41 



SATURDAY, JUNE 11th, 1898. 



Hnnual (Beneral flfteeting. 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 11th, 1808. 



The records of the Society for the past year show one 

 notable departure from those of previous years. It is in the 

 institution of Lectures under the auspices of the Society, to 

 which the public are admitted on payment. 



A Lecture Guarantee Fund was started in the beginning of 

 the year in connection with the scheme, and soon reached a total 

 sum of between two and three hundred pounds. Mr. Selous waa 

 engaged, and his admirable lecture in the Dome on " Travel and 

 Adventure in South Africa," was in so far a success that no loss 

 fell on the guarantors. There is little doubt that a considerable 

 amount would have accrued to the Lecture Fund had the weathec 

 not been so unpropitious. 



Encouraged by the result of this experiment, it is proposed 

 that two or three Lectures shall be given next Session. It is also 

 hoped that a programme of Lectures to be given before the 

 Society, and of papers to be read at its Meetings, may for the 

 first time in the history of the Society be issued before the 

 commencement of the next Session. 



The Council regrets that the Meetings of the Sections have 

 not been better attended, but trusts that as their work becomes 

 more widely known, and as the Membership of the Society 

 increases, they will receive more support than has hitherto been 

 accorded to them. 



A Meeting of the S.E. Union of Scientific Societies with which 

 this Society is affiliated, was held at Croydon on the 2nd, 3rd, 

 and 4th inst. The Meeting was attended by Messrs. J. P. 

 Slingsby Roberts, Breed, Davey, and Pankhurst, the Delegates 

 appointed by the Council. 



They conveyed an invitation from the Council to the Union, 

 inviting it to meet at Brighton in J une next year. It appears, 

 however, from their report, that Rochester was selected as the 



