PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen, 



In accordance with the usages of this Society 

 it is my pleasing duty to address you on its progress during 

 the year now drawing to a close. With this object in view I 

 do not propose to enter in detail upon the earlier history of 

 our Society ; that is probably known much better to many of 

 you than to myself, and it is with great pleasure that I observe 

 our first President among us this evening ; but as many of 

 the members now present have joined us at comparatively 

 recent dates, it may not be amiss to glance very briefly at our 

 position from time to time during the fourteen years of our 

 existence. 



Founded under favourable circumstances in the year 1872, 

 the Society appears to have met with considerable support ; 

 and at the close of 1879, the membership had reached the 

 respectable total of 94. About this time, however, a period of 

 depression set in. At the termination of the following year we 

 find, by the report of the Council, that " the membership had 

 not increased," and a falling off is from time to time recorded, 

 until, at the Annual Meeting of 1883, the number of members 

 on the Society's books stood at only 44, the cash balance in 

 the hands of the Treasurer at less than £3, and the Council 

 had to make the unpleasant confession that " secessions from 

 us have considerably weakened our Society." Times of ad- 

 versity often father prosperity. So in our case ; despite the 

 untoward events in regard to our place of meeting, which are, 

 I doubt not, fresh in the minds of many of you, the member- 

 ship began again, slowly but surely, to increase, and the 

 Treasurer's balances to become more substantial, until, at the 

 end of last year, we were able to show a list of some 55 

 members, and a cash surplus of over £10, and there 



