Febrnary 20, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



157 



Sir Alfred Sl.U)E. — It is not signed by General Soott. 



Mr. Shirley Hibbekd. — Tlien it has no official value for us 

 here to-day [cheers]. 



Mr. A. F. Godson. — The only person who can sign the com- 

 munication is General Scott, and I simply ask is that the con- 

 dition in which the document is — is it, in point of fact, not signed 

 by General Scott ? 



Sir A. Slade. — The iirst communication was signed by General 

 Scott. 



Mr. WoosTER wished to know whether any persons other 

 than Fellows were present. 



The Chaibmam said he h:id not taken a survey of the Meeting, 

 and hence was perfectly unprepared to answer the question, but 

 he did not think that any person unconnected with the Society 

 would take part in the Meeting. 



Mr. A. F. Godson. — Any person who is not a Fellow, and votes 

 upon any money question, may be prosecuted for fraud [loud 

 laughter]. 



The Chalrman. — The question is asked whether any person's 

 not Fellows are present. I will make the request that any who 

 are not F^ellows will withdraw from the Meetiug [hear, hear]. 



A Gentleman asked if that was required of tiiose who held 

 extra tickets from Fellows ? He had no intention of voting or 

 exposing himself to the heavy penalties with which they were 

 threatened [laughter] . He had always avaUed himself of the 

 two-guinea transferable ticket, but if that hospitality was with- 

 di-awn he should retire [hear and laughter]. 



The Chairman. — Then I do request that if tliere is any voting, 

 only those will vote who have the power to give a vote [ap- 

 plause]. 



A Fellow — Let only those who have paid their subscriptions 

 vote [oh! interruption, and question]. It is a very j^ertinent 

 question that only those who have the right to vote should do 

 £0 [hear and cheers]. 



The Chairman.— There is nothing before the Meeting, and I 

 should be obliged if you will allow it to proceed [interruption]. 



A Fellow remarked that they were all ready and wilhng to 

 pay their subscriptions, but they should like to know what 

 terms they were going to have ? [loud cries of hear]. 



General Scott said it appeared to him that the mere question 

 at present before the Meeting was as to the letter read to them 

 being signed by Mr. "Wright. It seemed to be supposed that 

 there was some hidden mystery about this ; but perhaps the 

 Meeting would allow him to inform them that he had been 

 present at a meeting held that day of the Committee duly 

 authorised by Her Majesty's Commissioners within certain 

 limits to recommend, or not to recommend, the result of the 

 negotiations conducted with the Council of the Society. It was 

 stated in the letter that the Committee of Management would 

 not be prepared to recommend to Her Majesty's Commissioners 

 the terms named in the letter of the Council of the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society. He (General Scott) had not the slightest 

 objection whatever, if it were necessary, to have Mr. Wright's 

 name scratched out, and his own name substituted. Perhaps 

 after that explanation the Meeting would not think that neces- 

 sary [a laugh] . He must take the liberty of speaking of another 

 matter, even although he were out of order in doing so [oh, 

 oh]. A gentleman stated he (General Scott) was Secretary to 

 the Royal Commissioners 



Mr. A. F. Godson. — And to the Royal Horticultural Society 

 also [cheers]. 



General Scott. — 'Well, the meaning is the same. I am the 

 Secretary to the Commissioners, and also to the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, and if I am acting in these two capacities it is 

 your own fault [loud cries of oh, and interruption], and I now 

 place my resignation in your hands [cries of oh, and uproar]. 

 If you think it for the benefit of the Society I will resign [cheers 

 and cries of no]. 



A Fellow. — "What is the motion before the chair ? 



The CU.URMAN. — There is no motion before the chair at all. 

 The letter, as far as I can read it, and I cannot understand it in 

 any other way, is to the effect that Her Majesty's Commissioners 

 will not assent to the propositions on the paper before you, and, 

 therefore, they say, that reverting to the subsisting agreements 

 between the Society and the Committee of Management, they are 

 desirous of co-operatiug witli the Council in effecting arrange- 

 ments which will promote the convenience and comfort of the 

 public who may visit the Horticultural Gardens and the Exhi- 

 bition. 



A Fellow.— 'What does that mean ? [Cheers]. 



The Chairman. — "We do not know what it means [loud laugh- 

 ter, and cries of oh]. 



The Fellow. — What course does the Council propose to 

 adopt ? 



The Chairman. — I can only give my own private opinion. 

 The Council have met and received this document, and if you 

 ask what it is — it is this, that we as the Council or you as the 

 Fellows of the Society have a right to determine under the old 

 arrangements made from time to time that you have a right to 

 the conservatory [hear] , and to the arcades [hear J , and to stop 



if you please any one coming out of the Exhibition into your 

 gardens [loud cheers]. All this you have a right to do, but I 

 do not mean to say whether it is poUtic or not for you to do so. 

 I am only expressing my own private opinion. You have a 

 right to make such arrangements as to admit into the Gardens 

 from the Exhibition anybody or nobody [cheers]. 



Sir A. Slade said he believed they were assembled that day 

 to resume the discussion on the motion for the adoption of the 

 Report of the Council for the past year. 



The Chairman. — Certainlj', that is the question. 



A Fellow. — That Report has been withdrawn by the Chair- 

 man. 



Sir A. Slade. — I beg your pardon, the fact is quite different. 

 The Chairman had informed him that he was right in assuming 

 that they had met to resume the question whether the Report 

 of the Council be received or not. Now, he (Sir A. Slade), pro- 

 posed to offer a few remarks to the Meeting to show why it was 

 that this Report should not be received and adopted by the 

 Meeting. In the Report there was this special paragraph, " The 

 Council, looking to the position of matters and the necessity of 

 •circumstances, are satisfied that their policy in this respect was 

 wise and ought to be persisted in." He maintained that their 

 policy was not wise and ought not to he persisted in [cheers and 

 no] . What was their poUcy of last year ? It was to allow a 

 great many of the Exhibition people into our gardens, thus 

 sacrificing our rights and privileges [loud cheers]. The only 

 possible excuse for it could be a financial success ; but what 

 was the result of last year's finance ? It was dinned into our 

 ears that we were able in 1862 and 1871 to pay our rent, but 

 they did not tell us what we were able to do in 1872 — also an 

 Exhibition year [cries of hear, hear]. He had looked into the 

 accounts and the result was, that at the end of 1872 instead of 

 being enabled after the sacrifice of their privacy and comfort to 

 pay their rent — £2400 — which was the extreme amount of rent 

 they could have ever to pay, because they were not hable for it 

 unless they made it — they only had a balance of under i'200. 

 And what did the Council do ? They paid the Exhibition 

 Commissioners ±'1200 of our money, i'900 of which ought to 

 have remained in our hands. He hoped he was wrong, but that 

 fact of itself called for a Committee of Investigation into the 

 accounts [hear and cheers]. That was the result of their policy 

 of last year, and they stated they were going to persist in it. 

 They had then a proposal of the Exhibition Commissioners to 

 the Council, in which they asked the latter what answer they 

 were going to make so that they might join the poHcy they 

 were going to persist in. What was it they had in the letter ? 

 What did the Council say? They earnestly entreated the 

 attendance of the Fellows to support them in that policy 

 whieh had been so disastrous to the Society and its Fellows. 

 They were told that if these arrangements were carried out 

 they would result in a balance of i'5400 in favour of the Council. 

 He should not go into these facts because his honourable friend 

 Mr. Hardcastle was prepared to follow him, and show that they 

 would lose many thousands — that they would have enormous 

 losses by giving away i'30,000, J;40,000, or i'50,000 worth of tickets 

 to the Exhibition Commissioners [cheers]. Gen. Scott told them 

 that as honest men they ought to pay their rent, and that they 

 could not pay it unless they made some such arrangements as 

 these with the Commissioners. That was a very taking phrase, 

 but it had no foundation [applause]. They ought to carry out 

 their arrangements but no more. Honest men carried out their 

 agreements willingly, but dishonest men were forced to do it 

 [hear]. In the Royal Charter, § 135, he found it stated that the 

 disposal of the receipts of the Gardens wits to be made in the 

 following way : First, that the whole of the expenses of the 

 Gardens were to be charged to the receipts ; and secondly, the 

 interest on the debentures ; and thirdly, the sum of £2400 to 

 the Commissioners as rent '* if the receipts should be adequate 

 for such payment [loud cheers] after retaining for the said 

 Society the sums authorised for the expenses and interest ; but 

 otherwise such a sum only as shall be equal from year to year 

 to the residue of the receipts after the sums in precedence." 

 So that the Society were only called upon as " honest men " to 

 pay what they had left after defraying their expenses. What, 

 then, did General Scott and the Council mean by saying that as 

 "honest men" they ought to do this, that, and the othet? 

 [cheers]. They were told that if they did not pay their rent 

 in five years they could be turned out of the Gardens. That 

 was not so if they paid in any five years £2400, which, he be- 

 lieved, they could do by means of their own finances if it were 

 left to the management of the Council, and that the latter were 

 independent of the Commissioners [loiul cheers]. But the 

 extraordinary fact was that the President and Secretary of the 

 Council were also members of the Exhibition Commission. 

 The Duke of Buccleuch was the head of the Royal Commis- 

 sion, and General Scott was the principal secretary [bear, hear], 

 and he was told there were two other Commissioners on the 

 Council board. He had shown the Meeting quite enough to 

 convince them that the Council of the Society was not inde- 

 pendent of the Exloibition Commissioners, and that the Society 



