258 



JOTJRNAlj OP HOETICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I Marth 27f 18T 



pay their debeuture-holders, and without injury to horticulture, 

 the time would come when gentlemen who lived in London 

 ■would be afraid to go about with a flower in their button-hole 

 [loud cries of " Oh ! " and laughter.] 



The Chairman. — The question before the meeting is proposi- 

 tion No. 1. 



Mr. S. H. Godson remarked that in 1864, when General Scott 

 was called upon to assist them, they had i.15,869 19s. id. to their 

 credit. 



General Scott. — That is not the case. 



Sir A. Slabe seconded the amendment. They had now been 

 an hour discussing other matters, and he would ask the meeting 

 to allow him to point out that it would be better if the Chairman 

 had kept to the business of the day instead of making a speech 

 on what had occurred on the 18th of February. When he (Sir 

 A. Slade) and his friends challenged the Council to reply to their 

 arguments, they (the Council) sat down like dumb mice, but 

 they sent a statement aU over England which they could not 

 substantiate. That was a most unfair way of answering a public 

 discussion. As the Chairman alluded to him personally, he 

 might remark that the position of the Society with the Eshi- 

 bition Commissioners was laid down iu printed agreements 

 which anyone could read ; and if the Chairman insisted the 

 position was difficult and intricate, it solely arose from those 

 ill-advised arrangements made between the Council and the 

 Commissioners. General Scott had told them they ought to 

 pay their rent ; but he (Sir A. Slade), told the meeting that they 

 had paid their full rent to the Commissioners, because if the 

 Council had a million sterling at their bankers', they dare nut 

 hand over more than the surplus profits of the gardens. It was 

 a gross mistake to say that the proposals of the Commissioners 

 ■would enable the Society lo pay its rent, because upon the face 

 of the agreement it was only to be for the continuance of the 

 annual exhibitions. How was it, then, that the Council should 

 send throughout the country an ex ijarie statement ? General 

 Scott told them he did not know whether he had a right to re- 

 sign or not, but there was a special clause which enabled him to 

 resign. 



General Scott asked if that was of any importance Vhen his 

 resignation was in the hands of the Assistant-Secretary. 



Sir A. Sl.lde said he was obliged to go into the matter by 

 reason of General Scott's remarks. The Charter stated that " in 

 case of death or incapacity " [great laughter] the Council might 

 appoint a " discreet person " [laughter] to fill the place of the 

 Treasurer or Secretary. Alluding to the i;931 he asked, how 

 could they pay £1200 rent, when then- surplus profits were only 

 j£237 ? When he had come to the Council-room on that matter Mr. 

 Wilson Ssnnders said he was quite right, and the money would 

 be refunded. He would second Mr. Lindsay's amendment, be- 

 cairse, if people were allowed to vote by proxy, it would give the 

 Council the power of nominating their own successors [hear, 

 hear, and no]. 



Mr. Wilson Saundebs.— One word. As regards the Council 

 having asked for proxies, I most positively assert not one mem- 

 ber around the Council table has ever mooted the thing at the 

 Council . 



Sir A. Slade. — That is not stated. I did not say you had 

 done so — I said you had canvassed for votes. 



Mr. Sauxdeks. — Not one. 



Sir A. Slade. — May I read a letter for you in which it is said 

 you did canvass for votes ? but perhaps you would rather I 

 should not. 



Mr. SArxDEHs. — I want to assure you that we did no more 

 than send round that statement to you as our justification. 



The Chaekman said he was informed that the highest legal 

 authority held that the agreement of 1871 still held good — to the 

 effect that the public should be admitted to the gardens, the 

 Commissioners paying one-twelfth of the receipts to the Society. 



Mr. D. T. Fish rose to support the proposition with respect to 

 the proxies. He was surprised at much that he had heard that 

 day, and he asked them to remember that they were members 

 of the gentle art of horticulture ; but they should also remem- 

 ber that they were centlemeu [laughter and cheers]. He was 

 much surprised at the language used towards some gentlemen, 

 and the way iu which matters had been discussed that day. He 

 thanked the Council for proposing this bye-law as to proxies, 

 because proxies were just the thing for a society in which there 

 ■were so many country gentlemen. He should support the proxy 

 bye-law, and the alteration of bye-law 110, so that the members 

 should be provided with voting papers. Mr. Fish was proceed- 

 ing to address the meeting in coutinuation, when his voice was 

 drowned by loud uproar and cries of " chair " and " divide." 



Mr. "\ViLLL\M Haugiitom said he observed that when any 

 speaker said anything that was not agreeable to a certain section 

 of the meeting an attempt was made to drown his voice by 

 clamour. He did not think that was fair. He thought that when 

 the original cause of discord came from the Commissioners, aud 

 ■when the Council thought they might assent to a slight modi- 

 fication of the terms, and lay their propositions before the 

 Fellows, he (Mr. Haughtoni thought it was the duty of the latter 



to consider calmly and without passion what the Council had 

 considered before. He thought that although they might not 

 approve of any particular proposition, they had no right to say 

 that those who recommended it were committing a breach of 

 trust [hear, hear]. He felt the first two terms of the Com- 

 missioners' propositions were such as could not be accepted by 

 the Society. At the proper time he hoped to submit to the So- 

 ciety a slight modification of these tei-ms, which ■n'ould meet 

 the wishes of the great majority of the Fellows, and be perfectly 

 fair both to the Commissioners and the Society. He was not yet 

 in such a position as to feel himself at liberty to explain them. As 

 to the proxies, it was with deep regret he witnessed the noise 

 and tumult, and the attempts to drown voices by clamour ex- 

 ercised by an organised clique [loud cries of order, no, and 

 uproar]. It was an attempt by a coup d'etat to seize the guid- 

 ance of the Society's afi'airs. He regretted there was no power 

 by which absent gentlemen Fellows could vote l)y proxy. If that 

 could have been done the result of the vote on the Report woidd 

 have been different [no, no, and hear]. Before he sat down ho 

 wished to express to the Council his deep regret for the way in 

 which they had been treated. 



Mr. Blenkins said it must be self-evident to anyone that there 

 were two parties in the room [loud and continued laughter]. 

 It was pretty clear that one party was unwilling to hear what 

 the other party had got to say. He belonged to neither ; he had 

 come up from the country — 120 miles — to maintain the present 

 Council, which he behoved was composed of honourable men 

 [hear, hear]. His reason for voting for the proposition to 

 establish vote by proxy was that he did not think the mainte- 

 nance of the gardens should be carried on solely by those living 

 in the neighbourhood [cheers]. It appeared that some parties 

 wanted to make the Horticultural Gardens the same as the 

 London squares — the residences of nursery-maids [cries of 

 "No" and cheers]. In the country they well knew what all 

 this meant. He had a few proxies, notobtained'by him through 

 unfair means, but from what he had seen reported in the 

 papers of the meetings of the Society. He did not see why a 

 great national Society like this should be conducted by a clique. 



A Fellow said he had heard a gi-eat many reasons why the 

 existing bye-law should not be revoked, but none from the 

 Chairman why it should be revoked. 



The Chaieman. — A vote of censure was passed upon the 

 Council at a previous meeting. In consequence of that the 

 Council deemed it expedient to tender their resignations, but 

 certain legal difficulties arose. To meet them a certain bye-la^w 

 was proposed [cries of proxy, proxy, and interruption]. In 

 order to make this alteration we deemed it expedient for horti- 

 cultural interests that members in the country should be enabled 

 to vote by proxy. There are 3500 FeUo-n'S, of whom, perhaps^ 

 three thousand reside in the country [no, no], and we thought 

 it only right that they should have an opportunity of expressing 

 their opinions on the pohcy of the Council. 



A Fellow, who rose amid loud cries of " divide," said he had 

 come from the country, and remarked he did not see why the 

 control of the Society should be in the hands of a small number 

 of gentlemen near the gardens [cheers and "no"]. Why did 

 they show a want of confidence in vote by proxy ? If any gen- 

 tleman had gone into the country sneaking for votes, other 

 gentlemen [laughter] could do the same. 



Mr. Lindsay said his object was to prevent the ladies' privi- 

 lege of voting by proxy being extended to men. 



The amendment of Mr. Lindsay was then put to the meetings 

 when there appeared ui^on a show of hands — - 



For the amendment 107 



Against it 53 



Majority 54 



Proxies were then handed in, and upon a scrutiny there- 

 appeared — 



For the amendment 225 



Againstit 206 



Majority 19 



Total maj ority for the amendment 73 



The original motion submitted to the Council was therefore 

 lost. 



The Chaiejian said the next proposition was 



" 2. Evei-y Fellow of the Society shall be entitled to appoint, bj m-itteu 

 proxy in the form marked D in the Appendix to the existing bye-lawp, any 

 ceutleman being a Fellow of the Society, to vote for him or her at all or any- 

 General Meetings of the Society." 



Sir A. Sl,U)E.— That is rejected already, but you had better 

 take a pro formd vote. 



This vote was then taken, and the new bye-law No. 2 waa 

 negatived. 



The Cii.viEMAN then put to the meeting new bye-law No. 3, as 

 follows :— 



" 3. Any Member or Members of the Council may resign his or their seat 

 or seats by seuding a -writteu notice to that effect, addressed to the Secretai-y 



