£8,000. It had nothing whatever to do with the Secretary's illness and absence.
On Sunday, October 19th of 1913, Mr. Fox resumed responsibility for the Society, but he had to again relinquish it in December. The Executive assembled on March 17th of 1914, and learned that the General Secretary had not been able to attend to the office during the year, except for a short time on two occasions, owing to his continued and now really serious illness. On Sunday, March 22nd, information was received at the office of the death of Mr. Fox that day, and the Executive rose as a mark of their deep sympathy. Votes of condolence and regret were carried, and it was arranged that Mr. Geo. Moore should undertake the duties of General Secretary until other arrangements were made. On Friday, March 27th, the Executive adjourned at 12 noon to attend the funeral. The offices were closed, and the staff also attended, along with representatives from nearly thirty branches, from the Leeds Trades Council, and the N.U.R. Members of the Executive acted as bearers.
"We have to place here on permanent record our regret at the loss we have sustained by the death of our late General Secretary, Mr. A. Fox, and realising the difficulties he has had to face in the past, we must give all credit to him for his efforts on our behalf as a Society."
Such was the first sentence of the 33rd Annual Report, issued in May of 1914. It continued that, "In the second place we have to rejoice at the continued success of the Society. We have again to report remarkable progress, and we represent a good majority of locomotive enginemen. We have not had a big industrial dispute, but we have had several strikes on a small scale." It reported for the year-during which Mr. Ivor Gregory was elected organiser that the membership had increased by 5,700, standing at 32,200, with total funds of £176,018.
Mr. Gregory had begun duty as organiser on February 1st, 1913, being elected with a vote of 5,700, the next highest being
