xvi REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1928-29. 



The idea of this minute -was suggested by some of those who were official representa- 

 tives of the American Association at the last meeting of the British Association. 

 Professor Kennelly was particularly interested in the general thought that some 

 arrangement might be made by which these two great English-speaking associations 

 might operate together when occasion might arise. Our Council and Executive 

 Committee did not give very much attention to possible details but instructed me to 

 take this matter up with the British Association. I shall be glad to receive suggestions 

 from you in this connection. 



IV. South African Meeting. — Preparations for this Meeting have fully 

 occupied the executive officers during the year. The South African 

 Committee of the Council has held seventeen meetings. It has been 

 charged, among other important duties, with the allocation of the funds 

 generously furnished by the Government of the Union of South Africa and 

 the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, supple- 

 mented by a fund raised at home through the instrumentality of Dr. F. E. 

 Smith. 



Contributors to this latter fund, whose generosity has been acknowledged 

 by the Council, are Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas), 

 Sir Otto Beit, the Central Mining and Investment Corporation, Mr. 

 T. B. Davis, Mr. F. Dudley Docker, Rt. Hon. Lord Glendyne, Imperial 

 Chemical Industries, Ltd., Hon. Henry Mond, Sir John Mullens, the 

 Standard Bank of South Africa, the Union Castle Mail Steamship Co., 

 Ltd. The thanks of the Council have been conveyed to these generous 

 donors. 



These funds have been devoted mainly to grants in aid of travelling 

 expenses of officers and other invited members, and a reserve has been 

 held to assist the funds of the Association in covering expenses 

 connected with the Meeting. 



The Council received from the Rhodes Trustees the generous offer of 

 three grants of £70 each to selected students, or junior members of 

 staff, from home Universities, to enable them to attend the Meeting, and 

 the Committee added thereto three equivalent grants, thus enabling 

 the principle (though not the number) of the British Association Exhibi- 

 tions awarded in recent years to be maintained. 



The previous offer of the Rhodes Trustees (referred to in the last Report 

 of the Council) to make a grant of £250 toward a further authoritative 

 investigation of the ruins at Great Zimbabwe or a neighbouring site, was 

 supplemented by the Council out of accumulated interest of the Caird 

 Fund, so as to provide a total of £1,000. The Council was fortunate in 

 securing the services of Miss Gertrude Caton-Thompson to supervise the 

 necessary excavation, with the assistance of Miss Norie and Miss Kenyon, 

 and desired her to report the results at the Meeting. The co-operation of 

 the Southern Rhodesian authorities in allocating sites at Great Zimbabwe 

 and Dhlo-Dhlo for Miss Caton-Thompson's investigation is gratefully 

 acknowledged. 



Following the Secretary's report of his consultation with the Executive 

 in South Africa last year, the Council resolved to exercise its power, so far 

 as its South African Committee might judge necessary, of imposing condi- 

 tions in respect of membership of the visiting party. At the outset it 

 required of new applicants for membership the recommendation of a member 

 of the General Committee. Subsequently the visiting party increased to 



