Thursday,  December  b,  1904. 
Ixxxix 
had  his  owu  name  and  stand  number 
printed  thereon.  By  this  means  they 
would  permeate  the  whole  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  He  hoped  that 
those  present  would  stand  at  the  back 
of  the  Council,  because  he  was  quite 
sure  that  the  Council,  from  a pecuniary 
point  of  view,  would  continue  to  do  all 
in  their  power.  They  knew  what  had 
been  done  by  Lord  Derby,  the  Duke 
of  Bedford,  and  others. 
There  was  an  element  which  had 
conduced  to  some  extent  to  the  failure 
of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society 
which  he  diil  not  think  had  received 
sufficient  notice.  The  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society,  with  all  its  faults, 
had  been  the  parent  of  the  principal 
Agricultural  Societies  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  It  had  been  the  pioneer, 
and  had  caused  a large  number  of 
single-day  shows  to  spring  up  in  every 
part  of  the  country,  which  had  to  a 
great  extent  killed  their  parent.  He 
thought  that  all  the  local  Agricultural 
Societies  should  have  some  locus  standi 
in  connection  with  the  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society,  and  be  asked  to 
support  that  Society,  and  that  children 
all  over  the  country  should  support 
the  parent. 
Mr.  E.  R.  Berry  Torr  said  that 
they  had  heard  from  Mr.  Lister  of  the 
agricultural  implement  exhibitor’s 
point  of  view.  He  had  no  doubt  that 
the  advertisement  would  be  very  use- 
ful, but  if  they  went  back  to  the 
Shows  held  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
London,  at  Battersea  and  Kilburn,  it 
would  be  very  difficult  to  find  any 
gi’eat  financial  success  to  the  Society. 
That  was  the  main  feature  that  they 
had  to  decide  that  day — not  whether  it 
was  better  for  a certain  class  of 
exhibitors,  but  whether  it  was  the 
best  for  the  finances  of  the  Society. 
They  all  wished  to  see  it  placed  on  a 
sound  financial  basis.  If  this  sum  of 
money  was  forthcoming,  and  they  held 
a Show  at  Park  Royal  which  resulted 
in  financial  loss,  what  were  they 
going  to  do  then  I They  must  be  very 
careful,  in  embatking  on  a new 
Charter,  to  put  the  Society  on  a sound 
basis.  Their  object  was  to  benefit 
agriculture  all  over  Great  Britain,  but 
in  having  a fixed  Show,  they  were 
now  losing  ground  by  reversing  their 
policy. 
VOL.  6.5. 
Mr.  E.  0.  Greening  said  that  if 
the  meeting  were  to  adopt  the  Report 
they  would  be  in  a position  to  deal 
with  the  question  of  the  Society.  He 
was  not  at  all  anxious  to  stifle  dis- 
cussion, but  business  men  should  con- 
fine themselves  to  business  principles. 
He  would  suggest  that  they  should 
adopt  tlie  Report,  and  then  there 
would  be  an  opportunity  afterwards 
of  discussing  the  matters  upon  which 
many  of  them  might  agree  or  disagree. 
Mr.  J.  I).  Fletcher  inquired 
whether,  if  that  meeting  adopted  the 
Report,  the  (juestion  of  holding  a 
Show  would  be  left  to  the  present 
Council,  or  to  a future  Council  .’ 
Would  they  have  any  Show  until  an 
approximate  sum  of  10,000/.  was 
guaranteed  ? 
The  President  replied  that  what 
they  wanted  to  do  was  to  hold  the 
Show  without  further  loss  to  the 
Society. 
Lord  Derby  said  that  the  Show 
must  be  settled  by  the  Council  as  at 
present  constituted.  A Council  under 
a new  system  could  only  be  appointed 
under  the  provisions  of  the  draft 
Charter.  Th3  terms  of  this  new 
Charter  would  have  to  be  settled,  and 
would  have  to  meet  with  their 
approval,  and  then  it  would  have  to 
go  forward  to  the  Privy  Council ; and 
the  Privy  Council — like  most  other 
Government  bodies — would  take  their 
own  time  to  deal  with  the  matter. 
He,  therefore,  thought  that  the  new 
Charter  would  hardly  be  ready  and 
be  received  back  by  the  Society  again 
before  the  month  of  May  ; and  long 
before  that  time  they  must  be  dealing 
with  the  Sliow.  This,  he  hoped,  would 
explain  the  position. 
Mr.  A.  Mansell  said  he  took  it 
that  the  exhibitors  of  live  stock,  and 
also  of  implements,  at  the  Society’s 
Shows  exhibited  at  reduced  fees  by 
belonging  to  the  Societ}",  and  he 
tliought  that  some  proportion  of  their 
subscriptions  should  be  credited  to  the 
Show  accounts.  For  his  own  part,  he 
was  rather  astonished  to  find  that  the 
Council  were  not  apparently  prepared 
to  go  forward  with  the  Show  next 
year.  It  seemed  that  they  had  over 
6,000/.  already  subscribed,  and  with  a 
loss  of  7,000/.  on  the  Show  held  last 
.June,  it  would  appear  that  they  only 
I I 
