1S98.] Annual Address. 37 



The Trustees, after consulting experts as provided in the scheme, 

 adjudge the prize for the year 1897 to Babu Sarasi Lai Sarkar, M.A. 



E. J. Treveltan, 

 Vice-Chancellor, Calcutta University. 



C. A. Martin, , _ 



Calcutta • ") ^^'^^c^or of Public Instruction, Bengal. T 



O J w I, lOQQ C '^' ^' ^' HOERNLE, I 



^' * ) President, Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



J 



The President then addressed the meeting. 



ANNUAL ADDRESS, 1898. 



Gentlemen, 



I now rise to deliver the usual annual address. I confess that 

 when you did me the honour, last year, of nominating me to the post of 

 President of your Society, it was the prospect that I should have to 

 deliver such an address which made me hesitate before I accepted your 

 honouring proposal. Looking over the annual addresses delivered with- 

 in the last ten years, I notice that they have been gradually growing to 

 very large dimensions. The last two addresses occupy respectively, in 

 print, 154 and 170 of the pages of our Proceedings. The thought that 

 possibly it might be expected of me to " break this record" caused me 

 many misgivings, because 1 felt that I lacked both the ability and the 

 leisure to do so. Indeed I felt rather inclined at one time to initiate a 

 new departure by returning to the previous long-prevailing custom of 

 the President making only a few brief observations on the past year's 

 proceedings of the Society. But my courage failed me ; I felt I 

 must leave it to some one of greater weight than myself to make the 

 change ; but I cannot help thinking that a return to the old practice 

 would be wise in the interests of the Society. At this, the busiest time 

 of the year, there should be no stumbling-block put in the way of 

 those whom we desire to take upon themselves the responsible post of 

 President of our Society. 



There are two preliminary remarks which I wish to make. One re- 

 fers to the Report of the Council which has just been read. You will have 

 observed that we close our accounts with a deficit of Rs. 3,417-1-2 

 This is a rather serious matter, considering that the regular condition 



