128 
SECEETAEY'S EEPOET. 
The Societ}^ whilst still maintaining- its popularity and prestige, 
has been more than usually unfortunate in the loss of fourteen 
members, nine of whom have withdraw from the Society, and the 
remaining five have been removed by death. The latter number 
comprises the names of John Dunning-, F.G.S., of Middlesbrough, 
John Haigh, J.P., of Dewsbury, and E. Maude, of Middleton Hall, 
near Leeds, elected a member in December, 1855, Viscount Halifax, 
of Hickleton Hall, near Doncaster, and Lord Houghton, of Fryston 
Hall, near Pontefract. 
Lord Houghton, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S., &c., was a member of 
the Society from the year 1845, and was forty years a Vice-President; 
he took an active interest in the Society, and presided at a meeting 
at Wakefield, in 1878. In the early history of the Society, Pichard 
Monckton Milnes was a prominent and accomplished figure at the 
meetings of the members. 
Viscount Halifax was elected a member of the Society as Chas. 
Wood, Esq., M.P., on August 1st, 1843. His father, Sir F. S. Wood, 
Bart., was a member of the Society, and a Vice-President from its 
institution ; on the death of the latter, in 1 846, Sir Chas. Wood, M.P., 
was elected a Vice-President, and almost without intermission he has 
occupied that position until the time of his death during the present 
year. 
There has been an addittion of seven new members to the 
Society, and five new members have compounded for their subscrip- 
tions and become life members. The number of the latter is now 31, 
and the total number of members 210. 
A reference to the Balance Sheet shows that the Capital Account 
now amounts to £217 12s. 4d; the balance in the hands of the 
Treasurer, Wm. Cash, Esq., to the credit of the ordinary Subscription 
Account is £82 3s. 9d. ; and the sum of £46 7s. 2d. remains to the 
credit of the Fund for the Exploration of the Raygill Fissure in 
Lothersdale. The latter fund has been increased by a grant of £15 
by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
The exploration of the Fissure has been postponed during the 
past year, to enable Messrs. Spencer, the proprietors of the quarry, 
to remove a large mass of limestone which impeded the working of 
