Financial  Position  and  Show  of  1905. 
lix 
The  total  expenses  of  the  Show  of 
1904  had  been  in  round  figures  21,500/., 
and  the  total  receipts  had  been  only 
14,500/. ; so  that  the  Society  had  in- 
curred a loss  on  the  Show  of  7,000/. 
In  the  last  seven  years  the  expenses 
of  the  Show  had  never  been  so  low  as 
20,000/.  ; but  assuming  that,  as 
compared  with  the  Show  of  1904, 
economies  of  as  much  as  1,500/.  be 
effected,  what  could  the  Society  expect 
in  the  way  of  recouping  itself  for  a 
certain  outlay  of  20,000/.,  an  outlay 
upon  which  it  must  adventure  before 
the  doors  of  the  Show  could  be  opened 
to  the  public  ? If  the  exhibitors  of 
implements  should  come  in  equal 
numbers  and  take  as  much  space  as 
they  did  in  1904,  and  if  there  were  as 
many  entries  of  live  stock,  &c.,  as  in 
1 904,  the  total  money  received  by  the 
Society  from  these  sources  would  be 
some  8,000/.  to  8,500/.  Thus  there 
would  be  a deficit  of  some  11,500/.  to 
12,000/.  to  be  made  good  before  the 
Show  could,  in  ordinary  parlance,  pay 
its  way.  The  only  source  of  further 
revenue  for  the  Show  was  the  money 
paid  by  the  outside  public  for  ad- 
mission at  the  gates,  for  seats  on  the 
stands,  and  for  catalogues. 
In  1903,  when  the  weather  just 
before  the  Show  was  very  bad,  and 
Park  Royal  was  not  well  known,  the 
Society  received  8,000/.  from  these 
sources.  This  year,  when  gieat  efforts 
had  been  made  at  much  expense  to 
make  Park  Royal  known  to  Londoners, 
when  the  weather  was  good,  and  every 
circumstance  seemed  to  be  in  the 
Society’s  favour,  the  total  takings  at 
the  gates  were  the  very  disappointing 
amount  of  5,600/.  Making  every 
allowance  for  the  difficulty  of  getting 
a new  place  known  to  Londoners, 
especially  so  long  as  its  main  approach 
by  rail  was  still  only  open  to  local 
traffic,  the  only  inference  to  be  drawn 
from  recent  experience  was  that  the 
industry  of  agriculture  is  of  little 
interest  to  Londoners,  and  that  their 
attendance  in  great  numbers  could 
not  be  relied  upon,  at  any  rate  in  the 
immediate  future.  More  than  this 
5,600/.  could  not  be  counted  on  for  a 
Show  next  year  in  view  of  the  risks 
of  the  weather.  Thus  the  deficit  of 
11,500/.  to  12,000/.  referred  to  above 
would  only  have  been  reduced  by 
the  receipts  from  admissions  to  some 
6,000/.  to  6,500/.  The  Society  had  no 
funds  whatever  to  meet  any  such  loss 
as  this  ; and  the  Council  could  not 
obviously,  in  the  present  state  of  the 
Society’s  finances,  sanction  a certain 
expenditure  of  not  less  than  20,000/., 
with  a possibility  of  a loss  on  such 
outlay  which  was  hardly  likely  to  be 
less  than  6,000/.,  and  might  be  much 
more,  which  loss,  represented  by  ob- 
ligations to  tradesmen,  workpeople, 
and  prize  winners,  the  Society  had  no 
means  of  paying. 
After,  therefore,  making  allowance 
for  every  possible  economy  in  adminis- 
tration, it  appeared  necessary  for  those 
interested  in  the  holding  of  the  Show, 
i.e.,  for  exhibitors  of  every  kind,  and 
all  those  who  believed  in  the  necessity 
for  a central  comprehensive  Show  of 
live  stock,  implements,  and  all  things 
concerned  with  the  great  industry  of 
Agriculture,  to  decide  whether  they 
wished  the  Annual  Show  continued, 
and,  if  so,  were  prepared,  either  by 
guarantees  or  otherwise,  to  secure  the 
Society  from  the  loss  which  the  holding 
of  the  Show  must  almost  inevitably 
entail,  and  which  the  Society  was  not 
at  present  in  a sufficiently  strong 
position  to  face. 
These  were  the  considerations  which 
had  weighed  with  the  Council  in  seek- 
ing the  opinions  and  the  advice  of  the 
Exhibitors  of  Implements  and  the 
Exhibitors  of  Stock  at  the  Conferences 
held  on  the  previous  day ; and  he 
thought  he  should  be  only  expressing 
the  general  wish  of  the  Council  in 
thanking  those  gentlemen  for  their 
cordial  response  to  the  Society’s  invita- 
tion, and  for  the  valuable  suggestions 
and  advice  which  they  had  given.  He 
would  now  call  on  Mr.  Frankish,  as 
the  Chairman  at  the  first  meeting,  to 
acquaint  the  Council  with  the  results 
of  the  Implement  Committee’s  confer- 
ence with  the  exhibitors  of  implements, 
which  he  thought  all  those  who  were 
present  would  feel  had  been  conducted 
in  a very  businesslike,  helpful,  and 
kindly  spirit  towards  the  Society. 
Mr.  Frankish  said  that  the  results 
of  the  Conference  over  which  he 
presided  might  be  best  summarised  in 
the  subjoined  resolutions,  passed  by 
substantial  majorities  by  the  exhibitors 
of  implements  present  on  October  5, 
G6  2 
