that this awful calamity did not evoke a tithe of the interest that Aisgill did in 1913, or that Newtown did on January 26th of 1921. The operation of D.O.R.A., too, and the fear of depressing national spirits, caused a suppression of details of the Gretna catastrophe.
For eleven years, up to the close of 1917, Mr. Geo. Wride had been an active and earnest member of the Executive, and on the expiration of his term of office on December 31st, 1917, his Executive colleagues marked his retirement by a smoking concert, at which Mr. W. W. Cooke handed to Mr. Wride an illuminated and framed address, the gift of his colleagues, in appreciation of services rendered, and inscribed: "Dear and Trusted Friend." It recorded 27 years membership, and six years of presidency, and the token of "personal and cordial affection" was signed by his colleagues in harness: Wm. Worthy Cooke, W. Stevenson, John Healey, W. Gamble, Barton Wild, W. J. R. Squance, J. H. Oxlade, Samuel Garrison, C. W. Jarman, James Walker, J. C. Branson, John Bromley, and Geo. Moore.
District Councils had been taking more definite shape since the Conference of 1917, and they were developing in all parts of the country on lines that were destined to have an important relation to the constitution of the Society. At first they were very educational, and at once they bridged a gap between the E.C. and the branches. In 1918 a list of these District Councils and the branches they represented was presented to the E.C., and each year saw a growth of their functions and responsibility, until in 1921 the A.A.D. faced the proposal to make them a definite part of the Constitution, and an electoral source for the members of the Executive.
Mr. Worthy Cooke was elected president, and Mr. W. Stevenson Vice-President, for the year 1918, and Mr. A. Holder received a welcome on taking his seat as representative of Bristol District. While the year 1917 was giving place to 1918, important correspondence had passed between the General Secretary and Sir Auckland Geddes, Minister of National Service, which culminated in conferences with that Minister during January. The subject was a
