42 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Feb. 



concerned, the liberal arrangements by which members, temporarily 

 absent from India do not pay must be remembered, and thus out of 

 the 442 only 304 are actually contributing. And again out of this 

 number of 304, no less than 189 are non-resident members whose 

 rate of contribution is only one-half that of the 115 residents. 



In connection with this, I would ask the serious attention of the 

 members to the steady growth of the Society during the last 10 

 years. Our total number in 1860 was only 242 ; the total in 1869 

 was 442. I consider this the most convincing proof of the justice of 

 the views which led to the reduction of the annual contributions. 

 And I would even go farther and express a deliberate conviction 

 that this reduction has not yet been carried out sufficiently. I would 

 ask the consideration of this by the incoming Council, and am 

 satisfied that, after the collection of outstanding claims, it would 

 be a wise policy to render the advantages of membership accessible 

 to a wider circle than at present, by reducing the amount of annual 

 contribution. 



I shall just allude to one other point of account, which I think 

 affords a very just source of congratulation ; your Council has been 

 enabled during the twelve months, just passed, to pay off Rs. 3,600 

 of old debts due by the Society. And they now come before the 

 Society, with the satisfactory statement that there is not one single 

 claim against the Society of any kind, or of any date, which has 

 not been discharged. There are a few bills for the current 

 expenditure of the last month of the year, including salaries of your 

 office establishment, &c, which could not be submitted before the 

 end of the year, when the accounts were closed, but these only 

 amount to the sum of about 1800 rupees, and these could and would 

 have been paid, had there been time to obtain the bills before closing 

 the accounts. The Council now, therefore, have the gratification of 

 handing over the management of your Society to their successors, 

 free from debts of any kind. And with a small balance of cash in 

 hand to carry on to the present year, a sum of 2000 rupees in 

 Securities, and outstandings, — the greater portion, if at all, of 

 which will be realized, — of nearly 9000 rupees. I think this 

 result, as compared with the financial state, in which in 1868 

 we received the management, entitles your retiring Council to 



