340 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE 
Horse Guards , 13^ May, 1848. 
Sir, 
I have the honor, by desire of the Commander-in-Chief, to acknowledge 
the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant, and to acquaint you, in reply, that 
his Grace is quite satisfied with the existing arrangement for the nomination 
of gentlemen to the situation of Veterinary Surgeon, and does not consider 
it expedient to alter it. 
I have the honour to be, 
Sir, 
Your most obedient humble servant, 
Thos. Turner , Esq. Fitzroy Somerset. 
The Governors of the Royal Veterinary College, actuated, no 
doubt, by the desire of removing any apparent hostility between 
the Chartered Body and the Schools, obtained, through the in¬ 
fluence of one of their leading members, an interview between 
Mr. Coulson, the Government Solicitor, and your President and 
Treasurer. The result of that interview was laid before a Special 
Meeting of the Council: it was a demand that the bye-laws of 
the College should in every instance before coming into opera¬ 
tion, as is the case with the bye-laws of the Royal College of 
Surgeons, receive the approval of one of Her Majesty’s Secre¬ 
taries of State. After due deliberation, it w T as decided that, as 
the granting of this power would materially interfere with, if it 
did not entirely nullify, the powers of the Charter, it could not 
be acceded to. 
It will not be forgotten that at the termination of the Session 
1847-48, the bye-law requiring an apprenticeship certificate 
from the candidate was suspended for the session, it having 
appeared that several pupils had been entered at the Schools 
without having been made aware of such bye-law, and, conse¬ 
quently, not at all prepared to carry out its enactment; the con¬ 
sequence was, that here and in Edinburgh twenty-seven pupils, 
who otherwise would have been incapacitated from appearing 
before your Board, received their diplomas. 
The termination of the present Session of 1848-49 will have 
found several candidates placed in the same dilemma; and as 
the Council, while they are anxious for the general weal of the 
profession, are most desirous to avoid any thing like individual 
injury, they have renewed the suspension of bye-law 2 section 6 
for the present year. 
For some time past serious doubts have been entertained by 
certain Members of the Council, as well as by many of the body 
at large, as to the legality of the power exercised by the Council 
