Annual  General  Meeting,  December  7,  1910.  xxxvii 
contributions  from  the  Norwich  Local  Committee  and  from  the  various  breed 
societies.  In  the  year  1912  the  Society  would  visit  Yorkshire,  it  having  been 
decided  to  hold  the  Show  on  the  Town  Moor  at  Doncaster. 
Membership. 
There  was  just  one  other  matter  he  would  like  to  touch  upon  before  he  sat 
down,  and  that  was  the  old  question  of  the  number  of  Members  of  the  Society. 
When  the  Council  drew  up  their  Report  for  circulation  to  the  Members  they 
were  only  able  to  give  the  total  membership  as  9,934.  They  would,  he  knew, 
all  of  them  be  pleased  to  hear  that  at  the  Council  meeting  that  morning — thanks 
to  the  efforts  made  by  Mr.  Ailwyn  Fellowes,  Sir  Dighton  Probyn,  and  other 
Members — they  had  elected  a further  195  new  subscribers,  including  two 
Governors,  so  that  the  total  membership  for  the  first  time  since  1901  had 
reached  five  figures.  Gratifying  as  this  was,  he  would  like  to  remind  them 
that  they  were  still  a long  way  behind  the  total  of  11.223,  the  numbers  on  the 
register  in  the  year  1897,  when  bis  Majesty  the  King,  as  Duke  of  York, 
occupied  the  Presidential  Chair.  He  therefore  appealed  to  the  Members  of  the 
Society  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  their  friends  the  objects  of  their  National 
Agricultural  Institution,  with  the  view  of  raising  the  number  of  Members  to  a 
greater  total  than  they  had  hitherto  been  able  to  do,  and  thereby  signalise  the 
third  term  of  office  of  His  Majesty  the  King. 
Adoption  of  Report. 
Major  Craigie  said  it  was  with  great  gratification  that,  as  a pretty  old 
Member  of  the  Society,  he  had  the  honour  to  move  the  adoption  of  the  Report 
which  was  in  their  hands,  and  which  testified,  without  words  from  him,  to  the 
good  work,  practical  and  scientific,  which  had  been  accomplished  by  the  Council 
during  the  past  year.  He  thought  there  were  very  few  Members  of  the  Society 
who  were  not  gratified  at  the  announcement  which  had  been  made  from 
the  Chair,  and  at  the  history  which  appeared  in  the  paragraphs  of  the  Report. 
They  were  all  very  gratified  at  the  announcement  made  as  to  His  Majesty’s 
gracious  intention  of  taking  the  Presidency  of  that  great  Society.  He  hoped 
that  the  augury  of  royal  patronage  to  be  bestowed  on  the  Society  would  result 
in  their  having  at  Norwich  an  absolutely  record  Show  in  a record  agricultural 
part  of  England.  He  had  been  connected  with  a variety  of  other  agricultural 
associations,  but  he  would  like  to  tell  his  good  friends  in  that  room  that  he 
had  belonged  much  longer  to  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  than  to  any 
other  agricultural  institution  in  the  country.  He  could  go  back  in  his 
memory  to  1866,  and  he  had  attended  the  meetings  held  since  that  time. 
It  was  a matter  of  gratification  to  him  to  see  how  much  the  Society 
had  revived  and  recovered  its  old  position  as  the  pioneer  and  teacher  of 
agricultural  work.  The  Liverpool  Show  had  certainly  given  results  of  a most 
satisfactory  character.  The  Norwich  Show,  coming  as  it  would  do  almost 
as  a sequel  to,  and  as  a part  of,  the  great  festivities  of  the  Coronation,  ought  to 
draw  an  enormous  concourse  of  agriculturists  to  this  country.  He  had  gathered 
from  Mr.  Fellowes  the  previous  evening  that  one  of  the  most  interesting 
features  of  the  Show  would  be  the  attendance  of  the  Agricultural  Ministers  of 
the  overseas  Dominions  who  would  be  in  the  country.  The  more  they  looked 
at  the  growth  of  the  British  Empire  and  the  growth  of  agriculture  in  the 
Empire  the  more  it  would  be  seen  that  the  Society  could  play  a part,  not  only 
in  its  own  country,  but  in  encouraging  and  assisting  the  Colonies. 
The  paragraphs  of  the  Report  were  too  numerous  to  be  dealt  with,  and 
he  could  not  find  one  that  suggested  itself  for  criticism.  He  would  like  to 
mention  the  new  departure  taken  in  the  country  by  the  creation  of  the 
Development  Commission,  and  the  good  work  which  the  Council  had  done 
in  at  once  setting  itself  to  influence  the  distribution  of  the  fund,  which  at 
last  they  had  every  hope  would  be  distributed  for  agricultural  research  and 
agricultural  development.  He  thought  the  Society  might  play  a great  part 
in  that  direction  ; and  knowing  as  he  did,  and  having  so  many  friends  on 
