viii peoceedi:n^gs of the GEOLoaicAL society, [vol. Ixxvii, 



year) amounted to £3675 9s. lOcL On the other hand, the 

 Expenditure during the same year amounted to £4142 lis. Sd., 

 the deficienc3^heing met by the transfer of £400 from the Balance 

 of the Soi-by & Hudleston Funds to the Greneral Purposes Account. 



At the beginning of tlie past year it was impossible to form an}^ 

 real estimate of several of the heads of expenditure ; the estimates 

 submitted were, therefore, pureh'^ formal, and no useful purj^ose 

 would be served by comparison with the actual ex^^enditure. To 

 some extent the same difficulty of framing real estimates still 

 exists, but it is anticipated that those now submitted for 1921 

 Avill prove substantialh^ correct. They are presented in a form 

 Avhich differentiates between the normal income and expenditure 

 of the year and the special expenditure arising from the arrears 

 of publication which accumulated during the past five years. 



On December 1st, 1920, the Council obtained authority from 

 a Special General Meeting to realize the sum of £500 from the 

 invested funds of the Society, being approximately the amount 

 which it was able to invest in 1917, owing to the interruption of 

 expenditure on publications. It has not been necessary as yet to 

 exercise this authority ; but, as the money may be required in the 

 course of the current year, this sum has been put on the Estimates 

 as extraordinary income. 



During the past year the Council has given considerable and 

 careful attention to the condition of the Societ^^'s finances, and 

 was regretfulh^ driven to the conclusion that it would be necessar}^ 

 to call on the Fellows for some further contribution in order to 

 establish a condition of equilibrium. After reviewing all possible 

 alternatives, it appeared to be best to confine the free issue of 

 scientific publications to the Abstracts of Proceedings, and to 

 supply the Quarterh^ Journal and List of Geological Literature 

 onl}'' to those Fellows who w^re willing to make a payment, 

 estimated at approximatel}^ equivalent to the actual cost of dis- 

 tribution, as apart from the fixed charges of publication. 



As a further consequence of these deliberations, the cost of the 

 List of Fellows, being an administrative and not a scientific 

 publication, is now charged to Office expenses, but a more important 

 change in the form of the Estimates is in the -nstitution of a 

 special fund for the maintenance of the Society s Apartments, 

 from which all payments on account of decoration and repair 

 of the Apartments and Furniture will be made. The institution 

 of this separate fund was due to the Council's appreciation of the 

 necessity, which Avill be forced on it in a very few years' time, of 

 meeting an expenditure on redecoration very largely in excess of 

 that which could be met out of annual income, and of the fact 

 that such expenditure will be a liability recurring at intervals in 

 the future. 



In arriving at these conclusions, the Council was assisted, and 

 largely guided, by the recommendations of a Committee, appointed 

 by them, consisting principally of Fellows who were not members 

 of the Council, but had sj^ecial qualifications in matters of ad- 

 ministration and finance. It was also assisted by two memoranda 



