xli 
Wednesday , January 11, 1905. 
Sections (a), (&), (c), and (d) were 
passed. 
Mr. McLaren then moved, and 
Lt.-Col. Surgeon Ince seconded, the 
omission of Section (e) on the ground 
that it was unnecessary to empower 
the Council to co-opt Members. 
Mr. W. Cooper suggested that the 
number of Vice-Presidents should 
be limited. They became., ex-officio 
Members of the Council and might 
out-vote others. 
Mr. Harrison said the intention 
was that each county should elect its 
own Member. It therefore followed 
that in any district farmers would 
predominate and implement manu- 
facturers would undoubtedly be in 
the very lowest minority. Taking 
his own county of Lancaster, where 
under the new rules two Members 
might be allowed, farmers would 
naturally elect their own represen- 
tatives, and it was quite right that 
they should. But he might claim 
that the implement manufacturers 
were of some importance to the Royal 
Agricultural Society. When they 
considered that the exhibitors of 
implements and seeds subscribed 
£5,000 and did not ask much in 
return from the Society, he thought 
that Section ( e ) had some wisdom in 
it. If certain members could not be 
co-opted, it would be prejudicial to 
the Soci’ety. 
Mr. McLaren then withdrew his 
amendment, and Section (e) was 
passed. 
Mr. McLaren also proposed the 
omission of Section (/), but on Mr. 
Clarke’s explanation that the Society 
was not committed in any way by 
the provision, he expressed himself as 
satisfied and did not press the point. 
The draft Charter was then formally 
approved, subject to certain amend- 
ments of a legal character, suggested 
by the solicitors. 
The proceedings then terminated. 
Hbstracta from tbe iprocecbtngs of tbe Council. 
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1905- 
LORD MIDDLETON (PRESIDENT), IN THE CHAIR. 
Death of Mr. J. E. Ransome. 
The President, in opening the 
proceedings, said it was his melan- 
choly duty to announce the death, on 
Monday last, of their able and esteemed 
colleague, Mr. James E. Ransome, of 
Ipswich. Mr. Ransome joined the 
Society as a Member in 1861. He 
was elected a Member of Council 
in 1886, and since that time he had 
done good work for the Society as a 
Member of its Botanical, Implement, 
and Education Committees. He was, 
as they knew, a prominent represen- 
tative of the agricultural implement 
industry, and his co-operation as a 
Member of the Implement Committee 
was especially valuable. He took 
part in their discussions with great 
shrewdness and ability, and his loss 
would be deeply regretted by all his 
colleagues. 
At the suggestion of Mr. Howard, 
it was decided to send a letter of 
condolence with Mr. Ransome’s widow 
and family. 
Finance Committee. 
Sir Nigel Kingscote (Chairman) 
reported that an intimation had been 
received from Sir Walter Gilbey that 
in the event of the prize list for the 
Show of 1905 being increased from 
the amount proposed by the Stock 
Prizes Committee to the amount 
expended for prizes in 1903, he would 
guarantee the sum of 1,000/. towards 
this object from money subscribed by 
himself and his friends, on the under- 
standing that the Society would 
provide an additional sum of 500/. for 
this purpose. The Committee recom- 
mended that in the event of the 
Council deciding, in view of Sir 
Walter Gilbey’ s proposal, that the 
amount of the prizes to be offered by 
the Society this year should be the 
same as in 1903, the extra amount of 
money needed (with the 1,000/. sub- 
scribed by Sir Walter Gilbey and his 
friends) to make up the prize sheet to 
the 1903 standard should be provided 
by the Society. 
x 2 
