ANNUAL KEPOET. 9 



Tho total Ecceipts on account of Income for the year 1887 

 were £2760 155. 9c?., being £203 15s. del. more than the estimated 

 Income for the year. The ordinary current Expenditure of the year, 

 leaving out of account the sum of .£254 75. 6d. expended in the 

 purchase of £250 Eeduced 3 per cent. Stock, was £2453 8s. 2d., or 

 £3 12s. 2d. in excess of the Estimate. Actually, however, the 

 Expenditure of the year was £2901 155. 8cZ., or £511 195. 8d. in 

 excess of the printed Estimate. This is due to the fact that the 

 cleaning, repairs, redecoration, and ventilation of the Society's rooms 

 have been carried out in the course of the past year, and the Council 

 consider it desirable that the Eellows of the Society should be fully 

 informed of the reasons for undertaking the work, and the circum- 

 stances under which it was carried out. 



When the Society, in 1874, accepted from H.M. Government the 

 apartments now occupied in Burlington House, free of rent, it was 

 with the condition that the cost of all necessary internal repairs,, 

 painting, and redecoration should be borue by the Society. In 

 1887 upwards of thirteen years had elapsed without any internal 

 painting or repairs, and for some years past it had been evident 

 that a considerable expenditure would be needed for these purposes. 

 Had the necessarj'- Funds been in hand the work would have been 

 undertaken three or four years ago. Eor the last two years, by 

 reducing expenditure, the Council have succeeded in accumulating 

 a considerable sum, and £500 has been invested in two instalments 

 to meet the contemplated expenses. In Eebruary last the Council 

 announced in their Eeport, which was accepted by the Eellows, that 

 it might be advisable in the course of the coming summer to make 

 use of a part of the balance then available for the execution of the 

 necessary repairs, painting, &c., of the interior of the Society's 

 House. It would have been exceedingly difficult, at the time, to 

 give an estimate of the cost, for until the work was actually in hand 

 no one could tell what the expenditure might be. 



In the course of the summer, as had been hoped, it was found 

 that the state of the Society's finances justified the expenditure 

 now considered essential. By the time that the necessary inquiries had 

 been made, and estimates of the cost obtained, the Ordinary General 

 Meetings of the Society had come to an end for the Session ; and 

 had the procedure laid down in the Bye-Laws been followed, all 

 action must have been delayed for a year, a course which might 

 have involved the Society in greatly increased expense, besides post- 

 poning the cleaning of the building, which had become necessary. 

 Under these circumstances the Council determined, on their own 

 responsibility, to order the necessary work to be carried out, and 

 subsequently asked the Eellows of the Society to sanction the expen- 

 diture. This was done at a special General Meeting held for the 

 purpose on the 23rd of November, 1887. 



Some doubt, however, has been expressed whether the course 

 adopted by the Council was strictly in accordance with the Bye- 

 Laws. Under these circumstances the Council trust that the pre- 



