86 ANNUAL MEETING. 
It will be seen from the financial statement appended that there 
is a balance in the hands of the Treasurer of £89 14s. 5d. 
This amount is chargeable with liabilities already incurred, 
which it is expected will more than absorb it. ‘The indebtedness 
of the members, however, amounts to nearly £200; the subscrip- 
tions in arrears for 1885 reaching a sum of £13 13s.; those for 
1886, £52 10s.; and those for the current year, £131 5s. In 
view of these circumstances the Council would impress upon you 
the fact that the active existence of the Society can only continue 
through the support of its members, and that its purposes can only 
be accomplished when their contributions are forthcoming. 
On the side of expenditure will be found the item ‘ Delegate’s 
Expenses in Sydney, #10.” The grant was made to Mr. H. 
Tryon in order to enable him to represent the Society at a pre- 
liminary meeting held in Sydney in connection with the proposed 
“‘ Australasian Association tor the Advancement of Science.” His 
report of the proceeding on that occasion was brought to the 
notice of the Society on 3rd December, 1886, and will appear as 
an appendix to the Society’s publication for that year. 
THe ordinary monthly meetings, seven in number, have been 
fairly well attended. At these meetings sixteen papers, and shorter 
scientific communications, have been read. ‘These include 3 on 
Zoology, 1 on Paleontology, 4 on Mineralogy, 1 on Botany, 4 on 
Pharmacy, 1 on Applied Chemistry, 1 on Preservation of Food, 
1 on Fish Acclimatization, and one on Cattle Inoculation. Five 
of these have been contributed by non-members of the Society. 
In addition to these papers short notes on objects exhibited have 
been from time to time read and important discussions engaged 
in. ‘The third volume of the Society’s Proceedings is on the eve 
of publication; and its issue has been so long delayed owing to the 
fact that the condition of the finances of the Society did not earlier 
warrant the outlay which the printing of it would involve. For 
this reason also the publication of the monthly Abstract of the 
Society’s Proceedings has been discontinued since January of 
the present year. 
The donations to the Society’s library, as from time to time 
announced, still continue to be both numerous and valuable. 
One hundred and forty-three in number, they comprise the current 
issues of the publications of thirty-five societies, forty-one reports 
emanating from other corporate institutions and Government 
departments, and sixty-seven contributions the gifts of private 
