The Fifteenth Annual General Meeting of the Society was held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, 25, Great George Street, Westminster, on Thursday evening, December 9th, 1886-Professor D. E. HUGHES, F.R.S., President, in the

chair.

The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. The PRESIDENT announced that the ballot box would remain open till 8.30 p.m., and as it was probable that the scrutiny of the ballot papers might occupy some time, it was thought desirable to appoint four scrutineers instead of the usual number, two.

Mr. T. Buckney, Mr. J. Hookey, Mr. C. Hortsek, and Mr. J. N. Shoolbred were appointed Scrutineers.

The names of new candidates were announced and ordered to be suspended.

The following transfers were announced from the class of Students to that of Associates:

Alfred L. Stocken.

A. W. Slater.

Donations to the Library were announced as having been received from E. Dawson, Esq.; Messrs. Hazell, Watson, & Viney; Latimer Clark, Past-President; Charles Mourlon, Foreign Member; Sir David Salomons, Bart., Member, and R. von Fischer Treuenfeld, Member-to all of whom a vote of thanks was accorded.

The SECRETARY then read the following Report of the Council:

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

The number of elections into the Society during the year exceeds by 9 those of 1885, and comprises 6 Foreign Members, 9 Members, 66 Associates, and 33 Students, or a total of 114.

Besides these, 19 candidates have been approved for ballot at the first meeting next month.

39 Associates have been transferred to the class of Members, and 18 Students to the class of Associates.

We regret to state that by deaths we have lost 2 Foreign Members, viz., M. Julien Vinchent, Inspector-General of Public Works in Belgium, who will be remembered by many of our members as having represented that country at the International Telegraphic Conference held in London in 1879, and Don Alejandro de Bejar, Director of Spanish Telegraphs at Carthagena; 1 member, Mr. E. O. Brown, Assistant in the Chemical Department of the War Office at Woolwich Arsenal, and one of the oldest members of the Society; and 4 Associates-Mr. E. M. Oakley, an assistant of Messrs. Crompton & Co.; Mr. O. W. Smith, of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company; Mr. T. Wainwright, the constructor of several of the lines of the Electric and International Telegraph Company; and Mr. J. K. Webster, of the Anglo-American Telegraph Company.

4 Foreign Members, 7 Members, and 11 Associates have resigned.

The Society continues, by the kindness and liberality of the President and Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers, to enjoy the great advantage of holding its meetings in the Lecture Hall of the Institution, and has, moreover, obtained their permission to hold additional meetings on some of the Thursday evenings intervening between the dates fixed for the ordinary sessional meetings. Of this permission, in view of the increasing number of papers offered to the Society, and the not infrequent adjournments for discussion, the Council propose to avail themselves as occasion may require.

The papers read during the session, among which must be included the President's Address, have been fewer in number than usual, but as this arose from their importance having in several instances led to adjourned discussions, the circumstance can scarcely be subject for regret.

It will be found that of these papers, a list of which follows, comparatively few have been by other than members or associates on the Council, and the number eligible for competition for the annual premiums is therefore very small.

The Council have made the following awards in respect of those read during the twelve months ending 31st May last, viz.:

The Society's Premium, value £10, to Alexander Bernstein, Foreign Member, for his paper on "Electric Lighting by Means of Low-resistance Glow Lamps."

The Paris Electrical Exhibition Premium, value £5, to Captain H. R. Sankey, R.E., Member, for his paper on "A Problem relating to the Economical Electrolytic Deposition of Copper."

The Fahie Premium, value £5, to H. Kingsford, Member, for his paper on "A Method of Localising a Fault in a Cable by Tests from one end only."

LIST OF PAPERS READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY DURING THE

It will afford the Council great pleasure to see the younger

members of the Society more ready to contribute the results of their experience, by sending in papers on their own special subjects.

The important Committee on Electrical Nomenclature and Notation, appointed by the Society last year, having agreed as to the course to be followed in dealing with the subject, have referred the work, under certain specific heads, to a Sub-Committee, which is steadily pursuing its somewhat arduous labours; but the subject is so vast in its proportions that it must be some time before the recommendations of the General Committee are likely to assume a tangible form.

The Committee appointed to consider the proposal for the establishment of a National Standardising Laboratory for Electrical Instruments have been carefully considering the matter, and the Council hope that some practical scheme will shortly be devised for the attainment of this very desirable object.

It was confidently expected that the Electric Lighting Act (1882), which is generally believed to have proved a serious obstacle to the development of electric lighting in this country, would have been amended during the present year. Three Bills having that object were introduced in the House of Lords.

The Council, as reported at the meeting of May 13th, considered it their duty, on behalf of the Society, to present a petition to the House, praying that neither the Bill No. 3 (the Government Bill), nor any Bill for the amendment of the said Act which did not place the undertakers of electric lighting on the same footing as the undertakers of other industrial enterprises, might pass into law.

The three Bills were referred to a Committee of the House of Lords, who reported in favour of the Government Bill (Lord Houghton's), subject to certain amendments; but the Government being defeated on the division on the first amendment, the Bill was subsequently withdrawn, and the dissolution of Parliament, shortly afterwards, put an end to any further legislation. for the time.

Your Council will not fail to watch any steps that may be taken in the matter during the coming session of Parliament.

The Librarian's Report, hereto appended, shows that the Library continues to receive important accessions, principally through the liberality of members and others who have written on those subjects which are of chief interest to the Society.

The Conversazione given by the President on the 29th of May last was held in the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. It was attended by a brilliant and numerous assemblage, and proved a most successful and agreeable reception.

The finances of the Society continue to be in a satisfactory condition. A further sum of £202 15s. has been invested on account of Life Compositions, and the amount of £450 has also been invested as a General Fund out of the current balance standing to the credit of the Society at the end of last year.

Having regard to the fact that the collective investments of the Society now amount to £1,863, it has been deemed advisable by the Council to appoint permanent Trustees, and the two senior Past-Presidents (Sir William Thomson and Mr. Latimer Clark), together with the Hon. Treasurer, Mr. E. Graves, have kindly consented, at the request of the Council, to act in that capacity.

I have the pleasure to hand you, for the information of the Council, my Seventh Annual Report on the Library of the Society.

The presentations to the Library during the year have been up to the average, but there have been no special donations such as have characterised some previous years, although many of the accessions have been of considerable importance. The actual number of accessions of books and pamphlets amount to 98 presented and 22 purchased. It is most desirable that authors who are members of the Society should contribute copies of their