Section XIII.—Council: Forms of proceeding—rowers— Duties—Restrictions on Powers.

1.—The Council shall meet at the House of the Society once, at lest, in every calendar month, from November to June inclusive, and may met in any other month, on what day or days they shall deem expedient.

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2.—The President, or any three Members of the Council, may call a Meeting of the Council.

3.—When a Meeting of the Council is to be holden, the Clerk of the Society shall summon by letter every Member of the Council.

4.—No meeting of the Members of the Council shall be competent to enter upon or decide any business unless three or more Members be present; and such meeting, having been duly summoned, shall be competent to carry into execution all the powers entrusted to it by virtue of the Charter and Bye-Laws.

5.—The President shall be the Chairman of all meetings of the Council; or, in case of his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents; or, in case of their absence, one of the other Members of the Council, to be appointed for the occasion by the meeting.

6.—The ordinary method of voting at the Council shall be by show of hands; but a ballot shall be taken in cases prescribed by any regulations of the Council, or when demanded by any Member present.

7.—The decision of the majority of Members voting at a meeting shall be considered as the decision of the meeting; and the Chairman shall be entitled to vote; and, if the votes on either side be equal, he shall give a casting-vote.

8.—The voting on any question, except it be one of adjournment, shall, on the demand of any Member present, be adjourned to the next ensuing meeting.

9.—Minutes of the proceedings of every meeting of the Council shall be taken during their progress by one of the Secretaries, or, in case of their absence, by some Member present, whom the Chairman shall appoint for the occasion. The minutes shall afterwards be copied fairly into a minute-book, to be kept for that purpose.

10.—The Council shall, from time to time, draw up such regulations, not inconsistent with the Charter and Bye-Laws, as may appear to them expedient for conducting the proceedings of their own meetings; and the regulations so drawn up shall be binding on the Members of the Council.

11.—The government of the Society and the management of its concerns are entrusted to the Council, subject to no other restrictions than are and may be imposed by the Charter and Bye-Laws, and to no other interference than may arise from the acts of the Fellows in General Meeting assembled.

12.—The Council may from time to time make such regulations, and issue such orders, not inconsistent with the Charter and Bye-Laws, as shall appear to them conducive to the good government of the Society, and to the proper management of its concerns: and all such regulations and orders shall be binding on all and every the Fellows, Foreign Members, Foreign Correspondents, Officers, and Servants of the Society.

13.—The Council may appoint persons, not being Members of the Council, to be salaried Officers, Clerks, or Servants, for carrying on the necessary concerns of the Society; and may define the duties to be performed by them respectively; and may allow to them respectively such page 21 salaries, gratuities, and privileges, as to them, the Council, may seem proper; and may suspend any Officer, Clerk, or Servant, from office, whenever there shall seem to them occasion: provided always that every such appointment or suspension shall be reported by the Council to the next ensuing general meeting of the Fellows, to be then confirmed or annulled, as to such meeting may seem good.

14.—The Council may appoint Committees to examine into, and report to them on any special matters, scientific or otherwise, relating to the objects or concerns of the Society, and may require such Committees to Report, and may dissolve such Committees, whensoever they shall think proper.

15.—The Council may make purchases, and may enter into, enforce, vary or rescind any contract for purchase, on behalf of the Society; but no such contract shall be of longer duration than one year, except by special permission of a general meeting of the Fellows; and in every such contract it shall be stipulated that the effects of the Society shall be the only fund for payment.

16.—The Council may affix the Common Seal of the Society to any deed, contract, agreement, or writing, to which the Society is to be a party.

17.—The Council may exchange for other property, or otherwise dispose of, any duplicate books, maps, or specimens, belonging to the Society, in such manner as may in their opinion best conduce to the advancement of Geology, and the interests of the Society.

18.—The Council may present copies of the Transactions of the Society to other scientific bodies, and to the heads of departments.

19.—The Council shall carry into effect, as far as in them lies, the resolutions of General Meetings.

20.—The Council shall appoint a person to collect the moneys due to the Society, and shad require him to provide sureties to such an amount as may be deemed expedient.

21.—The Council shad appoint a Banker to the Society, for the time being, to whom ad sums of money received by the Collector or other person, for the use of the Society, shall be paid; and no money shad be drawn from the said Banker but by order of the Council, and by cheques signed, at a meeting of the Council, by the Chairman and two other Members.

22.—Whenever the balance in the hands of the Banker shad exceed the sum requisite for the probable or current expenses of the Society, the Council shall invest the excess in Government securities.

23.—At the first meeting in January, in every year, the Council shad appoint two Fellows, the one a Member, the other not a Member of the Council, to audit the accounts of the Society for the preceding year; and shad give to the Auditors, so appointed, full authority to examine persons and papers.

24.—The Council shall present, and cause to be read to the Annual General Meeting, to be held on the third Friday of February in every year, a Report on the general concerns of the Society for the preceding year. The Report shad state the income and expenditure, the receipts and disburse- page break ments, the balance in hand, and the increase or diminution of the property of the Society during that year, and shall give an estimate in detail of the probable income and expenditure of the current year. The Report shall also set forth the progress of the Library and the collection of Maps, and of the Museum in its various departments.

25.—The Council shall submit to the Annual General Meeting, in every year, lists of such persons as they shall consider most fit to be Members of the Council and Officers for the ensuing year.

26.—The Council shall cause a Register to be kept of all the persons declared, appointed, or elected Fellows, and appointed or elected Foreign Members and Foreign Correspondents of the Society; with the dates of their being so declared, appointed, or elected respectively; and with the names of such of those persons as have been admitted, and have subscribed to the Obligation, No. II. in the Appendix.

27.—The Council shall not incur expenses in any year exceeding the clear annual income of the Society, nor any particular item of expense amounting to 50l. not included in the previous estimate.

28.—The Council shall not sell or otherwise dispose of (except as is permitted in Art. 17 and 18), nor mortgage or encumber, the lands, tenements, hereditaments, or effects of the Society, nor borrow money on account of the Society, unless with the sanction and concurrence of a Special General Meeting convened expressly for taking such matter into consideration.