484 REPORT — 1903. 



and mapping these interesting relics is now being carried out in Essex. 

 Our Vice-President, Mr. Chalkley Gould, has prepared for the first 

 volume of the ' Victoria History of Essex ' a very complete list of them, 

 accompanied by a map. But a catalogue, however excellent, is only 

 a preliminary step. Accurate plotting down, on large-scale plans, of the 

 outlines, geographical positions and elevation of these works, and their 

 careful scientific exploration, so as to determine their probable periods 

 and motives, still remain to be undertaken. I ventui'e to submit that 

 this is work wliich must be done by local Societies if it is to be done at 

 all. Great London associations may undertake the ' reconstruction ' of 

 Silchester : a fortunate county may possess a Pitt-Rivers to plan and 

 munificently carry out archaeological explorations ; we may find the study 

 of the physical and life conditions of the North Sea becoming a matter 

 of Government and international importance. But the patient tasks of 

 collecting and registering plants, animals and fossils, and the examina- 

 tion of minor earthworks, camps, red-hills, deneholes, &c., should be 

 the duty and pleasure of local enthusiasts. 



The councils and officers of many of our local Societies hardly need 

 committees of the British Association to indicate these lines of activity. 

 They have been fully alive to them ever since their Societies were called 

 into existence. But, as we in the Essex Field Club know full well, such 

 work is very costly, and in most cases quite in excess of the slender 

 balances at our bankers. We have the will , but we lack the means. And 

 this is the position with very many of our local Societies. 



Is there any escape from this difficulty ? I think it can be shown 

 that there is a way out. 



Everyone knows that our county councils have very considerable 

 annual sums entrusted to them for purposes summed up in the very 

 elastic phrase ' technical instruction.' This is in addition to any rate 

 for primary or secondary education. The allocation of this technical 

 education money is in the hands of the councils, subject to some sort of 

 revision by the Board of Education. The annual income from this source 

 in Essex is considerably over 20,000?. 



My proposal is that the county council of each county in which 

 a recognised scientific Society exists should be asked to allocate a small 

 annual sum (say from lOOl. to 200/.) for the purposes alluded to, in 

 accordance with some such scheme as the following : — 



1 . That the local Society should in each year lay before the education 

 committee of the county council proposals and plans for any explorations 

 or investigations which, in the opinion of the expert committee of the 

 Society, are worthy of being undertaken, and that on approval the 

 estimated sum required for the work and for the publication of the 

 report be allocated to the Society. 



2. The committee of the Society having accomplished the work, should 

 prepare a detailed report, with such maps and illustrations as may be 

 necessary. This report might be printed in the journal of the Society, 

 copies being struck off for sale. Or the reports might be issued on 

 a uniform plan for the v/hole kingdom. In any case the reports should 

 be issued at a very cheap rate for distribution to the public. 



3. Any sum unexpended might be returned to the council, or carried 

 to the next year's work. ]"!; jtTT' 



4. In selecting the subjects propor for such a series of investigations 



