lxviii 
Monthly Council , August 1, 1905. 
was quite sure that the great body of 
Members were strongly of opinion that 
the Show should go on by some means 
or other, and he hoped that the 
Committee would be able to indicate 
in what way it could be carried on. 
Sir Walter Gilbey felt that he 
must disabuse Mr. Stratton’s mind on 
one point. He was certain that they 
could not increase their income by 
increasing the entry fees for the Show. 
He was persuaded that few even of 
those present were aware of the great 
cost that every agricultural show 
entailed. He had the honour of being 
President of the Society for the 
Leicester Show, and he thought it 
would surprise them to know how 
much money was locally subscribed. 
No Society existed without subscrip- 
tions or support by means of voluntary 
contributions, and no Show had been 
self-supporting or could beheld without 
assistance and outside subscriptions 
from the residents in the cities and 
towns visited. 
Mr. Stratton remarked that this 
assistance could not now be obtained. 
Sir Walter Gilbey (continuing) 
said that thousands of pounds could 
be obtained, but what was every one’s 
business was nobody’s business. He 
had taken some little trouble, and had 
found no difficulty in getting a large 
number of new Members. 
Mr. Harrison said he had supported 
the Show going to Park Royal this 
year, as they were aware, although at 
the present time he was in favour of 
the migratory Shows; and he would 
like to explain why he supported 
going to Park Royal this year. It 
would be in the remembrance of many 
Members that they had called a 
meeting of the implement exhibitors 
to consent or otherwise to a Show 
being held. The only possible place 
at which a Show in 1905 could be held 
was Park Royal, and, after some 
difficulty, the implement exhibitors 
decided to go there. He might say 
now, however, that he feared Park Royal 
would not receive the same support 
again from implement exhibitors. 
He thought that if any sensible man 
would look at the facts, he would see 
that Park Royal as a site for the Show 
was doomed. With respect to migra- 
tory Shows, he was not at all in 
agreement with Sir Walter Gilbey. 
He (Mr. Harrison) was fully of opinion 
that if they went back to the country, 
and associated themselves with the 
county societies, they would get invita- 
tions to hold the Show in the country. 
Whilst they were in a particular 
county they would get support which 
they had not had in the past. The 
great question was finance, and the 
acquisition of new Members. To his 
mind, the Show was the practical 
expression of the Society, and if the 
Show did not exist, the membership 
would fall down, and Hanover Square 
could not exist. The administrative 
expenses might be said to be a perennial 
question, but it was a vital question. 
He agreed with a previous speaker 
that the new Council would have 
to act very drastically with the 
expenditure at Hanover Square. 
Economies might very well be made 
without effecting either the utility or 
efficiency of the Society, and the sooner 
the new Council tackled that important 
question the better. With regard to 
the question- of entry fees mentioned 
by Mr. Stratton, many of the stock 
exhibitors got large prizes, but not all 
of them, and many showed for the 
advantage of the different breeds. 
The implement people, of course, went 
to the Show for business ; but so far as 
any future Show was concerned, he 
believed that the implement space 
could be curtailed with advantage, 
and the exhibitors would be prepared 
to pay proportionately higher fees for 
less space. 
He could say at once that he knew 
of five or six towns where there was a 
site available for the Show, if they 
would go back to the provinces. Park 
Royal, was, he hoped, their great asset. 
Although they might not hold another 
Show at Park Royal, they should try to 
retain the land at Park Royal as a 
land speculation, and he believed that 
even with the interest paid, by the time 
the right of pre-emption expired, they 
would get such a sum as would leave 
a good profit. He was quite in agree- 
ment with the suggestion that fell from 
Mr. Bowen- Jones that a Committee 
of both new and old Members should 
be formed to go into the question of 
the Society’s position, and he believed 
that after the fullest consideration they 
