210 A HISTORY OF 



others) the Dublin Society, requiring the Society to 

 furnish such particulars. It appeared to the com- 

 mittee appointed to consider the requisition that the 

 Society was not obliged to submit any accounts prior 

 to the ist of June 1784, and that it would be sufficient 

 to lodge a statement of debts due and of funds unex- 

 pended. 



In March 1789, a special committee was appointed 

 to report on the state of the Society's funds, and how 

 far they might be adequate to discharge premiums. It 

 reported that on account of the large payments made 

 within recent years, by reason of the increased number 

 of claimants, and the great expenses incurred in the 

 enlargement of the repository for implements in 

 Hawkins street, the Society could only afford to offer 

 ^4500 for encouragement of planting and agriculture, 

 and ^1500 for manufactures and fine arts. In June, 

 the outstanding orders liable to be demanded at any 

 time were found to amount to nearly ^4000, which 

 would have to remain undischarged until the parlia- 

 mentary bounty of last session was paid over by the 

 Treasury. The expenditure on account of agriculture 

 and planting exceeded the appropriated fund by more 

 than £iyoo. 



On the 30th of January 1800, the following pro- 

 posal, in substance, was agreed to, for submission to Par- 

 liament, which was to stand as part of the Society's 

 petition to it in that session : — Anxious to carry their 

 great plan for the benefit of the country into execu- 

 tion, and hoping for a liberal bounty from Parliament, 

 the Society propose to surround the Botanic Garden 

 with a wall ; to erect sheds where farmers may have 

 ocular demonstrations ; to rebuild the drawing schools ; 

 to erect at the repository a gallery for exhibition of 

 works of Irish artists ; and, above all, to establish a 



