306 TlMEHRI. 
ment that there should be a reduction of 25 per cent, on 
the present rates of subscription. 
The amendment was not seconded. 
Mr. Hodgon ssaid, he should vote against the motion, 
especially as he wished to support the directors, who he 
believed had done honest work for the society, although, 
perhaps, with one or two matters they had not carried 
out the objects for which the society was primarily 
formed, notably the offering of premiums for Agri- 
cultural purposes which heretofore had been left to the 
generosity of a few individual members. 
Mr. Davis said that Mr. Hodgson had complained that 
the motion brought forward by Mr. Garnett took rather 
the form of a vote of censure on the board of Directors ; 
but so far from this being so, the censure came from Mr. 
Hodgson himself who had pointed out that the Directors 
had negle6ted to offer premiums for certain objects, or 
to establish an experimental garden, as provided for by 
one of the bye-laws. He was not aware that the Direc- 
tors had ever carried out this bye-law, and it seemed to 
him that this point that had been raised at the present 
meeting as well as at a former one, was very much like 
a red herring being drawn across the trail. Un- 
doubtedly this society had been suffering from being 
over rich, — disgustingly so. According to the state- 
ment laid over at last meeting, the cash in hand on the 
30th June was $1,463, while the arrears of subscriptions 
amounted to $5,163. Adding these sums to the $900, 
which were lent for a purpose that had been named, and 
to the $1,900, lost by Messrs. Ridgway's failure, the 
total was $9,426. So that if the finances had been care- 
fully managed, the Society should have had £2,000 at its 
