The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-20 00:00:00

'SPA PER

The Institution of Civil Engineers.
The annual meeting of this institution was held
on Tuesday—Mr. Charles H. Gregory, vice-presi-
dent, in the chair.
In submitting a report upon the present state of
the institution, the council commented upon the in-
creased interest manifested in the meetings by the
members of all classes, from which it was inferred
that the subjects selected for consideration had met
with approval. Although, from the length to which
the discussions had been extended, it had only been
possible to bring forward a limited number of papers,
yet it was but fair to the authors to state that others
.of equal merit had been thus unavoidably postponed.
There had been 24 ordinary general meetings, when
10 papers were read, all of which had been deemed
worthy of reward. It was remarked that, as a rule,
the communications, both written and oral, were ac-
companied by an elaboration of detail, and' by a
profuseness of illustration, testifying at once to the
care with which they had been prepared, and to the
desire to sustain the character of the proceedings.
During the recess all the volumes of the minutes of
proceedings that were in arrear, as well as the volumes
for the last session, had been issued to the members.
These volumes together contained 2,325 pages of let-
terpress. and 90 plates, besides numerous woodcuts.
Since the last annual meeting there bad also been
printed and circulated to the members a new cata-
logue of the library, in itself an Bvo. volume of 412
pages. With regard to a resolution passed at the last
annual general meeting, the council stated that they
had still under their earnest consideration the ques-
tion of the best and most feasible means for provid-
ing additional accommodation for the meetings and
for the other uses of the members of the institution,
and that they were engaged in the investigation of
the various plans which had been suggested for that
purpose—but they were of opinion that it would be
premature to enunciate any definite views in the
temporary absence of the president, of whose fur-
ther advice the assistance the council were anxious
to avail themselves. The council had much plc tsure
in complying with a requ_.st made by the Lords of
the Committee of Council o❑ Education, to allot
to the intending exhibitors of machinery in the
British section of the Paris Universal Exhibition of
1867 the space set apart by the iniperial commission
for that purpose. The council regretted that, as
the actual net area available for division was only
one-tenth of that asked for, they were unable to
accede to a larger number of the applications, and
that they were obliged greatly to limit the space
assigned in other cases. In order to show the pro-
gress of the institution during the latter half of its
existence, extending over a period of 24i years, or
from June 30, 1842, to November 30, 1866, two
tables had been compiled, from which it ap-
peared that at the former date the total number
of members of all classes was 525, as against
1,339 at the 30th November last, showing an
actual increase of 814, or 155.2 per cent. The
annual increase per cent. during the past six years
had been 1.61, 5.81, 4.00, 5.29, 9.86, and 11.39
respectively. During the same period the honorary
members had been relatively diminished from 6.6
to 1.5 per cent., and the graduates from 12.9 to
0.5 per cent. ; while the number of members had
been increased from 34.5 to 40.4 per cent., and of
associates from 45.9 to 57• G per cent. Or, in other
words, taking the honorary members and the gra-
duates together, they had, at the first date re-
ferred to, amounted to nearly ono-fifth of the
whole number of members, whereas at the present
time they only constituted the one-fiftieth part of
that number. Nearly one-half of the members and
associates were resident in London and its vicinity,
one-third in the other parts of the United King-
dom, and the remainder in British possessions
abroad and in foreign countries. An analysis of the
statement of receipts and expenditure for the year
ending Nov. 30, 1866, showed that there had been
received, including in each case dividends on invest-
ments, £4,945 on the general account, £994 in re-
spect of the building fund, and £360 on trust funds,
making together £6,299. The expenditure had been
£4,153 on the general account, and £l3l for pre-
miums under trust, while £2,971 had been invested,
on different accounts, in Consols, and in debenture
stocks of the Great Northern, the North Eastern,
and the London and North Western Railway Com-
panies. This showed an excess of disbursements
over receipts of £956, by which amount the avail-
able balance at the bankers had been reduced. The
nominal value of the different funds now belonging

to the corporation together amounted to £26,709
lls. 2d. as against £24,983 ls. 6d. at the date of the
last report.
After the reading of the report Telford medals
and Telford premiums of books were presented to
Messrs. R. Price Williams, J. Grant, and E. Clark ;
a Telford medal to Sir C. T. Bright, M.P. ; a Tel-

ford medal and the Mauby premium in books to Mr.

R. Manning; and Telford premiums of books to
Messrs. W. Humber, G. R. Burnell, W. Ridley,
T. A. Rochussen, and W. H. Mills.

The thanks of the institution were unanimously
voted to the president for his attention to the duties
of his office ; to the vice-presidents and the other
members and associates of council for their co-ope-
ration with the president, and their constant atten •
dance at the meetings ; to Mr. C. Manby, honorary
secretary, and to Mr. J. Forrest, secretary, for the
manner in which they had wrformed the duties of
their offices ; as.also to the auditors of the accounts
and the scrutineers of the ballot for their services.
The faowing gentlemen were elected to fill the
several ofli.les on the council for the ensuing year :
John Fowler, presi lent ; Joseph Gallia, C. Hutton
Gregory, Thomas liawksley, and John Seottßus-
sell, vice-presidents ; James Abernethy, William.
Beardmore, James Brunlees, Thomas
Henry Barlow, John Frederic BaotersanE,
Har-
rison, George Willoughby
I I
George Robert Stephenson, and
em
Charlesns
Murray,
V
ign o les
membersandthe
Richard
Charles
Lucas, associates.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.—It has been
arranged that the oration in honour of the memory of the
late John Hunter shall be delivered on the 14th of February
next by Professor Hilton, F.R.S. Henceforth an oration
will be delivered in alternate years.

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IS B.B§ thet et the Sthikrislat,4 iQ U tras
1806 ; the recent strike and look-out in the Potts..
ries, which terminated last November ; the strike in
the northern iron trades, which terminated on the
23d of the same month. The more these great
strikes were considered the 11101'0, he said, was one
impressed with the loss and misery which they oc-
casioned to both masters and workmen. They might
well be coinpared to war, and it should not be for-
gotten that the prize for which both sides were con-
tending might be borne off for the benefit of a third
party. The frequency of strikes argued some an-
! soundness in the relations between masters and
I workmen, in which the blame was not all on one
Ride ; and the magnitude of the evil had naturally
excited a &lire to find some remely for it. At on 3
time great importance was attached to the establish-
meet of courts of conciliation, on the model of the
French conseils des prad'hommes, but after further
consideration it was found that these tribunals had
no judicial authority, and it was ncognisel that
the establishment of tribunals of arbitration, which
should fix rates of wages or hours of labour, would
be incompatible with the free•lom of bargaining
between employers and employed. At present
some attempts were being male to obviate the
evils of strikes by allowing workmen to
participate with their employers in the busi-
ness which they were mutually engaged in
carrying on ; and, although there had not yet
been sufficient experience to show how this system
would operate, it was possible that in some form of
combination of the sort the solution of the question
might be found. Upon the whole, the conclusions at
which the lecturer arrived were that strikes might
be justifiable, or even necessary, and that, to pre-
vent their occurrence or mitigate their evils, greater
forbearance than had hitherto been exhibited should
be shown to each other by both masters and work-
men, and that trades' unions should avoid meddling
and officious interfcreue between them. The read-
ing of the paper was followed by a discussion, in
which-the views of . the lecturer were pretty gene-
rally accepted as'sound, and the proceedings termi-
nated with the usual vote of thanks.