THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 289 



committee of management did the country a great 

 service. 



A deputation went to London in this year, to 

 confer with the Science and Art Department as to 

 the terms of a supplementary charter. It was 

 agreed that the Council was to consist of thirty-three 

 members — the president, the seven vice-presidents, the 

 two honorary secretaries, fifteen councillors, and one 

 representative of not more than eight standing com- 

 mittees. The fifteen councillors were to hold office 

 for three years, and the secretaries for two years, 

 five councillors and one secretary going out of office 

 each year. The Council was to have the general 

 management of the Society, with power to enact by- 

 laws. 



The new charter was issued on the 27th of December 

 1865, and among other things, the Society was privi- 

 leged by it to have a mace. Its principal object was 

 to confer on the Society authority to elect a Council 

 and standing committees, a power which it did not 

 previously possess ; also to grant that the general 

 management and control over the affairs of the Society, 

 and over its paid officers and servants, including the 

 power of appointing and dismissing them, as well as 

 that of regulating their duties and emoluments, should 

 be vested exclusively in the Council. Under this charter 

 there were to be standing committees for the purposes 

 of: — 1, Agriculture and the Museum ; 2, the Library; 

 3, Fine Arts; 4, Botany and the Botanic Garden; 5, 

 Natural History, and the Museum ; 6, Manufactures 

 and Practical Science. Each committee was to consist 

 of eleven members, save that of Agriculture, which 

 was to number twenty-one. There were also special 

 regulations as to members who were to represent the 



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