478 REPORT— 1901. 



The Corresponding Societies Committee were represented by Mr. W. 

 Whitaker, Mr. F. W. Rudler, Dr. J. G. Garson, the Rev. J. O. Bevan, 

 and Professor W. W. Watts. The representatives of the Corresponding 

 Societies present will be found in the list of Delegates. 



The Chairman : It will be remembered that at our last meeting Cap- 

 tain Dubois Phillips gave notice of a motion which he would bring forward 

 to-day, and I now call upon him to move it. 



Captain Phillips : The resolution I have to propose is in the following 

 terms : — ' That the Corresponding Societies Committee be requested in 

 future to bring before the Conference of Delegates some account of the 

 outcome of the Conference of the preceding year.' ' Good wine needs no 

 bush,' and I desist from making any remarks upon the resolution. 



Dr. Vaughan Cornish : I rise to second the resolution moved by Cap- 

 tain Phillips, which was to some extent discussed at the last meeting. 

 Any outcome of this resolution must entirely lie within the discretion of 

 the Corresponding Societies Committee, and therefore I follow the ex- 

 ample of Captain Phillips, and simply second that resolution without 

 discussing its merits. 



The Chairman : This motion has been moved by Captain Phillips and 

 seconded by Dr. Cornish and the matter is open for discussion, but we 

 discussed it so fully at the last meeting that I doubt whether it is reason- 

 able to say much more on it now. We are all agreed upon it. 



Mr. Whitaker : I am not going to discuss this resolution, as I have 

 no doubt the Corresponding Societies Committee will fall in with it. 



The resolution was then put and carried. 



The Chairman : At our last meeting a small Committee of Delegates 

 was ajjpointed for the purpose of considering the suggestions brought 

 forward by the Pev. Mr. Bevan ; and Professor \\ atts, as convener of that 

 Committee, will kindly bring up the report. 



Professor AVatts : Commendable brevity has been the keynote of this 

 meeting so far, and I shall try to follow on the same lines. The Com- 

 mittee met and, endeavouring to act in accoxTlance with the sense of the 

 meeting so far as they could gather it, have drawn up the following 

 recommendation which I shall read presently. In so doing they have 

 endeavoured to avoid in any way dictating to the local Societies which 

 have been doing good work along certain systematic lines, and we only 

 wish to suggest that other Societies might take some part in this work. 

 Some Societies may take up one branch and some another. The mere 

 fact that these Societies are represented here is sufficient evidence that 

 they are doing good work on their own account, so that no question arises 

 on that score. There ai'e certain subjects on which systematic work h;is 

 been done, but that work is of comparatively little value because of its 

 not being carried on all over the country. Now, although local Societies 

 are doing a good deal of work, there are frequently members who are 

 ready to take up new lines of work if these lines of work are suggested 

 to them. The Committee have appended such a list, but they n-gard that 

 list as merely provisional for this year, and they have avoided in most 

 cases including subjects which will be brought before this Conference by 

 the Delegates from the different sections. They would like to ask that 

 this list should stand or fall as it is for this year, till it is seen how it 

 works. If the matter is good, then the list can be added to or subtracted 

 from, and in any case the work can be capitalised in that way. This is 

 what the Committee recommend : — 



