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THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Ordinary and Annual General Meeting, Saturday, January 28th, 1888.
The Eighth Annual General Meeting of the Club was held in the Public
Hall, Loughton, at seven o'clock, Mr. T. V. Holmes, President, in the chair.
Previous to the Annual Meeting an Ordinary Meeting (the 85th) was held for
the proposal and election of members. Mr. H. G. Morris was elected a member.
The minutes of the Seventh Annual Meeting on January 29th, 1887, were read
and confirmed.
The Secretary read the Annual Report of the Council for 1887 (see page 15).
The adoption of the Report was moved by Mr. Walter Crouch, and seconded
by Mr. C. Oldham, and carried unanimously.
The Auditors (Messrs. W. Crouch and C. Ridley) reported that owing to the
unavoidable absence of Mr. Royle, the Treasurer, who was away from England
on business, they were unable to present a full statement of account that evening.
It would be prepared with as little delay as possible, and presented at the next
meeting of the Club. Mr. F. H. Varley and Mr. D. B. Jones were appointed
scrutineers of the ballot. They reported as follows :—
That Mr. Walter Crouch, F.Z.S., Mr. A. Lockyer, Mr. Charles Oldham, and
Mr. F. H. Varley, F.R.A.S., had been elected unanimously to fill the vacancies
on the Council (see the report of meeting on December 17th, Essex Naturalist,
vol. i., page 279).
That the following officers for 1888 had been unanimously chosen :—President,
Mr. E.A. Fitch, F.L.S., F.E.S, (Mayor of Maldon) ; Treasurer, Thomas Royle,
F.C.S. ; Secretary and Editor, Mr. William Cole ; Assistant-Secretary, Mr.
B. G. Cole ; Librarian, Mr. A. P. Wire.
That Mr. T. V. Holmes, on retirement from the Presidency, became one of the
Permanent Vice-Presidents of the Club under Rule IV.
Mr. T. V. Holmes then read his third Annual Presidential Address, the chair
being taken by Prof. Meldola. The address treated of " The Subterranean
Geology of South-Eastern England," and the subject was divided as follows :—
Geological maps show rocks on the surface at a given spot.—Knowledge of sub-
terranean Geology depends partly on the evidence afforded by the disposition
of the surface rocks, partly on that of deep borings.—The geology of South-
Eastern England as shown on a geological map.—The evidence of districts out-
side ; of Belgium, the Boulounais, and Western England ; bearing upon the
geology of South-Eastern England.—Of deep borings.—Conclusions.
Mr. Holmes illustrated his paper with a large number of geological maps of
England and the Continent, and with sections of deep borings, etc. The full
text of the address will be printed in an early number of the Essex Naturalist.
In conclusion, Mr. Holmes said : I have pleasure in congratulating the
Essex Field Club on the great improvement that has taken place during the past
year in its position and prospects. In every young Society there comes a time
when it is found necessary to review the list of members and to strike off the
names of those who, attracted simply by novelty, soon cease to take any interest
in its affairs, and to pay the subscriptions without which no Society can live.
The greater the energy and enterprise of its founders the more likely is it to find
itself burdened with debt contracted in reliance on the subscriptions of its long
list of members, and the more severe, consequently, is the crisis when it comes.
That such is the case is not, on the whole, to be regretted, as in no way can an