THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
15
" 2. That, as in Middlesex, Sundays should be close-time for taking birds.
Such a bye-law would not apply in the case of owners and
occupiers or their authorised agents.
" 3. That a date should be fixed, after which it would be illegal to take
plovers' eggs."
On the whole it may be claimed that the efforts made on
behalf of out little feathered friends during the past year were
successful—such disastrous natural effects as the flood of
November, 1897, will not, it is to be hoped, recur—and with a
little more co-operation on the part of the general public and
a little wholesome Draconian severity delivered from the Bench,
lovers of birds in Essex may become more hopeful of the
future.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
DELIVERED AT THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING
ON MARCH 25th, 1899.
By DAVID HOWARD, J.P., F.C.S., F.I.C.
"LIFE PROBLEMS IN MODERN SCIENCE."
[Abstract by Mr. Howard]
Ladies and Gentlemen,
T
HE most important event which has marked the past
year of the Essex Field Club has been the provision,
through the generosity of Mr. Passmore Edwards (supple-
mented by the liberality of the West Ham Borough Council),
of a suitable home for the collections of the Club, and
arrangements for the permanent maintenance of the Museum.
ft is no small satisfaction that at last a solution has been
arrived at of a question which has caused so much anxiety to
the Council and all who have the welfare of the Club at
heart, but it must not be forgotten that the acceptance of these
provisions entails upon the Club the very serious responsibility
of providing for the exhibition of their collections in a manner
worthy of their new home. It is earnestly to be hoped that a
liberal response will be made to the appeal for funds for this
purpose.