Report to the General Meeting. 
ix 
municafion from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
announcing that the President of Peru had summoned a Con- 
gress to meet on the 15th of June, to obtain from it an au- 
thorization to raise the duties on nitrate of soda to so high a 
price as will, it is apprehended, have the effect of destroying all 
private enterprise, and of converting the production of that 
article into a Government monopoly. An arrangement was to 
be made with the Peruvian banks, by which they will have the 
whole management of the trade for ten years, and the produc- 
tion of nitrate of soda was to be limited to 100,000 tons, 
although 350,000 tons have been raised already in one year. 
Considering the increasing importance of ^nitrate of soda to 
British agriculture, and the effect of its price upon that of arti- 
ficial manures, a letter was written by the President of the 
Society to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, depre- 
cating the proposed interference with the private trade in nitrate 
ol soda, and pointing out the injurious effects it cannot fail to 
have upon the interests of the agriculture of this country. 
The Council have expressed to the President of the Board 
of Trade their opinion that the use of steam-power should be 
allowed on tramways in agricultural districts under such regu- 
lations and provisions as the Board of Trade may deem 
necessary. 
A joint deputation from the Committee of the Agricultural 
Engineers' Association and from the Council of the Society have 
had an interview with a Committee of the Goods Managers of 
the principal Railways, with a view to obtain more favourable 
regulations in reference to the conveyance of Live Stock and 
Implements to and from the Society's Shows. 
The Council have been informed by M. Drouyn de Lhuys, 
President of the " Societe des Agriculteurs de France," that an 
Agricultural Congress will be held in Paris in the year 1878 ; 
and that the French Society are desirous that the Council should 
obtain a Memoir on British Agriculture to be laid before the 
Congress. The Council have accepted the invitation of the 
" Societe des Agriculteurs de France," and have arranged for 
the preparation of the proposed Memoir under the supervision 
of the ' Journal ' Committee. 
The Council have considered by what means the standard of 
education of Veterinary Surgeons could be maintained, and, if 
possible, increased. With this view they appointed a deputa- 
