xlvi 
Monthly Council , April 5, 1905. 
general election instead of the plan 
which he now proposed. He there- 
fore took the only opportunity he had 
of bringing the matter before the 
Council, and made these remarks to 
show that he acted from no captious 
motive. He confessed that he was 
surprised to hear the decision at 
which the Committee had arrived. 
He himself had never expected that 
any departure would be made from 
the system which was adopted by 
Agricultural and Breed Societies 
throughout the country. 
The resolution, he was told, was 
based mainly on the fact that County 
Councils adopted the system of 
triennial elections. He failed to 
derive any satisfaction from the 
statement that this proposed system 
of trennial election was also adopted 
by the City and Guilds Institute. 
They (the Council) were not there to 
consider what was the best for County 
Councils and City Guilds, but they 
were there to do the best they could 
for their agricultural Members and 
the farmers of the country. The 
system which he now suggested, by 
which one-third of the Council would 
retire each year, had the great advan- 
tage of preserving continuity of 
action. It was the system adopted 
by the Highland Society, the Bath 
and West, the Royal Counties, the 
Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, 
and many other Societies with which 
he was familiar, and it was found to 
work very well. Then the Smithfield 
Club, one of the oldest Societies in 
the country, adopted the same system, 
and it worked harmoniously and well. 
It was the same thing with the 
Shorthorn Society, of which many of 
those present were members. The 
Shire Horse, Hackney Horse, Hunter 
and Polo Societies all adopted the 
same system, and he had yet to learn 
that there had been any dissatisfaction 
with regard to it. It was a guarantee 
for continuity of action in the work. 
He felt that under the triennial 
system, between one election and the 
next, Members would lose interest in 
the Society ; whereas by one-third 
going off annually, as it were, Members 
would keep their interest in it. What 
would be the practical effect on the 
staff and administration of a Society 
like theirs with an election coming 
on, as it would, every three years ? 
They would have to engage a special 
staff to do the work, and after an 
interval of three years a new staff 
might have to be educated to it. If, 
however, one-third retired at a time, 
it would go on automatically — every 
one would be accustomed to it and 
there would be no inconvenience. 
Up to the present time the Royal 
Agricultural Society had not been 
altogether in close harmony and touch 
with the other Societies throughout 
the country. He was anxious that 
the Society should be made as popular 
as possible, and that could only be 
done by working as closely as possible 
with the Agricultural and Breed 
Societies. They should row in the 
same boat in every possible way. He 
suggested that they should first discuss 
the principle of his amendment, which 
was that a third of the Members 
should retire annually, and that if his 
proposal were carried they should then 
decide upon the distribution of the 
Members into three districts in order 
to give effect to it. 
Sir Nigel Kingscote, in seconding 
the amendment, said he felt that the 
system of election suggested by Sir 
Jacob Wilson would work far better 
than sweeping the board every three 
years. 
Mr. Ralph Palmer, in opposing the 
amendment, hoped that the Council 
would not be led away by Sir Jacob 
Wilson’s eloquent arguments. The 
Members of the Committee had had 
the opportunity of persuading one 
another as to the best procedure to 
adopt, and they were unanimous in 
the recommendation which they had 
made. At the General Meeting held in 
January, the President had announced 
from the Chair that a triennial election 
of the whole Council was proposed by 
the Committee. It was to be a general 
election of the whole of the Members 
of the Council on County Council and 
Parliamentary lines, and every county 
was to return its own man. If they 
were to have such an election, and 
then after the first year only a third 
of the Members were to go out, how 
were they to get ( he increased vitality 
and popularity that were wanted ? 
Let them take the great Society of the 
