183 



apportioned in the manner following ; that is to say, interest to 

 be paid by the Society on the 6O,0OOZ. borrowed by the Commis- 

 sioners, and then, as rent, one moiety of any surplus that may 

 have arisen during each year. 



The Commissioners to grant the Society a lease of the land 

 for 31 years. 



The amount of annual expenditure, and the mode of general 

 management to be determined by a joint Committee consisting of 

 Six Members, of whom Three shall be named by the Com- 



The Society to lay out a sum equal to that of the Commis- 

 sioners in the formation of the Garden, one feature of which 

 would be a Conservatory or Winter Garden of considerable 

 extent ; and also to provide reasonable facilities for the admission 

 of the public at a low price. 



The Council could not but feel that such an oifer was deserving 

 the favourable consideration of the Society, and they were of 

 opinion that the income to be expected from a place of such 

 magnificence, in the finest situation near London, would justify 

 the acceptance of the terms, if not in their integrity at least in 

 some modified form. 



They also learned with the highest satisfaction that The Queen 

 had been graciously pleased to signify Her Majesty's intention to 

 contribute to the fund that would have to be raised for carrying 

 out the works. The Prince Consort having moreover authorised 

 the Council to state that his Royal Highness took the warmest 

 interest in the arrangement, a general meeting of the Society 

 was held on the 7th July in the rooms of the Society of Arts, 

 when certain tentative sketches for the Garden, and the propo- 

 sitions of Her Majesty's Commissioners were submitted to the 

 Fellows for approval. 



A large number of Fellows assembled on this occasion, the 

 Earl of Ducie, V.P., taking the chair, when the correspondence 

 with the Ptoyal Commissioners was read, the general scheme of 

 the Garden described, and the manner in which the Council con- 

 templated the possibility of raising the sum of 50,000Z. pointed 

 out. In the course of their report to the meeting the Council 

 showed how great were the advantages of the site proposed. The 

 Garden would be in the immediate neighbourhood of Hyde Park 



