ANNUAL KKPOKT. 



5 



10. Special Fund. 



Under these circumstances the Council have, most reluctantly, 

 felt obliged to urge again the claims of the Special Fund for 

 which they issued an Appeal in December, 1913. As they 

 stated in their last Annual Eeport, " while gratefully acknow- 

 ledging the generosity of those who have thus contributed to 

 the Special Fund, the Council regret that the total amount 

 received is only one-third of that for which they had ventured 

 to ask," and they expressed the hope that "the friends of the 

 Institute will not relax their efforts, nor consider the sub- 

 scription list closed; but that the Special Fund will continue 

 to receive support." The Council propose, therefore, to send out 

 a circular to all subscribers bringing the financial position of 

 the Institute directly before them. They desire to acknowledge 

 most gratefully the following donations received during the 

 year, together with promises amounting in all to £29 18s. Qd. 



Donations received : — Eev. Prebendary Fox, £5 ; the Eev. 

 Canon Girdlestone, £5 ; A. Greenlees, Esq., £1 Is. ; the Eev. 

 H. C. Lees, 10s. U. ; Col. G. Mackinlay, £2 2s. : H. P. Eudd, 

 Esq., £1. Total £14 13s. U. 



Donations promised : — D. Howard, Esq., £10 ; Arthur W. 

 Sutton, Esq., £5 5s. Total £15 5s. 



Total donations received and promised, £29 18s. 6d. 



11. Auditors. 



The Council desire again to thank Messrs. Sewell and Lance 

 Gray most cordially for their services as Auditors. 



12. Conclusion. 



The Victoria Institute has now entered upon its fiftieth year 

 of work, and hopes to keep its Jubilee in the course of the 

 present session. In those fifty years it has passed through three 

 chief phases. First one of heated controversy, for it was 

 founded to combat the materialistic interpretation which was, 

 in many quarters, attached to the latest discoveries of science. 

 Later came a time when controversy slackened, and indifference 

 became the chief enemy to faith. For, as the advances of 

 mechanical science increased wealth and promoted luxury, it 

 was assumed that the real hope for the human race was to be 

 found in further progress in this direction. Materialism 

 became not merely an abstract creed, but a practical hope ; and 



