REPORT FOR 185 5. 



Since the last Annual Meeting of the Hakluyt Socikty, 

 there has been little or no change in the number of its 

 Members, or in the state of its Balance Sheet, to call for 

 special remark from the Council, in meeting the Members 

 at the expiration of this, the eighth year of the Society's 

 existence. 



As regards the funds of the Society, it will be seen by the 

 statement of accounts at the foot of this Report, that it con- 

 tinues to maintain a healthy and prosperous condition, with 

 an adequate balance to meet the expenditure required for 

 the average annual publications of the Society. That the 

 number of Members should not have increased during the 

 past year, is, perhaps, not to be wondered at. The list has 

 been diminished by the death of several members ; and the 

 special character of the Society's publications, as alluded to 

 in the last year's Report, may, in itself, be considered a fair 

 reason why but few new members should have been added 

 to it; while, at the same time, the number is sufficiently 

 large to meet the current expense of publishing as many 

 books as may fairly be considered a suitable return for each 

 member's subscription. Another incidental cause may also 

 have existed in the pressure of political events during the 

 past year, calculated, as they have naturally been, not only 

 to engross attention, but to restrict expenditure, A hindrance 

 also has existed in the unwillingness expressed by new 

 subscribers to pay so large a sum as the accumulated sub- 

 scriptions for all the years of the Society's existence would 

 amount to ; although it is highly satisfactory to state, that on 

 the very occasions when from the death of members, or 

 otherwise, some of the Society's volumes have fallen into the 

 hands of booksellers, they have been sold, even under these 

 circumstances, at prices higher than the ordinary terms of 

 subscription would cover. That such a difficulty as that 

 referred to might not stand in the way of an object, which 

 experience has shown to have such strong claims upon the 

 attention of the literary world, it has been resolved by the 

 Council to allow all new subscribers during the ensuing 

 year to purchase complete sets of the Society's publications 

 for the sum of Five Guineas, including the current year's 

 subscription. 



Meanwhile, the Council are happy to state that the main 

 objects of the Society are being successfully carried out. 



