At a meeting held at Government House, Bankipore, on the 20th January 1915, which was attended by a large number of leading gentry of the province and presided over by the then. Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon'ble Sir Charles Stuart Bayley, it was decided to establish a Society to be called, "The Bihar and Orissa Research Society." The object of the Society was to promote research in this province on lines somewhat similar to other societies already established in India and in other countries. It was decided that the activities of the Society should be limited for the present to four subjects, namely, (1) History, (2) Archæology and Numismatics, (3) Anthropology, and (4) Philology.

At this inaugural meeting, a Council of the Society was constituted, and one patron, five vice-patrons, and office-bearers of the Society were elected. The Council were at the same time requested to appoint a special Sub-Committee to draw up a set of regulations for the Society, and to form four section SubCommittees for the four subjects specified above. These SubCommittees were duly constituted, and draft regulations were considered by the special Sub-Committee at its meeting of the 14th March 1915, and passed at a meeting of the Council on the 6th April. At the same meeting of the Council it was decided(1) to move the Local Government to construct for the purpose of a Provincial Museum and Library at Bankipore a suitable building, of which two rooms might, for the present, be occupied by the Society; (2) to ask Government to subscribe for 100 copies of the Society's journal at a cost of Rs. 2,000 a year; (3) to ask Government to make a contribution of Rs. 3,000 per annum in aid of ethnographic research, on the analogy of a similar grant made by the Bengal Government to the

Asiatic Society of Bengal; (4) and to invite patrons and gentlemen interested in the success of the Society to assist with gifts of books for the library or donations for the purchase of books, or for housing and equipment. The Local Government in their letter No. 1102-E, dated the 11th June 1915, informed the Society that the application for the purchase of copies of the journal had been granted, and in their letter No. 1318-E., dated the 7th July 1915, accorded their sanction to an annual grant of Rs. 3,000 in aid of Ethnographic Research, while in their letter No. 1531-E., dated the 16th August 1915, they informed the Society that a Committee had been appointed to work out a scheme for the establishment of a Provincial Museum and Public Library. We are deeply grateful to the Local Government for the generous encouragement accorded to the Society.

Copies of the Rules of the Society and of the proceedings of the inaugural meeting were circulated in all the districts of the Province, and thanks to the active interest taken in the Society by the Divisional Commissioners and District Officers, applications for membership began to come in from all parts of the Province. At a meeting of the Council held on the 18th August 1915, as many as 152 applications for membership were considered and approved, and at subsequent meetings held on the 27th September and the 30th November the Council approved of 33 and 15 new members, respectively. These, together with the members who took part or were elected to office in the inaugural meeting, make up a total of 237, exclusive of 1 Patron and 5 Vice-Patrons. Of these, 11 are non-resident members, of whom 7 reside in the province of Bengal, 2 in the United Provinces, 1 in Madras, and 1 in Cochin.

It is to be regretted that we have not yet received more than one application for life-membership. It is still more to be regretted that we have up to date received one donation, vis., of Rs. 100, for the purchase of books, given by the proprietor of the Aul Estate in Orissa, to whom the thanks of the Council have been conveyed. The Council desire also to record their appreciation of Mr. S. Sinha's generous offer of his collection of

books to the Society. We trust that before long many other noblemen and gentlemen of the province will come forward with donations towards the objects of the Society. A prospectus of the Society together with an appeal for donations for the purchase of books or for housing and equipmert, and gifts of books or MSS., has been printed, and copies circulated in the several districts of the province.

The report of the Committee appointed by Government regarding the scheme for a Museum and Public Library will be shortly considered by Government.

During this the first year of our existence we have necessarily had to occupy ourselves more with the work of organization and the settling of preliminaries than with actual research. Still we have made a promising start, and have already issued two numhers of our Journal.

To form the nucleus of a Museum, we have already secured a number of implements, ornaments, and other articles of the Stone Age and Copper Age in this province, besides few ancient coins and other objects of antiquarian interest. It will not, however, be possible to form collections on a systematised plan until the necessary accommodation and arrangement for supervision have been provided.

Thanks to the prompt assistance given by the Local Government, the Society has been in a position to meet all expenses incurred during the year, but larger sums will be required for its objects.

An abstract statement of accounts is appended to this report. The proceedings of the inaugural meeting of the Society as well as the proceedings of the meetings of the Council hitherto held have been published in the Society's Journal.

held on Tuesday, the 30th November, 1915, at the Commissioner's House at Bankipore.

PRESENT:

1. The Hon'ble Mr. C. E. A. W. Oldham, 1.c.s., VicePresident, in the Chair.

2. S. A. Raja, Esq.

3. K. P. Jayaswal, Esq., M.A., Bar.-at-Law.

4. Prof. J. N. Sarkar, M.A.

1. The Minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. 2. Pending applications for membership were considered, and 15 ordinary members were duly elected. Their names are noted below:--

1. Babu Indra Bilash Mukerjee, Sambalpur.

2. A. J. Ollenbach, Esq., Khondmals.

3. Lieut.-Col. R. H. Maddox, M.B., I.M.S., Ranchi.

4. Lieut. F. S. McNamara, Ranchi.

5. Babu Manmath Nath Mukerji, B.A., B.E. Ranchi.
6. Babu Nabendu Bhushan Mukerji, B.L., Khunti,
district Ranchi,

7. Babu Nagendra Nath Basu, 20, Biswakosa Lane,
Bagbazar, Calcutta.

8. Mr. C. J. B. Wight Boycott, Daltonganj.

9. W. O. MacGregor, Hazaribagh.