Annual General Meetimj, December 9, 1014. xliii 



times, when it was iiicuinbuiit upon thein to uphold the Society, they could 

 have eiitiusted the work of the Presidency to no more active and able hands 

 than those of the Duke of Portland. 



The resolution on being put to the meeting was carried with acclamation. 



The Duke of Portland, in responding, said he was deeply sensible of the 

 value of the honour conferred upon him b_y electing him as their President. 

 He thanked them all very sincerely, and he would particularly acknowledge 

 the kindness and generosity of the words that had fallen from the lips of the 

 mover and seconder of the proposition. 



When he reflected upon the names of some of his distinguished predecessors, 

 and the eminent services which they had rendered in the promotion of 

 agricultural interests, he confessed to a feeling of pride that their choice for 

 the ensuing year should have fallen upon him, for he considered the Presidency 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society was one of the proudest positions that an 

 Englishman connected with the land could hold. 



At the same time he did not ascribe the honour to any individual merit 

 which they miglitr have discerned in him. Rather would he think that they 

 had chosen him because they were good enough to consider him as a 

 representative of Nottinghamshire, near the county town of which it was 

 proposed that the next Show should be held. 



He could assure them that when Nottinghamshire people undertook any 

 duty of a public nature, they liked to discharge it better than, or at the very 

 least as well as, it had ever before been discharged. 



They remembered that on the occasion of the last visit of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society to Nottingham, in 1(S8S, a record for one day's attendance 

 at the Show had been established, and they would, he was sure, have liked 

 that the occasion of the Society's second visit should have been marked by the 

 establishment of another record. 



But at a time when their country was involved in a life and death 

 struggle — a life and death struggle possibly greater than she had ever 

 encountered — such a result could not be hoped for, and they would therefore 

 have preferred that the visit should have been postponed until a time when the 

 Continental struggle should have been brought by ourselves and our Allies to a 

 triumphant conclusion. 



They were perfectly well aware that a period of war was ill-suited to the 

 improvement and development of so essentially peaceful a pursuit as agriculture, 

 and they had already been apprised of a resolution which had been passed at a 

 representative meeting held at Nottingham on November 28. 



That resolution read as follows : — "That this meeting, having given the 

 question of the holding of the 1915 Show at Nottingham careful consideration, 

 very respectfully suggests to the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society that 

 it is inadvisable to hold the Show in the present crisis, but assures the Society 

 that in the event of their deciding to hold it, the city and county will do 

 everything they can to make it a success." 



As far as he was able to judge, those words exactly indicated the attitude 

 of a great number of the inhabitants of the county and city of Nottingham, 

 but still, if it should seem good to the Council of this Society that the Show 

 should be held as usual, then he was certain that Nottinghamshire people 

 would be ready to waive their personal views and feelings as to the expediency 

 of holding it, and they would be ready to address themselves energetically to 

 the task of making it a success. 



One of his predecessors, when reviewing his term of office, had said that he 

 had never had one moment of friction with the Council, and that he had 

 nothing to look back upon except with pleasure. 



At the end of his term of office, a year hence, he hoped to be able to make 

 the same declaration, and he could assure those present that he would under- 

 take the duties of the Presidency in a spirit that would conduce to that end — 

 a spirit of good will, a spirit of hope, and a spirit of energy, and one of 



