# HON. TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1970
The Accounts now before you have again been kindly audited by Messrs. Wong, Tan & Co.
In my report last year I predicted that the Society would make a deficit due to forthcoming printing charges. As you can see from the Income and Expenditure Account this has been the case where a surplus of $5,691 in 1969 has been turned into a deficit of $6,529 in the current year. This is entirely due to the increased expenditure, the heaviest since the Society was revived eleven years ago. This increase can be seen in the expenditure incurred in the very successful Peking Opera, which the Society sponsored, and in the amount spent on printing Journals. The latter falls into three categories, the reprinting of Volume I, the printing of the symposium "The Changing Face of Hong Kong" and the 1970 Journal. The 1970 volume which you are just about to receive if you have not already done so, is a splendid work, but it has cost almost 50% more to print, due to rising costs, the increased size and not least the reproduction of coloured photographs. Members will recall that they receive this free and there is no doubt that it is exceptionally good value for money. However your Council has recently endorsed the proposal that in view of the exceptional expense, the price of this particular Journal to non-members and to members, should they wish for more than one copy, should be raised to $18 from the present $12.
On the Income side you will notice that this is more or less the same as in the previous year. Annual Memberships do not cover, and never have covered, the expenditure. It is of course important that the Society should increase its membership, not only to enable it to become wider known, but also to increase its income: this is the one positive way in which all members can contribute, by asking their friends to become members. At present, income from this source is fairly static (in 1968 it was $11,380; in 1969, $10,559; in 1970, $10,853 and in 1971 it looks as if the amount will still be under $11,000). I would therefore urge you to help in increasing our membership so that the Society can afford to produce more publications like the 1970 Journal and sponsor other activities such as the Peking Opera.
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