Correspondence , Notes ,



49



Council should be held more frequently than they are at present, the

Executive Committee should be abolished, and such of the work as must

be performed by Committee should be divided among several Committees,

ou one or the other of which each member of the Council (willing to serve)

should have a seat.


The system of government by a small Executive Committee has been

the cause of jealousy and dissatisfaction, and the origin of cabals and

secret manoeuvres, almost from the beginning of the Society. It is time it

was done away with.


I see no objection to the compulsory retirement of two or more

members of the Council each year, without being eligible for immediate

re-election ; but I do object to the system of official candidates for the

vacancies, and the rule that requires that fifteen members must object to

the official candidates, and propose others in their place. Any two mem¬

bers ought to be able to propose and second candidates, and the} 7 should be

able to do this without formally objecting to other candidates. One may

greatly prefer A to B, without having any positive objection to B. I know

from experience that to obtain fifteen signatures involves a good deal of

correspondence, and the formal objection to the official candidates is re¬

garded as offensive and personal. The object of the rule appears to be to

make opposition to the official candidates as difficult as possible—indeed,

in the case of Mr. Horton and myself, the Hon. Business vSecretary con¬

tended that all the signatures to the objection must be on one paper, in

spite of the fact that to obtain fifteen signatures in fifteen days is a practical

impossibility when all the signatories reside in different neighbourhoods !

(This farcical construction of the rule was ultimately abandoned). It

cannot be to the advantage of the Society that the majority of the Council

should be able to prevent the election to their body of any person whom

the majority of the members wish to elect. In course of time it might

come about that the whole of the Council should be representative of one

school while four-fifths of the members adhere to another—or that some

dominating personality, by securing the election of his own supporters,

should practically rule the Society, in defiance of the members.


It is because Mr. Horton and I “ have the best interests of the Society

at heart ” that we are desirous of checking the bureaucratic policy recently

inaugurated. If, as you suggest, we, and those who think with us, were

desirous of wrecking the Society, our wisest course would be to stand aside

and allow the ship to drift upon the rocks.


* Horatio R. Fitemer.


[A great deal can be said in defence of the new rules, and especially,

we think, of the new rule relating to the election of the Council. Formerly

any member could get nominated to the Council without any difficulty, and

when the list of candidates was published the majority of the members had

not the slightest idea who to vote for, and there was a great danger of most



