Rules of the Kent Archaeological Society

C xiv ) ^mt QxtfymloQiml ^atitty. EXILES. Name. 1. The Society shall be called the " KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY." Object. 2. The object of the Society shall be to promote the study of archaeology in all its branches, especially within the county of Kent. Membership. 3. The Society shall consist of Ordinary, Life, and Honorary Members, and Institutions. (a) Candidates for Ordinary and Life Membership shall be proposed and seconded by Members of the Society, and be balloted for, if required, at any Meeting of the Council, or at a General Meeting, one black ball in five to exclude. (b) Each Ordinary Member shall pay an Annual Subscription of Ten Shillings, due in advance on 1st January in each year, and on election an Entrance Pee of Ten Shillings, in addition to his subscription, whether Annual or Life. (c) Life Members shall pay £10 as a composition in lieu of the Annual Subscription. An Ordinary Member may at any time become a Life Member upon payment of £10 and arrears (if any) of Annual Subscriptions. (d) Honorary Members.—The Council shall' have power to elect, as an Honorary Member, any person who has promoted or is likely to promote the interests of the Society. An Honorary Member shall not be required to pay any Entrance Pee or Subscription, and shall not exercise the privilege of a Member of voting at meetings, but shall be entitled to all other privileges of membership. (e) Members of either House of Parliament who are landed proprietors of the county or residents therein may, on becoming Members of the Society, be placed on the list of Vice-Presidents, and with them such other persons as the Council or Society in G-eneral Meeting may elect to that office. (jQ Institutions shall only be admitted on same terms as • Ordinary Members. RULES. XV Duties and Privileges. 4. Every new Member shall have his election notified to him by the Hon. Secretary, and shall be required to remit to him the amount due within three months of his election. A copy of the Pules of the Society shall be sent to each Member on announcing to him his election. No Member shall participate in any of the privileges of the Society until he shall have paid his subscription, and, in the case of a new Member, his Entrance Pee also. Sitbscriptions in Arrear. 5. In the event of the sum due from a new Ordinary Member under the preceding Rules not being paid within three months from the date of his election, the Council shall have power to cancel his election, and also to reinstate him on his giving satisfactory reason for the delay. In the event of any Member failing to pay his Annual Subscription, due on the 1st January, before the 31st March next ensuing, the Hon. Pinancial Secretary shall apply to him for the same; and if such Subscription is not paid on or before the 31st December following, the Council shall have power at its discretion to remove his name from, the List of Members; and if his Subscription is two years in arrear, his name shall be removed from the said List, but the Council may reinstate the said Member upon sufficient reason being shown and upon payment of all arrears of Subscriptions. Payment of Subscriptions. 6. All Subscriptions and donations shall be paid to the Society's Bankers, the Hon. Secretary, Hon. Pinancial Secretary, or the Collector. Investing, etc., of Life Compositions. 7. All Life Compositions shall be invested in Government or Trustee Securities in the names of the Trustees. The interest only of such funds shall be used for the ordinary purposes of the Society. Withdrawal. 8. Any Member intending to withdraw from the Society shall give notice in writing to the Hon. Secretary of his intention to do so on or before the Ist January in any year, otherwise he shall be liable for the current year's Subscription. Affiliation of Local Associations. 9. Any local association may be affiliated to this Society, subject to the following conditions :— («) The expression " Local Association " shall be deemed to mean any Association, Society or Club having a membership of not leBS than twenty and carrying on its work in the Xvi KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. County of Kent, the main objects of which are similar to the objects of this Society. (5) If the Council of this Society and the managing authority of any such local association shall pass resolutions to that effect, such local associations shall thereby be affiliated to this Society. (c) Every affiliated local association shall pay an annual subscription of £1 Is. and furnish one copy of each of its publications (if any) to this Society, and shall be entitled to receive one copy of each publication of this Society for the current year. (d) The Hon. Editor may at his discretion include in Archaologia Cantiana a brief summary of such of the proceedings of any affiliated local association as appear to be of general interest; and also papers written by members thereof dealing with archaeological research or discoveries made by any such local association, which shall in that case be entitled to purchase at cost price such number of copies of any such paper for its members as may be specified to the Hon. Editor before publication. (e) It shall be competent for the Council to allow members of any affiliated local association to attend meetings (other than Annual General Meetings) of this Society, and to participate in such other privileges of membership in this Society on such terms as it may from time to time determine. ( / ) A local association may withdraw from affiliation in the same manner as a member under Rule 8, and this Society may determine the affiliation of any local association by giving to the Secretary thereof a notice to that effect expiring on the 31st December in any year. General Meetings. 10. Two General Meetings of the Society shall be held in each year. The Annual General Meeting shall be held at Maidstone in the month of March, or at such other place or date as the Council may determine. At this meeting the Council shall present its Annual Peport and Accounts for the past year, and the Auditors for the ensuing year and the six Members of the Council shall be elected. An agenda paper, which shall specify the names of the retiring Members of the Council, distinguishing between those Members who are eligible and offer themselves for re-election and those Members who have resigned or are ineligible under Rule 16 (/'), shall be sent with the Report and Accounts to all Members not less than fourteen days before the Annual General Meeting. The second General Meeting shall be held in June, July, August or September at some place rendered interesting by its antiquities or historical associations. The place of meeting shall be in the eastern and western divisions of the county alternately, unless the RULES. xvii Council for some cause, to be by them assigned, agree to vary this arrangement; the day or days and place of meeting to be appointed by the Council, who shall have power,-with, the consent of the President, to elect some Member of the Society to act as Chairman of such meeting who is or has been connected with the district in which the meeting shall be held. At the said General Meeting antiquities may be exhibited and papers read on subjects of archaeological interest. Special General Meeting. 11. A Special General Meeting may be summoned by the Hon. Secretary, at such place within the County as the Council may determine, on the requisition in writing of the President, or of seven Members, which requisition must specify the subjects intended to be brought forward for consideration at such Meeting, and those subjects only shall be then considered and resolutions passed thereon. Voting. 12. At all Meetings of the Society or of the Council the resolutions of the majority present and voting shall be binding, except as provided in Rule 13; the Chairman to have a casting vote, independently of his vote as a Member. Alterations of Pules. 13. No alteration shall be made in the Rules except at the Annual General Meeting, and then only by a majority of two-thirds of the Members present and voting. No proposed alteration, other than one initiated by the Council, shall be considered unless notice thereof in writing shall have been given to the Hon. Secretary on or before the 31st December. Any proposed alteration shall be set out in the notice convening the Annual General Meeting. Special Meetings. 14. Special Meetings for the reading of papers, the exhibition of antiquities and other purposes may be held at such times and places within the County as the Council may determine. No Gift or Bonus in Money to Members. 15. The Society shall not make any dividend, gift, division, or bonus in money unto or between any of its Members. Council. 16. All the affairs of the Society shall be conducted and managed by a Council. («) The Council shall consist of the President, the Vice- Presidents, the Hon. Treasurer, the Hon. Secretary, the Hon. Pinancial Secretary, the Hon. Editor and the Hon. Librarian, and twenty-four Members elected out of the general body of Xviii KENT ARCHiEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. subscribers, one-fourth of whom shall retire annually by rotation, but, subject to Clause (f), shall be eligible for re-election without nomination. Such retiring and new election shall take place at the Annual General Meeting, but any intermediate vacancy by death or retirement among the elected Members of the Council shall be filled up either at a General Meeting or at the next Council Meeting, whichever shall first happen, and the Member so apjjointed shall hold office so long as his predecessor would have done. One month's notice in writing shall be given to the Hon. Secretary of the intention of any Member of the Society to nominate a new Member of the Council, and the name proposed shall be placed on the Agenda. (5) The Council shall hold four quarterly meetings during the year in the months of March, June, September and December, and any further meetings that may be expedient. The March Meeting shall ordinarily take place at Maidstone, the June Meeting at such place as may be fixed by the President, the September Meeting at Rochester, and the December Meeting at Canterbury. But if deemed advisable the quarterly meetings may be held at other times or places, or a quarterly meeting may be omitted. Pive Members present shall form a quorum. (c) The Council shall appoint a Member of the Society to be the Hon. Pinancial Secretary, and his appointment shall be confirmed by the next Annual General Meeting. His duty shall be to keep an account of all subscriptions and other receipts and payments of the Society, and on the 31st December in each year to prepare the Accounts and Balance Sheet for the past year, and after it has been approved by the Auditors to lay it before the next Quarterly Meeting of the Council, accompanied by a Statement of all Subscriptions, etc., in arrear and due to the Society, and of all moneys due from the Society. The Council is empowered at any time when it thinks it desirable to employ and pay a Professional Accountant to assist the Hon. Pinancial Secretary in making up such Accounts and Balance Sheet. (d) No cheque shall be drawn (except in payment of small accounts not exceeding in the aggregate £15 in any one quarter) without the sanction of the Council, and all cheques shall be signed by two Members of the Council and countersigned by the Hon. Pinancial Secretary. (