8 



ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. 



you have so warmly carried. The chief difficulty which the Insti- 

 tute has had to face has been a financial one, but this can be 

 remedied if more members and associates will join : we beg that 

 all who belong to us will use every effort to obtain more members. 

 During the past year, as mentioned in the report, various local 

 meetings have been held with successful results : the Council are 

 desirous that these meetings may be held in increased numbers in 

 the future ; our Secretary will gladly arrange for speakers at any 

 other meetings which may be arranged : our experience so far has 

 shown that those most suited to our purpose have been held in 

 church rooms, as then an audience is readily obtainable, but gather- 

 ings in private houses are also useful. 



It is a matter for hearty congratulation that the numbers of 

 members and associates who have joined the Institute during the 

 past two months exceed the total of the previous twelve ; this is 

 chiefly due to the successful exertions of our new Secretary and old 

 member of Council, Mr. F. S. Bishop, M.A., J. P., who was unani- 

 mously elected to his present post four months ago. I gladly take 

 this opportunity on behalf of the Council of expressing our sincere 

 thanks to him for what he has already done ; if we progress at our 

 present rate we shall indeed do well ; with the Lord's blessing the 

 future of the Institute appears to be very promising. 



The work of the Institute is as much needed as ever ; it is true 

 that Christianity and Science are now very generally in accord, but 

 present-day difficulties arise upon questions of Philosophy and 

 Criticism, and the Institute is doing its best to investigate these 

 difficulties thoroughly and impartially. 



The members present to-da}^ testify to the interest and importance 

 of the subject of Mr. Sharp's paper, and the syllabus for this session 

 will be found to contain other lectures on subjects which are exer- 

 cising the minds of men at the present time. 



A vote of thanks to Col. Mackinlay and Canon Girdlestone for 

 their conduct in the chair was unanimously passed and the meeting 

 terminated. 



^ See p. 77. 



