Ixiv 
Monthlij Council^ May 4, 1892. 
Letters of inquiry relative to various 
entries of stock for the Warwick 
Meeting, and also entry forms received 
in an incomplete state, had been sub- 
mitted to the Committee, and instruc- 
tions given thereon. A list had been 
submitted of prizes for cheese and 
cheese-making, proposed to be offered 
by the Chester Local Committee for 
the meeting at Chester in 1893, and 
the Committee unanimously decided 
that the offer of such prizes be ac- 
cepted with thanks (see page Ixxiv). 
The Committee had confirmed their re- 
solution of last month with reference 
to a grant of 6,000f. for prizes for 
the Chester Meeting. In the event 
of their Chairman’s motion on the 
subject being adopted by the Council, 
they proposed to give preliminary 
consideration to the Chester Prize 
Sheet at their next meeting to be held 
on Tuesday, May 31. 
Premiums to Thoroughbred 
Stallions. 
Mr. Sanday said that when last 
month he gave notice of the motion 
which stood in his name on the 
agenda paper, his friend Sir Jacob 
Wilson — whose absence from illness 
they all regretted — appealed to him to 
postpone the motion, on the ground 
that November would be a more con- 
venient date to discuss the matter. 
He (Mr. Sanday) thought then, and 
he still thought, that it was very 
desirable in the interests, both of the 
Koyal Commission and of the Society, 
that this matter should be settled 
at the earliest possible opportunity. 
When the scheme was first suggested 
in 1887, it was started by the Society 
as an experiment; and when, not 
long after, it was taken up by the 
Government and the Royal Com- 
mission on Horse Breeding was 
appointed, he thought the mis- 
sion of the Society, and the object 
with which they had started the 
premiums, had been fulfilled, and 
that that would have been the most 
desirable time to stop the contribu- 
tion. This, however, was not done, 
and the matter had been allowed 
to drift on for some years longer. 
The argument which had been 
generally used in favour of the con- 
tinuance of the grant by the Society 
had been that the withdrawal of the 
premiums would to a great extent en- 
danger the success of the whole scheme. 
He thought himself, and he believed 
his opinion was shared by a great 
many members of Council and by 
those outside the Council, that this 
would not be the case. He thought 
that smaller premiums would bring 
forward equally good horses and 
with equally satisfactory results. 
That, however, was a matter for 
the consideration of the Royal Com- 
mission on Horse Breeding. The 
Council had really to decide whether, 
in the interests of the general body 
of their members, it was desirable to 
continue the contribution, or whether 
the money could not be devoted to 
more profitable objects. It appeared 
that since 1887, when the scheme 
was started, the net cost to the 
Society of these premiums had been 
4,1867. 3s. He had himself, as a 
member of the Hunter Stallion 
Committee, been identified with the 
movement from the commencement, 
and had taken great interest in it ; 
but he did think it was time now 
that the contribution from the Society 
should cease. He therefore moved, 
“ That the grant of 6007. heretofore 
made to the Royal Commission on 
Horse Breeding be discontinued for 
the future.” 
Mr. Dent was very glad indeed to 
find this question brought before the 
Council, fortified by the recommen- 
dation of the Chairman of the Stock 
Prizes Committee. He had always 
considered that to devote 6007. a year 
for this purpose was not justifiable, 
as compared with the amount of 
prizes given to other descriptions of 
agricultural stock. He also regarded 
it as the duty of the Government, if 
they considered that they had a mis-, 
sion for doing this kind of work, to 
find sufficient funds for the whole of 
the country. He had great pleasure 
in seconding the motion. 
The Earl of Coventry was sure 
that tall those who took interest in 
horse-breeding would be sorry to find 
that the Stock Prizes Committee could 
not see their way to continue the 
grant of 6007. a year, and that the 
matter could not be postponed — as 
Sir Jacob Wilson wished — until 
November, or at least until the Com- 
