Thursday,  December  8,  1904. 
xci 
of  their  Show  next  year,  so  that  there 
should  be  no  break  in  its  continuity. 
Further,  he  was  of  opinion  that  all 
the  other  questions  contained  in  the 
Eeport  presented  to  the  Meeting 
should  be  postponed  until  the  new 
Council  was  elected. 
Mr.  James  Watt  said  he  should  like 
to  propose  that  the  present  Council  be 
given  instructions  to  prepare  for  the 
next  Show  at  Park  Royal,  and  in  the 
meantime  let  them  begin  to  re-con- 
struct the  Council  upon  a popular 
basis.  He  came  from  the  extreme 
north  of  England,  where  the  feeling 
of  the  Members  of  the  Society  was 
very  much  against  the  step  taken  in 
going  to  Park  Royal.  He  thought 
that  if  they  were  given  an  opportunity 
of  taking  a more  direct  interest  in  the 
Society,  they  would  come  to  the  help 
of  their  great  National  Society  in 
increasing  numbers  as  Members,  and 
thus  the  usefulness  of  the  Society 
would  be  continued  in  the  future  to 
even  a greater  degree.  He  did  not 
think  it  desirable  to  cut  down 
expenses  to  too  fine  a point,  as  he 
was  of  opinion  that  a cheese-paring 
policy  was  not  a good  one.  He 
would  suggest  that  the  Members 
of  the  Society  and  all  others  inter- 
ested in  its  welfare  should  put  their 
shoulders  to  the  wheel,  and  thus 
show  that  English  agriculture  was 
still  flourishing. 
Mr.  William  Graham  thought 
that  it  would  be  more  practical  to 
come  to  a conclusion  at  once  as  to 
whether  it  would  not  be  advisable  to 
hold  a Show  in  1905.  He  thought  that 
with  the  sum  of  4,500Z.  already  pro- 
mised, by  re-arrangement  of  the  classes 
in  the  prize  sheet,  and  by  reduction  in 
various  ways  of  the  expenses,  they 
need  not  fear  facing  a Show  at  Park 
Royal  next  year.  Afterwards  the 
Members  could  be  consulted  as  to  the 
desirability  ot  continuing  the  Shows  at 
Park  Royal  in  the  future,  or  of  going 
round  the  country  as  heretofore.  They 
would  recall  the  success  of  Shows  in 
the  past  under  the  able  guidance  of 
Sir  Jacob  Wilson  : he  was  of  opinion 
that  had  Sir  Jacob  Wilson  been  con- 
sulted a little  more  with  respect  to 
the  management  of  the  Society’s 
affairs  they  would  not  have  found 
themselves  in  their  present  position. 
He  firmly  believed  that  there  were 
many  who  were  of  the  opinion  that 
they  should  hold  a Show  next  year, 
and  he  thought  that  that  meeting 
should  take  upon  themselves  the  re- 
sponsibility of  deciding  the  point  at 
once.  His  personal  opinion  was  that 
perhaps  it  would  be  very  much  wiser 
not  to  hold  a Show  next  year,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  general  opinion 
would  seem  to  be  in  favour  of  holding 
a Show  in  1905.  No  doubt  a great 
many  of  them  would  be  pleased  to  help 
to  increase  the  sum  of  over  4,500Z. 
already  promised.  If,  therefore,  all 
these  gentlemen  were  agreed  to  hold 
a Show  in  1905  let  them  join  in 
guaranteeing  a further  sum. 
Mr.  William  Cooper  said  that 
although  he  had  not  been  long  a 
Mefhber  of  this  Society,  he  had  been 
connected  with  agriculture  all  his  life. 
There  seemed  to  be  a doubt  in  Lord 
Derby’s  mind,  when  he  was  speaking 
at  the  Council  meeting  on  the  previous 
day,  as  to  the  advisability  of  holding 
a Show  next  year.  That  had  so  im- 
pressed him  that  he  had  determined  to 
come  there  that  day  to  express  the 
opinion  that  the  absence  of  a single 
Show  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society 
would  be  next  door  to  fatal.  How 
many  Members  were  there  whose  only 
interest  in  the  Society  was  the  Show  ? 
How  many  agricultural  implement 
makers  would  remain  to  the  Society  if 
there  was  a possibility  of  the  Shows 
being  done  away  with  ? He  ventured 
to  say,  none.  He  had  listened  with  the 
greatest  possible  attention  and  interest 
to  the  speeches  that  had  been  made, 
but  he  did  not  think  they  had  touched 
the  absolute  blot  of  the  Society, 
which  was  finance.  They  must  reduce 
their  establishment  expenses  in  order 
to  continue  to  hold  the  Shows  in 
a successful  manner.  He  regretted 
exceedingly  that  Lord  Derby  had  not 
given  them  some  assurance  that  the 
Council  were  perfectly  alive  to  the 
question  of  finance,  and  that  they  were 
going  to  try  to  redeem  the  usefulness 
of  the  Society.  Many  of  the  estab- 
lishment charges  might  be  greatly 
reduced.  He  did  not  wish  to  move 
any  amendment,  but  he  did  want  to 
impress  on  the  Council  the  absolute 
necessity,  if  they  were  to  be  a solvent 
affair,  for  bringing  their  expenditure 
II  2 
