REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. x¢lil 
must wait further development until the finances of the country are in an 
easier position. Beyond what he had stated it would be impossible to 
make in the next financial year further large contributions to university 
education. He thought that it would be of some assistance if universities 
would meanwhile consider to what extent they were willing to come under 
control if they received grants, to what extent the State was to have a 
voice in fixing the fees of students, and to what extent it was to direct 
or influence teaching, whether it was to allocate its assistance to promote 
special branches of study, or whether it was desired to make every 
university complete in itself. 
Since the date of the deputation the President has been in corres- 
pondence with representatives of the universities, and he has reported 
that the Deputation Committee will probably hold another meeting in 
order to obtain further information from the universities to be laid before 
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
The work of organising this deputation involved an amount of clerical 
work beyond the ordinary strength of the office, and special assistance 
had to be obtained for the purpose. Considerable expense has also been 
incurred in preparing and printing reports of the several meetings and 
conferences which have been held. <A portion of the expenses falls into 
this year’s accounts, and are included in the Treasurer’s account. 
In response to a Sectional resolution received too late for presentation 
to the General Committee last year requesting ‘that the attention of the 
Council be called to the inconvenience which is caused to the Sections by 
gentlemen accepting the oftice of Vice-President neither appearing at the 
meeting nor sending a timely notice of their inability to do so,’ the 
Council has resolved that gentlemen nominated as Vice-Presidents of 
Sections shall be informed that their attendance at the meeting for which 
they are nominated is expected. 
The Council also recommend that each Sectional Committee shall 
have power to elect not more than three Vice-Presidents at any time 
during the meeting, in addition to those nominated by the Council 
and elected by the General Committee, and that the rules be altered 
accordingly. 
Arrangements for the South African meeting in 1905 have received 
much attention during the year from a Committee of Council appointed 
for the purpose. The general arrangements for the meeting, which were 
preliminarily announced last year, have been confirmed, namely, that the 
first half of the meeting be held at Cape Town and the second half at 
Johannesburg, and that official visits of the Association be made to Natal 
and the Orange River Colony, in each of which Colonies one or more dis- 
courses will be delivered by prominent members of the Association. It 
has been found that the most convenient date for the meeting to open at 
Cape Town would be August 15, so that members starting for South Africa 
at the end of July could spend at least three weeks in the Colonies, and be 
back in England by the end of September. 
__ An Additional Expenses Fund has been opened to supplement the 
subsidy to be given by the Colonial Governments of South Africa towards 
defraying the cost of the meeting, and subscriptions to the amount of 
1,650. have been received or promised. The Council hope that a con- 
siderably larger sum may be forthcoming during the ensuing year, so as 
to secure a thoroughly representative meeting in the Colonies of South 
Africa, 
