368 
RErOIlT OF ANNUAL MEETING. 
members of the College, and it was stated that, when the 
subject was brought before Parliament, the casting vote of 
the 8j)eaker was against them. It ought to he understood 
that that was a mere matter of form, and the Speaker per¬ 
sonally was in favour of the clause, against which in his 
official capacity he thought it expedient to vote. 
The President said that the members were aware of the 
state of things that had existed for some time past in re¬ 
ference to Scotland. Parties very strong in power had done 
all they could to oppose the onward progress of the pro¬ 
fession, inasmuch as they had adopted means for bringing 
into the profession persons who were not members of the 
Body Corporate. Various suggestions had been made from 
time to time, with the view of remedying that state of things, 
and for the last few years there had been a great disposition 
on the part of those in authority rather to work with the 
Council than against it. At the same time they were not 
perhaps free to take exactly the course which they desired; 
and the Council, believing that conciliatory measures were to 
be preferred to coercive ones, had thought it right to make 
some alterations in one of their bve-laws, to facilitate the exa- 
mination of the pupils of the Scotch schools by the board 
of the corporate body. The alterations were apparently 
not very considerable, but, nevertheless, they were found to 
have a beneficial effect. One alteration was to change the 
period of notice from fourteen days to seven, and another 
that of diminishing to some extent the amount of the fee. 
It Avas not to be denied that there was a great disposition 
on the part of gentlemen in the north to object to what the}" 
called London centralization. A secretary had accordingly 
been appointed to act for the Body Corporate, in the exami¬ 
nations for Scotland, and facilities had been given him for 
transacting the business which would come before the Scotch 
board. That too had had a beneficial effect, and the result was 
that a larger number of pupils had entered from the Scotch 
schools this year than on any previous occasion. 
Several speakers had referred to the necessity of increasing 
the supply of veterinary surgeons, and giving them facilities 
for obtaining support as practitioners. He was hap[)y to 
say that no fewer than ninety members had been admitted 
to the College this year, being one tenth part of the entire 
number on the register. Their admission would, of course, 
have an important bearing upon the finances of the College, 
but a greater one on the standing of the profession. The 
fees from the persons examined, about a hundred in number, 
produced an income of upwards of £700. 
