38 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
the Club his fine Herbarium of Marine Algae from the Harwich District, as well as
some fossils from Walton-on-the-Naze, and bronze celts from Havering.
At the Annual Meeting on the 31st March, 1894, the usual business was
transacted, and the President read his address on "The Development of Archi-
tecture in Essex" and the establishment of the proposed Epping Forest Free
Local Museum, which had been considered at a Meeting held on 24th February,
was alluded to.
But perhaps one of the most important Meetings of the Club was the one held
in Epping Forest on the 28th April, 1894. In consequence of the action of
the Verderers in thinning in various parts of the Forest some very strong
letters had appeared in the daily London papers, condemning the action of the
Verderers, and in point of fact, holding them up to the public as malefactors of the
deepest dye. On the other hand, letters appeared upholding the action of the
Verderers as judicious and well-timed.
Under these circumstances it was considered desirable that a Meeting of the
Club should be held upon the debatable ground itself, so that the numerous
experts who were members of the Club might have an opportunity of examining
what had been done for themselves. Mr. E. N. Buxton, who seems to be at home
in the most intricate parts of the Forest, was the chief "Conductor," and he
certainly made no attempt to conceal anything that had been done. A meeting
was afterwards held at the Forest Hotel, Chingford, which has been carefully
reported in The Essex Naturalist for 1894 (vol. iii., pp. 52-71, and pp. 117
12l), and which I need not further allude to, except to say that in the opinion of
the Club the action of the Conservators was supported by the passing of the
following Resolution by a large majority : "That in the opinion of this Meeting,
the general action of the Conservators in the recent thinnings has been
judicious."
It is satisfactory to find that this verdict has been endorsed by the experts called
in by the Corporation of the City of London.
One of the most interesting meetings we have held, was the
meeting of the Club at the Museum and Library of the Corporation
of London, at Guildhall, in the City, on the 16th February, 1895,
upon the kind invitation of J. Douglass Mathews, Esq., the Chair-
man of the Library and Museum Committee, and Charles Welch,
Esq., the Librarian and Curator, when the latter gentleman read a
very carefully prepared paper upon the principal objects of interest
in the Museum and Library, and subsequently accompanied the
members round the Museum, pointing out the various objects he had
alluded to. The Chairman, Mr. Mathews, at the commencement of
the proceedings, when there were about one hundred ladies and
gentlemen present, the majority of whom were members of the Club,
expressed his astonishment at having so large a meeting. I took
the opportunity of reminding him that if the meeting had been held
previous to the establishment of the Essex Field Club, he would
have had only one tithe present, and that I thought by the exertions
of the Club, a very large number of persons had become interested