Horticultural Society and Garden. 239 



of the Society ; and that a form should be adopted for bringing before the 

 Council a statement of all that is due to and from the Society, together 

 with the amount of monies paid and received since the previous Meeting. 

 As, however, it is very desirable that such salaried Secretary should not 

 have a seat in the Council, nor a vote in its deliberations, but should only 

 attend the Council when required, it will be necessary to appoint a new 

 Honorary Secretary, such officer being directed by the charter to have a 

 seat in the Council. 



The Committee are further of opinion, that every officer of the Society 

 who is hereafter to be entrusted with the collection or receipt of monies, 

 should find adequate security. 



Conclusion. — The Committee having thus prepared their Report under 

 separate heads, take leave to offer a few concluding remarks : — 



The Committee disapprove of the manner in which the accounts were 

 prepared, and particularly remark that the amount of debts was never sub- 

 mitted to the auditors ; and that no entry can be found in the Council 

 minutes subsequently to the 15th of October, 1824, of the attention of that 

 body having been specially directed to this subject. They notice the inaccu- 

 rate statement of debts in the audit sheets of 1826 [3350/. instead of 

 18,397/. 3s. I0d.], and the omission of all statements of debt in subsequent 

 years ; and they consider that the Fellows could neither obtain an accurate 

 knowledge of the affairs of the Society from the annual accounts passed 

 by the Auditors, nor from the books, if they had been disposed to examine 

 them. 



The Committee complain of want of courtesy to the Fellows, of negli- 

 gent management, of profuse expenditure, and of injudicious engagements 

 contracted without due consideration of the means by which they were to 

 be fulfilled ; but while they regret the necessity of stating these opinions, 

 they have the highest gratification in maintaining that there is not the 

 slightest reason for suspecting any of the present officers of fraud or pecu- 

 lation, nor do they conceive that interested motives can by any possibility 

 be attributed to those who without salary or reward have conducted the 

 affairs of the Society. 



The Committee report, that notwithstanding they have felt themselves 

 obliged to animadvert upon various instances of mismanagement of the 

 affairs of the Society, yet it is in evidence before them that many objects 

 of the Society have been substantially fulfilled ; that the foreign missions 

 for collecting plants, and more especially that of Mr. Douglas, have been 

 eminently beneficial ; that the Transactions contain a body of valuable 

 information upon various subjects of horticultural interest, and have been 

 published and distributed to the members without exhausting in any mate- 

 rial degree the funds of the Society ; that on the merits of the orchard, as 

 an important and useful experiment, there is not the smallest doubt. The 

 Committee are sensible that these results could not have been attained 

 without continued exertion and superintendence ; and they are satisfied that 

 whatever errors may have been committed have arisen from mistaken judg- 

 ment, rather than from any want of zeal in promoting the objects and the 

 success of the Horticultural Society. 



The Committee indulge the pleasing belief that there still exists the 

 same kind feeling in favour of the Society by which it was first established 

 and for many years so liberally encouraged : relying upon this feeling, the 

 Committee have no reason to doubt but that, under more economical 

 arrangements and a system of management more efficiently controlled and 

 more generally acceptable to the Fellows, the present embarrassments may 

 be surmounted, the debts gradually liquidated, and the approbation of the 

 public deservedly bestowed upon the useful discoveries, the valuable com- 

 munications, and the beneficial exertions of the Horticultural Society. 



(Signed) R. Gordon, Chairman of the Committee. 



