g^^^THE BOOK OF THE ROYAL 



their North-Western Provinces, tlie sueocss of which is now 

 matter of history — so that the influence of the Society's opera- 

 tions extended far beyond their own sphere — they not only did 

 good themselves, but were the cause of others doing so likewise. 



All this was effected, notwithstanding very considerable dis- 

 appointments in the realisation of funds which ought to have 

 been available for the purposes of the Society. From the very 

 beginning there had been a difficulty in obtaining payment of 

 subscriptions. As early as 1806 the evU was sensibly felt; at 

 a later period, in 1815, no less than lOOOZ. was claimable from 

 Fellows who neglected to fulfil their obligations ; and it appears 

 that between 1824 and 1855 no less a sum than 12,879/. 12^. 

 from this source had been abandoned as irrecoverable. 



Up to the year 1851-2, a pretty steady reduction of debt, 

 sometimes large, sometimes small, continued to take place ; but 

 the tide then began to turn. For the next three years the 

 debt gradually increased, chiefly from the faffing ofi' in the 

 number of admission fees and the diminution in the receipts 

 from Exhibitions. 



In fact, the Society had been sustained by its Exhibitions 

 for some years previously. Its yearly income and expenditure 

 had been on an average above 7000/., but its regular income 

 from annual subscriptions did not exceed 3000/., and allowing 

 2000/. a year for the cost of the Exhibitions, there remamed an 

 excess of expenditure over mcome amounting to 2000/. So long 

 as the Exhibitions prospered and made good this return, all went 

 well. But if any check were given to these, if even for a single 

 year the revenue drawn from them should fad, the consequences 

 must be serious. Such a reverse seems never to have been 



