XXXIV 
General  Meeting  of  Governor.'!  and  Members, 
such  as  those  who  were  present  that 
(.lay,  without  fear  as  to  its  reception. 
It  was  a fair  statement  of  facts. 
Nothing,  so  far  as  he  knew,  hatl  been 
kept  out  of  sight,  and  the  whole 
statement  was  as  plain  and  business- 
like as  it  was  possible  to  make  it  for 
a meeting  of  that  kind.  There  was 
no  doubt  that  for  some  years  past  the 
finances  of  the  Society  had  not  been 
so  satisfactory  in  relation  to  the 
Shows  as  they  were  in  earlier  days. 
He  desired  to  dispel  from  the  minds 
of  some  of  those  present  that  the 
Shows  in  former  times  were  largely 
productive  of  benefit  to  the  finances 
of  the  Society,  and  were  a success 
financially.  If  they  took  away  the 
local  subscription  that  was  raised  in 
the  days  of  the  migratory  Shows,  the 
Society  was  by  no  means  in  such  a 
fair  sea  as  was  supposed  to  be  the 
case ; and  he  did  not  think  that  it 
was  suflSciei>tly  remembered  that  the 
l)resent  system  of  the  permanent 
Show,  at  all  events,  relieved  local 
Members  from  the  great  demands 
made  upon  them.  That  had  been 
entirely  left  out  of  sight.  But  the 
time  had  come  when  the  truth  must 
be  spoken.  They  knew  that  in  former 
times,  w’hen  the  Show  was  migratory, 
and  when  it  came  to  one’s  own  district, 
one  was  asked  to  put  one’s  hand  very 
deeply  into  one’s  pocket;  but  with 
the  holding  of  a central  Show,  the 
local  Members  had  been  entirely  re- 
lieved from  this  demand.  He  used 
that  argument  for  the  purpose  of 
appealing  to  those  Members  to  con- 
tribute on  the  present  occasion  to  the 
full  amount  that  they  would  have 
given  locally.  There  was  no  use  in 
asking  for  less  than  they  wanted. 
He,  therefore,  asked  the  Members,  if 
they  wanted  the  Show  to  go  forward, 
to  put  their  shoulders  to  the  wheel,  and 
to  put  their  hands  in  their  pockets. 
It  had  been  decided  at  the  October 
meeting  of  the  Council  to  the  effect 
that  the  Show  should  be  held  next 
year  subject  to  a guarantee  of  10,000/. 
being  raised,  and  he  was  of  that 
opinion  still.  He  did  not  desire  to 
pin  himself  to  the  particular  sum  of 
10,000/.,  though  he  thought  it  the 
right  sum  to  name.  What  he  meant 
was  that  they  should  not  go  forward 
with  another  Show,  and  they  should 
not  ask  those  answerable  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Society  to  organise 
another  Show  until  they  were  far 
more  clear  of  debt  than  they  were 
at  that  moment.  One  thing  that  had 
shaken  the  Society  more  than  any- 
thing else  was  that  they  had  gone 
forward  notwithstanding  that  they 
were  in  debt,  and  he  wi.shed  to  take 
his  full  share  with  tho.se  concerned 
in  the  Society’s  management  of  the 
responsibility  or  blame.  It  was  very 
difficult  to  draw  the  dividing  line 
where  bravery  ended  and  where  reck- 
lessness began  ; and  it  must  be  left 
to  every  one’s  individual  conscience 
to  say  whether  in  this  case  the  line 
had  been  exceeded.  On  one  liand,  it 
would  be  a grave  matter  if  it  should 
prove  afterwards  that,  on  insufficient 
grounds,  they  had  abstained  from 
holding  a Show ; on  the  other  hand, 
it  was  not  without  risk  that  the  Show 
of  1904  and  the  year  before  were 
held.  It  was  no  use  looking  back. 
They  must  deal  with  the  situation  as 
they  found  it.  He  had  hoped  himself 
that  the  appeal  to  their  Members 
might  not  have  been  in  vain.  He 
had  said  that  perhaps  there  was  a 
want  of  confidence  in  those  who 
ruled  over  the  Society.  No  one  who 
attended  the  two  conferences  with 
the  exhibitors  two  months  ago  would 
be  left  in  any  doubt  as  to  that. 
There  was  no  doubt  that  as  time 
had  gone  on  there  had  been  a desire 
on  the  ])art  of  the  country  Membei's 
to  participate  in  the  management  of 
the  Society’s  work,  and  unless  there 
were  as  well-attended  meetings  as  on 
that  day.  General  Meetings  were 
hardly  a sufficient  means  of  giving 
Members  more  than  a veiy  qualifying 
voice  in  matters  relating  to  the 
Council  and  the  management  of  the 
Society.  He  thought  that  it  was  a 
wise  thing  and  a right  thing  to  have 
done,  that  the  Council  should  propose 
the  alteration  of  the  Charter  to  enable 
their  country  Members  to  elect  directly 
those  whom  they  wished  to  place  on 
the  Council  in  charge  of  affairs. 
Technically,  he  believed  it  had  always 
been  the  fact  that  Members  had  the 
power  of  electing  the  Trustees,  Vice- 
Presidents,  and  Council,  and,  as  a 
rule,  the  Meetings  had  always  ap- 
proved of  those  proposed.  Now,  the 
