3|ep:otit iixti th:e ^eait 1870. 



Tour Committee has to report tliat the Society, as to 

 members and finances, is in much the same condition as at the 

 end of the preceding year. Though the balance of only lis. 

 4d. in the hands of the Treasurer now, against £5 15s. 3d. at 

 the end of the year 1869, might appear as a large deficiency, it 

 is not so in reality ; for most of the difference had been added 

 to the permanent capital of the Society, chiefly in the shape of 

 valuable and expensive books to the Library, of which the 

 details will be appended to this Report. And this is a depart- 

 ment which your Committee regards as of great importance, 

 since a Libraiy of some of the best books of natural science is 

 absolutely indispensable in carrying out the designs of the 

 Society, especially in a city where no other collection of such 

 books is to be found. It is, therefore, with pleasui-e that your 

 Committee congratulates the Society on its success in this 

 direction, which is, in fact, a veiy valuable and prosperous 

 achievement ; indeed, on this point alone the Society might 

 well and truly found a claim to the support of all persons 

 in the district who have sufficient intelligence to appreciate 

 the true value of natural science, and to promote it accord- 

 ingly, as part .and parcel of a liberal education. 



But your Committee regrets that its efforts have not yet 



