VIII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the arrangements were known, the President invited the Most Eev. the 

 Archbishop of Halifax and Dr. A. H. MacKay to represent the Society 

 at the proceedings at Annapolis on June 31 and 22. The celebration 

 at St. John was fixed for the 23rd and 24th, and to that the Royal 

 Society had been invited as a body. The arrangements for reduced rates 

 of transportation so limited the time available for business, that it wasi 

 necessary to fix the opening meeting of the Eoyal Society for June 21. 



14. International Geological Congress. 



It will be seen on reference to the Proceedings of last meeting, 

 that the Eoyal Society was to prepare a statement in detail showing 

 what was proposed to be done and the amount required. The statement 

 was prepared and was sent to the Right Honourable the Premier, who 

 replied that he would draw the attention of the Minister of the Interior 

 to the matter immediately upon that Minister's return from Europe, 

 which was expected shortly. 



That was done, for the Honourable Mr. Sifton directly after his 

 return, wrote to say that if the Royal Society would issue the invitation 

 and undertake the management of the reception, he would recommend 

 that a grant of $25,000 should be placed at its disposal. 



The essential financial basis being then secure, the President and 

 Secretary forthwith sent the invitations off, and the Honourable Mr. 

 Sifton authorized Dr. Bell to go to the Congress at Vienna, at public 

 expense, to support it by personal representations. On Dr. Bell's arrival 

 he found the question practically closed. At the time the Congress 

 intimated their desire to hold their next meeting in Canada, a similar 

 wish was communicated to Mexico. The Mexican Government took up 

 the matter very warmly, telegraphed the invitation, and at once sent 

 over two delegates to canvass the members for its acceptance. They 

 were succesisful in this mission before Dr. Bell arrived. 



The proposition having thus fallen to the ground it will not be 

 necessary to go further into details. There was a large mass of cor- 

 respondence in connection with the matter. The main outline of facts 

 has been given above. The invitation was sent by post and a duplicate 

 followed by next post in addition to the copy carried by Dr. Bell. 



15. Associated Societies. 



The customary invitations to attend the present meeting and 

 report on the scientific and literary work of the year, were sent to 



