Tuesday , August 1, 1905. 
lxi 
during the next year of having at 
the head of their affairs a public 
naan of the exceptional experience 
and training of the Earl of Onslow. 
Lord Onslow’s great interest in 
agricultural matters generally was 
sufficiently manifested during his 
two years’ tenure of office as 
President of the Board of Agriculture. 
He was at first willing to undertake 
the office, but found on further con- 
sideration that the demands likely 
to be made upon his fully occupied 
time, especially under the present 
difficult circumstances of the Society, 
would interfere with his duties else- 
where, and he therefore asked to be 
excused from being proposed for the 
office of President ; but he (Sir John 
Thorold) was glad to say that they 
would have the advantage of Lord 
Onslow’s advice and assistance as an 
elected Member of Council. 
Under these circumstances it became 
necessary for the Committee of 
Selection (one of whose duties under 
the Standing Orders was to make a 
recommendation for the consideration 
of the Governors and Members as to 
the selection of a President) to enter 
into negotiations with other Governors 
as to their willingness to be nominated 
for the post ; and they might consider 
themselves fortunate in having been 
able to persuade Mr. F. S. W. 
Cornwallis, of Linton Park, Maidstone, 
to undertake the duties, if it should 
be the pleasure of this meeting to 
elect him as President. (Cheers.) 
Mr. Cornwallis had already had 
twelve years’ experience of the 
Society’s work as a Member of the 
Council. He had been a Steward of 
both Live Stock and Implements at 
the Shows, and he had served on 
Committees so varied in their functions 
as Finance, Journal, Botanical, Show- 
yard Works, and Education. In all 
these capacities he had won the 
esteem of his colleagues for his 
courtesy, patience, clear-headedness, 
and insight into affairs ; and these 
were peculiarly qualities that would 
be most valuable in the occupant of 
the Chair during the next somewhat 
critical year of the Society’s existence. 
He had, therefore, very much pleasure 
in proposing: “That Mr. F. S. W. 
Cornwallis be elected President of the 
Society, to hold office until the next 
ensuing Annual General Meeting.” 
Mr. Laurence Hardy, M.P., in 
seconding the motion, felt that he 
need add nothing to the terms in 
which the proposal had been made to 
elect Mr. Cornwallis as the Society’s 
President, because the Council would 
be already aware of his services to the 
Society in the past, and which were 
so much appreciated. But speaking 
as to his connection with his own 
county of Kent, there was nobody 
they would see with greater satis- 
faction as President of that Society 
than Mr. Cornwallis. Whether they 
turned to Mr. Cornwallis’s public life 
in connection with work on the 
County Council, or in lighter phases 
in connection with county cricket, 
with which he had always been 
associated, they always knew that 
they could rely on his common sense ; 
that he formed his own views and 
that he could express them and stick 
to them. At this critical time in the 
Society’s history, he (Mr. Hardy) felt 
sure that they could fix upon no 
better man to occupy the position of 
President. (Cheers.) 
Sir John Thorold then formally 
put the motion from the Chair, and 
declared Mr. Cornwallis to be unani- 
mously elected President of the 
Society. 
Mr. Cornwallis, m reply, said it 
would be impossible for him to find 
words adequately to express his 
appreciation of the compliment which 
the Society had paid him in electing 
him as President of the Society for 
the coming year. He felt, however, 
that both Sir John Thorold and. Mr. 
Laurence Hardy had spoken of his 
humble services within those walLs in 
far too appreciative a manner. ISTo 
one regretted more than he did that 
Lord Onslow had found it impossible, 
on account of the large amount of 
public business that would demand 
his attention, to accept office as 
President of the Society, as his 
services would have been extremely 
valuable in the present crisis of its 
history. When asked to accept the 
office of President himself, however, 
he felt that it was not a position 
which he could refuse, although he 
had the greatest possible hesitation in 
