Proceedings. exi 
The President’s Address. 
GENTLEMEN, 
The custom of embodying in an address an account both 
of our work and recreations as a Club during the preceding year 
has this advantage, inasmuch as it gathers up into one whole 
the various items which have interested and instructed different 
members, making the many littles appear of some importance, 
just as the tiny rivulets trickling down a mountain side combine 
to form a stream. On the other hand, it has the disadvantage 
of making it exceedingly difficuls when we have reached our 
Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting to say anything that has not a 
family likeness to what has been said on other occasions, and 
I therefore must crave your indulgence this evening while I 
recapitulate the events which have taken place. 
The number of members on our roll remains the same as last 
year, viz. 227. We have lost 24 members by death or resignation 
from various causes, and 24 new members have been elected. 
Among those we have lost by death must be mentioned Sir 
Joseph Prestwich, the eminent geologist, who was elected an 
honorary member in 1879. He died on June 23rd, 1896, and 
had studied geology from an early age, and for some years was 
in business in the city. He published an important work on 
geology in 1888. 
The late Archbishop of Canterbury was also at one time on 
_ our list; but, I believe, took no particular interest in the Club. 
As will be seen from the balance-sheet that has been issued 
to you, the expenditure from the General Fund has been 
£151 5s. 7d. as compared with £154 9s. 2d. last year, and 
although every care has been exercised, it has slightly exceeded 
our income, and there is now a balance at the bank of £6 Os. 94d., 
compared with £10 19s. 10d. at the beginning of last year, but 
there are no liabilities outstanding. ‘The expenses of the Soirée 
were £2 11s. 2d. more, and the amount realized by the sale of 
tickets £1 6s. 6d. less than 1895, and there is also a difference 
of £1 10s. for the hire of the room for meetings. One of the 
most costly items of our expenditure is that for the Meteorological 
Sub-Committee, towards which four gentlemen very handsomely 
contribute £15 5s.; but even then the cost to the Club is 
£14 12s. 6d. After carrying on the work so well for so many 
years, it would be a very great pity to have to discontinue it. 
What we really want is an addition of another forty members,— 
members who will take a real interest in our proceedings, not 
only by attending the meetings, in itself a good thing, but also 
b2- 
