falj 14, 1887. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
25 
8°nt at the meeting were :—Sir Julian Gol Is ni l, M.P., wli» preside! ; Dr. 
(representing the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society); Dr. 
Masters; Messrs. G. Deal, H. J. Veitch, Penny, Wynne, R. Dian, S iirley 
Hibberd, Noble, Fraser, Laing, J. Fromow, D. T. Fish, W. Richards, 
ilerbst, Roberts, Wright, Udale, A. F. Barron, See. 
Mr. Deal read the report of the Provisional Committee :— 
1TO THE DONORS AND SUBSCRIBERS TO THE GARDENERS’ 
ORPHAN FUND. 
Ladies and Gentlemen,— 
, We, the members of the Provisional Committee, nominate 1 to con luot the 
Initiatory proceedings io connection with this Fund, hire now the pleasure to present 
”P° rt »▼hich is. in fact, an epitomise! statement of our labours, and will show how 
the idea or the "Gardeners’ Orphan Fund’’ originated, developed, anl step by step 
reaohe i its present proportions. 
Early in March last Mr. Penny, gardener to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, 
bandnogham ; Mr. Clayton of Grimston Hall, Tadoaster; and Mr. UJala, Elford Hall, 
Tam worth, suggests 1 in the horticultural papers thit the most fitting way for the 
Hardening community to commemorate Her Majesty's Jubilee would be to establish a 
<Jard sners Orphanage or Fund for the benefit of orphan children of gardeners. The idea 
met with approval, and a meeting was held March 24th in the Conservatory of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, South Kensington, to take into consideration the suggestion and 
the bes. means of furthering it. The subject having been fully discussed, a n solution 
was passed to the effect that it was desirable to establish snch a Fund, bat that it was not 
uisirable to purchase or erect any building as an Orphanage. It was further resolved to 
appoint a Provisional Committee to prepare a scheme for carrying out theobjects of the 
meeting, and the following gentlemen were nominated Dr. Masters ( Gardeners' 
LA-ontc e), Mr. Shirley Hibberd (Gardeners' Magazine), Mr. Deal (Weeks & Co , Chelsea) 
Mr. James Douglas, Great Gearies, Ilford, Mr. 0. Penny, Sandringham, Mr. C. H. 
Sharmaui (James Carter & Co.. Holborn), Mr. J. H. Veitch, Chelsea; Mr. J. Roberts. 
Gnnnersbury Park; Mr. J. Woodbridge, Syon House; Mr. A. F. Barron. Chiswick; Mr. 
K. Dean. Ealing; Mr. J. Matthews, Weston-snper Mare; Mr. J. Wright ( Journal of Ho -- 
luulture) ; Mr.B. S. Williams, Holloway; Mr. W. Richards ( Gardeners' Chronicle), and 
Mr. B. Wynne (Gardening World). 
This Committee held its first meeting on March 25th, and again met on April 12th, 
when the members present (after first agreeing to defray preliminary expenses should 
the scheme fail to mature), discussed the lines npon wbiok ths Fund should be organise! 
and oondnoted. A circular letter was drawn up and widely circulated, with a view of 
testing the feeling of gardeners respecting the pnposals. The result was highly gra¬ 
ta Jlng. Inasmuch ae in a short time promises of support were received in the form of 
donations and subscriptions to the amount of £400. By May 24th the amount had 
reached nearly £600, and now exceeded £980. 
At a meeting of the Committee held on the last mentioned date, the progress made 
9uffloi8ntl J sa'isfactory to wa-rant ths calling of a public m 'eting to 
establish the Fund. It was therefore resolved to convene such mseting for July 12th 
and a sub commit'es was appointed to make the necessary arrangements, also to draw up 
rules ana regulations for the general minagement of tha Fund. 
This sub committee, consisting of Messrs. Barron, Deal, Dean, Roapell, Woodbridge. 
•Vright, and Wynne, at once proceeded to consider and revise the draft rules submitted 
by the Chairman, which, after much anxious consideration, were agreed to, and are now 
T .commended to the subscribers for adoption. 
.. J 118 Committee have been much encouraged in their labours by the fact that so 
distinguished a friend to horticulture as Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bart., M.P., &c., has 
ndly consentel to accept the office of President, and trust that the donors and 
in generM* cor “ 1 *^J endorse this seleotion, and approve the initiatory proceeding! 
In conclusion, the Committee beg to offer their best thanks to the subscribers ani 
ad who have so kindly given them their assistance and support. 
The Chairman : It becomes my duty as Chairman of the meeting to-day 
to move the adoption of the report and of the rules which are recoam°nded 
to you by the Provisional Committee. I have just looked at their minute 
book, and I see that they have held nine meetings, and consequently it is 
obvious that they have carefully considered the various questions which 
they have had to deal with, because, as they are all business men, and know 
the value of time, I am sure they would have been unwilling to spend time 
over nine meetings unless it had been necessary to mature the proposal 
they put before you. The proposal is one which recommends itself to every- 
•one who has an eye to nature, I think that we shall all agree that the 
.gardeners of to-day offer us beuitiful objects to look at, which in former 
diys were almost unknown. I was looking, for in 3 tanc:, just now at that 
wonderful collection of Begonias downstairs. When I was a boy I think 
■many of these were not known at all, and consequently onr forefathers lost 
, ® advantage and beauty of those splendid objects. So, in the same way, 
•a 1 through the different classes of p'ants you will find th it won ierful 
improvements have been made by the able gardeners of to day. I am quite 
sure that the gardeners who look after these things which are so beautiful, 
•ought also to look after themselves and their fam lies. (Hear, hear.) Now. 
.every one of us is liable to sickness, and of course now and then the head of 
the family is removed, and his children are left to battle with an eager and 
a greedy world. Just as it is the duty of those in other trades and occupa¬ 
tions of life to endeavour to provide for their posrer neighbours and for 
the orphans of those removed from them in an untimely manner, so I be¬ 
lieve those who originated this idea were right in saying that it is in the 
•same way the duty of gardeners to provide for those connected with them 
who are placed in similar unhappy circumstances. We all know that there 
is an excellent Society ca'led the Gardeners’ Benevolent Society, which 
dooks after gardeners when they are broken down and cease to be able to 
take their share in their work ; but there ha3 hitherto been no organisation 
to provide for the children of those who were suddenly removed by death • 
it' ” to fill up this gap, to avoid in future the risks and the diffi juries 
■that the children of gardeners who die are naturally exposed to, that it his 
been dec ded to establish the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. It is in promotion 
•ot this organisation thit the Provisional Committee have c illed you here 
to-diy. I have much pleasure in presiding at this meeting, and am glad to 
be able to ask you to adopt this report and to accept the rules which are 
.recommended to you. Of course, I do not say that the rules now proposed 
to you are the most ideally perfect that can be prepared, but I do say that 
an every institution it is desirable to have ru'es. These have been carefully 
•considered. If in the course of a fear years’ experience i’. is found by the 
i?i m ? ltte0 manages this Institution that any modification is desir¬ 
able, I am sure they will be prepared to recommend them to the subscribers. 
At the same time, I think we cannot do better than adopt the rules which 
they recommend to us, for they have very carefully prepared them, after 
having consid-red the various points broaght befo e them by their Chair¬ 
man and others. Consequently I have much pleasure in moving the adop¬ 
tion of the report an 1 the rules. (Cheers.) 
Mr. Penny seconded the motion, and said he thought that they would a'l 
feel that they were now placed in a much different position to what they 
were o i the 25fch March, when they met in the c onservatory, without any 
rules and without any money. Since then the object for which they met 
had, to a great exten’, been achieved, and he expressed the hope that the 
Institution would goon and prosper, and make as much progre : s ia the 
future as it wis already miking. In endeavouring to further the interests 
of the Institution he hid met with a wonderful amount of kindness. With 
ref rence to the rules, the Committee hat work d very hard in order to 
make them what they were. Hs wished, however, to stite that if anyone 
who heard him or nrglit read what he said, had any suggestion to mike, if 
he would write to the Secretary those suggestions would receive proper con¬ 
sideration. He hoped those who did not join the Society would not find fau't 
with them, butif anyone had a suggestion to make for the imorove nent of 
the o-g .nisation, he had no doubt that those suggestions would be well con¬ 
sidered. (Cheers). 
Mr. Shirley Hibberd sa'd he wished to make an observation in r fer- 
ence to rules 9 and 10, anl what he ha 1 to say woull not be likely to divide 
the meeting. The smallest thing was of importance in an affiirof this sort. 
In ru e 9 it was provided that a charge of one shill'ng should be charged for 
a copy of the annual report, balance sheet, and list of subscribers. It had 
occurred to him that a penny would be a more reasonable charge. That 
was a small matter, but the next thing was from his point of view of con¬ 
siderable importance. It was provided that the annual meeting was to be 
held in February. That seemed to him to b s fatal to i s success. Meetings 
ia Febru ary in Loudon did not succeed as one c iuld w.sh. Men of years did 
not attend them wherever they might live. Men who lived in th 3 country 
would not attend them, for it was not a time for travelling. He therefore 
suggested th it they should fir the price of reports at a penny, and that the 
annual meeting should be held in May instead of Februa-y. 
Mr. Roupell was very sorry to have to disagree with Mr. Hibberd. He 
had found in practice that no objection was nude to paying for th •. report 
and list of subscribers. Anyone who applied for a copy with so ne business¬ 
like object would not object to pay a shilling for it; and he hid never fouad 
any complaints made ou the part of such applicants because they had to pay 
for the report. As to the time of meeting, that of course was a subject for 
consideration. Many of the charities held meetings in the beginning of 
the year, and generally they got a good attendance. He did not know any 
better place to meet in than London, in the month oE February. 
M 1- . D. T. Fish objected to the mode of election provided by rule 12 in 
the case of candidates for the benefits of the Institution. Tae system, he 
knew prevailed in other similar institutions, includ ng the Gardeners’ Bene¬ 
volent Institution, and he hai had some experience of this mode of election 
by the votes of subscribers. He thought that the system led to a great deal 
of abuse in the administration of such charities. He saw a statement made 
the other day by a society that was trying to abolish tlrs mods of election, 
that at least one-third of the benefits were paid ia postage and canvassing. 
He thought that in establishing this new Institution, the promotion of wh : cb 
reflected great credit upon those who initiate 1 it, they should considsr 
whether it was not practicable to abolish this mole of election and allow 
the Committse to elect ths candidates. Aocording to the ru’e the Com¬ 
mittee were to select a list of candidates, and he thought the selection by the 
Committee would be the same as if th y ha 1 actually elected the candilate 3 . 
(No, no.) As they had gone so far in giving the Committee thit power, 
he did not see that they should not go a step further, because he had no 
doubt that the Committee who would administer the fund woull be high'y 
influential and thoroughly representative. His experience in tlree institu¬ 
tions with which he was connect sd was that the result of canva sing and 
bartering and higgling about the votes was that the most deserving candi¬ 
dates were not elect d. He would far rather trust to such a holy as he 
knew would be elected by thi3 Institution than to the votes of subsc ibers. 
He had hearl it said that a good miny subscribers would not subscribe if 
they hid not the pow r of voting. All he could siy was that it wouid be a 
great relief to him if he were not pestered with applications in reference to 
his votes. 
Mr. Deal said perhaps as C lairman of the Provisional Committee he 
might be expected to say a worl or two upoi the rules. He would tike 
Mr. Shirl y Hibberd’s objection first, with reference to piying one shilling 
for the report and list of subscribers. Hs thought it was very well known 
that whenever an application was made for the rules and list of sub tcriosrs 
of any institution it was generally for the purpose of getting the list of 
subscribers and not so much for the rules. Tae Committee had wished as 
fir as possiole to check any unlne expense which might be thrown upsn 
the fund in printing these rales. They must bear in mind that even the 
first issue would be at a considerable cost. They ha 1 700 names to put into 
the book; they hal the repert, the list of otdi :ers, and the rep ere of the 
meeting, and to issue all that for the nominal sum of a penny would be 
throwing a considerable cost upon the Fund. He was quite prepared, if it 
were thought advisable, to agree to presenting reports to a certain number 
of the leading subscribers, but he assured them that they would be con¬ 
siderable losers by the transaction if they charged only a penny for a copy. 
The matter hai been thoroughly threshed out by th? Oimurttae, and he 
hoped the meeting would adhere to the one shilling. With regard to hold¬ 
ing the annual meeting in February, ha was wd iag to agree to ths altera¬ 
tion suggested by Mr. Hibberd, and te hold the meeting in Mty. With 
regard to the mode of election, that hal received the serious consideration 
of the Com nittee. It had been tho *oughly discussed, and arguments had 
been advanced pro and con. Other charities hal been ceasulted on the 
matter, and he might now siy in the briefest manner that, without 
exception, every person who had hid p'aetieal experience in p'omoting 
the welfare of suoh institutions, hai one aid all told him—and he tho ight 
he had the support of the Cemnittee in what he wis saying—thit, if 
they took away the voting from subscribers, they would tike away the 
interest, and if they took away the interest they would get no mmey. 
He was afraid that if they abolished tie rule it might give rise to the im¬ 
pression that the whole Institution was the property of the Comm ttee, and 
that subscribers who lived at Carlisle or N swoastte woull have very little 
to say in the matter. Hi was for spreading the Dower of voting through¬ 
out the length and breadth of the land. He wa 3 therefore against 
abolishing the rule, and was decidedly in its favour. ' 
