The result of the examination by the Committee of Audit 

 of the Accounts of the Society must be highly gratifying to 

 the Fellows, as it proves the Finances of the Society to be in 

 a much more satisfactory state at the close of the last year, 

 than it was their duty to report at the end of the previous 

 year 1852. The causes of this condition are to be found, — 



In the first place, in the greatly increased amount of money 

 received for Admissions to the Gardens, which has exceeded 

 by £3413 185. the receipts of the year 1852, and by the large 

 amount of Garden Sales, by which £1834 14s. has been re- 

 ceived without detracting from the uses or attraction of the 

 Collection, as the preceding amount for Admissions would 

 sufficiently demonstrate, and presenting an increase of 

 £1130 7s. 36?. over the receipts of 1852; but this source of 

 Income is only an exceptional one, and has probably reached 

 its extreme limit. It may perhaps be as well to mention, that 

 part of this amount is made up by the sum of £700 received 

 for two Giraffes, and £115 by the sale of a Lioness, besides 

 the Arrears of previous years, amounting to £206 8s. Gd., 

 collected in accordance with a recommendation in the last 

 Report. 



And Secondly, in the decrease of Expenditure. It will 

 be seen that in the three items presented to the considera- 

 tion of the Council in the Auditors' Report of 1852, a con- 

 siderable saving has been effected, viz. in Salaries and Wages, 

 £167 9s. Ic?.; in Advertisements, £353 19s Od.', and in the Cost 

 of Provisions for Animals, a saving of £335 14s. 46?., — a result 

 in the latter instance highly gratifying, seeing that many kinds 

 of provisions had increased in price during the last four 

 months of 1853 by nearly 50 per cent. 



