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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



mvestigatiDn and the most distinct decisions. Tliis will 

 show you that the questii^ii has uot been dealt with in an idle 

 manner, but has been duly considered by some of the most 

 active members of the Club, who, in deciding it for them- 

 selves as they have done, have uot, indeed, imagined that 

 they are doing the best thing in the world, but have thought 

 that they were doing the best thing that could be done under 

 the circumstances; it being distinctly understood that the 

 Club, as such, dechned to build, or to incur any responsi- 

 bility, however disposed they might be to treat with dis- 

 tinguished members of iheir own body (Hear, hear). Now. 

 at the last meeting we were mei by legal objections (" Hear, 

 hear" from Sir John Shelley^. Legal objections are exactly 

 the sort of quibbles that gentlemen raise when they have no 

 good argument to advimce against a scheme which is under 

 cousideralion. It is said that you are not competent to do 

 what is proposed — that you will place yourselves in a 

 frightful dileiiima if you venture to connect yourselves in 

 any way with a company, including several of the most dis- 

 tinguished members of your own body (Hear, hear). Let 

 me ask where was this dread of a Chancery suit, when the 

 Club entered into an arrangement with ilr. Boulnois for five 

 years, at an increased rent? I wish to avoid everything that 

 is unpleasant. 1 will uot say one word about the circum- 

 stances under which that agreement was entered into ; but 

 I cannot help adverting to the fact that it was entered into, 

 and so little terror did the Club feel in relation to legal 

 consequences, that the agreement was signed by our 

 honorary secretary himself. 



Mr. B. Gibes : It was signed by three trustees. 



Mr. SnJNEY : I really cannot understand why gentlemen 

 should be any more afraid of entering into an arrangement 

 Avith Mr. Jonas Webb, Mr. Clayden, Mr. Shuttleworth, and 

 the other members of the Club, who are associateil with 

 those gentlemen in this matter, than they were of entering 

 into an airaugemcnt with Mr. Boulnois (Hear, hear). More- 

 over, there is this difference in favour of what is now submitted 

 for final approval, that whereas Mr. Bulnois was not satisfied 

 without obtaining the personal responsibility of three 

 trustees, the Agricultural Hall Company, well knowing 

 the high character of this association, are satisfied with 

 a resolution. They feel confident they are enter- 

 ing into an agreement with gentlemen who will 

 adhere to what has been arranged, and all they ask for is 

 such a memorandum as will make it clear what is expected 

 of them. Well, then, we are told that if we go to that frightful 

 place Islington, that unknown region, that savage distiict, 

 we shall lose all our visitors, that no one will in tbat case 

 come near the show, and the Club will become bankrupt 

 and be totally ruined. Now, it appears from the pamphlet 

 published by Mr. Gibbs, that the Club has always been 

 moving from one place to another. We have, I believe, no 

 record of what was said when it was proposed and deter- 

 mined to remove from Goswell-street ; but if we had, I have 

 no doubt it would be found thatat that time some gentlemen 

 got up and said that they had done exceedingly well in 

 Goswell-street, and tbat if it removed to Baker-street it 

 would be totally ruined. To some persons it may appear 

 very ungenteel to know the situation of Islington, just as 

 Theodore Hook ouce n'ade a great hit by enquiring where 

 Bloomsburysquare was; but I, at all events, can state from 

 experience that the proposed site is witlnn about a quarter 

 of an hour's lide or drive of King's cross Station, and per- 

 sons residing at the • West End, who wish to go to it, need 

 not be affrighted because they have to diive a short distance 

 northward instead of going to the Botanic Gardens in 

 Kegeut's Park. What does the site consist of? The Agri- 

 cultural Hall Company are prepared at the present moment 

 to place at our disposal something like 10,000 feet, and they 

 will acquire something like thirty or forty thousand feet 

 more should it be wanted. Lord Berners and Lord Fever- 

 sham both approve of this chatsge. When you find that 

 the cost of riding from the House of Commons to the 

 projected Hall will only be Is. lid., from the Bank only Is., 

 and from Grosvenor square 2s. at the outside, T thinky ou must 

 agree Willi n!e that the district in question cannot be very 

 remote. Wicu to this I have adilcd that 1,8-50 omnibuses go 

 every day either past or close to the contemplated site, you 

 will see that so far as omnibus communication can render 

 it, the place is tolerably accessible : while as regards railway 

 communication, it is loss than a mile from the railway 



which, beginning at t'enchurch-street, goes all round Lon- 

 don, and will sliortly have the advantage, by means of a 

 station at King's-cross, of that metropolitan subterranean 

 railway which is now in course of construction, and will 

 help to connect it with several of the principal metropolitan 

 lines, and with the south side of the liver (Hear, hear.) I 

 am tar from saying that it is the best situation in London 

 for a cattle show (Hear, hear.) I confess that I should be 

 glad to see the show held in Portman Market, or in 

 Hungerford Market, but neither is available. We cannot 

 have the former, we were not prepared to pay for the 

 latter; while, ou the other hand, we have an extremely 

 accessible place ofl'ered to us on perfectly fait' terms. The 

 situation is one of the most e.igible in London, more 

 especially for omnibus communication. Upon the ground- 

 floor alone there will be double the amount of space that is 

 to be found in Baker-street, and there will be advantages 

 which are not to be found at Baker-slreet, namely, air, 

 light, and ventilation. As regards the question of respon- 

 sibility, can we be afraid that we shall not be quite as secure 

 in the hands of gentlemen whom we know so well as those 

 members of our own Club who are the promoters of this 

 Agricultural Hall Company, as we were in the hands of Mr. 

 Boulnois ? Can we believe that in the hands of such men 

 as Mr. Jonas Webb, whose rams would buy half-a-dozeu 

 Agricultural Hall Companies, or of Mr. Shuttleworth, who 

 employs some five or six hundred men, we should be placed 

 in some building that would be wholly unworthy of our 

 show? (Hear, hear ) J will make one remark in reference 

 to the proposal of the Crystal Palace Company. It may be 

 all very well for that company to appropriate some portion 

 of their building to a summer cattle show, but to attempt 

 to carry out a winter cattle show at the Crystal Palace would 

 be absolutely preposterous CHear, hear.) I am sorry, my 

 Lord, to have detained the meetmg so long, but I have 

 thought it only right, notwitiistauding that the names of 

 gentlemen of rank and high social pesition may 8p|iearon 

 the opposite side, to do justice to the committees who have 

 taken so much trouble and exhibited so much ability in 

 this matter (applause.) 



Professor Simonds, in seconding the resolution, said: Mr. ' 

 Sidney had so completely exhausted the subject, that it would 

 not be necessary for him to trouble the meeting with any 

 remarks. Everyone must now admit that the Agricultural 

 Hall Compauy, in which he begged to say he did not hold a 

 single share, and he did not know that he should hold one, 

 was formed at the express desire, and, as it were, at the bid- 

 ding, of the Club, and that but for that it would never have 

 had an existence. It was declared at the outset that the Club 

 did not intend to build, that they wished to be tenants and 

 not landlords ; and he must say that they would not stand in 

 a very creditable position before the world if, after no less 

 than three committees had reported in favour of what was pro- 

 posed, declaring its adoption to be for the beneflt of the Club, 

 and after the ()lub itself had couQmed the decision of those 

 committees, they were on that occasion to reverse all that had 

 been done (Hear, hear). 



Sir John Shelley, M.P. : In accordance with the notice 

 which I gave at the last meeting, I rise to move as an amend- 

 ment, that the whole subject be postponed till the meeting of 

 the Club in December next, and I will shortly state the reason 

 why I think it for the benefit of the Club that that course 

 should be adopted. lu a pamphlet, which soine one has been 

 good enough to send me, various motives are attributed to me 

 for taking the course that I have done. That pamphlet being 

 anonymous, I ought perhaps to treat it as anonymous com- 

 muuications are generally treated; but there are cue or two 

 points on which I wish to offer explanation. It is there re- 

 marked that I have pursued that coarse which is most calcu- 

 lated to please my own constituents. Now, I beg to say that 

 although I am proud to represent Westminster, I do not re- 

 present Marylebone ; and Baker-street is not withiu my 

 district. Looking to the interest of the Smithfield Club, which 

 has alone guided me in connection with this matter, I think it 

 would be a great error to remove from the centre of London ; 

 and the more I inquire the more satisfied I am that that is 

 the opinion of those whom I am in the hab^t of meeting most 

 frequently. My Lord, I' will now say a few words in answer 

 to the speech of Mr. Sidney. Let me first notice the state- 

 ment that I said the members of the Club are not in the habit 

 of reading the circulars which are issued by the committee 



