THE SIXTY-SECOND GENERAL MEETING AT DEVIZES.. PAGE 147 156 THE RELATIONS OF THE BISHOPS AND CITIZENS OF SALISBURY (NEW SARUM) BETWEEN 1225 AND 1612: By Fanny Street, M.A., F.R.Hist. Soc........ 185 THE REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS, AND FISHES OF WILTSHIRE: By G. 258 WILTS OBITUARY 263 RECENT WILTSHIRE BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, ARTICLES, &c. 280 299 DEVIZES:-C. H. WOODWARD, EXCHANGE BUILDINGS, STATION ROAD. WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE. MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS."-Ovid. N.B.-No Magazine for December, 1915, was issued. THE SIXTY-SECOND GENERAL MEETING OF THE WILTSHIRE ARCHEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, HELD AT DEVIZES MUSEUM, July 6th, 1915. The Committee of the Society having decided that, in consequence of the war, it was hopeless to attempt to hold the usual annual general meeting and excursions this year, the annual meeting, held at the Museum, Devizes, on Tuesday, July 6th, took the form of a purely business meeting, attended by only a few members, the President, Mr. W. Heward Bell, F.S.A., F.G.S., being in the chair. The Hon. Secretary presented the annual report, which was read and passed; the officers of the Society and the members of the committee were re-appointed en bloc, with the addition of Mr. E. H. Stone, of Devizes. In consequence of the diminution of the Society's income, from the resignation of a good many members, a loss due no doubt partly to the war, the meeting instructed the Editor of the "Magazine" to exercise all possible economy in the printing of the December number for this year. [On going carefully into the matter subsequently the Hon. Secretary came to the conclusion that it would not be possible to print a second number of the Magazine for 1915 at all.] The Hon. Secretary laid special stress on the necessity of ordinary members of the Society endeavouring to obtain new members in VOL. XXXIX.-NO. CXXIV, L their own localities. At present this work of obtaining new members is too much left to two or three members of the committee. If the "Magazine," which is, together with the Museum, by far the most important part of the Society's work, is not to suffer, more efforts must be made to secure new members in all parts of the county. The most important business at the meeting, outside the ordinary routine of the annual meeting, was the consideration of what is to be done in the matter of the Great Barn at Bradford-on-Avon, which has now been formally conveyed to the Society by Sir Charles P. Hobhouse. Mr. A. W. N. Burder, F.S.A., of Bradford, has undertaken the appeal for subscriptions, more especially in the Bradford neighbourhood, and up to the date of the meeting had received £138. As the Society has to pay the cost of conveyance, and to put up a permanent fence of a substantial kind to divide the barn from the farmyard, this will provide but a small sum towards the £775 which Mr. Brakspear estimated would be necessary to put the building in thorough repair. Mr. Brakspear himself was present at the meeting and gave an alarming account of the present condition of the roof; he said it had got much worse since he inspected it last autumn, and falls of tiles were continually taking place. If the building was to be saved something ought to be done at once, and it was useless to attempt to touch the roof unless about £200 could be found. Mr. Brakspear's report, and Mr. Burder's statement that he had appealed to everyone he could think of, and that subscriptions had practically ceased to come in, seemed to present an almost hopeless prospect, when Mr. J. Moulton, of The Hall, Bradford-on-Avon, who has been added to the sub-committee appointed to deal with the barn, came forward with a suggestion that the great expense of providing the necessary new stone tiles for the roof might be very much lessened by substituting, on the south side of the roof, which is not visible from the town, Bridgewater tiles for the existing stone tiles, which would then be available for the repair of the northern side. This idea, under the existing circumstances, seemed the only course open, especially when Mr. Moulton announced that if it were acted upon he would give a second donation of £50 towards the work in addition to his first promised donation of £25. Mr. W. Heward Bell thereupon promised a second donation of £25, a third member of the Society promised a second donation of £5, and Mr. Burder undertook to renew his efforts in the Bradford neighbourhood to raise at least enough to provide a clear £200 to be spent immediately on the absolutely necessary repairs. It is to be hoped that this fresh start may encourage all members of the public who regard the ancient buildings of the county as a possession which the present generation is bound, even in war time, to do its best to hand on uninjured to those who come after us, to send some subscription, however small, towards the Barn Fund, to Mr. A. W. N. Burder, Belcombe Court, Bradford-on-Avon. The meeting passed a resolution expressing their commendation of the vigilant care and prompt action of the Museum caretaker, Mrs. Willis, in the matter of the theft of the cover of the Maori Feather Box, to which was largely due the eventual capture and conviction of the thief. THE REPORT. The following was the text of the annual report read by the Rev. E, H. Goddard: The committee beg to present the sixty-second annual report of the Society. Members. The Society, as is probably the case with most similar bodies, has been affected by the condition of things brought about by the war, and we have to deplore a considerable diminution in our list of members during the past year. We have lost 12 members by death, 2 of whom have fallen in action, and 25 by resignation or by removal of names in consequence of non-payment of subscriptions; whilst only 8 new members have joined since the date of the last report. The Society has now on the list of members issued with the current (June) number of the "Magazine," 13 life and 326 annual members, or 339 in all, against 370 in 1914, a net loss of 31 members on the year. This loss, unfortunately, |