7 



ordinarily small to have secured such important and in- 

 teresting results. 



The Menagerie Expenses form a miscellaneous item 

 of expenditure, not referable to other heads, of which straw, 

 fuel, and the services of police, form the principal features ; 

 and this, like the cost of provisions, so materially depends 

 upon the extent of the Collection, that the increase of 

 £'J6 4s. 8d. may be taken as altogether unavoidable. 



The expenditure for Repairs, Painting, and other 

 Works incidental to the preservation of the Society's pro- 

 perty, which are not chargeable to the extraordinary outlay, 

 or to be considered as an investment, amounted in 1852 

 to £1767 19«. Ifif., but the result of this expenditure has 

 been to place the Council in a position to make a very im- 

 portant reduction under this head in the current year. 



The expenditure of £'Jll 5s. 2d. for the Gardener's 

 Department presents an increase of £126 6s. Ad. as 

 compared with 1851, which is more than accounted for 

 by the increased area brought into culture, and by the 

 large number of plants, evergreens, and flowers, which have 

 been added to the previous stock. It is satisfactory to 

 record that the improvement which has taken place in 

 this part of the Establishment has met with very general 

 approval among the Fellows, and has created great interest 

 among the public. 



In the minor heads of expenditure decreases of various 

 amounts were effected, as the Council felt it to be their 

 duty, as soon as the diminished receipts in June, July 

 and August became apparent, to reduce everything which 

 was not absolutely essential to the maintenance of the 

 Society's property without deterioration. 



The result of the policy which they have steadily pur- 

 sued during the last four years has been to place the Esta- 

 blishment in such a condition that they were able at the 

 beginning of the year, in considering the estimates for the 

 current twelve months, to effect a diminution of expendi- 

 ture to the amount of nearly £6000 as compared with the 

 year 1852, by suspending Extraordinary Expenditure for 

 the remainder of the year, or longer if necessary, by re- 

 ducing the duplicates in the Collection, and, as a conse- 

 quence, securing a reduction in the Cost oi Provisions and 

 oi Labour. And they have every reason to hope that the 

 returning buoyancy of the income, which at this time 

 exceeds the corresponding period of 1852 by upwards of 



