post of Hydrographer of the Navy from September 1914 to August 1919. Throughout the war, the increased demands for new forms of charts and other technical hydrographic publications were, under his direction, fully met, and, though the ships employed were reduced, the surveyors' activities afloat were greatly extended. Before retiring he presided over the International Hydrographic Conference in London in 1919, when the standardization of charts and hydrographic publications was discussed.

After his retirement he served on the International Hydrographic Bureau Committee, and subsequently as Senior Director of the Bureau at Monaco. In 1920, on behalf of the Contractors for the Crown Agents for the Colonies, he took charge of an expedition to the Gold Coast to select the best locality for a deep-sea harbour, as a result of which work has been commenced at Takoradi Bay. He was promoted to Admiral on the Retired List in November 1925. In recognition of his services he was made a C.B. in 1916 and K.C.B. in 1919. He also received the Cross of Commander of the Legion of Honour, and the Distinguished Service Medal of the United States. He was a member of our Council from 1918 to 1920.

MEETINGS: ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY:

SESSION 1925-1926

Fourteenth Evening Meeting, 31 May 1926.—The President in the Chair. ELECTIONS.-Victor Allcard; Thomas Holmes Baxter; Miss Philippa Beatrice Bridges; Mrs. Alan Cobham; Prof. Henry E. Crampton; Capt. Charles James Stewart Fraser, I.A.; Malcolm Langton Hepburn, M.D., B.S., F.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.; John A. Hilton; Lieut.-Col. Allen Crawford Howard, D.S.O., M.C., M.I.C.E.; James John, B.SC.; Frederick William Johnston, B.A., LL.B.; Harold McCracken; Rev. Arthur Macnamara, M.A.; Mrs. Max Mayer; William Monypeny Newsom; Eugene Ramsden, M.P.; Rev. Anthony Rippiner; George Wesley Royle, L.D.S.; Arnold Tillotson; Mrs. Stella Maud Court Treatt; James Berkeley Wise.

PAPER: Darwin's Chile. Dr. F. M. Chapman.

Fifteenth Evening Meeting, 14 June 1926.-The President in the Chair.

ELECTIONS.-H. W. Arnott; Hermann Johann Christian Alexander Asmus; Percy Lytton Baker; H. W. Roy Bertrand; Major Colin Henry Alfred Borradaile; Col. J. Bruce-Kingsmill; Robert Edward Warwick Burnside, B.A.; Miss Mary Louisa Chiles, A.L.C.M.; Capt. John Ingles Chrystall, M.C.; James Eling Coleclough, B.A., LL.B.; Rigby Crocker, B.A.; Eric Armar Vully de Candole; Robert Coventry Denby; Rev. Howard Wilbur Ennis, B.A.; Capt. Clifford Charles Erskine-Bolst, J.P.; Alwyn Ezra; Major R. E. Fisher, O.B.E.; Kenneth George Grubb; Alfred Cecil Hardy, B.SC.; Wilfred Welchman Harston; William Snowdon Hedley; Charles Richard Hubert; Gene Lamb; Max. Walter Lessing; Miss Katharine E. Ley, M.A.; Edward Rudolph Mayer, B.A., LL.B.; Major Henry Richard Caine Meade, I.A.; Alan Douglas Merritt; Capt. D. G. Moncrieff-Wright, M.C.; Frank Nickson, B.SC.; Miss Edwina Niness; Miss Irene Mary Oakden, M.A.; Rev. James Clarence Ogden; Geoffrey Pilkington Plackett; Stanley Larmond Randolph; Capt. Robert Francis Salt; Wilfred Scholes, M.A.; Rev. Alexander William Scrutton, M.A.; Peter Young Smith; Rev. Mervyn James Stewart; The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Strafford; S. Digby Strong, M.A.; Louis Morin Symes; Capt. Robert Lancelot Vance, I.M.S.; Rev. Leslie Dixon Weatherhead; William Drake Westervelt. PAPER: The Alaska Boundary Demarcation. Major E. W. Nesham.

The Geographical Journal

Vol. LXVIII No. 2

August 1926

ADDRESS AT THE ANNIVERSARY GENERAL MEETING, 21 June 1926

Dr. D. G. Hogarth, C.M.G., President

NE short year's experience as President gives me small authority to speak ex cathedra; but from more than thirty years' unofficial knowledge of the Society, I have no hesitation in saying that it is in very sound health. Its membership is more numerous than at any previous period of a history which is within four years of its Centenary; its activities are more comprehensive and more various; its possessions are greater; and among the accessions of this year, or indeed of many a year past, stands pre-eminent that gift of rare books by Mr. A. P. H. Hotz, of which while still incomplete my predecessor spoke last year. We enjoy both in this country and abroad a higher prestige; we obtain both for our meetings, whether pre- or post-prandial, and for our Fournal, communications of an interest and a value superior, on the whole, to its standards of the past, though these have been sufficiently high to earn us first place among the geographical societies of the world.

For its prosperity the Society has to thank many generations of officers and officials, and none more than its actual Secretary, Librarian, and Map-Curator. Few more also than its late President. Lord Ronaldshay brought to its Chair the prestige and experience of a Proconsul distinguished among proconsuls. The Council has never, within my experience, been handled at once so firmly and so kindly as by him, and I have served under no Chairman who showed a surer instinct for the essential, and so expeditious and at the same time thorough conduct of business. His oratorical gift distinguished our meetings and his study of his briefs has set an example to his successors. Comparison of his parts and experience with those of the famous ex-President who passed away some fifteen months ago inevitably suggests itself; but I will leave some future Plutarch to elaborate it. Enough to say that Lord Ronaldshay, not less than Lord Curzon, put exceptional powers trained in an exacting school and long experience acquired in high affairs unsparingly at your service.

We have reason to be self-gratulatory; but "lest we forget," I will make two reservations by way of chastening enthusiasm. First regarding

H

the Society's financial position. Unless you are unlike the Fellows of other Learned Societies of which I have knowledge, few of you will retain, after perusal of our annual statement of accounts, much beyond the pleasant fact that our gross income has grown to over £21,000 a year. No remark falls more often upon my ears than that, "of course, the Royal Geographical is a rich Society." So it is, as Learned Societies go. But it is equally true that its establishment, organization, and scope of activities demand inevitable expenditure on a higher scale than falls to be met by almost any of its sister Societies; and I shall not, I think, be wasting either your time or mine if, in order to justify that last statement, I draw a few deductions from the Statement of Accounts which is now in your hands. For fear of trenching on the Treasurer's province, I will not repeat his figures, which, moreover, are before you; but, in regard to one or two items of expenditure, I will combine what is distributed under different heads.

How did last year's income go? Deducting returns on Publications and Instruction, I will reckon it at a total of £19,000. Over half of this went, in fact, upon maintaining and gradually improving our large house and paying the salaries and wages of a staff of twentyseven persons plus a few pensions. The salaries, etc., make by far the heavier item, amounting to about £9900, or a little over 50 per cent of the income. In regard to the House, which, apart from wages, cost us about 61⁄2 per cent. of that income, I need only remind you that it was built in less expensive days on a rather sumptuous plan with large basement rooms not designed for the purposes for which we require them, and needing, therefore, adaptation and refitting. This work is being carried out piecemeal year by year, but even now is not quite complete. In regard to the Staff, I can only say that, large as it seems for a Learned Society to be maintaining, it is not large enough to meet every call made upon us; and I have satisfied myself both that every member of it is in full necessary work and that none is overpaid. You should bear in mind, together with the size and character of our house, the actual range of our activities; the volume and importance of our Library and our collections of maps, photographs, etc.; the necessity of maintaining in full efficiency a cartographic department and a school of scientific instruction; and the large membership of the Society, which entails heavy secretarial work.

One of our most essential activities is publishing. When all returns by sales, etc., are allowed for, a contribution of about 25 per cent. of our gross revenue had to be made under this head. The remainder of last year's income not yet accounted for-roughly 18 per cent.-went, as to about 4 per cent., on office expenses, and as to a slightly higher percentage, on meeting the needs of the Library and the Map and Photograph Collections in purchases, hinding, and mounting. This last percentage will be agreed, I think, to be all too small. Consider