June 8, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
997 
therefore, it could not he expected that he would 
fully represent the spirit of any such remarks. 
It was not the right thing that any one should control 
the reporting of the debates who was deeply interested 
in the proceedings, and who might take a leading posi¬ 
tion with regard to any question at issue For these 
reasons he thought it not desirable that they should con¬ 
tinue with their present imperfect system of reporting. 
He was not unaware of the fact as a member of one 
year’s standing on the Council that there were practical 
difficulties in the way, and he was not bringing forward 
this resolution with the intention of catching a division 
or of in any way hampering their proceedings; but he 
looked upon this Council as something more than a de¬ 
bating society, and he did not wish the question to be 
argued on matters of detail, but simply on abstract 
grounds. He had seen the difficulties and dangers to 
which they were exposed ; and he was most anxious in 
bringing this matter forward that, whilst affirming the 
principle that being a representative and administrative 
and deliberating body they ought to be fully reported 
to those whom they represented, still he wished that 
every safeguard which the Council might deem neces¬ 
sary should be interposed to prevent any inconvenience 
arising. He was aware that a great distinction must be 
made between public and private business. In order 
that the matter should be decided upon principle and 
not on mere matters of detail, he would propose that the 
matters to be reported should be only of a public cha¬ 
racter; and, moreover, in order that the manner of 
carrying that out should be such as was most in the 
interests of the Society, he would move that a commit¬ 
tee be appointed to report to the Council as to the best 
mode, of carrying out the principle he desired to affirm. 
He did not wish the Council to be led into the slightest 
personal inconvenience, and was aware that these matters 
required great caution. If the Council thought that 
with these safeguards which he had enumerated, the 
principle should be affirmed that matters to be reported 
should be simply matters of public interest and not pri¬ 
vate, and that a committee should be appointed to decide 
as to the best form of carrying out the resolution, he 
thought every practical difficulty would be obviated, and 
he desired this motion should be decided upon principle. 
Before sitting down, as he felt very strongly upon this 
matter, he would urge upon every member not to be 
afraid of their own shadows, but to have the courage 
to let whatever opinions they expressed be published in 
the Press the next day. 
The President said Mr. Betty' seemed rather to have 
departed from the words of his resolution, inasmuch as 
he now proposed the appointment of a committee. 
Mr. Betty said he should stick to the words of his 
resolution, but in order that the debate should not take 
place upon matters of detail, he added that if the prin¬ 
ciple were affirmed, he would propose the appointment 
of a committee to carry it out. 
Mr. Brown suggested that the resolution should be 
modified, and stand thus :— 
“That it is desirable that such reporter, or reporters, 
as the Council may desire to invite be allowed the 
opportunity of reporting the proceedings.” 
Mr. Betty said perhaps that would be the more con¬ 
venient way of doing it, and he would accept the sug¬ 
gestion. 
Mr. Williams said he could go with Mr. Betty this 
length, that the reports should be published more fully' 
than they had been, but did Mr. Betty wish to have 
other reporters admitted ? and if so, how many, and how 
would he have any control over such other reports ? 
Mr. Betty said the Council would invite such re¬ 
porters as they thought fit. 
Mr. Hampson said he would second the resolution 
with great pleasure. For a considerable time he had 
felt that the proceedings of the Council were not re¬ 
ported satisfactorily either to themselves or to the 
members at large. Opinions were expressed at the 
Board of really vital importance, affecting the trade at 
large; and he thought the trade had a right to know 
what members representing them said upon the subjects 
under discussion. However anxious the two or three 
individuals might be who, as Mr. Betty termed it, had 
to filter the report, to do so fairly it was utterly im¬ 
possible for them if they took any interest in the question 
under discussion, to give a fair and honest report. But 
it was of great importance that matters which took place 
from month to month should be ventilated immediately 
and not allowed to accumulate, but that the opinions of 
those outside should be expressed upon them as they 
arose throughout the country', and they could then be 
much better decided. A man might not be able to 
express himself in fine language, and would not be 
reported at length, but half-a-dozen words would really 
give the pith of his argument, and this might have- an 
effect upon other minds, whereas if it was simply stated 
that he seconded a resolution, or voted for this or that, 
it was impossible for the members outside to know any¬ 
thing about what his opinions were. This he believed 
was one great cause of those extraneous organizations of 
which they had heard, and which some gentlemen had 
such an objection to. He did not think there was a 
gentlemen present who really objected to the principle 
involved, although it was a new thing, and many new 
things were unpleasant, still, under the Pharmacy Act, 
they now had to make regulations as to matters which 
affected the whole trade, and they' were bound to give 
the members at large the full benefit of their delibera¬ 
tions. 
Mr. Sandford said he was one who certainly was of 
the contrary' opinion on this point. Mr. Betty' had 
talked a great deal about filtering the reports ; but he 
could tell him there had been no filtering of an objec¬ 
tionable kind, and if Mr. Betty' had read through the 
shorthand-writer’s notes from the beginning of the year 
to the end, he was quite certain he would have filtered 
them as extensively as had been done. He (Mr. Sand- 
ford) had had a great deal to do with this matter, 
and he felt that the reporting had been done honestly, 
and that there had been nothing suppressed which 
any one gentleman present would say ought to have 
been inserted. "When it was said that it was im¬ 
possible for the President, who would take one view,, 
to fairly represent the views of a gentleman who 
took the opposite side, it was forgotten that it was quite 
possible that another gentleman on the Committee 
might hold the opposite view; and therefore both side3 
would be fully represented. Gentlemen who ■ had 
been sitting on the Council even for one year must 
know that there was an immense amount even of what 
might be called public business which was not suitable 
for publication. There were many matters coming up 
affecting different individuals which it would be most 
injurious to publish, at any rate when they were first 
mentioned. Therefore, there were many matters of 
really public business which must be carefully and only 
partially reported; but he would move, as an amend¬ 
ment, 
“ That a Committee be appointed to consider the ad¬ 
visability of admitting other reporters to the meet¬ 
ings of this Council, and that the shorthand-wnter s 
notes of the past year be put into the hands of the 
Committee, in order that it may' be seen whether 
any matter which it would have been desirable to 
publish has been suppressed.” 
He felt that any Committee, looking over those notes, 
would feel as the President and Vice-President and he 
had felt,—that they had reported everything which ought 
to be reported. Other members of the Council had been 
present on several occasions,—for instance, Mr. Bottle and 
Mr. Mackay',—and they would be able to say that there 
