SQ2 = 596 Tlie Royal Agricultural Society of England. 
Election and 
powers of 
President and 
Council. 
tution and Management " of tlie Society, to enable the mode in 
which its operations are conducted to be properly understood. 
The Charter enacts that the Society shall consist of an indefinite 
number of Subscribers classed according to their rate of pay- 
ment into Governors and Members (with such individual privi- 
leges as shall appertain to them respectively), as well as such 
Honorary, Corresponding, and Foreign Members as may be 
found desirable. It also stipulates that there shall be an Annual 
General Meeting held in London on the 22nd of May ; a General 
Meeting held in December, also in London ; and a third " in 
such other part of England or Wales as shall be deemed most 
advantageous in time and place for the advancement of the 
objects of the Society." At the Annual Meeting in May the 
Governors and Members " have the full power and privilege 
of electing the President, Trustees, Vice-Presidents, and other 
members of the Council from the Governors and Members ; " but 
beyond this point they have no voice in the management of the 
Society, for the Charter further enacts " that the President and ' 
Council shall have the sole management of the income and 
funds of the said body politic and corporate, and also the entire 
management and superintendence of all the other affairs and^ 
concerns thereof." This condition is not usually found in the 
Charter of Incorporation of a learned Society, and its insertion 
in this Society's Charter is probably due to the political circum- 
stances of the time. Harshness has been wisely softened as much 
as possible by the Bye-laws which have been enacted by the 
Council. These permit Governors to be present at the meetings 
of the Council, and to speak, though they may not vote. It is 
also the practice to ask the Members at the General Meetings 
whether they have any suggestions to offer for the consideration 
of the Council ; and the suggestions made on those occasions 
receive careful attention at the next meeting of the Council. 
Thus, although the Council have the entire management and 
control of the affairs of the Society, the Alembers have the 
opportunity of expressing their views on the action of the 
Council at the General Meetings three times in the year, and 
the Governors can do the same at each Monthly Council. 
Further, all the Trustees and Vice-Presidents, of whom there 
are twelve of each title, are elected annually at the Genera! 
Meeting in May, when 25 out of the 50 other Members of th( 
Council are also elected by the Governors and Members then 
assembled. Therefore two-thirds of the Council might bf 
replaced at any Annual Meeting. 
pitiucu at Ally annual irxuciing. , 
Governors pay an Annual Subscription of 5/.^ or a Life Com-jf. 
isition of 50/.; and Members pay an Annual Subscription o'"*'* 
position ol 0U<. ; and MemDers pay 
1/., or a Life Composition of 10/. At the last General Meeting 
