lxiv Annual General Meeting of Governors and Members, 
from the soil, and who were not on 
that list. He spoke to the various 
men that he knew well who were not 
Members of the Society, and nearly 
all of them stated they had not been 
asked to join the Society, and wanted 
to know what they would gain by 
doing so. These advantages ought to 
be clearly set forth, and men like those 
he had mentioned should be shown 
the value of giving this national or- 
ganisation their hearty support. For 
himself, although he had been con- 
nected with agriculture a great many 
years, he had not been invited to join 
the Society, but one day he wanted a 
sample of water analysed, and he was 
told he could get it done at half price 
if he became a Member. 
Although they had much “ new 
blood” on the Council, there were 
a number of important agriculturists 
who might desire to show their interest 
in the Society’s work, and he sug- 
gested that the Members of the 
Council in each division should form 
a committee of the most important 
agriculturists and stockbreeders in 
their division for the purpose of hear- 
ing their views. Each Member of 
Council would then attend the ordinary 
meetings of the Council with the views 
of the best men in his division in his 
mind. The Members of the new 
Council could act as chairmen and 
secretaries of these committees. He 
did not agree with Col. Ince’s sugges- 
tion that their fine building should 
be disposed of, but advocated its 
retention, as surely they wanted to 
recruit and to increase. (Hear, hear.) 
His idea was that the gentlemen he 
had mentioned should act as recruiting 
committees, and no doubt each county 
should provide another 100 Members. 
This would increase their revenue, and 
instead of their having but 10,000 
Members, they ought to muster 50,000. 
Their building might be formed into 
an excellent club, where farmers could 
meet and discuss agricultural affairs, 
and the Members of which could have 
for one guinea as good accommodation 
as other clubs could provide for seven 
or eight guineas. 
Mr. E. Packard said at a previous 
meeting he had suggested that the 
Secretary should undertake the editing 
of the Journal, and he wished to know 
what had been done in this direction. 
The work of the Society ought to be 
carried out on business lines, because 
they could not go on with the work 
as in recent years if they wished to 
make the Society a success. He did 
not in the least agree with the last 
speaker as to the question of remain- 
ing in their present building. He was 
confident that if the new Council 
began with that idea the Society would 
lose much support. If their Members 
could be satisfied that the Council 
were intending to meet the present 
state of the Society’s affairs in a 
businesslike and more modern way, 
they would not only get new Members, 
but keep their old ones. He was 
moreover convinced that a large body 
of the Life Members of the Society, if 
they saw that the new Council were 
intending to proceed on these lines, 
would throw over what they were 
entitled to as Life Members and be- 
come ordinary Members of the Society. 
Their Society was the national 
Society, which all the world looked 
up to in regard to the breeding of 
stock and the manufacture of imple- 
ments. As to Park Royal, from 
inquiries he had made he was confident 
that it had been a greater success than 
any other locality in which the Society 
had held a Show. He did not, however, 
wish to debate whether Park Royal 
should be retained by the Society, or 
not ; but it was a question as to 
whether Park Royal had not been 
most useful to the Members of the 
Society. He had heard it suggested 
that for a time Park Royal should be 
thrown overboard, and that the Society 
should restrict itself to the scientific 
side of agriculture. This, however, 
was being dealt with by their County 
Councils, by their experimental sta- 
tions, and by the Board of Agriculture. 
He hoped that the Society would still 
go on with its inquiries, but he held 
that, after all, in the interests of 
agriculture, the Show of the Royal 
Agricultural Society was of paramount 
importance. He ventured to hope 
that drastic economies would be at 
once taken in hand, and the Society 
thus placed upon a firm and sure 
footing. 
Mr. H. M. Simmons advocated re- 
duction of expenses, and suggested 
