549 



cancelling of his arrears, and his being made a Life Member 

 of the Academy. 



The Secretary of Council read the following Report : 



In presenting to the Academy the Report of Proceedings during 

 the past year, the Council does not find It necessary to enter into 

 much detail, as the events of that period have not been of any con- 

 siderable importance or unusual character. 



The Second Pavt of the 19th Volume^ of our Transactions has 

 been pubhshed and distributed to the members of the Academy. 

 The 20th volume, which will be altogether occupied by Mr. Petrie's 

 Essay on the Round Towers, is still at press. The delay In its pub- 

 lication arises mainly from the number and importance of the artistic 

 illustrations ; and It Is expected that the retarded progress of this 

 work will be fully compensated for, in the opinion of the Academy, 

 by its excellence, when brought out. 



Several Memoirs are already prepared and printed for the 21st 

 Volume of the Transactions, and the Proceedings of last Session, 

 which compose Part VII., have been lately distributed to the mem- 

 bers. 



Since the date of the last Report the attention of the Council 

 has been given to the means of providing for the exhibition and 

 guarding of the collection of Irish Antiquities. The plans proposed 

 for this object have been already submitted to the Academy, but are 

 not as yet in any way carried into effect ; the Council being, on the 

 one hand, restricted by want of funds, and, on the other, as it was 

 found that the duration of tenure of the Academy House becomes 

 uncertain after a few years. It was thought advisable not to expend 

 much money on alterations in the building, until some definite ar- 

 rangement had been made concerning Its future tenure. For this 

 purpose the Council have been in communication with the law 

 agents of the Academy, but no decisive result has been as yet arrived 

 at. It is a question of great importance to the Academy, for, at 

 present, from the want of place for exhibition, the antiquarian treasures 

 which we possess, and to which, we trust, each year will make large 

 additions, are practically inaccessible to the public. Some of the 



