Psbrusry 17, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



125 



prepared he raiglit be told he wished to furce these men down 

 the throalB of the Fellows, while it he Lad not a list they might 

 feel inclined to say, " Why do you complain when you are not 

 prepared to meet the difficulty?" So of two diiliculticB he 

 would choose the lesser one, and in the eveut of their succcedinf; 

 in the motion they would submit a list which he held in his 

 hand. He would just say that in that list their present noble 

 and able President was retained as the head of the Society, and 

 several of the present Council would also he proposed for re- 

 election. For his own part he was inclined to think that the 

 scientific Fellows should be rather on the Committees of the 

 Society, where their technical knowledge was required, than in 

 a majority on the Council. In conclusion, ho hoped that the 

 resolution he was about to propose would be accepted by the 

 meeting — " That the Council, inclading those members who 

 were elected on Tuesday last, be requested to resign." [hear, 

 hear, and no, no. | 



Sir Alfred Sl.vde was much surprised at what had taken 

 place at the meeting on Tuesday. Why were not the Fellows 

 informed that business would be transacted '? How was it that 

 Fellows had been elected and the Eeport read ? He protested 

 against 



The CnAinjiAN. — I have already explained the matter twice, 

 and will if you like do so again for the third time. The meeting 

 was called by the Council in order to adjourn until to-day. It 

 was not their wish that any business should be transacted, and 

 what the majority of the meeting insisted on doing was done 

 in the face of their strong protest. Those who had so acted 

 honestly believed, no doubt, that they were right in electing the 

 Fellows, as they seemed to be under the impression that such 

 election could only be conducted at that meeting. 



Several Fellows. — We protest against Tuesday's meeting. 



Mr. PiNcuEs, who rose to second Mr. Hardoastle's motion, said 

 he regretted very much what had taken place on Tuesday. He 

 did not censure the Council, but rather those who had acted in 

 such bad faith. With regard to those who had been elected to 

 fill up the vacancies in the Council, be should have thought a 

 sense of delicacy would have kept them from taking their seats 

 until at least the present meeting would have expressed its 

 opinion on the question. 



The Chairmas. — This meeting could not have prevented them 

 taking their seats. In order to do that, seven days' notice against 

 the election would have been necessary. 



Mr. Pinches would only leave it to their sense of delicacy. 

 Had he been elected under such circumstances he certainly 

 would not have sat at the Council board; but he would not put 

 himself up as model of propriety for others to follow. In sup- 

 porting Mr. Hardoastle's motion he did so for many reasons. 

 'The Society was in an infinitely worse position now than it was 

 threo years ago. Their faith had been shaken inLordBury's 

 Council when they saw its repeated failures to effect a satis- 

 factory solution of the grave difficulties in which the Society 

 was placed, and therefore they had looked forward with hope to 

 what the present Council might propose to do. But the Council 

 had not been in office many weeks before the Fellows heard that 

 the old process of disintegration was at work, and he had been 

 informed that several gentlemen of high public character had 

 lately left the Society altogether; while since their last general 

 meeting two prominent members of the Council had resigned 

 (.\dmiral Hornby and Mr. Grote). He took the position of Lord 

 Aberdare as that of a Prime Minister trying to retrieve the for- 

 tunes of the country at the head of a coalition ministry. It had 

 often been said that England had no faith in coalition cabinets, 

 and for his own part he would confess to having very little in 

 a coalition council [hear, hear]. The measures they proposed 

 up to the present time could not keep the Society from inevitable 

 ruin and decay. He considered there had been some sharp 

 practice in regard to the new regulations. Sufficient time was 

 not given for objections to be lodged against them. Were the 

 new privileges accepted it was hard to see how the Fellows- 

 could be kept from seceding, or in what way the outside public 

 would be attracted towards the Society. The twenty-guinea 

 and forty-guinea Fellows were especially to be pitied, called on 

 as they were to surrender a great portion of their privileges 

 without getting anything in exchange. The shows had greatly 

 diminished in value, and the gardens were in a state of chaos. 

 Ho would admit that the Council had cut down the expenses, 

 but it only reminded him of the story of the parsimonious 

 owner of a horse, who, having in the ingenious exercise of his 

 economy, brought the animal down to a corn a day, found him- 

 self without a horse just as he thought bis experiment a success 

 [laughter] . The Society would soon be, if such disastrous 

 economy were pursued for any length of time, in the position 

 of the horse-owner, and find themselves without a garden [hear, 

 hoar]. If the resolution before them was not carried the 

 Society would die of inanition. He believed that Mr. Freake 

 had proposed to build a school of music and hand it over to the 

 Society, as well as lend them £.5000 to help in clearing away 

 their debt. Admiral Hornby had informed him of this, and 

 he had considered it a very rosy prospect for the Society ; but 



he was afraid Mr. Freake would now be likely to withdraw his 

 offer when he saw members of the Council resigning, believing, 

 as no doubt he did when he made it, that the new Council 

 would have been a permanent oue. Perhaps it might be 

 possible for Admiral Hornby to give them some explanation as 

 to why he had thought it necessary to leave the Council. Was 

 it that he found it impossible to get on with his colleagues, or 

 did he find it necessary to mark his disapproval of the revised 

 privileges by resigning ? It was to be hoped that some plan of 

 joint action would be found whereby all parties could unite 

 for the common good. Were he asked for a scheme by which 

 the fortunes of their Society might be redeemed, he confessed 

 he would be in the same difficulty as the Council ; but it was 

 their business as the governing body to find a proper way out 

 of their embarrassments. At the present time it was necessary 

 that the Council should be called npon to resign, because they 

 had altogether failed in their mission. Their privileges should 

 be given back to the Fellows, and inducements held out to the 

 residents round about to become members of the Society. 

 What these inducements should be it was not his business to 

 say, that should be left to the Council to determine. It was to 

 be hoped a Council would be found which would work amicably 

 together. In conclusion, he hoped that their President would 

 remain at the head of affairs, because he (Mr. Pinches) had 

 every confidence in the noble lord's ability to bring their diffi- 

 culties to a successful issue, and he therefore hoped his lordship 

 would be re-elected [hear, hear]. He had to complain of his 

 name being printed in the Beport as an auditor for the present 

 year. He had withdrawn his name in consequence of finding 

 that the accountants who usually kept their books had resigned 

 their office. 



The Chalrman. — We found it impossible to strike out your 

 name, as the notice was too short. The rule is to give seven 

 days' notice. 



Mr. Pinches. — That may be ; but some one else might have 

 been found to take my place. 



Mr. Alfred Smee rose as a gardener. He believed that until 

 the Society obtained a new Charter they could never hope to work 

 together as a " Koyal " Society should. He would characterise 

 the existing Charter as one of the worst and most impracticable 

 documents that had ever been prepared in this country. Under 

 it they could never prosper, but would continue to go on in the 

 same idiotic way as at Tuesday's meeting. Another reason why 

 they could not get on was that they had forgotten the original 

 objects of the Society. He would ask. Did scientific societies 

 usually mix themselves up with skating rinks? ["question," 

 and cries of "time"]. Oue sure sign of their decay was that 

 they did not publish any journal now. For his own part he did 

 not care whether the South Kensington Gardens were built 

 on or not. Who would care if his own private garden were 

 destroyed ? Why should the horticultural Fellows throughout 

 the country be saddled with a garden which was ruining the 

 Society? ["time"]. Let them consider that twenty thousand 

 plants were annually consumed in the dreary wilderness ap- 

 pended to that building which was called in mockery a garden. 

 He did not think if they put in any number of councils that 

 they would be a bit the better for it [cries of "time" and 

 " chair"]. 



The Chairman considered that Mr. Smee was quite in order. 



Mr. Smee then went on at some length to say that there 

 were three parties in the Society to be consulted, and until they 

 agreed to work amicably together the Society would go on from 

 bad to worse. 



The latter portion of his remarks were frequently interrupted 

 by cries of " time" and " question," and the Chairman had again 

 to interfere in order to get the speaker a hearing. 



Sir Peter Pole agreed with Mr. Hardoastle's motion, but he 

 would not say whether the Council were fit for their places 

 or not. Several members of the Society had asked him to make 

 some remarks regarding the new privileges; for instance, the 

 ticket given to a four-guinea Fellow was not transferable. 



The CHAIRM.1N. — The ticket can be given to anyone. 



Sir Peter Pole. — But suppose my daughter wishes to enter 

 the gardens ; she cannot do so on my ticket. 



The Chaibman. — There is nothing to prevent your daughter 

 or anyone else from entering the gardens. She could come in 

 as a nominee. 



Sir Peter Pole said he maintained that under the new rules 

 he could not lend his ticket to anyone, and such was the opinion 

 of hia friends [hear, hear]. 



The Chairman. — No doubt the power of transfer has been 

 taken away, but you can meet the case by purchasing for £1 

 forty admissions [oh, oh]. Of course our whole policy ia a 

 restrictive one. 



Lord BuBY, who at this stage of the proceedings entered the 

 room, then addressed the Chair as follows : I must apologise for 

 my seeming discourtesy to the meeting in being so late, but I 

 have only just left a meeting in the City. I think the gentle- 

 man who has just sat down has trailed a red herring across our 

 path. I consider that the motion which has been pat to the 



