No. 61.— 1908.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



181 



my election and re-election at four successive Annual Meetings. 

 Practically four years have elapsed since I was called by the Council 

 on the nomination of Sir Everard im Thurn (who, curiously 

 enough, will be in Colombo this week) to the Presidential Chair, 

 and, save the late Colonel Fyers, R.E., and the Metropolitan 

 Bishop of Calcutta, my term of office is, I believe, a longer one 

 than has appertained to any of my predecessors. At the same 

 time I am specially conscious of the imperfect way in which your 

 Chair has been filled through these past four years, and feel sure 

 that a change at this time will be for the benefit of the Society 

 during the coming year, and probably not a few succeeding 

 ones. 



Nevertheless, I am free to confess that in some respects 

 seldom, if ever, before has the Society so prospered as of late 

 years. This is especially the case in regard to increase of Member- 

 ship since Mr. Joseph as Secretary conjoined with his duties those 

 of Honorary Treasurer, taken over from Mr. R. H. Ferguson. 

 Since January 1, 1905, we have added 111 new members to 

 our roll (of whom no fewer than 85 were added in 1907-08), and 

 our list now stands at a total of 268. 



In the same period seventeen Papers have been read before 

 General Meetings of the Society and nine others accepted without 

 reading, making twenty-six in all published, while there are in 

 hand some four Papers, and others are awaiting consideration. 

 Altogether five Journals have been published since I assumed 

 office. The Journal for 1908 is well in hand, and will be issued 

 soon after the close of the year. 



I have to make an apology and express regret for not completing 

 the second portion of my historical Paper on " The Coconut Palm 

 in Ceylon : Beginning, Rise, and Progress of its Cultivation," 

 which appeared in the Journal for March, 1906. I have most of 

 the materials ready, and hope to get the time needed to complete 

 the Paper for your Council's consideration during my term of 

 furlough. I have been gratified by not a few letters from resi- 

 dents in other tropical lands and from home authorities as to the 

 interest and value they attached to the first part of this Paper , 

 and it is only right the second division, covering well-nigh 250 

 years, should be dealt with. 



I will now refer very briefly to some of the anticipations I 

 formed in connection more or less with the work of the Society 

 in the course of my long Presidential Address to you on March 16, 

 1906. Four, and even three, years ago I was quite discouraged 

 as to the prospect of an Observatory for Colombo. But through 

 appeals in the Legislative Council our last Governor, Sir H. A. 

 Blake, came to see the need of this institution, and now we have 

 the " Blake Observatory " very nearly completed and fully 

 equipped under the accomplished direction of Mr. H. O. Barnard, 

 to whom a qualified assistant has just been appointed. No doubt 

 in the course of a few years there will be additions to the Obser- 

 vatory ; but in the meantime the most pressing want is an 

 " Equatorium," which, I trust, will very soon be supplied. 



