Anniversary General Meeting, May 29, 1893. 
wood, and Mr. Claude M. Pilkington 
to act as Scrutineers of the voting 
papers. These having been duly col- 
lected, and the report of the Scruti- 
neers thereon received, it was an- 
nounced that the twenty-five mem- 
bers of Council who retired by rota- 
tion had been re-elected. 
The Secretary then read an ab- 
stract of the Report of the Council to 
the meeting (see page 355). 
Sir Henry Simpson, in moving the 
adoption of the Report, said that 
nearly all the paragraphs presented 
matter of congratulation. He was 
glad to find that the number of mem- 
bers of the Society was so satisfactory , 
and showed an increase on the pre- 
vious year. The financial statement 
also was better than last year. With 
regard to the future housing of the 
Society, he thought they must all feel 
deeply indebted to his Grace the 
Duke of Westminster and to Mr. 
Walter Gilbey for kindly coming for- 
ward and securing that building, 
which he trusted in future would be 
the home of the Society. (Cheers.) 
If there was one matter of which to 
speak regretfully, it was the retire- 
ment of Sir Jacob Wilson as Hono- 
rary Director of the Society’s Country 
Meetings. He felt sure they would all 
regret very much losing Sir Jacob’s 
valuable assistance ; but perhaps the 
only matter which would cause them to 
regret his retirement less was the fact 
of the able gentleman who had been 
appointed as Sir Jacob’s successor. 
They felt perfectly certain that under 
Mr. Parker’s management the duties 
would be carried on in the same ex- 
cellent manner in which they had 
hitherto been performed. 
General Ravenhill seconded the 
motion. 
Mr. Frederick King thought the 
Society was greatly indebted tothelib- 
eral spirit in which their noble Presi- 
dent and their friend Mr. Walter Gilbey 
had acted in the matter of the hous- 
ing of the Society. It had long been 
a wish of his that the Society should 
possess a worthy home of its own. 
He thought, however, that they were 
following the shadow and forgetting 
the substance. He deprecated tbe 
proposal to house other agricultural 
lxxv 
societies besides the Royal, and 
thought that the Royal Agricultural 
Society should be kept distinct by it- 
self. He thought the value of the 
property, especially of the frontage to 
Oxford Street, had been underrated, 
and that to build a house worthy of 
the Society, and also one architectu- 
rally worthy of Hanover Square, would 
take at least 20,000/. more than had 
been estimated. 
The President said that he 
listened with the greatest possible 
pleasure to Mr. King's remark as to 
the value of the premises being so 
very much higher than the estimate. 
He hoped that opinion might prove 
to be founded on fact, and that there- 
fore they might be able to dispose of 
that part of the property not re- 
quired for the purposes of the Society 
at a substantial profit. It was the 
intention of those who had the mat- 
ter in hand that a building worthy 
of the Royal Agricultural Society 
should be erected. They must con- 
sider the funds which were likely to 
be obtained ; but they hoped to have 
a modest, respectable building, suited 
to the requirements and the aspira- 
tions of that great Society. 
The motion for the adoption of the 
Report was then put, and carried 
unanimously. 
Vote of Thanks to Chairman, 
No one rising in response to the 
usual inquiry from the chair as to 
whether any Governor or Member had 
any remarks to make or suggestions 
to offer that might be referred to the 
Council for consideration, 
The Duke of Portland said he had 
much pleasure in proposing that a 
hearty vote of thanks be given to the 
Duke of Westminster for having 
taken the chair at that meeting. No 
words were necessary from him to 
cause them to pass such a vote most 
heartily. 
Sir George Macpherson Grant 
having seconded the motion, it was 
put by the Secretary, and carried 
unanimously. 
The President briefly acknow- 
ledged the vote of thanks, and the 
proceedings then terminated. 
