Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 7 1889.djvu/493



pursuance of the policy foreshadowed in the last Annual Report, the Council have been engaged during the past year in arranging for (1) the systematic collection of the remnants of British Folklore; and (2) the classification of general folklore in such a shape that the scientific value of each item may be tested and examined. The work is laborious, and occupies much time, but the Council believe that very substantial progress has been made during the past year.

Local efforts show that considerable success may still attend the collector. The Rev. W. Gregor, in Aberdeenshire; Mr. G. H. Kinahan, in Ireland; Dr. Karl Blind, in Orkney and Shetland; and Mr. Edward Clodd, in Suffolk, have made during the past year some important contributions to British folklore. The Council have in the meantime received intimation from two different sources, namely, from antiquaries in the county of Surrey and from Bangor College in Wales, that local inquirers are willing to band themselves together for the purpose of collecting material. This intimation took the shape of suggestions for the formation of a Welsh Folklore Society and a Surrey Folklore Society. It appeared to the Council, however, that a more useful method of utilising local efforts and a much wider plan of co-operation might be successfully inaugurated if the members of the Society would constitute