XIV 
Monthly  Council,  October  (5,  1904. 
be  left  up,  and  there  would  conse- 
quently be  less  expenditure  on  labour; 
but  he  would  remind  the  Council  that 
this  would  depend  upon  the  present 
character  of  tlie  Show  being  adhered 
to,  and  on  their  following  very  much 
the  lines  of  last  year.  Any  curtail- 
ment, for  instance,  in  the  exhibition 
of  implements  would  involve  the  re- 
building of  the  shedding,  altering  the 
line  of  sleeper  roads,  the  re-erection 
of  sheds,  Ac. 
Mr.  Howard  thought  that  it  would 
be  fatal  to  the  interests  of  the  Societ}^ 
to  drop  the  Show  next  year.  If  this 
were  done,  the  Show  might  be  dropped 
for  ever.  There  was  one  matter  which 
lie  was  of  opinion  should  certainly  be 
cleared  up  and  put  before  the  Members 
before  any  application  was  made  for 
further  subscriptions.  A few  months 
ago  he  had  voted  in  that  room  for 
certain  reductions  to  be  made  in  the 
expenditure  of  the  Society.  He  under- 
stood that  nothing  had  yet  been  done 
in  the  matter,  and  he  thought  that  if 
the  notices  contemplated  in  the  recom- 
mendations adopted  by  the  Council 
had  not  already  been  given,  they 
ought  to  be  given  at  once. 
Mr.  Stanyfoeth  was  veiy  glad 
this  question  had  been  raised.  It  was 
one  of  the  gravest  indictments  against 
the  Society  that  for  several  years  past 
they  had  been  spending  much  more 
than  their  income  in  connection  with 
general  administration  and  their 
scientific  objects.  An  excellent  Com- 
mittee was  formed  last  year,  who  took 
an  immense  amount  of  trouble  in 
going  into  the  Society’s  affairs.  That 
Committee  had  made  certain  recom- 
mendations, which  recommendations 
had  been  adopted  by  the  Council,  and 
he  wished  to  ask  what  had  been  done 
in  the  %natter.  He  considered  that 
they  might  easilj'  reduce  the  cost  of 
the  Journal,  and  the  cost  of  the  scien- 
tific sections  down  to  at  least  half  of 
what  they  were  at  the  present  moment. 
He  did  not  wish  to  decry  the  useful- 
ness of  these  different  departments, 
but  if  they  had  not  the  money  to 
carr}'  them  on  as  heretofore,  it  really 
could  not  be  helped,  as  it  was  perfectly 
impossible  to  carry  on  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Society  at  the  expense  now 
being  incurred.  The  first  step  should 
be  that  the  recommendations  which 
had  been  passed  by  the  Council  should 
be  given  effect  to,  and  in  his  opinion 
the  Committee  should  be  asked  to  sit 
again  and  consider  thequestion  further. 
With  regard  to  their  house,  they 
could  not  afford  to  go  on  using  it  as 
they  were  at  the  present  moment. 
There  were  certain  things  that  must 
be  reduced.  He  considered  that  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  have  a 
Show  if  they  wanted  to  keep  their 
Members.  If  they  gave  up  the  Show 
next  year  they  would  lose  a great 
many  Members,  and  to  break  the 
continuity  of  the  Show  would  be 
fatal.  On  the  other  hand,  it  would 
not  be  possi’ole  to  have  a Show  unless 
they  had  a sufficient  guarantee  fund 
for  this  particular  Show,  and  it  would 
also  be  nece.ssary  to  have  a real 
propaganda  to  issue  to  their  Members 
as  to  what  was  being  done.  If  they 
did  this,  they  would  regain  the  con- 
fidence of  their  Members.  Unless  they 
regained  their  confidence,  they  could 
not  get  their  money,  and  without 
money  they  could  not  carry  on  the 
Society  successfully. 
The  Presidext  said  he  understood 
that  the  Report  of  the  Sub-committee 
of  the  Finance  Committee  had  been 
refeiTed  to  the  several  spending  Com- 
mittees concerned,  and  that  a certain 
number  of  recommendations  had  been 
carried  out. 
The  Earl  of  Coventry  expresse<l 
an  earnest  hope  that  the  Council 
would  not  divide  upon  tliis  question. 
He  was  one  of  those  who  thought  it 
would  be  most  disastrous  to  the 
interests  of  that  great  Society,  which 
had  existed  for  sixty-six  years,  and 
which  had  done  such  an  inestimable 
amount  of  good,  if  they  were  to 
abandon  their  Show  for  one  year.  If 
such  a course  were  taken  there  would 
be  a great  complaint,  general  grum- 
bling and  dissatisfaction,  and  a great 
diminution  in  the  number  of  their 
Membere.  He  was  present  himself  at 
both  the  meetings  on  the  previous  day, 
and  he  gathered  that  there  was  an 
iinauimous  feeling  on  the  part  of  those 
present  that  the  Show  should  be  held 
next  year.  He  trusted  that  Lord 
Derby’s  suggestion  of  a guarantee 
fund  would  be  adopted. 
Lord  Granby  said  he  had  an 
amendment  to  move  to  the  motion 
