GENERAL TREASURER'S REPORT, 1936-37 



In 1932 the then General Treasurer, Sir Josiah Stamp, made a report 

 to the Council in which he recommended the establishment of a Con- 

 tingency Fund to be regarded as ' an insurance against small or very 

 unprofitable meetings,' in order to enable grants in aid of research to be 

 maintained at a fairly constant figure, and not made ' on a year-to-year 

 consideration of available balances.' The Council, on this report, 

 recommended to the General Committee, and the General Committee 

 approved, a proposal that for a period of five years ' not more than ;£400 

 should be spent annually from general funds on grants for research, and 

 that an annual sum of ^(^500 should be placed to a contingency fund.' 



The five-years' period is now finished, so that it is my duty to take 

 stock of the outcome of these proposals. 



In each of the five years there has been a balance, on general funds, of 

 income over expenditure, but in no year has this reached ;£500. The 

 actual figures are as follows : 



There is also a debtor sum due this year, although not forthcoming 

 until next year, which should properly fall into the Contingency Fund, 

 bringing it up to ;£2,ooo or a little more. It was not thought necessary, 

 in practice, to credit more than these available balances to the Contingency 

 Fund each year, since this would merely have created artificial adverse 

 balances on the general accounts of receipts and expenditure. 



As for the resolution that ' not more than ;£400 should be spent annually 

 from general funds on grants for research,' the average annual expenditure 

 under this head has been approximately ,(^323, on account of grants made 

 being unclaimed. 



As I am reviewing the results of the financial report of 1932, I should 

 perhaps recall that the Council then expressed the view that ' the true 

 function of the Association, in making grants to research committees, is 

 the initiation of particular pieces of research rather than their quasi- 

 permanent endowment.' The General Committee adopted this view, 

 with the proviso that it ' should not be held to preclude [quasi-permanent] 

 grants to institutions at which successive researches are to be carried 

 on under research committees of the Association.' It does not appear 

 that the destination of grants has been materially affected by this expression 



