3G0 
REPORT OF ANNUAL MEETING. 
and T. 11. Gowing, were elioseii Yiee-Presidents. W. H. 
Coates was also elected Secretary and Registrar. 
The most important event of the year is the attempt which 
was made to obtain from Parliament an immunity in favour 
of the Members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons 
respecting service as Jurors. The time which the Council had 
at its disposal was very limited, nevertheless a petition to the 
House of Lords was carefully prepared, embodying a clause 
praying for such an exemption to be added to a Bill then 
before Parliament. It was presented to the House by Lord 
Portman, and supported by many of the Lords. The Bill 
thus amended was passed and sent down to the Commons, 
where, on a division, the votes for and against retaining the 
clause were equal. It is to be regretted that the casting vote 
of the Speaker was, however, adverse, and the clause was 
consequently struck out of the Bill. 
This disappointment has not destroyed the CounciFs as¬ 
surance in the justice of the cause, but will, on the contrary, 
lead to renewed exertions and more matured organization on 
a future occasion. 
During the interregnum which took place between the 
retirement of the late Secretary and the appointment of his 
successor, the arduous duties of the office were voluntarih^ 
performed by Mr. Braby, the Treasurer; and the Council, 
thinking it would only be carrying out the wishes of the 
Body Corporate by offering a material acknowledgment of 
its obligations to that gentleman, presented him with a testi¬ 
monial consisting of a silver tea-service. 
The Council, ever anxious to give prominence to the Royal 
College of Veterinary Surgeons, as one of the institutions of 
the country, has deemed it advisable that the publishers of 
various directories should be supplied with correct lists of 
the members of the College. 
A new and revised edition of the Registor has been pub¬ 
lished, to which is added a County and also an Army List. 
These additions will doubtless meet with the approbation 
of all who are interested in, or affected by them. 
During the year a Committee of Inquiry has, with much 
difficulty, been able to prepare a statistical report, by which 
it will be seen that a vast amount of practice is still in the 
hands of unqualified practitioners, leaving the Graduates 
of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in a great 
minority. 
The statistical returns up to the present time show that 
the number of ^Members of the Royal College in practice in 
the United Kingdom is only 1018; while the number of 
