23 $ 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Jdly 26, 1859. 
tiou with the Royal Commissioners to he continued, and em¬ 
powers the Council to proceed to raise the sum required for the 
construction of a garden at Kensington Gore ; and, if the money 
should be obtained, to complete the arrangements.” 
The Duke of Leinster had great pleasure in seconding the 
resolution. He was at the last meeting and proposed the first 
resolution to the meeting, which had the effect of producing a 
most useful discussion. When he came to consider the locality 
of the proposed gardens, and the great object of having such a 
place within reach of so many people, and where every individual 
could go on such easy terms, he thought it was most important 
that that measure should be carried out without delay. With 
that feeling he should second the resolution. 
Mr. Grissell hoped that the Council would give the subject 
the best consideration possible. He looked upon the proposal 
of the Commissioners, especially the last, as not so favourable, 
on account of that right of re-entry, should the Society not be 
able to pay anything. He thought, at the least, that the five 
years' forfeiture should not take effect until after the expiration 
of the first lease. He looked upon the conditions as very hard, 
and thought the Society should not be placed in such a position 
by the Commissioners (hear, hear). If it should so happen 
that the income should be only sufficient to pay the expenses, 
it would be very hard to have to pay the interest on the money 
borrowed by the Royal Commissioners. 
The Secretary agreed with Mr. Grissell about the hard¬ 
ship of the right of re-entry, a clause -which was not in the 
first terms, and he saw no reason why it should be in the 
second. 
Mr. Holmes Godson said he was deputed by the Council to 
wait upon the Secretary of the Commissioners, in company 
with Mr. Dilke, and he did so. He must in justice say, that he 
found them open and candid; and he submitted to them that 
the terms in the lease would not be submitted to, either by the 
Fellows of the Society, or the public who found the money. 
Therefore, when it was proposed that the lease should ter¬ 
minate at the end of thirty-one years, they were reducing the 
value of a life membership, as many persons might live more 
than thirty-one years. . That was a point which the Com¬ 
missioners, some of whom were present, should understand. 
They proposed to spend £50,000, but the Commissioners did 
not tell them that they would allow the Society any share in 
the produce of the arcades, which would be erected and let out. 
If the Commissioners did make anything by the arcades, surely 
they would not—if they cleared £2,500 a-year that way—want 
the Society to pay £2,500 a-year for rent also. From the 
meeting of the Council yesterday he did not anticipate they 
would have more than £30,000 of the £50,000 to raise. With 
regard to the repayment of the £20,000 by the Commissioners 
of the Society’s debentures at the end of thirty-one years, 
and the renewal of the lease for thirty-one years more, he 
thought that would be but fair. As one gentleman had said, 
what would be the use of the gardens to the Society unless they 
derived advantages from them for the benefit of horticulture? 
With respect to Chiswick, they could not tell -what would be 
done until after the gardens at Kensington Gore had been 
erected. The terms were very good from the Duke of Devon¬ 
shire; and he thought if they continued they would be able to 
pay their debts in four or five years. He should like to know 
what security they had from the Royal Commissioners about the 
re-entry? 
The Secretary did not think so. With proper care, no 
doubt, much might be done; but when they only took £4000 
or £5000, and spent £9000, that was not the way to get out of 
the difficulty at Chiswick. They had now, he believed, the 
means within their own hands, and he would advise them to 
keep so. Societies must do what any man would who meant to 
pay his way—keep within his income. Whether that scheme 
took or not, there would be the Horticultural Society in a more 
flourishing condition than it had been for the last fifteen 
years (hear, hear). With respect to the security, he held there 
was every security that bound one society in honour to another | 
—every security that a society could give. 
Mr. Edmonds thought the horticulture of the British islands 
would be very much advanced, and so would the horticulture of 
the world, by the proposed gardens (hear, hear). Valuable 
plants would be introduced, and our vegetables would be very 
much improved. He had given his attention to it in the 
Council entirely with that view; he felt convinced throughout, 
and now more than ever, those results would follow. 
In answer to a question from what source they would pay 
) the interest on the debenture until the gardens were opened, 
i as they would not be ready for the next two years, the Chairman 
; said that there would not be more than £20,000 till then. (it 
course they would have to trust to future success to make it 
up. They would be sure to have something behind on starting; 
but he looked upon the opening as a great spectacle that would 
very likely reimburse the arrears of interest. 
Sir Joseph Paxton, M.P., said he was not clearly informed 
as to the new arrangements. He thought the last proposal 
was very much on the balance side of the Commissioners. The 
Commissioners were desirous of doing something for the benefit 
of the public ; and the Society was desirous of doing something 
for the benefit of horticulture (hear, hear). Unless it Vvero 
shown that the arrangement was for the common interest of the 
Society and the public, the piublic would not lend the, money. 
He w r ould recommend that the right of re-entry after the five 
years’ non-payment clause should be struck out. However, as 
‘ to the question of security for the repayment of the debentures, 
when the Commissioners said that at the end of thirty-one 
years, if they did not choose to renew the lease, they would take 
the responsibility of £20,000 of the stock, if that were not 
security he did not know what was (hear, hear). As to the 
five consecutive years for re-possession by the Commissioners, 
he held that it needed no lawyer to tell them that, if they only 
paid one year’s interest out of the five, they would be right 
enough. There was not much to be alarmed at in it after all; 
for they would be doing bad indeed not to be able to pay one 
year’s rent in five years. He should move for a further adjourn¬ 
ment of the meeting for a fortnight, to enable the Council to 
again communicate with the Commissioners. 
Mr: G. N. Hunter seconded the amendment. 
The Duke of Leinster, as a landed proprietor, thought that 
the terms were most extraordinarily favourable to the Society. 
He had a good deal to do in making out leases, and that was 
his exclamation -when he first saw the conditions. 
Mr. Grissell would rather take the former terms than the 
second ones. He was of opinion that the forfeiture clause 
would prevent people lending the money. 
The Chairman said, before putting the amendment he felt it 
important to state, as President, that whatever was done by the 
meetidg the members of the Council only looked upon them¬ 
selves as the delegates of the Society (hear, hear). The 
Council was not bound to accept the terms proposed to them. 
The meeting might rest assured that the interests of the Society 
would not be lost sight of whatever course was adopted. He 
looked upon the amendment for an adjournment as tantamount 
to what was called in Parliament, “ That the bill be read this 
day six months.” It was only by allowing a certain amount of 
discretion to the Council that matters of that nature could be 
carried out at all. They would take care that the objections 
that had been urged agaiust the five years’ re-entry clause 
should be properly attended to. "With respect to the amend¬ 
ment of Sir Joseph Paxton, he (the Chairman) hoped-they 
would be able to arrive at some compromise so as to avoid any 
further delay. 
Sir Joseph Paxton said, that on consideration of people 
going out of town before the end of a fortnight, he would 
consent to alter his amendment, so as to shorten the adjourn¬ 
ment by one week,—let it be that day week. 
Mr. Bohn said, the only difficulty seemed to be the insertion 
in the lease of this stringent forfeiture clause about the non-pay¬ 
ment of the interest for five years consecutively. He was against 
postponing the meeting, and proposed that the trouble might bo 
got over by inserting in the wording of the clause “ any ” in¬ 
terest instead of “ the” -interest. 
Mr. Cole said the feeling of the meeting was against those 
frequent adjournments, and hoped the matter would be left, 
as suggested by the Chairman, in the hands of the Council. 
Mr. Dilke, as one of the Royal Commissioners, reminded the 
meeting that the Commissioners were a very unwieldy body. 
It was difficult to get them together, and he did not think it 
possible it could be done in a week. Everybody was hurrying 
out of town now. People must take their holidays some time. 
Mr. Wood was also against a further adjournment. 
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously. 
Sir Joseph Paxton reiterated his objections to the terms, and 
also the length of the lease, being only thirty-one years. Thirty- 
one years ago, he said, horticulture was in a very flourishing 
condition, and what would it be thirty-one years hence ? (hear, 
hear). He strongly urged some additional arrangement with 
the Commissioners about it. He remembered perfectly well 
