THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



171 



THE SMITHFIELD CLUB, 



At another adjourned General Meeting of the 

 Members of the Smithfield Club, held in London, 

 it was definitely resolved to remove the Show from 

 Baker-street to Islington. This proposition was car- 

 ried by a very large majority in a very full Meeting. 

 Indeed, after the tliirteen or fourteen Members who 

 made up the attendance at the first call in June, in- 

 creased to five or six and twenty in answer to a second 

 summons later in last month, it was somewhat sur- 

 prising to now see more than sixty Members present. 

 This was the more remarkable as farmers were just in 

 the heat of a catching hay-harvest ; and inviting them 

 to come up to town sounded about as feasible as making 

 a Meeting of the Jockey Club on the day of the Derby, 

 or asking an Alderman to dine with you, and fixing 

 the ninth of November for " the pleasure of his com- 

 pany." An assemblage of sixty farmers in London is 

 at any time a significant demonstration, and equal to 

 at least six or seven times that number of citizens. Sir 

 John Shelley's motion, that the final settlement of the 

 question should be deferred until the next Christmas 

 Show Meeting of the Members, would consequently ap- 

 pear to be at once superseded. Of course the great 

 body of the supporters of the Club are, or are sup- 

 posed to be, the farmers ; and if they will come up sixty 

 strong in the summer, their opinions and their decision 

 may be well taken to answer for both themselves and 

 their fellows. 



But the Meeting on Tuesday was not a Meeting of 

 the farmers, and the determination to go to Islington 

 for one-and-twenty years not the decision of those who 

 exhibit cattle, sheep, and pigs. Of the sixty or so who 

 made up the Meeting, there were, as nearly as we can 

 put them, eight landlords, fifteen practical farmers, 

 twenty-two implement-makers or " trade" exhibitors, 

 five salesmen, six or seven gentlemen of other pursuits 

 living in or about London, and four officers of the So- 

 ciety or of the Company. Again, of these fifteen agri- 

 culturists three were Directors of the new Company, 

 and three or four more related to or closely connected 

 with gentlemen actively engaged in promoting it. 

 Amongst the implement-makers one Director was sup- 

 ported by four of his own family, whilst other Directors 

 were accompanied or represented by their partners. 

 Two of the five salesmen were Directors ; and one of 

 the official stafi" of the Club actually seconded the mo- 

 tion for confirming the establishment of the Company. 

 It was utterly impossible to glance round the room 

 without seeing how thoroughly the whole thing had 

 been settled. Mr. Sidney's smart speech was cleai'ly 

 thrown away ; and the majority and minority would 

 have been much the same had he never spoken 

 at all. 



The friends of the Agricultural Hall Company think 

 strongly on the subject; so strongly, indeed, as to 

 charge those who think otherwise with prejudice, or 

 even worse motives, for their opinions. Now, while 

 no one for a moment attempts to question the goodness 

 of their intentions, we may be pardoned looking a little 

 into their details. At best the removal of the Show is 

 but an experiment ; and surely it is not wise to make 

 this one of so long a duration as one-and-twenty 

 years. What may not happen before then ? A more 

 convenient site than Islington may be found — by no 

 means an impossibility. The world may choose not to go 

 80 much out of the way for its sigbt-seeing ; and *' the 

 sbUUngs," or in other words the success of the Club, 



so possibly decrease. The very President, his Grace the 

 Duke of Richmond, wrote up to this very Meeting to 

 say that " he should hesitate much as to removing the 

 Show to Islington ;" and Lord Walsingham, the 

 Chairman of the day, " had a great objection to 

 binding, or attempting to bind, the Club for so 

 long a term, in what I must consider to be a some- 

 what out-of-the-way place." These, however, are 

 noblemen living at the West-end of London, and of 

 course with West-end notions to correct. Let us admit 

 that Dixon's Layers have, as we are assured, every 

 capability for doing full justice to the Exhibition, 

 in either of its departments. Let us say that the 

 Company will enter into the business of building with 

 all due spirit as well as experience of what is required. 

 So far we are with the promoters — and let us hope that 

 " the unknown region, the savage district," will not 

 be too remote for either town or country to travel to. 

 But further than this, will any one dare to say that the 

 delay which has already occurred has not done good ? 

 Will any member, however sanguine or wedded to the 

 scheme, question but that the discussion and " ventila- 

 tion" of the matter has conduced to a more satisfactory 

 feeling ? Our object has been to encoui age such dis- 

 cussion. It may be all very well for the legal adviser 

 to try and hurry over the thing, and get to business as 

 soon as possible. It may sound very terrible to be 

 told, as we have been from time to time, that the pro- 

 prietor of the ground will not wait another day, and 

 that if you mean to deal with him you must do so at 

 onee. But this is an old story, and generally has only 

 the efiect of making his customer a little more cautious. 

 We maintain that these very meetings have had a 

 beneficial effect, especially for the new Company, and 

 we only regret that even a little more time had not 

 been allowed. The directors say the majority of the 

 agriculturists are with them. Sir John Shelley and Mr. 

 Darby declare, on the contrary, that many are not. 

 They may not care about writing ; and as for coming 

 up specially at such a season, that of course could never 

 have been expected. Now, if the farmers are really in 

 favour of the New Hall, how much better it would have 

 been to have laid the foundation-stone with some more 

 definite expression of their views. Sir John Shelley's 

 amendment went to this, and we openly avow 

 our regret that the ultimate determination had not 

 been deferred until a time when the agriculturists 

 themselves might have constituted the chief element of 

 the meeting. As it is, the point has been almost 

 altogether adjusted without them. The more influen- 

 tial of those who attended the last meeting were dis- 

 tinctly identified with the new project, while the greater 

 proportion of the majority was supplied by a class of 

 members and exhibitors who do not represent the 

 leading features of the Smithfield Club Cattle Show, 



It may seem almost useless dwelling upon a busi- 

 ness that has been so resolutely dealt with. But the 

 Directors, with a feeling for which we are willing to 

 allow them all credit, are now about to offer the refusal 

 of the shares in the Company to their brother-members 

 of the Club. We should like to see every such share 

 taken by the Club. We should wish to have every 

 exhibitor of cattle — every agriculturist, in a word, thus 

 associated with his Agricultural Hall. There would 

 be more and more guarantee for its well-doing. "I 

 voted for it, and I will support it." Instead of tbiSj 

 other people votpd for hira. and rumours of resigna- 



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