Febraary 13, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



1?5 



towards the payment to the Commissioners of the rental reserved to. them 

 under the lease to the Society. 



8. In settling the annual accounts of the Society, the Society riball not 

 bo charf,'ed with the one-fifteenth part of the existinj^ life compositions. 



9. No more life members to be accepted during the continuance of this 

 agreement. 



10. These arrangements to he for the whole term of the Society's lease, but 

 to be determinable by the Commissioners at twelve months' notice. 



I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient ser^'ant, 

 Henky Y. D. fecoTT, Maj.-Gen., 

 Jaues Richards, Esq., Secretary. 



Assist. Secretary, Royal Hort. Society. 



A Fellow asked -n-hether forty-guinea members were only to 

 have one admission. 



The' Assistant Secretaet. — ^No. Four. 



Sir Alfred Slade said he believed he should be in order in 

 making a few remarks upon the motion that the Keport be 

 adopted, and also upon the important letter just read to the 

 Meeting. He believed the opinion he was about to express re- 

 presented not only his own, but that of a very large proportion 

 of the Fellows who resided in that neighbourhood, and of the 

 residents in the neighbourhood, with respect to annual exhi- 

 bitions. There had been a growing feeling of dissatisfaction 

 amongst the Fellows in that neighbourhood, seeing that their 

 privileges had been gradually invaded and handed over to others 

 [cheers], and also a growing dissatisfaction at seeing the privi- 

 leges they thought they would enjoy in these Gardens being 

 enjoyed by others [hear, hear] ; and that feeling would be in- 

 tensified when they found that if the present proposals were 

 acceded to, so far from these Gardens being an advantage to the 

 neighbourhood, they would become exactly the opposite [cheers] . 

 It would drive peoi^Ie away, aiid not only the Fellows but those 

 who had property in the neighboirrhood would tind it much 

 deteriorated [hear, hear]. Last year complaint was made that 

 the arcades which were intended for the use of the Fellows were 

 shut against them, and could not be entered without making an 

 express payment. They had been deprived from time to time 

 of different exits to the Gardens; and it had also been com- 

 plained of that large parties of excursionists who had come 

 to the Exhibition were allowed to go into the private Gardens 

 of the Horticultural Society without making adequate payment. 

 But all these causes of complaint were about to be increased 

 tenfold by the proposition before the Meeting [cheers]. He 

 should now discuss the letter of the Commissioners. He noticed 

 in the letter it was stated that the writer had communicated 

 " the restilts of the lengthened consideration which has been 

 given by the Council of the Eoyal Horticultural Society to the 

 means of bringing about a closer union of the interests of the 

 Commissioners and the Society." Now, he (Sir A. Slade), con- 

 tended that it was impossible then to discuss the letter properly 

 iinless they had before them the correspondence on the part of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society [cheers]. It was proposed to 

 admit to the Gardens and to all the flower shows the visitors to 

 the Exhibition ; but that would bring such a mob to the Gardens 

 that no person would go into them who wished not to be crushed 

 [hear, hear]. Next, the Commissioners were to have the use of 

 the arcades, and that was a point he should strongly object to 

 [hear, hear]. With regard to the financial proposals, the letter 

 said that the Society was to receive £1000 [There was a typo- 

 graphical error in the letter referred to], or half the total receipts 

 of the Commissioners' season tickets. Unless they were told 

 what that was they might really give much more than the £1000 

 in order to receive so much [hear, hear]. By the last clause no 

 power was given to the Society to terminate the arrangements. 

 That was a sound bargain [a laugh]. The Commissioners might 

 dictate to them, and at the end of the annual bargain turn them 

 out of the Gardens. But they would never do so. They could 

 never cover these Gardens, and that being so, he did not think 

 they could find more desirable tenants ; but the day they did 

 turn them out they would sign the death-warrant of these inter- 

 national Exhibitions altogether [hear, and cheers], because he 

 behoved there was a very widespread feeling amongst the trading 

 community against what they considered was an unfair compe- 

 tition [hear, hear]. If the Commissioners, in addition to op- 

 posing the trading interests of the community, opposed the 

 wishes of all the respectable inhabitants of the neighbourhood, 

 that day they would sign the death-warrant of the annual Exhi- 

 bitions at Kensington [cheers]. He should now move this 

 resolution or amendment — " That this Meeting looks to the 

 Council to protect the Fellows in the exercise of their rights 

 and privileges, especially in the use of all the arcades and the 

 conservatory as part of the Gardens ; to exclude the pubhc from 

 the Gardens except upon an adequate payment ; to obtain for 

 the Fellows the use of all the entrances and exits ; and the 

 Meeting is further of opinion that the Gardens should be opened 

 at an earlier, and closed at a later hour than at present." 



Mr. PowK.tLL, upon a question of order, said that this letter 

 had only been received by the Council that morning : were they 

 to receive it as part of the Eei^ort ? because it appeared to him 

 that these were twoudistinct tilings. 



The Chairman said Mr. PowuaU. was quite right. The Report 



was an emanation from the Council, but the letter of the Com- 

 missioners was still under their consideration. 



Sir Charles Daubeney observed that the writer of the letter 

 stated that which showed that correspondence had been going 

 forward between the two bodies. The letter had been read to 

 the Meeting, and he thought he was right in sajiug, that as a 

 part of the Report it had been read to the Meeting [no, and 

 hear], although the Council had not made up its mind as to the 

 details. StiU they saw by the first part of the letter that corre- 

 spondence had been going on, and therefore it was that he 

 looked upon this letter as the answer of Her Majesty's Com- 

 missioners to the propositions of the Council ; and so far, then, 

 he maintained they were in order in considering this very im- 

 portant letter, because if they did not do so he could not see 

 how they could have any voice in the matter. It was, he 

 thought, advisable to consider the letter, because they were aU 

 anxious that the CouncU should be in possession of the feeUngs 

 of a very large majority, not only upon what had happened in 

 that room, but upon what was now before them. He fuUy 

 agi-eed with Sir Alfred Slade that the Fellows had been unfairly 

 treated [hear, hear]. They had not subscribed originally to 

 the Gardens or entered into them with the idea of being so 

 overwhelmed with an enormous number of people. They had 

 an idea it was to be a place of recreation, but not for the entire 

 public— for aU those who came to see the Exhibition [hear, 

 hear]. He thought he might make some remarks as to the 

 conduct of some of those who were admitted last year. By one 

 of the rules Fellows were not allowed to smoke. He pleaded 

 guilty to smoking [laughter], but he had never lighted a cigar 

 in the Gardens — first, because it was contrary to rule ; and 

 secondly, because in a place like that, smoking was not only an 

 inconvenience, but an act of great disrespect to the ladies and 

 others, who would find themselves, perhaps, under the trees 

 with a fellow smoking, not good but abominable tobacco 

 [laughter]. But only last Saturday two ladies liad smoke 

 puffed into their faces. If he smoked, he should have a man 

 after him ; but how was it that the rules were not enforced, that 

 persons were in the Gardens smoking, eating sandwiches, and 

 turning the place into 



A Mesiber. — A tea garden [laughter]. 



Sir C. Daubeney went on to say that the way in which these 

 people conducted themselves had become an intolerable nui- 

 sance, and it was the business of that Meeting to protest against 

 a repetition of such conduct [hear, hear]. Now, he found by 

 this document that the Society was to allow aU visitors to the 

 Exhibition admission to the Gardens. As it was, the crowd at 

 the flower shows was so vast that at two in the afternoon i iwas 

 quite impossible to pass along the Gardens. But how would it 

 be when all the visitors to the Exhibition were allowed to go 

 in ? It would result in this, that the Fellows would have to 

 give way to the mob, and the families of the Fellows would be de- 

 prived of the enjoyment of that for which they had paid [hear, 

 hear]. The last clause of the proposals, making the lease de- 

 terminable at the wish of the Commissioners, was most objection- 

 able. By the clause they were handing themselves over to the 

 Commissioners of Her Majesty's Exhibition bound hand and 

 foot [cheers]. They could not prevent the Commissioners 

 doing anything they Uked, and, as Sir Alfred Slade remarked, 

 there was not the sUghtest power given to the Council of the 

 Society to put any termination to the lease themselves. The 

 whole matter would be in the hands of the Commissioners. He 

 thought that the most objectionable clause which could be 

 worded. He had much pleasure in seconding Sir Alfred Slade's 

 amendment, and hoped to see it carried by the meeting in justice 

 to themselves [cheers]. 



Mr. S. H. Godson congratulated the mover and seconder of 

 the amendment, upon the able expositions they had given of the 

 existing state of things. What was the position of the Society 

 now ? At the last meeting there was a sum of £700 which was 

 disallowed by the Expenses Committee, and yet not a word of 

 explanation was given by any member of the Committee as to 

 how it had been charged. But how did they throw dust in the 

 eyes of Fellows ? By putting the item into the cajutal account, 

 which was neither business-Uke nor creditable [hear, hear]. 

 Then there was no account to show what the liabiUties were, 

 nor was there any account to show what was due to them, so 

 that they might take it for granted that they were indebted 

 £931, and that they had to pay the Commissioners £1200. He 

 doubted very much whether the Council had gone into the 

 question of the agreement and charter. If they had, they would 

 have toimd that for the first five years they were to pay no rent, 

 and that for the next five years they were to pay a sum equi- 

 valent to £2145. They had gone back to the position in which 

 they stood in 1855, and it was of vast importance that some- 

 thing should be done. He pointed out that under the charter 

 there was a ready means provided for settling all disputes. It 

 was his intention to have moved a resolution to the eliect that 

 the Report of the Council should be referred to a Committee of 

 three Fellows, with power to add to their number, and that they 

 should ascertain the general state of the Society, and report to 



