ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS. 
423 
Mr. Lawson said that the voting was by ballot now ; but he wished the 
system to be entirely altered and reorganised. At present it was very 
easy for a man to put a cross at the name after the one he intended to 
put it, and often they could not tell for whom the vote was given. 
Mr. Taylor .—You would still have each member to sign his paper with 
his name ? 
Mr. Lawson. —Decidedly. 
Mr. Taylor .—And that the type should be larger ? 
Mr. Lawson. —Yes; and that the way they voted for a Parliamentary 
candidate should be followed in the voting paper. It was plainer and 
more legible than the present system. 
Mr. Greaves , Manchester, said that he saw the force of Mr. Lawson’s 
remarks, but no system that could be adopted was perfect. The voting 
papers sent out in the election of Members of Parliament were open to 
the same objection as had been urged (cries of “No, no ”). There were 
many cases where the cross was put between two names, and you could 
not tell which party the cross was intended for. He thought he must 
be a very stupid man who could not understand the directions given on 
the voting paper; but so it was, and there would continue to be mistakes. 
With reference to one of the subjects brought before them, the sending 
out of the voting papers, he had to complain that they had not been 
sent out in that due form that they ought to have been. He had 
a friend who had resided at the same place for forty years, and he 
did not get his voting-paper till the 27th, while it ought to have been 
returned on the 25th. Other members did not get theirs till the 27th. 
He hoped the same thing would not occur at the next Annual Meeting. 
With reference to Mr. Dollar’s resolution, the question was discussed at 
the Council as to what should be the nature of the offence of the person 
who should be excluded from the profession, and he might tell them that 
it occupied a good deal of time. The various points were fairly dis¬ 
cussed, and it was thought best to leave it as it now stood in the rules. 
They might depend upon it that it must be a heinous charge against a 
veterinary surgeon that would exclude him from the profession. The 
Council had guarded against it if it were to be carried out unfairly. 
They must have two thirds of the members present before any action 
was taken, and then three fourths of those present must be in favour of 
any action being taken before it could be done ; so that it must come 
before a full Board before action could be taken, and the Council was 
not a body that would exclude a man if there was not sufficient reason 
for doing so. Perhaps there might be two or three cases in a man’s 
lifetime, where a person had proved himself to be a disgrace to his pro¬ 
fession. It was right that they should have power to exclude men from 
the profession who were unworthy of the name (applause). There was 
one other subject to which he would refer, and which had been alluded 
to by Professor Walley—namely, the Matriculation Examination. He did 
not take the same view of the matter that the professor did. Pie thought 
it was right that the Council should have the power to examine or give 
the subjects for examination before a student entered the College schools. 
He had seen some instances of an absurd anomaly, where a student had 
been examined at one college and rejected. His education had been 
very limited, and he passed to some other college, where he was ad¬ 
mitted. Now, if the Council had the power of appointing the examiners, 
such an incongruity as that could not occur. They were getting such a 
position that they ought to improve themselves, if possible, and let them 
get better educated men into the profession. The time was when any 
man, let his education be ever so limited, was allowed to enter the 
