180 The Annual General Meeting of the Society. 



Library of the Museum, on Wednesday, October 13th, at 3.30, p.m., 

 the Rev. C. W. Hony in the chair. The business was entirely 

 formal, and the attendance very limited. 

 The Rev. A. C. Smith read the following 



REPORT. 



"The Committee of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural 

 History Society desires to present a brief report of last year's pro- 

 ceedings. 



" Success continues to gratify the wishes and to reward the labours 

 of the Committee : and, though this has been in some respects a 

 comparatively uneventful year in the annals of the Society, yet its 

 vitality, and (it is hoped) the value of its operations, have in no 

 degree diminished. 



" The year 1880 has been a year of heavy loss in old and valued 

 Members of the Society. Especially should be mentioned the late 

 Dean of Salisbury, the Very Rev. Henry Parr Hamilton, who, from 

 the day of its inauguration, has been a warm friend to the Society, 

 encouraging it on all occasions with his countenance and his purse, 

 which was always open to its assistance : and whose generous 

 hospitality to the Society, on the occasion of its last visit to Salis- 

 bury, will not readily be forgotten. Another early Member, and 

 the most munificent benefactor the Society ever had, has passed 

 away in Mr. William Poynder ; and here it should be mentioned 

 that it was in great degree owing to his bounty that the purchase 

 of the Museum and library was so happily completed. In addition 

 to these, the Society has to deplore the loss of several other early and 

 esteemed Members, notably the Rev. A. Grant, late Rector of 

 Manningford, and Mr. James Hussey, of Salisbury. But though 

 these and other honoured names are now no longer to be found on 

 % our list of Members, that list has been recruited from various 

 sources, and the number of Members now on the books amounts to 

 392, which is a slight increase since this time last year. 



" In regard to Finance, it is needless to enter into statistics, as the 

 account, giving a balance-sheet for last year, has so recently been 

 published : enough to say that in this respect there is no material 

 alteration in the position of the Society during the last twelvemonths. 



