» 
Monday , May 22, 1905. 
li 
A Special Committee, of which he 
had been Chairman, devoted a great 
deal of time and trouble throughout 
the winter and spring in preparing 
the series of bye-laws designed to 
give effect to the desire, which had 
been expressed, that the system of 
appointing the Council should be 
placed upon a more representative 
basis. It was hardly possible to hope 
that any scheme of representation 
should be free from inequalities ; but 
after mature deliberation the Council 
decided to make each of the counties 
of England, whatever its size and 
number of Members, an electoral 
district, with the provision explained 
in Bye-law 79 for further represent- 
ation of counties in which there was 
a considerable number of Members. 
He was glad to see, from the com- 
ments made in the Agricultural Press, 
that these proposed bye-laws seemed 
to be regarded as satisfactory, and if, 
as he hoped, they should be sanctioned 
substantially in the form in which 
they had been prepared by the 
Council, they could come into force 
practically immediately, and the 
election of the new Council could 
take place in July. 
Consideration of New Bye-laws. 
The meeting then proceeded to 
consider a series of new bye-laws 
relating to “ General Meetings of the 
Society and the proceedings at such 
meetings, the constitution of the 
Council, divisions of the Society, and 
other matters, prepared by the Council 
and proposed to be enacted under the 
powers conferred by the Society’s 
Supplemental Charter of April 1, 
1905.” It was explained that the 
existing code of bye-laws, passed on 
December 12, 1888, being numbered 
1 to 56, were not materially affected 
(except as to the method of election 
to the Council) by the new bye-laws, 
which had therefore been numbered 
from 57 to 93. Bye-laws 57 to 77 
were then passed without question. 
Upon Bye-law 78, which provided 
that the Members resident in each 
county should constitute a separate 
division, 
Lord Heneage moved that Lin- 
colnshire should be treated in the 
same way as the three Hidings of 
Yorkshire, each of which was regarded 
as a separate county. He presumed 
that when it had been decided to treat 
Yorkshire in this way, the Council 
had acted on the principle that each 
of the three Ridings of Yorkshire was 
a separate county. If so, he asked, 
why was not Lincolnshire treated on 
the same principle ? Lincolnshire 
consisted of three separate counties : 
the Parts of Lindsey, Kesteven, and 
Holland. Each had separate rating, 
each had separate Justices of the 
Peace, and were in exactly the same 
position as the Ridings of Yorkshire. 
Yorkshire was a large county, but if 
it was a matter of principle, each 
county should be taken by itself — 
even a small county like Rutland. 
He thought Lincolnshire was as much 
entitled to separate representation as 
Yorkshire. 
Earl Egerton of Tatton pointed 
out that if they took the number of 
Members in Yorkshire, the East 
Riding had 105, the West Riding 276, 
and the North Riding 167; whereas if 
Lincolnshire were divided into three, 
the whole of the Members would only 
number 229, which was less than the 
total in Cheshire, which was 283. If 
Lincolnshire were divided into three 
counties, with one member for each, 
then Cheshire, with more Members, 
ought also to be entitled to three 
Members of Council. 
Mr. John W. Dennis seconded 
Lord Heneage’s motion, and said that 
in the three divisions of Lincolnshire 
there were not only separate adminis- 
trations, but different agricultural 
interests involved. 
The President having put the 
motion, it was declared to be lost, 
only the mover and seconder voting 
for it, and Bye-law 78 was then 
passed. 
On Bye-law 79, which provided 
that each division of less than 300 
Members should be entitled to one 
Member of Council, and that each 
division of 300 or more Members 
should be entitled to elect two Mem- 
bers of Council for the first 300, and 
one additional Member of Council in 
respect of each 200 additional Mem- 
bers, 
Lord Heneage moved an amend- 
ment to substitute “ 200 ” for 300 ” 
