Wednesday , December 12, 1906. 
li 
seed-testing station which was more 
than they had in Great Britain. 
The President said that a note had 
been taken of all the suggestions which 
had been made, and that they would 
receive the attention of the Council 
in due course. 
Vote of thanks to the President. 
The Very Rev. Dr. Gillespie pro- 
posed a hearty vote of thanks to the 
retiring President. (Cheers.) There 
were several circumstances which made 
his services more valuable at the pre- 
sent time. He had taken hold of the 
Society when the ship was in very 
troubled waters, and had steered it so 
successfully with the aid of the Coun- 
cil that it was at the present time in 
pretty smooth waters. The Society 
owed a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. 
Cornwallis for the energy and tact 
with which he had carried out the 
duties of his office. The team he pre- 
sided over had a considerable number 
of new horses during the year, and he 
desired to congratulate the retiring 
President on the way the work had 
been carried out, without having any 
kicking over the traces on the part of 
the new Members of the team. He 
was sure the Members of the Society 
all appreciated in a high degree the 
exceptional circumstances of Mr. Corn- 
wallis’s services during the past year. 
Mr. Wentworth C. B. Beaumont, 
M.P., in seconding this resolution, said 
that Mr. Cornwallis had taken office 
at a time when the Society was cer- 
tainly in somewhat low water, and his 
position during the time that he occu- 
pied the Presidency, which post he 
had held for a longer period than any 
preceding President, was certainly no 
sinecure. He had had a great deal of 
hard work to do during his term of 
office, and he had got the Society out 
of the low water and out of trouble, 
and he (Mr. Beaumont) thought that 
Lord Yarborough and future Presi- 
dents would have great cause to thank 
Mr. Cornwallis. 
Dr. Gillespie then put the motion 
to the meeting, and it was carried by 
acclamation. 
Mr. Cornwallis thought that Dr. 
Gillespie and Mr Beaumont had quite 
over-estimated any services which he 
had been able to render the Society. 
He could only say that he could wish 
for no greater honour than to be in- 
cluded amongst the list of Presidents 
of the Royal Agricultural Society, and 
if during his year of office in that 
capacity he had helped the Society in 
any way, he could only say that it had 
been one of the most pleasant years of 
his life. He had received the greatest 
possible kindness from every Member 
of the Council. One and all of them 
had determined that the Society should 
proceed, if work was able to do it, and 
he felt that in handing over his duties 
to such a capable successor as Lord 
Yarborough, the Society would go on 
and flourish, and he had no fear that 
any troubles — financial or otherwise— 
would affect the future of their great 
Society. 
The work that fell upon the Council 
was only a portion of the task. The 
real hard work fell upon the staff, 
the head of which was Mr. McRow, 
who had rendered such devoted ser- 
vice to the Society. Mr. McRow gave 
that service to the Society out of the 
fulness of his heart, and no effort was 
spared on his part to do anything to 
secure progress ; and that energy and 
enthusiasm had infected the whole 
of the staff. He thanked them very 
heartily for originally electing him 
their President, and also for the kind 
way in which they had recognised his 
humble services in that capacity. 
The proceedings then terminated. 
