SHORT HISTORY OF ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 11
and, following a somewhat heated discussion, the suggestion was
withdrawn.
Looking back on this episode in the Club's history after a
lapse of more than thirty years, one is bound to admit that the
Chelmsford contingent had grounds for complaint : in fact, the
whole business of amalgamation had been mismanaged. A sum
of no less than £327 had been expended on the central Museum,
partly from the Club's own funds and partly from subscriptions
received as the result of appeals ; the flow of subscriptions had
now entirely ceased, and the cost of maintenance of the museum,
although still unready for opening to the public, was over £"65
per annum ; in these circumstances, it is not to be wondered
at that profound dissatisfaction was felt by all concerned. The
Club realised at last that it could not maintain the museum out
of its own resources (it should surely have known this earlier!),
and so, on March 2nd, 1897, the. Council unanimously resolved
to give the Chelmsford Town Council first refusal to take over the
Museum, the Town to undertake to provide housing, caretaking,
etc., and to make a grant towards the cost of curating, if the
Club, for its part, undertook to be responsible for the care of the
collections and to provide additions to them. In reply to this
offer, the Chelmsford Corporation expressed its readiness to take
over the museum as it stood, provided it had the sole control ;
this stipulation, however, could not be accepted by the Club ;
and in any event, the proposal could not have been carried into
effect, as a town's referendum rejected a scheme for a rate-aided
Free Library and Museum.
At the opening of the year 1896, as the result of many com-
plaints over a long period, the wise decision was made to econo-
mise on the cost of the teas arranged for the field-meetings, it
being decided to substitute "plain teas" for "high teas."
In August of this year, the idea was mooted of applying to
the City Corporation for a grant in aid of the little museum in
Queen Elizabeth's Lodge.
It is probable that at this period the Club was devoting too
great attention to the floating of its two museums and other
schemes, and that, as a consequence, less regard was being
given to other of its activities than members had a right to
expect. The Club's journal, for instance, was being issued at
very irregular intervals on this account, and in this connection