Country Meeting of 1896. 
clxvii 
veyor (Mr. E. G. Mawby), and Mr. J. T. 
Ardron (Secretary of the Leicester- 
shire Agricultural Society). 
The Marquis of Granby said they 
had come that day for the purpose of 
bringing before the Council the 
claims of the town and county of 
Leicester for their favourable con- 
sideration, as the place for the hold- 
ing of the Society’s Country Meeting 
of 1896. There was no doubt what- 
ever in the county as to their strong 
feeling of hope that they might be able 
to induce the Council to visit the town 
of Leicester in 1896. He would point 
out that it would be some thirty years 
since Leicester was last visited by 
the Royal Agricultural Society. Since 
1868 an enormous increase had taken 
place in the borough itself, which 
had now a population of 187,000. He 
believed he was justified in saying 
that, perhaps with the exception of 
Cardiff, there was no town in Great 
Britain that had increased in popula- 
tion so rapidly as Leicester. They 
therefore felt that, in the borough of 
Leicester itself, there was an enor- 
mous population upon which they 
could rely. In the county the greatest 
possible interest was excited in the 
Show, and they would be prepared to 
offer every hospitality to the Society. 
The town of Leicester was extremely 
well off in the way of railway accom- 
modation. They were in a far better 
position than they were five years 
ago, because, in addition to the rail- 
ways which then came into the town, 
they now had an extra branch of the 
Great Northern Railway. The station 
accommodation had been enormously 
increased, and was in a very satisfac- 
tory condition. They were on the 
main line at Leicester to practically 
nearly all the large towns in the 
southern portion of Yorkshire, Not- 
tinghamshire, Derbyshire, &c , as well 
as to the South, and communication 
was easy and rapid, by means of the 
Midland Railway, with towns of the 
size of Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, 
and Sheffield, as well as with the 
Lincolnshire side of Leicestershire, 
which was, as they knew, very easily 
accessible to the borough. No other 
towns in that part of the centre of 
England could, he thought, compete 
with Leicester as it stood now for 
ease of access by railway. He had 
spoken on behalf of the borough, but 
they would hear from those more 
directly representing the municipal 
body. He would merely say that they 
were anxious to do everything they 
possibly could from a county point of 
view for the interests of the Royal 
Agricultural Society. They claimed to 
be one of the largest agricultural 
districts in England, and he hoped they 
would be able to see the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society’s Show of 1896 held 
at Leicester. 
The Mayor op Leicester (Mr. 
Alderman Hart) said that if the So- 
ciety decided to hold its Show of 1896 
at Leicester, the inhabitants would 
give a most hearty and genial welcome. 
The Show was held on the last occa- 
sion at Leicester in 1868, and he be- 
lieved that it was then a success. As 
they were aware, the town had dou- 
bled its population since that period, 
and now presented many more attrac- 
tions that it did at that time. There 
were greater facilities by the railway 
lines to Leicester, which would, no 
doubt, attract a very large number of 
persons to visit their Royal Show, and 
he presumed that their aim was to 
interest as large a number of persons 
as they could in the district. There 
were about 200,000 inhabitants in the 
borough, and another 200,000 inhabit- 
ants in the county — making alto- 
gether a population of about 400,000. 
Situated as they were in the heart and 
centre of the country, they were within 
two and a-half hours of something 
like a population of ten millions. He 
thought that fact was worthy of con- 
sideration. The Council would be best 
able to judge of the fitness of the sites 
offered by the Corporation ; and he 
would say that they were prepared to 
do all that was necessary to render the 
sites suitable for the purposes of the 
Show. They were willing to do all 
that was required with regard to the 
water supply, although, as they were 
aware, they had their difficulties. One 
of the sites, however, would not re- 
quire very much water, because there 
was the river close to it. He was quite 
sure that the inhabitants generally 
would lend ready help to welcome 
the Society’s Show, if they decided to 
come to Leicester. He understood 
m 2 
