EEPOET OF COUNCIL. 259 



consideration, with a request that it report to next meeting of the 

 Society on the subject' — your Council begs leave to state that it ap- 

 pears from the published Annual Eeports and Proceedings of the So- 

 ciety, that in 1838, and for some years afterwards, the funds of the 

 Society were lodged in a bank, and several items of interest appear 

 from time to time on the credit side of the audited accounts. 



"In the Session of 1 847-48, when so many Societies succumbed to the 

 pressure of the times, this Society was obliged to borrow the following 

 sums : — From Mr. B. P. Williams, £24 Is. 4d. ; from Mr. W. Andrews, 

 £25 15s. 5d.; and from Mr. E. Callwell, £7 9s. 9^.— in all, £57 6s. 6d. 

 By the assistance of these generous and liberal advances, the Society 

 was then enabled to get over its difficulties, and to close the Session 

 with a balance against it of only 15s. 3d. 



"In 1848 the following important addition was made to the Rules: — 

 ' That all Admission Pees and Life Compositions be invested in an ap- 

 proved security, and that the interest only of such investment be 

 applicable to the expenses of the Society;' but said Eule does not ap- 

 pear to have been since acted on. 



" In the Eeport for 1858 allusion is made to the fact that the old 

 debt of £57 6s. Q>d. was not only paid off, but that the Eeserve Fund 

 was £61, the sum of £10 (one life composition) having been added to 

 this fund during the year. 



" It thus appears that not only the Eules of the Society require that 

 the Admission Pees and Life Compositions should be invested in an ap- 

 proved security, but that the Compositions of existing Life Members 

 amount to £104, and that thus the whole of the present Eeserve Pund 

 consists of Life Compositions. 



" In conclusion, your Council recommends to the Society, that the 

 sum of £74 13s. 6d. at present standing in the Treasurer's hands be 

 invested to the credit of the Society in the New 3 per Cents, in the 

 names of the President, the Treasurer, and one of the Secretaries ; and 

 that, for the future, all Entrance Pees and Life Compositions, in strict 

 accordance with the Eule, be added to this fund on receipt, and that 

 the interest thereon be for the present likewise added each year, to con- 

 tribute to the augmentation of the Pund. 



" Your Council would also suggest the expediency of adding a small 

 sum from the yearly balances, until the sum total of the Eeserve 

 Pund shall equal the amount of Compositions paid by existing Life 

 Members. 



" By thus investing the Eeserve Pund it will be available at a mo- 

 ment's notice, should the Society require it to meet any exigency, 

 whilst the accruing interest will contribute to the augmentation of the 

 Pund, and eventually, in so far as it goes, to the annual income of the 

 Society. But, recollecting the increasing prosperity of the Society, and 

 the balance each year in hand, your Council trusts it will never be ne- 

 cessary to borrow from a fund, the maintenance of which in its inte- 

 grity should be regarded as equally important as the maintenance of the 

 Society itself." 



