The Council, being of opinion that the Fellows should have a full knowledge of the conditions under which the Society is carrying on its work at the present time, has authorized the following statement.

The first concern has been for the safety of the Society's possessions.

Thirteen thousand five hundred books, weighing about thirty-four tons, have been removed from Burlington House to twenty-five country repositories in Wales, south-west England, the northwest Midlands, the Chilterns, and elsewhere. The remaining books at Burlington House have been stacked and protected as far as is possible against fire. Those selected for evacuation were valuable manuscripts and rare books, topographical works, periodicals (English and foreign), with special reference to their usefulness and the difficulty of replacing them. The Library Index of about 500,000 cards, the Indexes of Lantern Slides and of Prints and Drawings, as well as a selection of the Society's stock of early publications, have also been removed.