Ixxvi Anniversary Meeting of Governors and Members, 
inasmuch as he had been attended 
with as much bad luck with Shire 
horses as he had been attended with 
good luck in the other direction. 
Sometimes, however, things changed, 
and, in this respect, he hoj^ed liis 
efforts might be of more use. lie 
thanked them very much, and would 
only repeat that he should be very 
happy to act as President for the en- 
suing year. (Cheers.) 
The Trustees and Vice-Presidents 
having been re-elected by show of 
hands, the election of twenty-five 
Members of Council was proceeded 
with, and the President appointed 
Mr. j. Herbert Taylor, Professor Wal- 
lace, and Mr. G. D. Yeoman to act 
as scrutineers of the voting-papers. 
These having been duly collected and 
the report of the scrutineers thereon 
received, it was announced that the 
twenty-five Members of Council who 
retired by rotation had been re-elected. 
The Secretary having read the 
Report of the Council to the Meeting 
(see page 339), 
Mr. Gilbert Murray, in moving 
its adoption, said the Report seemed 
to him to be a very satisfactory one. 
The action taken b}”- the Board of 
Agriculture in freeing the country 
from disease was most satisfactory. 
He thought that very few persons 
could remember the country so free 
from disease as at the present moment. 
Not less satisfactory was the action 
taken by the Society with regard to 
technical education. This, to his 
mind, was one of the most important 
things at the present day. He would 
have been very glad if, from the com- 
mencement of the movement, the 
different County Councils throughout 
the country could have had some 
instructions issued to them either , 
from the Society or the Board of 
Agriculture. Everybody seemed to 
be at sea, and no two counties were 
acting upon the same lines. He had 
had considerable experience in a good 
many of the counties, and had taken 
much interest in the matter. He 
found that Cheshire was ahead of any 
other county in regard to technical 
education. They had taken a distinct 
and clear course, which he thought 
other counties ought to follow. He 
did not believe in beginning with pro- 
fessors. He believed in beginning 
with the schoolmaster. He thought 
they wanted to teach the rudiments 
and to begin in the elementary 
schools. He was not very much inte- 
rested in the towns, which he thought 
could very well take care of them- 
selves. He was more interested in 
the technical education of the country, 
where he should like to see the sub- 
ject taken up. Very much more 
might be done. The schoolmasters 
were ignorant of the whole matter, 
but they might be teaching them- 
selves and their pupils at the same 
time. With regard to peripatetic 
lectures, the older farmers would not 
come down to them. It was the 
young men who did so, and they must 
begin with these and follow it up. 
He wished that every county might 
have centres for farm classes. He 
had much pleasure in moving the 
adoption of the Report. 
Mr. Arthur Arkwright seconded 
the motion. 
Surgeon-Lieut.-Col. Ince, M.D., sup- 
ported the motion. He regarded the 
publication of the Society’s text-book 
as a splendid step in the progress of 
education. But their Society was a 
long way from where it ought to be 
in improving the practical education 
of this country. He hoped the lime 
would shortly arrive when the Societj' 
would be able to recruit from a larger 
field than it did at present. Dr. Ince 
also argued at some length against the 
possibility of ever “ stamping out” the 
contagious diseases of animals. 
Sir Henry Simpson, referring to 
the discontinuance of the Society's 
grant of 6001. to the Royal Commis- 
sion on Horse-Breeding, said that he, 
in common with other members of 
the Society, dissented from this deci- 
sion of the Council. He quite agreed 
that the horse-breeding interest was 
much indebted to the Society for what 
they had done in regard to the grant, 
and no doubt the initiative taken by 
the Society had been the means of 
inducing the Government to grant 
the annual sum of 6,000f. He had, 
however, always looked upon the 
amount granted by the Government 
as a preliminary donation, and he had 
looked forward to the time when that 
donation might be increased. He 
should have been glad to see the 
Society continue their grant of 600/., 
