CHAPTER XXIV 



A General Meeting of the Stud Company Ltd. My Effort to 

 save the Company Frustrated Disastrous Change of 

 Auctioneer Liquidation Final Sale All Debts paid 

 Shareholders get Nothing Work at the Bar The Thirsk 

 Election Petition How I was instructed The Teetotal 

 Witness and the " Old Jamaica ?> Evidence of Tom Palliser 

 His Wrath against Mr Justice Denman " A singularly 

 pure Election" Origin of the Fox-terrier Club Judging 

 at Nottingham Difficulties Accumulate 



NOT unnaturally there was an angry General 

 Meeting of shareholders of the Stud Company 

 Ltd. Edward Beall, a solicitor, whose various 

 vicissitudes may be still remembered, had been supplied 

 with a share by someone who wished to cause trouble, 

 and, of course, he sent a circular to the shareholders with 

 forms of proxy inviting them to assist in an attack on 

 the directors. However, Sir Charles Legard was a cap- 

 able chairman, and we easily held our own. I remember 

 writing some stuff for The Sporting Times on the subject 

 of that meeting. It was in the form of operatic libretto, 

 and one of our assailants was supposed to sing a solo, 

 some words of which I still remember : 



Whereas this base Directing crew 



Exist at our expense ; 

 And, though incompetent, they do 



Obtain a Competence ; 

 We censure them for want of sense, 



And, with our votes' dread might, 

 To right-about direct them hence 



For not Directing right. 



Evidently the opposition was of a trifling character, 

 or I should not have written about the meeting in that 



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