part 1] ANIS'UAL REPOET. 



XV 



and £289 on furniture, and this has enabled the Society to cany 

 on with a reduced expenditure on maintenance and repairs ; but the 

 influence of the work done in 1914 is Avearing off, and we are of 

 ■opinion that an average of £150 per annum at least should be 

 devoted to this purpose, apart from the necessity of providing for 

 larger work of redecoration in the future, and that any reduction 

 below this figure will not be an economy but merely a postpone- 

 ]nent of expenditure, probably enhanced hj delay. This increase 

 would make the ordinary total of this heading £400 in round 

 figures. 



Salaries and Wages. Under this heading Ave have examined 

 the question of the staff necessai'v to carry on the Avork of the 

 Society. Bearing in mind that with an unaltered income the bulk 

 of publications issued must be largely reduced from the pre-war 

 standai'd. we have, after consultation Avith the Permanent Secretary, 

 come to the conclusion that it could, for the present, be carried on 

 b}^ three persons. If the recommendations of the Officers are 

 adopted, the total of all charges included in this heading of account 

 AA^ould amount to about .£1200. 



Office Expendihtre amounted in 1919 to £190, it is not sus- 

 ceptible of material decrease, nor is it likely to rise to any great 

 extent. The total may be taken as about £200. 



Library and Library Catalogue we propose to take together. 

 The actual expenditure in 1919 Avas £123, the estimate for 1920 

 is £185 : both these figures AA'e consider to be inadequate as' per- 

 manent provision. The Society is possessed of an extensive and 

 valuable library of geological literature, and with regard to this 

 there are only two courses worthy of consideration : one is to 

 maintain the existing standard of the Library, the other is to give 

 it up, as the Society did its museum, retaining only a small 

 consulting library of more frequently required books. The latter 

 course Avould lead to a gross saving, under all heads of account, of 

 about £500 per annum, but we are convinced that any suggestion 

 of this character would encounter the most strenuous disapproba- 

 tion of the Fellows of the Societj^ The alternative remains of 

 efficient maintenance of the Library, and for this we regard the 

 allocation, for the two headings of account, of £250 as not more 

 than sufficient. 



Fuhlications. The allotments detailed above Avould leave £1250 

 for this heading, out of an income of £3300, 



On this basis the headings of Library, Catalogue, and Publica- 

 tions Avould account for 45 per cent, of the total expenditure, but 

 with a permanent inci-ease of the total income to £3500 the 

 allotment for publications could be increased and the three 

 headings account for nearly 49 j)er cent, of the expenditure ; Avith 

 a further increase of income to £3700 the percentage Avould rise 

 to 51, but with this increase in the bulk of publications the staff 

 proposed Avould probably proA^e inadequate, and the increase under 

 this heading Avould reduce the percentage available for expenditure 

 on Library and Publications. 



