18 PRESIDENTS VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 
from the meetings. 
The average of the year was 16 members at each meeting, in- 
cluding lectures and conversational meetings, or about 13 per cent 
of the members on the books, as against an average attendance of 
20 the previous year and an average attendance of 18 in the third 
year of the society’s existence, when the first love of its constituents 
had not abated, shown by its high average of 33 percent with a total 
of 53 members on the books. There is probably no falling off from 
last year, because its average of 20 is largely made up by an extra- 
ordinary attendance of non-members at the special course of lectures 
given by our well known and able member of council, Mr. Louis C. 
Miall; but there is a sad and deplorable falling off from the percent- 
age attendance and it is to be feared from the earnestness which 
characterised the early life of the society. It remains for you its 
members loyally to support its new president and council in reviving 
the energy and the usefulness of its career, lest its very life be taken 
from it. In this connection it may be well to notice that a better 
state of things as regards attendance has begun to dawn, for as I 
see by some statistics our Secretary has been good enough to give 
me that the attendance at our meetings during the first quarter of 
the now expiring year was 18. During the second quarter the 
number fell to 14% and again fell to 1214 but during the last two 
months of Jan. and Feb. it has risen to 234%. ‘This increase of 
attendance has however been confined to our lecture nights, and the 
working nights, those that best test the real life of the society are 
still the source of true grief to those who have the best interests of 
the society at heart. 
I pass to consider the third chief feature in our year’s social life 
—its legislation. Those of us who were present during the admirable 
address of our late president, delivered at the commencement of 
this year will remember that this association has grown up out of 
small societies some of which were private or semi-private gatherings 
of two or three like-minded persons. It resulted from this that the 
association commenced its history with no definite rules or consti- 
tution save a few bye laws scattered in its minute books. This 
state of things is unobjectionable in small societies consisting of 
half-a-dozen members but is always more or less embarrassing and 
even. very seriously injurious when the society or association be- 
comes numerous and assumes more or less the character of a public 
body. Your council therefore seeing that the association has at- 
tained considerable size and that the absence of an accessible code 
of laws was productive of grave inconvenience, decided upon ap- 
pointing a committee to enquire into the whole of the then existing 
laws with instructions to report as to the advisability of codifying 
them or drafting a new code. The committee reported that it would 
