No. 43.— 1892.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



157 



some time past. The Committee of the Colombo Museum 

 recognising the congestion now apparent everywhere in the 

 building, has, however, with commendable promptitude, 

 recommended the extension of the eastern wing of the 

 Museum. Itfis to be hoped this greatly needed extension will 

 be an accomplished fact before long.* 



The want of additional room for the books of the Society is 

 second only to the necessity for a Catalogue of the Books of 

 the Library. Ten years ago (1882) the preparation of a 

 Catalogue was undertaken and carried out by two Members 

 (Messrs. H. C. P. Bell and W. E. Davidson), and proved of 

 much service. But the edition published was too small, and 

 the Catalogue is now out of print. Even were this not the 

 case the acquisitions made during the past decade would call 

 for an addendum. The Council would appeal to some 

 Member, or Members, resident in Colombo, with the needful 

 leisure, to confer a real boon on the Society by following the 

 lead set by the unselfish framers of the last Catalogue. The 

 issue of a simple Catalogue of the Society's Books would 

 meet all practical wants ; the compilation of a more ambi- 

 tious Catalogue (contemplated in the Annual Report for 1890) 

 being left for the Museum authorities to carry out jointly 

 with their own. 



Journals. 



The great and growing delay in the issue of the Society's 

 Journal and Proceedings, for which the Council readily admit 

 neither the editing Secretary nor the Government Printer are 

 in any way to blame, is due to a variety of untoward circumstan- 

 ces, and was generally felt to need some effective remedial 

 action. The Hon. Treasurer and Hon. Secretaries were desired 

 to jointly devise some scheme whereby the issue of the Journal 

 might be expedited. As the result of their report, which 

 met with the approval of the Council, it was decided that the 

 Journal and Proceedings (which have hitherto contained 

 respectively Papers read and accounts of Meetings) should 

 be published together under the designation of the " Journal 

 of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society." 



The amalgamation of the Proceedings and the Journal 

 offers the following advantages : — 



(a) Its appearance will be improved. 

 (&) It will be more handy for readers. 



(c) It will entail less labour to edit. 



(d) It can be issued expeditiously. 



* Its. 40,000 for building- one wing on to the Colombo Museum has been 

 inserted in an Ordinance, which only requires to pass the Legislature. 



