June 10, 1875. ] 



JUORNAL OF HORTIGULTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



417 



a deteofcive "would say, '* on account of information received," 

 we presented another statement, and I regret to say that pro- 

 posal met with nnn-acceptance on the part of Her Majesty's 

 Commissioners. You know, ladies aud gentlemen, that there 

 are always two parties to a bargain, and that you may bring a 

 horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink, aud so you 

 cannot make an arrangement between two parties who are not 

 anxious to enter into it. We regret the Commissioners refused 

 our propositions ; we do not blame them, but think them in the 

 wrong. They said they were not satisfied with the statement of 

 our financial position, and said they would not enter into 

 negotiations with us unless we could show we were in such a 

 pecuniary position as would enable us to carry on swimmingly 

 the business of the Society. We tlrew up a statement to show 

 "what the financial position of the Society would be if our pro- 

 posals were accepted. In order that there should not be any 

 difference of opinion as to the sum at which we were to put 

 down our liabilities and our means as well, we invited General 

 Scott, accompanied by Mr. Richards, to meet Mr. Dobree and 

 Mr. Pugh, accompanied by Mr. Davenport. These gentlemen 

 arrived at the result that the facts we placed before them were 

 not in error and not in dispute. We did everything we could to 

 satisfy the Commissioners, and at last we submitted them the 

 proposal which I shall ask Sir Coutts Lindsay to read. 



Sir Coutts Lindsay read the proposal as follows : — 



"That the Royal Horticultural Society would hope to be placeii in posses- 

 sion of that part of the French annexe which is built on ground now leased 

 to the Rnyal Horticultural Society, and that the Society should be allowed 

 the juiut use of the orchard house entrances. 



" If this proposal ho adopted by Iler Majesty's Commissioners, the Council 

 anticipate that an increase iu the Society's income would follow large enough 

 to balance their income and expenditure, and to enable them with due economy 

 to offer still greater advanta^'es than heretufure to scientilio horticulture. 



" The ekatin^; rink would bring in by way of rent £tOUUa-year, besides many 

 new Fellows. It was one of the pro\ision8 of the a;jreement lately stopped 

 and still open for acceptance by the Royal Horticultural Society, that all 

 membera of the skatin>( rink were to be Fellows of the Society before being 

 ehgible for becoming members of the skating rink. A considerable au^imen- 

 tation of income uuder this last bead is conlideutly expected, though there is 

 no data whereon to form a ba^is of estimate. It the funds of the Society 

 would admit of it — as they probably would in the event of these propositiong 

 being accepted — the Council would use every efiort to afford additional ad- 

 vantages to horticulture, with respect to the exact nature of which it is their 

 intention to confer with eminent members of the horticulLural world." 



The Chairman in continuation said, That proposal was en- 

 closed in a letter, and in that letter we stated that the Council 

 could not admit the accuracy of the figures stated in the letter 

 of the Commissioners, that they were not in possession of the 

 views of the Commissioners, and that as they had a sincere 

 desire to " hit" their views theyenclosed an alternative scheme ; 

 and that if the Commissioners would only tell us they approved 

 of the one or of the other, or admitted one or the other, then 

 the Council would propose a scheme to the Fellows at the ad- 

 journed Meeting of the Society. It was under these circum- 

 stances our Meeting was held, but upon the day of that Meet- 

 ing no answer had been received. The second or alternative 

 scheme was : — 



"That the purely horticultural Fellows of the Society shall take the entire 

 control and management of the Chiswick Gardeos, and that the South 

 Kensing'.on residents shall charge themselves with the maintenance of the 

 South Kensington Gardens, and have the control of those gardens. The 

 amount of subscriptions in each case, and the apportionment of the burdens 

 of the Society's debts, being left to be fised by a committee chosen out of the 

 general body of the Fellows and representing the Royal Commissioners, ttie 

 Horticultural Society, and the resident Fellows. Shows and exhibitions to be 

 held at South Kensington as heretofore. This scheme would leave the 

 scientific hDrticulturiats in possesbiun of Chiswick for their operations, or 

 ■would give the management uf the South Kensington Gardens to those who 

 paid for them, and would yet retain to the Royal Horticultural Society the 

 use of the gardens for shows and similar purposes. To carry out this it is 

 proposed that there shall be two rates forsubscriptim, (a) one of which shall 

 admit to the South Kensington Gardens alone under certain restrictions, 

 hereafter called South Kensington Fellows, (b) The other shall admit to 

 Chiswick and the Royal Horticaltural Society's Shows, hereafter called Chia- 

 wick Fellows. 



*' The subscription A to be fixed at such a sum as shall be deemed sufficient 

 to keep up the South Kensington Gardens, the permanent buildings, and a 

 portion of rates and taxes accepted. Subscriptiuu b shall he fixed at such a 

 8um as shall he deemed sufficient to keep up Chiswick Gardens, and to pay 

 the expenses of the shows. The profits of the shows held at South Kensing- 

 ton to go to Chiswick. The Council of the Society to be increased, aod divided 

 into two permanent committees; one for the control of interior economy of 

 South Kensin^jton, the other the sole control cf Chiswick, and a central 

 Council composed of membera from each Committee to regolate the general 

 affairs of the Society. 



" The other conditions of this scheme summarised are as follows : — 



" The general funds of the Society to be fairly divided between the two 

 branches of the Society. 



"An agreed portion of the funds to be kept by the central Council for the 

 payment of the debenture debt and general debts of the Society. Her 

 Majesty's Commissioners to be asked to keep the permanent buildings at 

 South Kensington In repair. 



"Her Majesty's Commissioners to sanction the erection of a rink." 



Then the third scheme was as follows : — 



" The Fellows two-guinea subscriptions to be raised to three guineas, and 

 the i."4 4s. subscriptions to £6 6s., for a period of, say, three years. The tickets 

 to be transferable. All entry fees to be abolished. Personal tickets of £1 Is. 

 each to be iaaaed to persons bond-Jide belonging to the gardening profession, 



and to other persons resident without a given radius from L'lndon, giving the 

 Fellows the privilege of attending all the exhibitions and Wo Ineaday Com- 

 mittee Meetings of the Society. To ask the Commissioners to lead the 

 Society ihe sum of £6000 at 4"/'., to enable the Society to payoff outside 

 current liabilities. The increase of income under these new rates of subscrip- 

 tions would be about £3'Jdl, which, added to the other estimated income, 

 would give a total iucome of £ IJJ.UBl. 



"All eutance fees to ba abolished. A letter from the Assistant Secretary 

 covered thoae proposals." 



That makes sis schemes which we have proposed to Her Majesty's 

 Commissioners. I now come, ladies and f:;entlemen, to the 

 letterof Her Majesty's Commissioners, and hereltakethe oppor- 

 tunity of apologisiugfor any warmth of manner which I displayed 

 at the earlier part of our proceedings [cheers ] . Now I shall read 

 for you the letter of Her Majesty's Commissioners refusing our 

 proposals. It runs thus : — 



*' Offices of Her Majesty's Commiasionera for the Exhibition of 1851, 



" Ist June, 1875. 

 " Sir,— I have to acknowl63ge the receipt of your letterof the 10th of May, 

 wherein, after referring to the non-acceptance by the Special Inquiry Com- 

 mittee uf Her Majesty's Commissioners of the proposals made on behalf of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society by Lord Bury aud Sir Cjutts Liudsay, certain 

 further propositions are submitted by the Council of the Society for the con- 

 sideration of the Committee. I have also to acknowledge the receipt of your 

 explanatory letter of the 20th of May. In reference to the passage in your 

 letter of the 10th of May, in which yon state that the Council cannot admit 

 the accuracy of the figures given in my letter of the 5th of May, I am to 

 state that the whole of the data made use of in reviewing the fioaQcial pro- 

 spects of the Society (with the exception of the statement for repairs) were 

 furnished by the deputation. But since the difference between the amount 

 of the liabilities now given by you and that stated by the deputation is not 

 BO important, compared with the total deficit, as to have iLtlaenced the Com- 

 mittee in coming to a decision conveyed to yon, this question need be no 

 further debated. 



" The Committee regret that they must decline the further proposals made 

 to them in your letter of the 10th of May. The Commissioners are still 

 det^irous to assist the Society as far as they can do so consistently with their 

 duty; hut the Committee having in view their responsibility as trustees of 

 the public funds, cannot recommend that they should consent to contribute 

 towards the maintenance of the t^ociety in the modes specified. It is not 

 apparent to them that the concession even of the large assistance requested 

 wuuld he productive of advantages to horticulture, or in any way benefit the 

 public. Iu the final paragraph of your letter of the 10th of May the Council 

 aek the Committee what propositions they could recommend for adoption by 

 the Society in the true interests of horticulture. I am instructed to reply 

 that the drnmissionera do not think it to be fur the advantage of the Society 

 that they should interfere with the management of its concerns farther than 

 absolutely needful. The Committee have had their attention called to the 

 proceedings of the General Meeting of the 2ath of May, and they observe 

 with much regret that serious differences still continue to exist within the 

 body of the Society. The Committee direct me to state in conclusion, that 

 before recommending any proposition from the Society for assistance by the 

 Royal Commissioners they will feel it incumbent upon them to satisfy them- 

 selves that the differences between the various sections of the Society have 

 been composed ; that the advancement of horticulture will in future be made 

 the chief object of the Society; and that steps will be taken to put the 

 Society linancially on a more satisfactory footing. 



" I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 



•'Henry Y. Scott, Major- Qcneral, 

 " The Secretary Royal Horticultural Society." 

 With reference to that letter, it closed our negotiations with the 

 Commissioners. I may remark, however, that the Commissioners 

 still say it is their wish to o2er some aid to the Society if they can 

 do so. For my own part I shall be quite willing to accept that 

 assurance provided some other member of your body is the nego- 

 tiator. I hope my successor may be more fortunate in his nego- 

 tiations with Her Majesty's Commissioners than I have been. 

 With regard to the remarks made as to the meeting of the 25th of 

 last month being marked or distinguished by considerable discus- 

 sion, I should like to tell Her Majesty's Ctjmmissioners that if 

 they think a body of three thousand men are to possess a unan- 

 imity never known in the whole world, and that if they are to 

 wait until we shall have that unanimity, they must really expect 

 that the lion will he down with the lamb [laughter]. Unless 

 they are of that opinion the "composing" of the differences 

 they speak of is a long way off [cheers and laughter]. I think 

 some differences of opinion must exist amongst the members of 

 the Commission themselves [loud cheers], because they are 

 always saying they are willing to give us assistance, but the 

 motive power in General Scott's hand is stronger than the large 

 amount of sympathy we hear of with the Royal Horticultural 

 Society [cheers and laughter]. It is to be hoped our successors 

 will find themselves better able to " compose " the differences 

 between the two bodies than we have been. I may say at once 

 I am afraid we should not be able to frame any scheme which 

 would be acceptable to Her Majesty's Commissioners, Still, I 

 am willing to accept the statement they are willing to do what 

 they can. I am also willing to say the Council have done all 

 they could to frame such a scheme as they thought would be 

 acceptable to Her Majesty's Commissioners. I now come to a, 

 matter flomewhat personal. Four members of Council— Sir 

 Coutts Lindsay, Mr. Dobree, Mr. Hume, aud myself consic'er 

 we should be only acting in the interests of the Society, with a 

 due regard to our own dignity and position, and also to the trust 

 which you have reposed in us, by surrendering unto your hands 

 that trust ; and to persuade you if we can do bo — as I trust I 

 have done— that we have not been either wrong or remiss with 

 respect to your interests, and that we have done all we knew 



