and the country in general by the timely and excellent address Mr. Bryce has given us. I do so with the more pleasure that I can never cease to feel indebted to the name and family from which he

comes.

The CHAIRMAN: I have to add nothing more than to ask you for leave to give our best thanks-which I am sure will be most cordially offered-to Mr. Bryce for his extremely interesting and useful paper, and for the valuable information he has been able to give us.

Mr. BRYCE: I thank you very much for the kind way in which you have responded to the proposal which his Grace has made to you. In reply to the remarks which have been offered in the discussion, I have to thank General Lowry for the kind way in which he has spoken of me, and Mr. Lepper for his criticisms on my paper. I do not think there is really any great difference between Mr. Lepper and myself with regard to the railway, because he apparently does not want to make a railway into China itself, but only a railway to the borders of it, and I think the making of that railway is consistent with the fact that if you want to make a railway into China the best route is that of Messrs. Colquhoun and Hallett. I do not mean to say that the latter route is entirely free from difficulties. There are a great number of preliminary conditions to be settled before any line can be thought of, but if a line is going to be made to tap the trade of China I think their route holds out greater probability of success than the route via Bhamo. As regards the trade of Ssu-Chuan, Mr. Lepper implied that some of that trade now came to Bhamo, but I doubt whether there is any evidence in proof of that.

Mr. LEPPER: I did not wish to infer that at all. I thought the trade would be induced from Yunan.

Mr. BRYCE: Then I am entirely at one with Mr. Lepper in supposing that under this further acquisition of Burmese territory, whether the railway be made or not, the trade with China will greatly increase. But if you want to get the great bulk of the trade with Yunan I do not think that the route via Bhamo is the best. I had, the other night, a letter from Colonel Yule, whom I regard as the greatest living authority on the subject of Burma. He has written the best book on it, and is one of the greatest geographers living. I sent him a copy of my paper, and in his reply he says he is sorry he is not able to attend, but he agrees with almost everything I have said, adding that he thinks we ought to press for more explorations by the Government.

P

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING.

A SPECIAL General Meeting of the Fellows was held in the Library of the Institute, on Monday, March 15, 1886, to consider the Report of the Building Committee (as approved by the Council), recommending the purchase of the freehold of the site on which the Institute is built.

His Grace the Duke of MANCHESTER, K.P., presided.

The HONORARY SECRETARY read the notice convening the meeting.

The following is a copy of the Report :

REPORT OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE.

The Committee have had under their anxious consideration the question referred to them by the Council, as to the advisability of acquiring the Freehold of the site in Northumberland Avenue upon which the Institute is built, and, having made careful inquiries, they beg to report as follows:

1. That the lowest price for which the fee simple of the site can be acquired is £80,520, being calculated on the scale of 28 years' purchase of the existing ground-rent of £1,090 per annum.

2. The Committee recommend that debentures to the amount of £2,000 be paid off out of the available balance of revenue.

3. It follows, therefore, that the amounts required for the purchase of the fee simple, and for the discharge of the balance of debentures to the amount of £1,500, make together a sum of £35,020.

4. This sum (say £35,000) can be obtained from one of the leading Assurance Companies upon the terms that the principal and interest-calculated at 4 per cent.-be repaid in 40 years by half-yearly instalments of £913 13s. 3d. The Council may reserve to themselves the option of paying off at any time a larger proportion of the loan than is included in the half-yearly instalments above mentioned on giving the Lenders six months' notice of their intention to do so.

5. The Committee unanimously recommend that (after having obtained the sanction of the Fellows at a Special General Meeting) the necessary instructions be given to proceed with the purchase on the above basis.

6. The appended Statement shows the actual ordinary Revenue

and Expenditure for the year 1881-5, and estimates of the same for 1885-6 and 1886-7.

7. It should be mentioned that the Honorary Treasurer of the Institute-Sir William C. Sargeaunt-kindly attended, by invitation, the several meetings of the Committee, and fully concurs in their recommendations.

1st March, 1886.

JOHN COODE, Chairman of the Building Committee. Approved by the Council.

2nd March, 1886.

H. C. B. Daubeney,

Chairman.

Statement showing actual ordinary Revenue and Expenditure for 1884-5, and estimated ordinary Revenue and Expenditure for 1885-6 and 1886-7. (Excluding Building Account.)

Sir JOHN COODE: Your Grace and Gentlemen,-Before I move the Resolution which has been put in my hands, in my capacity, doubtless, as Chairman of the Building Committee, I should like to state, for the information of the Fellows, of whom the Committee consisted. The names of the Committee were: Sir Henry Barkly, General Lowry, Mr. Molineux, Mr. Youl, and our Honorary Secretary; and I think, having mentioned these names, you will say that no gentlemen, perhaps, could have been better chosen to represent the Institute in this matter. [A FELLOW: With yourself.] Yes, I also was a member. [The HON. SECRETARY: Last, though not least.] The endeavour of the Committee has been to place in the hands of the Fellows all the information they had at their disposal bearing on the matter on which you have to decide to-day. They did hope at one time they might obtain the building at something less than twenty-eight years' purchase, but after considerable bargaining they found that that was the very minimum the ground landlord would consent to. After very considerable inquiry and consideration, the Committee came to the conclusion, which I may put in a very few words, that, all things considered, the price is not too much for the ground landlord to ask, and certainly is not too much for this Institute to pay. I may remind you, that as possessors of the freehold, our property will be a continually increasing property year by year, whereas if we were not, the value of the property would decrease year by year. There may be a doubt in the minds of some members as to whether we are justified in looking forward to the increase which you will find in the appendix for 1886 and 1887; but I will ask you to look at only the middle column, which, since that contains the results of nine months' working of the current year, you may regard as ascertained facts. I put the matter in this way: I take the estimated revenue for 1886-7 as being only the same as for 1885-6, viz., £7,085. I take the estimated expenditure for 1885-6, which is £4,693 10s., and deduct rent, amounting to £1,205—including the rooms in the Strand-and £275 interest, leaving £3,213 10s. If I add to this estimated expenditure the annual interest and sinking fund on the sum borrowed (£35,000), paid by half-yearly instalments of £913 13s. 3d. each, or £1,827 6s. 6d., and an additional sum for law charges of £350, you get £2,177 6s. 6d., making a total expenditure of £5,390 16s. 6d. Deduct that from the estimated revenue (which, as I have said, I have taken as being the same as for 1885-6), and we shall have, without calculating on any increase of members whatever, the sum of £1,694 3s. 6d. as an

estimated surplus revenue for 1886-7. I should point out that I have included an item of £350 for law charges and the necessary documents; that charge we shall not be called upon to bear another year, so that, even supposing there is no increase of members, we shall have a clear balance of upwards of £2,000. In the face of these facts I have pleasure in moving the following Resolution :"That the Council be authorised and are hereby requested to proceed with the purchase of the freehold of the site on which the Institute is built, on the basis recommended by the Building Committee in their Report of the 1st March, 1886, provided more favourable terms cannot be obtained."

Captain COLOMв; I beg to second the Resolution.

Mr. HYDE CLARK: I may observe, in support of what Sir John Coode has said, that the entrance fees and life memberships ought more properly to be put to the capital account of the sum required for the purpose of carrying out the purchase. There seems to me every reason for looking upon this as a sound and justifiable measure, and as one conceived in the interests of the Institute.

Mr. COLIN MACKENZIE: I have listened with great interest to the lucid exposition of the proposal that we shall become the freeholders of our property-a property that will be of an increasing value-and so be removed from the dangerous position of being mere leaseholders with a decreasing value. The calculation appears to be admirably based with the view of carrying out the purchase in all its aspects and with perfect security, provided, as I think, one condition is added-viz., that we begin forthwith the establishment of a reserve fund for the specific purpose of meeting these engagements as fast as they accrue, even if we should have to tide over two or three years of less prosperity than we have at present. As Sir John Coode has shown, there is an almost absolute certainty of a surplus, and I should be glad if, in some form or other, words were added to the Resolution to the effect that for the next five years or so at least £1,000 per annum should be set aside as a reserve fund. It would give a greater degree of solidity and safety to the transaction without embarrassing the finances of the Institute, and, at the same time, it would be a perfectly legitimate use to make of that reserve fund to go on paying a little more on account, reserving the right of a delay in case of any financial stringency of equal extent to the advances that we make.

Mr. J. G. GRANT, C.M.G.: When I observe that not only the Building Committee but the Council have recommended this scheme, which is supported also by Sir William Sargeaunt, I feel very diffi