FIVE YEARS' RETROSPECT xv 



press the appeal as strongly as it might have been pressed in favourable 

 circumstances.' It is apparent from an earlier section of the present 

 report that the Association has maintained, and even somewhat increased, 

 its financial support of research ; moreover, it has initiated a contingency 

 fund with a view to stabilising this support during any year when receipts 

 from subscriptions may be unusually low or expenses unusually high — 

 though it has not been possible to build up this fund at the intended rate 

 of £500 per year for five years. Moreover, the Association is, and has been 

 since 1926, dependent in respect of a substantial proportion of its annual 

 liabilities upon the gift of £10,000 made in that year, for the general 

 purposes of the Association, by the late Sir Alfred Yarrow, F.R.S., who 

 made the condition that his gift should be completely expended, as to 

 capital as well as interest, not later than 1947. The knowledge that it 

 accorded with the donor's wish that this should be done has been welcome 

 to the Council, especially when dealing with the finances of the Centenary 

 Meeting and of Down House (referred to elsewhere) ; but his own fore- 

 sight the more strongly prescribes that those concerned with the finances 

 of the Association should look to the future. It is, therefore, appropriate 

 to conclude with these two quotations from recent reports of Sir Josiah 

 Stamp as General Treasurer : 



' The activities and liabilities of the Association have increased, and 

 further endowment will be essential to consolidate the position it has 

 attained at the close of its first century.' (1931.) 



' The expansion of the Association's membership and the strengthening 

 of its financial foundations should be the object of all those who 

 would further its interests.' (1933.) 



