Abstract
THE report of the Council of the British Association, adopted by the General Committee at the York meeting, included several matters of particular interest. The period of the presidency, for example, now coincides with the calendar year instead of extending from one meeting to the next. The nomination of the new president is made known, however, on the first day of the annual meeting, and the General Committee accepted the recommendation of the Council that Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, president of the Royal Society, should be the president of the Association next year, when the meeting will be held at Leicester on Sept. 6–13. A notable change of policy with regard to allocations of grants to research committees was brought before the General Committee. For many years these grants have been made on a year-to-year consideration of available balances and have amounted to about £1000 annually. The general treasurer, Sir Josiah Stamp, in a memorandum upon the financial position and outlook of the Association, pointed out the weakness of this system and suggested that, for a time at least, not more than £400 should be expended annually from general funds on grants for research, and that an annual sum of £500 should be placed to a contingency fund. This recommendation was approved by the Council, which is of opinion that the true function of the Association, in making grants to research committees, is the initiation of particular pieces of research rather than their quasi-permanent endowment. In addition to the grants made from general funds at the annual meetings, the Council can deal at any time with applications for grants from the Caird Fund. Prof, J. L. Myres retires from the office of general secretary of the Association, which he has held since 1919, and the Council records its deep sense of gratitude for his devoted services. The two general secretaries are now Prof. P. G. H. Boswell and Prof. F. J. M. Stratton. The new members of Council are Sir Henry Dale, Dr. Allan Ferguson, Prof. K, B. Forrester, Dr. H. S. Harrison, Sir John Russell, and Prof. F. E. Weiss.
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Report of Council of the British Association. Nature 130, 392 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130392a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130392a0