cixxvii 
Countnj Meeting of 1894. 
them when a few days old, and were 
all pleased and satisfied with the 
result. In his own experience, he 
had found it answer well. He did 
not think that the foals suffered to 
any extent, and he did not notice the 
suffering referred to by Sir Nigel 
Kingscote. He thought the farmers 
of England would object to their not 
being allow'ed to dock their horses. 
Mr. Martin had been a farmer for 
a good many years, and he had not 
suffered in any way from the foals 
being docked. If horses were to be 
docked at all, it was less cruel for 
them to be docked when young foals. 
He did not think they ought, as a 
body, to interfere too much with the 
trade of the country, or throw any 
obstacle in the way of agriculturists. 
Mr. Garrett Taylor said that if 
farmers did not dock horses, dealers 
or other people would. Certainly 
ninety-nine out of every 100 horses 
were docked. 
Mr. Christopher Wilson hoped 
that the Society would not force such 
a regulation upon the breeders of 
Hackneys, who, if they were polled, 
ivould all be in favour of the practice. 
He thought long, flying tails with 
Hackneys would be a great disfigure- 
ment to them, and would be most 
dangerous in driving horses. He 
happened to have seen a good many 
accidents with ponies with long tails 
driven by ladies. The long tails got 
over the reins, and the ponies ran 
away with the vehicles. During the 
last few months he had sold twenty 
ponies, at an average of 103 guineas 
each. He had left one undocked for 
his daughter to ride, and he expected 
that this would remain upon his 
hands. 
The President then put the mo- 
tion, which was lost by nine votes to 
sixteen. 
Country Meeting of 1894. 
Further letters were read from 
the Local Authorities of St. Albans, 
and from the Hertfordshire County 
Council, as to the invitation to the 
Society to hold its Country Meeting 
of 1894 inthatcily. It was decided 
that the Committee of Inspection to 
view the sites and other accommoda- 
tion offered, both at Cambridge and 
St. Albans, should be appointed at 
the next Council meeting in Decem- 
ber, and be requested to bring up 
their report at the meeting in Feb- 
ruary 1893, when a decision would be 
arrived at. 
Bimetallism as Affecting Agri- 
culture. 
The Secretary read a letter from 
the Soci6tedes Agriculteursde France, 
stating that a special committee 
of that body had been appointed to 
study the question of bimetallism as 
it affected agricultural interests, and 
again asking the Society’s co-opera- 
tion in this inquiry. 
In reply to a question by Mr. 
Chaplin, Earl Cathcart stated 
that the Soci6te des Agriculteurs de 
France, of which he was an Honorary 
Member, was formed very much on 
the lines of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, and was an association of 
over 10,000 members. 
Mr. Chaplin expressed the hope 
that the Council would agree to send 
a sympathetic answer to the eminent 
agriculturists in France who were 
considering this question. Having 
been a member of the Gold and 
Silver Commission, he had given a 
good deal of serious attention to this 
matter, which was one of extreme 
importance to the agricultural com- 
munity. They should endeavour to 
return to that system of bimetallism 
which existed previously to 1873, as 
the present depression in every kind 
of industry throughout the world 
appeared to date from the change in 
the European monetary system which 
began at that date. 
Miscellaneous. 
Further letters w’ere read from Mr. 
Frank Proctor on the subject of 
steam digging, and it was decided to 
reply that the Council had nothing 
to add to their previous communi- 
cations. Various other letters and 
documents were read and ordered to 
be laid upon the table. 
Date of next Meeting. 
The Council then adjourned until 
Wednesday, December 7, at noon. 
