170
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Scientific Societies, my answer is that I consider the South Eastern
Union to be too big and unwieldy for the purpose which I have
in mind. I do not advocate, necessarily, that our activities shall
cease at the county boundaries, but I do advocate a central
organisation big enough to bind together the smaller units, but
not big enough to become impersonal.
Now that I have hinted at ways in which our Club might
develop, not because we want to keep it alive for reasons of
sentiment, but because we have good reason to think that there
is a place for field clubs at the present time, I must ask a question
—is all this practicable ? It depends on the enthusiasm of our
members. If I worry over all the criticisms I hear of our Club
the answer is, unequivocally, no. Summed up, many of these
criticisms amount to this—the Club is in a decline ; it is dying a
lingering death, because no one has the courage to put it out of its
miseries : it is run by a decrepit council and people join, find that
sufficient is not done for them and leave, presumably to find
something better. Is all this true? In part, yes, for there is
usually an element of truth in such criticisms, but the trouble is
it is not the whole truth and half truths are often more insidious
than falsehoods.
Let us examine these criticisms. Of the member who does not
find enough done for him: I do not regret his passing: every
member of the Club is on an equal footing and none has a prescrip-
tive right to expect other members to provide for his or her enter-
tainment. Let every member come along to do something for the
Club, not to have something done for him and I think we shall
be surprised at the progress which the Club makes, besides feeling
that we are all getting value for our subscription.
I think no one will deny that the Club is not in the most
flourishing period of its history, but does anyone seriously con-
tend that a dying Club would have withstood the five year war
period, in an area subjected to heavy and repeated attacks by
hostile aircraft, and have gone through its recent troubles, without
expiring ? The Essex Field Club is not expiring. In my four
years as your president I am convinced that it has been making
solid progress and I state, soberly and not with the specious
optimism of a retiring president, that it is going forward, from
the trough to the crest of the wave of progress. I do not think
it was at the bottom of the trough when I became president, nor
do I think it has celebrated the occupation of the presidential
chair by my successor by reaching the top of the wave, but of its
upward progress I have no doubts. We have an active element
in the Club, our young blood, and I do not question the leavening
qualities of this element. One enthusiast tells me his aim is a
membership of 600 (a mere threefold increase) and I know him