xc 
General  Meeting  of  Governors  and  Members, 
wanted  about  1,700?.  more  to  enable 
them  to  hold  a Show  next  year.  Lord 
Derby  in  his  speech  had  alluded  to 
the  fact  that  the  Members  must  “ put 
their  shoulders  to  the  wheel,”  and  he 
(Mr.  Mansell)  believed  that  they 
would  desire  to  do  so.  He  was  sorry 
that  this  General  Meeting  of  Members 
had  been  convened  so  late  in  the  week. 
Many  farmers  and  others  connected 
with  the  Society  would  have  been 
glad  to  attend  the  meeting  if  it  had 
been  held  earlier,  but  they  could  not 
afford  to  wait  until  Thursday,  after 
they  had  attended  the  Smithfield 
Show.  The  refreshment  arrangements 
at  the  Society’s  Show  were  very  un- 
satisfactory, and  he  noticed  that  the 
amounts  the  Society  received  from 
the  contractors  under  their  present 
arrangements  were  not  so  large  as 
under  their  old  system. 
Mr.  Lawrence  C.  Tipper  said  he 
was  one  of  those  who  had  been 
anxious  to  see  whether  they  were  in  a 
position  to  do  something  to  preserve 
the  continuity  of  the  Shows  of  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Societ}^  Since 
the  Conference  of  the  Council  with 
the  exhibitors  in  the  Implement 
Department,  he  had  personally  inter- 
viewed several  of  the  exhibitors,  and 
he  was  sorry  to  saj"^  that  the  expression 
of  opinion  was  averse  to  a Show  at 
Park  Royal  next  year.  At  the  last 
Show  the  Society  had  lost  over  6,000?., 
and  in  the  previous  year  they  had 
also  lost  money,  but  they  had  not 
taken  into  eonsideration  the  losses 
sustained  bj'  exhibitors.  There  were 
some  who  had  made  money,  and,  of 
course,  those  exhibitors  would  be 
anxious  to  have  a Show  at  Park 
Royal  next  year ; but,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  knew  exhibitors  who  were 
at  the  first  Park  Royal  Show,  who 
had  dropped  out  this  year,  and  there 
were  some  who  had  exhibited  this 
year  who  would  drop  out  next  year. 
The  Society  would  have  to  face  a 
diminished  levenue  from  its  imple- 
ment exhibitors.  The  Society  was 
asking  for  help  to  liquidate  a debt. 
Were  they  going  to  get  support  from 
exhibitors  simply  to  get  rid  of  the 
present  debt,  and  to  come  again  next 
year  and  ask  them  again  to  pull  the 
Society  out  of  the  mire  ? Could  it  be 
sliown,  conclusively,  that  the  Show 
would  be  a good  thing  ? At  the  con- 
ference he  had  had  it  in  his  mind 
that  a Show  next  year  at  Park  Royal 
would  be  a success,  but  he  was  now 
of  opinion  that  if  the  Society  had 
another  Show  at  Park  Roi’al  it  would 
be  a disaster. 
Mr.  C.  R.  W.  Adeane  felt  that  not 
only  the  majority  of  agriculturists, 
but  the  whole  of  England  were  of  one 
mind  in  the  wish  that  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society  should  be  main- 
tained in  all  its  prosperity,  and  that 
the  continuity  of  the  Shows  should 
not  be  broken.  Their  Shows  of  recent 
times  had  not,  perhaps,  that  agri- 
cultural educational  value  as  in  the 
old  days,  but  nevertheless  it  was  the 
only  great  Show  of  its  kind  in  the 
country,  and  it  still  had  a great 
agricultural  value,  if  it  had  not  an 
educational  value.  He  thought  that 
all  breeders  of  live  stock  would 
recognise  that  it  was  most  important 
especially  for  the  foreign  trade,  because, 
undoubtedly,  it  gave  a great  opportu- 
nity to  foreigners  to  come  over  to  this 
country  to  see  the  finest  products  of 
agriculture  in  its  every  branch  which 
were  there  exhibited.  It  was  true 
there  were  the  magnificent  Shows  of 
the  Bath  and  West  and  the  Royal 
Counties,  but  foreigners  could  not 
come  over  at  different  periods  of  the 
year  to  attend  these  Shows,  and  they 
looked  to  the  Show  of  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society  as  the  one  great 
opportunity  of  the  year  to  see  the 
finest  stock.  He  believed  the  great 
feeling  amongst  the  Council  was  that, 
perhaps,  the  most  important  feature 
of  the  Society  was  their  great  National 
Show.  He  was  of  the  opinion  that 
what  had  been  carried  out  by  the 
Society  in  the  past  in  connection 
with  education  was  now  done  by  the 
County  Councils  by  means  of  technical 
education.  He  was  strongly  of  the 
opinion  that  the  question  for  them 
to  consider  was  whether  the  Society 
should  “clear  out”  of  Park  Royal  or  not. 
He  understood  that  the  Council  were 
engaged  in  the  preparation  of  a new 
Charter,  which  would  have  the  effect 
of  making  the  election  to  its  body 
more  representative,  and  he  thought 
that  was  a great  point.  But  the  main 
object  on  which  they  should  concen- 
trate their  attention  was  the  holding 
