244 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



It was at the second Meeting (Ewart) that, in the name of 

 the Club, I had the pleasure of making a presentation of a 

 silver Salver to Mr Robert Middlemas, who had been the 

 Treasurer of the Club for no less than twenty-five years, 

 and to Mrs Middlemas, whose services we also wished 

 to acknowledge. 



When you come to read the Reports, it may strike you 

 that certain work has been done by sections, specially in 

 pursuit of Botany and Archaeology, though that mode of 

 procedure has not yet been formally adopted by the Club. 

 You will recollect that this system was strongly advocated 

 by Mr Hindmarsh, in his Presidential Address, 1895 ; indeed 

 he went further, in suggesting work by Committees chosen 

 annually by the Sections, whose duty it would be to guide 

 and stimulate the work of the Sections. The benefit of 

 such procedure has made itself felt, however, prior to this 

 year, for, if you will turn to the Proceedings of the Club's 

 Jubilee year, 1881, you will note that at the Grant's House 

 Meeting, no fewer than five sectional parties started off in 

 different directions. The benefit of working in this wsiy is 

 particularly evident in so large a Club as this has become, 

 and, if it be developed to any extent, Mr Hindmarsh's 

 committees are not unlikely to follow. 



I do hope that the Reports of last year may soon reach 

 the printer ; an attempt, I may say a successful attempt, 

 has been made to bring more up-to-date the publication of 

 our Proceedings than has hitherto been possible. The 

 Proceedings of the year before last, when Mr Ferguson was 

 President, will be in your hands very shortly, following not 

 long after those of Mr Hindmarsh's year. I trust that 

 during the year now opening, all arrears may be cleared 

 off, and then next Season's Proceedings will be published 

 soon after its close. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, the work connected with our 

 publications, especially in grappling with arrears, throws a 

 vast onus on our office-bearers, and, though they don't 



