2IO . REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY 



OF 



NORTHUMBERLAND, DURHAM, AND NEWCASTLE- 

 UPON-TYNE. 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 



FOR 1910-1911. 



A satisfactory feature in the past year of the Society has 

 been a decided increase in the membership. No fewer than 

 46 new members have joined the Society during the year, so 

 that even with the loss of 25 by death and resignation there 

 has been a nett gain of 21. This brings the total membership 

 up to 416 at the close of the year. As has been the case in 

 the past, the increase has been brought about by special 

 efforts on the part of certain officers and members of the 

 Council, who have found that a number of their friends were 

 willing to become supporters of the Society when its claims 

 were laid before them. The Council desire to commend this 

 example to the members generally. With so many organiza- 

 tions competing for public support it is difficult to keep 

 membership rolls from falling, and for a society such as this, 

 which has little in the way of personal return to offer for 

 subscriptions, it is a particularly hard task unless the existing 

 members are doing what they can to induce others to join. 

 There is some reason to believe that support would be forth- 

 coming more readily if the purely voluntary nature of 

 the Natural History Society's work were more generally 

 appreciated. The Society not only encourages in many ways 

 the local study of natural history ; it maintains a museum 

 which is a valuable educational asset to the district, and a 

 piece of property which adds much to the attractiveness of the 

 finest approach to the town; and all this without the cost of a 

 single penny to the rates. 



