with great pleasure that the financial tone of the report now 

 before them was on a plain and satisfactory basis as to the 

 difficulties that were referred to when they last met to discuss 

 financial questions. The position was very clear, and, he would 

 venture to say, more hopeful. Although the annual income 

 was very small, the difference between it and the annual ex- 

 penditure was a negligible quantity. Although there was no 

 reserve fund, they had not to deplore any funded or floating 

 debt, and they might refer with satisfaction to their assets, 

 which consisted not merely of the library,* and the position 

 they held in having the right to use these premises, but also 

 in the good will and position which the Society enjoyed. It 

 was merely a question of using these valuable assets to the 

 best advantage. 



The first recommendation was put to the vote: — "That the 

 rate of subscription for all Fellows residing beyond a radius 

 of 15 miles from Hobart be reduced to £1 per annum." 



Mr. Bernard Shaw said that the Council of the Society was 

 exercising the strictest economy. As Treasurer, he was able 

 to express a hope that at the end of the year they would not 

 find their accounts overdrawn. 



Dr. Noetling said there were so few members outside the 

 15 miles radius that the total loss by the reduction proposed 

 would not be more than £8. It was felt that if the subscrip- 

 tion was reduced to £1 the probability was that the number 

 of non-resident members would be largely increased. 



Mr. Lyndhurst Giblin said that no previous notice had been 

 given of a recommendation which proposed an alteration in 

 one of the Rules of the Society. Was it competent for the 

 meeting to agree to such a proposal without the previous 

 notice prescribed by these Rules? 



The President ruled that the objection was fatal, and, after 

 discussion, the consideration of the report was deferred to a 

 special meeting to be held on Wednesday, November 25. 



THE FOLLOWING PAPER WAS READ : — 



An Introduction to the study of the Aboriginal Speech of 

 Tasmania. By Hermann B. Ritz, M.A. 



The author says that the life of a population invariably 

 assumed a form which largely depended on the climate and 

 geographical features and the facility of intercourse with the 

 denizens of other lands. To the observing ear of the scientist 

 the remnants of the feasts of the aborigines, their implements, 

 and the scanty records of their words and doings spoke in a 

 language of their own of those whose places we had taken for 

 good or ill. It was to the words, the records of the actual songs 

 of the voice that was still, that he would confine their attention, 

 and their present purpose was to clear the ground and mark 

 out the foundation for constructing a scientific reproduction 

 of the language of the aborigines of Tasmania. As far as he 

 was aware, the work done in^that direction had not hitherto 



