Report of Committee of Selection. 
Honorary Director, like those of 
Members of Council, had during 
the past few years been carried out 
under abnormal conditions, and had 
no doubt caused them, as they 
had caused him, considerable anxiety. 
He had, however, great gratification 
in feeling that it was in the power of 
the Council to entrust the Honorary 
Directorship to hands much more 
competent than his, and he felt sure 
that the assistance and support he had 
received might be depended upon by 
the future holder of the office. It 
was not to be expected that the 
ordinary Members of the Society 
could realise fully the extent to which 
the permanent staff had devoted them- 
selves in carrying out the work of the 
Society. It was only people who 
held the sort of position which he 
had occupied, and who thus came 
into close contact with the work of 
the permanent officials, that could 
adequately realise the extent and 
quality of the work which was 
expected of them, and which they 
had devoted to the service of the 
Society. He could honestly say that 
the chief members of the staff — he 
meant the Secretary, the Assistant 
Director, and the Superintendent of 
the Showyard — had not spared them- 
selves in the smallest degree ; they 
had done everything in their power, 
and their one idea had been the 
welfare of the Society. He had great 
faith in the future of the Society, and 
he was not one of those who thought 
that they ought to diminish their 
operations, but, if anything, that they 
should extend them. He trusted that 
under the new Council they might 
hope and expect that the ordinary 
Members of the Society would give a 
still greater support to it, for without 
such support their present operations 
could not be carried on. In conclusion 
he desired to say that it had been a 
high privilege to him to hold the 
office of Honorary Director, and also 
a great pleasure to him to work with 
his colleagues on the Council and 
with the permanent officials of the 
Society. He desired to return them 
all his very best thanks. (Hear, hear.) 
Sir John Thoeold said that the 
Committee of Selection had much 
satisfaction in announcing that Sir 
Jacob Wilson had, at the request of 
the Committee, expressed his willing- 
ness to act as Honorary Director for 
the Show of 1905, and they therefore 
unanimously recommended his appoint- 
ment in that capacity. 
Sir John Thorold having moved 
a formal resolution to this effect, 
Sir Nigel Kingscote said that it 
gave him very great pleasure as an old 
friend, and as the senior Member of 
the Council, to second the proposal. 
He felt sure that Sir Jacob Wilson’s 
acceptance of the duties of Honorary 
Director for the Show of 1905 would 
be received with the greatest satis- 
faction, both by the Members of the 
Society and by the exhibitors, and that 
under his able and experienced guid- 
ance everything possible would be 
done to make their forthcoming Show 
a success. 
The President, in putting the 
motion, said he did so with much 
gratification, and he felt that the 
Society at large would greatly appre- 
ciate the sacrifice Sir Jacob Wilson 
was making in accepting the duties of 
Honorary Director. 
The resolution having been carried 
by acclamation, 
Sir Jacob Wilson said that after 
the exceedingly kind and flattering 
remarks of the President, Sir Nigel 
Kingscote, and Sir John Thorold, he 
felt he must say a few words in 
acknowledgment. When Sir John 
Thorold had first approached him in 
the matter, and intimated that Mr. 
Crutch] ey was unable to continue the 
work of the office of Honorary Director, 
he had received the intimation with 
sincere regret and considerable surprise 
— regret, because, after the admirable 
manner in which Mr. Crutchley had 
conducted the duties of the office for 
several years in the face of the most 
depressing and disappointing con- 
ditions, he hoped he would continue 
to act as Honorary Director for this 
year, at all events. That, unfor- 
tunately, was not the case. But when 
Sir John Thorold further intimated 
that a desire had been expressed by 
the Committee of Selection that he 
himself would take up the position he 
confessed he was considerably sur- 
prised, as, after the number of years 
that he had served in that capacity, he 
