Report  to  the  General  Meeting. 
XXXI 
making  bis  appearance,  and  the  action  accordingly  took  its 
course;  when  bis  Honour  tbe  Judge  of  tbc  Westminster  County 
Court,  in  which  tbc  case  came  on,  having  beard  tbe  grounds  on 
which  tbe  action  was  brought,  as  well  as  tbc  evidence  adduced  of 
due  election  aud  membership,  and  having  ascertained  tbc  powers 
of  the  Society  conferred  upon  it  by  its  charter,  at  once  decided 
on  tbe  validity  of  tbe  Society's  claim,  and  made  a formal  order 
of  court,  that  tbe  amount  of  arrears  claimed,  with  the  accumu- 
lated costs  incurred,  should  be  paid  by  tbc  defendant  on  or  before 
that  day  week.  When  the  Council  shall  have  thus  cleared  off 
tbc  London  list  of  arrears,  they  will  feel  it  to  be  equally  their 
duty  to  proceed  in  a similar  legal  manner  to  summon  parties  re- 
sident in  tbc  different  counties  of  tbc  kingdom  whom  they  shall 
ascertain  to  lie  in  a condition  fully  to  meet  their  liabilities,  aud 
who  by  the  time  of  such  issuing  of  summons  shall  have  failed  to 
discharge  their  just  obligations  to  tbc  Society.  Tbe  Council, 
however,  baring  now  established  tbc  principle  on  which  they 
have  sought  to  recover  these  arrears  of  subscription,  and  being 
thus  fortified  by  a judical  decision  which  leaves  no  doubt  of  tbe 
validity  of  tbe  claim  of  the  Society  against  all  its  members,  trust 
that  tbc  remaining  defaulters  will  no  longer  evade  their  obliga- 
tions, and  im|Hise  upon  the  Council  the  invidious  task  of  enforcing 
tbc  payment  of  these  arrears  in  a court  of  law — a final  appeal  as 
painful  for  tbc  Council  to  make,  os  it  must  be  inconvenient  nnd 
derogatory  to  tbc  parlies  in  arrear  to  become  subject  to.  When 
the  arrear  list  shall  have  thus  been  disposed  of,  tbc  income 
of  tbe  Society  will  lose  its  anomalous  character,  and  correspond 
in  actual  amount  to  tbc  payments  due  from  tbe  willing  contri- 
butors, of  which  tbe  Society  will  then  consist;  and  the  funds 
being  thus  established  on  a regular  basis,  tbc  estimated  income 
and  expenditure  of  tbc  Society  may  at  all  tunes  be  satisfactorily 
adjusted. 
The  Council  have  to  report  tbe  favourable  progress  of  the 
preparations  for  the  country  meeting  of  tbe  Society,  to  be  held 
this  year  in  tbc  city  of  Kxcter,  in  July,  in  tbc  week  commencing 
oil  Monday,  tbc  loth  of  that  month,  of  which  tbc  Thursday  will, 
