THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.
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the Essex Field Club was urged upon the consideration of the
County Council by a very influential deputation, consisting of Sir
Henry Roscoe, Professors W. H. Flower, Meldola, and Boulger,
Mr. F. W. Rudler, and our Hon. Sec., Mr. W. Cole, who met Mr.
E. N. Buxton and other members of the Parliamentary Committee
on Feb. 2nd, 1891.
The outcome of the Club's application was that at a meeting of
the County Council on July 7 th, 1891, the report of the Technical
Instruction Committee was adopted, which included the following
recommendations : (i.) A sum not exceeding £250 be granted to
an organising Joint Committee, consisting of six members of the
Committee and six members of the Essex Field Club for administra-
tion purposes, and the constitution of a centre for the supply of
Lectures and Teachers, whose services will be paid for by the
Urban Authorities or Local Committees engaging them. (ii.) That
a sum not exceeding £500 be granted to the same Joint Committee
for purchase of apparatus and diagrams, and a sum of £100 for
storage and carriage of same. (iii.) That a sum not exceeding £50
be granted to the same Joint Committee for lectures under the
direction of the Essex Beekeepers' Association. (iv.) That Local
Committees throughout the county, especially in rural districts, be
recommended to make application to the said Joint Committee of
the Essex Agricultural Society, for aid in lectures or teachers,
obtaining apparatus and materials, the conducting of examinations,
and seeking help and guidance generally. The following were the
members elected to form the organising Joint Committee by the
County Council: Messrs. E. N. Buxton, E. A. Fitch, T. H.
Burrows, S. W. Squier, F. West, and W. B. Whittingham. By the
Club, Professors Boulger and Meldola, Sir Henry Roscoe, Messrs.
F. Chancellor, F. Rudler, and J. C. Shenstone, and at the first
meeting on July 20th, 1891, Mr. W. Cole was appointed Secretary.
But the Council, at their meeting on July 7th, 1891, also adopted the
other recommendation of the Technical Instruction Committee, that
the larger portion of the funds at their disposal should be divided
among local authorities on the basis of 1d. in the £ of the assess-
ment to the county rate of the district concerned. This in some
respect was an unfortunate decision, because in many cases the
sums were too small to do any real good, and consequently the
money was frittered away in feeble efforts to do something.
The Organising Joint Committee very soon set to work, and
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