Fellows was 68, and the income from subscriptions £102. 

 The subsequent records of number of Fellows and amount of 

 subscriptions were too incomplete to enable the Committee to 

 trace the financial history of the Society in detail, but the 

 tables recently compiled by the Honorary Treasurer give the 

 receipts and expenditure for the four years from 1904 to 1907- 

 They came to the conclusion that the main cause of diminished 

 membership and income was the increase of the subscription 

 in 1854. The Committee report the receipt of remarks and 

 suggestions from Fellows resident in Launceston and its 

 vicinity, who point out that all they get in return for their 

 subscriptions is the publication of volumes of the Proceedings 

 of the Society at uncertain intervals, and that the long delay 

 in the publication of original papers places all authors at a 

 serious disadvantage. They would favour a general reduction 

 in the amount of the annual subscription as soon as it could 

 be safely done, and an immediate reduction in the case of 

 country members. They also suggest that balance-sheets of 

 receipts and expenditure should be published in an improved 

 form, and that the get-up of the annual volumes should be 

 greatly improved; but these suggestions had been anticipated 

 by the Council, and are already taking effect. 



The report concludes with the following recommen- 

 dations: — 



