Report of the Hon. Treasurer.

The statement of Assets and Liabilities shows a balance of Assets £664 5s 4d, as compared with £728 9s 9d last year. Receipts of Levy on Vol. 70 are £35 less than those for Vol. 69. (An amount received after the books were closed reduces the difference to £25 10s.) Sales of publications are £40 less than last year.

The cost of printing the Transactions is substantially the same, viz., £631 17s 8d, against £627 4s 1d last year. It is satisfactory to record that the Standing Committee has decided to restrict the length of papers so that the total cost of text and plates in any one paper shall not exceed £20.

During the past year the question of increased insurance including war risk arose, and it became necessary to arrive at an estimate of the value of the Society's stocks, i.e., Library, Transactions, and other publications, furniture, etc. It will be noted that for the first time this information appears on the balance sheet. Necessarily this must be only a very rough estimate—it is impossible to determine the actual intrinsic value, as the usual methods based on a commercial value would not apply. However, total insurances including war risk have now been increased from £2,500 to £5,540, but even this is only about 20% of the estimated value of the stock, whereas up to 80%, or more, would be the ratio on commercial stocks.

The Endowment Fund now stands at £2,011, an increase of £136 over last year. As this Fund has reached £2,000, the question arises as to the advisability of, say, half the annual interest being used for binding purposes. Only £39 17s 10d is left in the Binding Fund, and it is important to get as much binding done as possible.

The Trust Funds remain in much the same position as last year.

I desire once again to commend the Secretary on the way the books and accounts have been kept.

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M. A. Eliott, Hon. Treasurer.