No. 49.— 1898.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



143 



4. The Chairman said that, the Council had tried — and he hoped 

 successfully — to lay before Members all that had occurred since the 

 last Annual General Meeting. There had been named the losses 

 that had been sustained and the successes which had attended the 

 Meetings of the Society. The financial condition of the Society had 

 also been placed before them ; and they had also been told of the 

 work the Archaeological Commissioner had done. It now remained 

 for him as Chairman to ask any Member of the Society present to 

 criticise, or to approve, of what had been put before them by the 

 Council. 



5. Mr. C. M. Fernando remarked that after what had fallen from 

 the Chair much did not remain to be said. He moved that the Report 

 and Balance Sheet be adopted. 



He would commend more especially to the attention of the Meeting 

 the sympathetic reference which the Report contained to the loss the 

 Society has suffered by the death of Mr. Hugh Nevill. Mr. Nevill was 

 known as an Orientalist, not only in Ceylon, but in Europe and 

 America : here he had been known to them not merely as an English 

 gentleman, but as a not unsuccessful student of the native languages. 

 He revelled in the past history of Ceylon, and had striven hard to 

 bring out the very intimate connection between Ceylon and India. 



With the work of the Archaeological Commissioner referred to in 

 the Report, they all sincerely sympathized (hear, hear), and they 

 trusted that the Government would help it more than it was doing at 

 the present moment. It called loudly for further encouragement and 

 assistance by the Government. They had the authority of very many 

 who understood the subject, that at the rate the work was progressing 

 now it would take a very long time before the Archaeological Survey 

 was finished. 



6. Dr. W. G. Yandort seconded the motion, which was carried. 



7. Mr. Roles moved that a copy of the paragraph in the Report 

 referring to the lack of accommodation at the Museum should be 

 forwarded to the Government. The matter had been mentioned in 

 previous Reports, and the Museum authorities also referred to it ; 

 but hitherto the Society had been content to let it simply appear on its 

 records. He thought it would be well to specially invite the attention 

 of Government towards the pressing want, instead of leaving it simply 

 to appear in this Report. 



8. The Chairman in concurring with Mr. Roles added that the 

 paragraph was as follows : — 



" The Council desire to draw the attention of the Government to the 

 remarks made in previous Annual Reports regarding inadequate 

 accommodation for its Library. The need of sufficient room for 

 books has been much felt for some years now — a need which Govern- 

 ment has admitted. An extension of the building will alone meet the 

 emergency, and it is hoped the long-deferred extension will be shortly 

 undertaken. The Committee of the Colombo Museum, recognizing 

 the congestion now apparent everywhere in the Library, recommended 

 the extension of the eastern wing of the Museum, and a sum of 

 Rs. 40,000 was voted for the purpose in 1891, but owing to some 

 disagreement as regards the particular plan of extension to be adopted, 

 the money was allowed to lapse to revenue. Both the Museum 



