182 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
February  27,  1896, 
fill  the  vacancies  caused  by  the  death  of  Mr.  John  Wills  and  the  retire¬ 
ment  of  Mr.  H.  Turner.  Mr.  Roupell  seconded,  and  the  motion  was 
carried.  Mr.  T.  B.  Haywood  was  unanimously  re-elected  Treasurer  of 
the  Fund,  and  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  accorded  to  him. 
Mr.  W.  Marshall  proposed  the  election  of  Mr.  A.  F.  Barron  as 
Secretary  of  the  Fund  at  an  annual  payment  of  100  guineas.  The 
Chairman  said  everyone  present  knew  of  the  valuable  services 
rendered  to  the  Fund  by  Mr.  Barron  in  the  past  as  Honorary  Secretary, 
and  they  also  knew  of  his  altered  circumstances,  therefore  they  had 
decided  to  offer  him  this  remuneration,  which  they  trusted  he  would 
accept.  He,  the  Chairman,  had  many  times  had  occasion  to  go  to  Mr. 
Barron’s  house  on  business  connected  with  the  Fund,  and  knew  that  he 
was  obliged  to  set  apart  a  room  entirely  for  the  business  of  the  Charity. 
Whilst  Superintendent  of  R.H.S.  Gardens  this  was  not  considered  ;  but 
now  they  were  agreed  that  some  return  should  be  made  for  the  valuable 
service  rendered,  and  they  were,  therefore,  prompted  to  offer  him  the 
above-named  sum.  Several  members  present  spoke  in  highly  eulogistic 
terms  of  the  services  rendered  by  Mr.  Barron  as  Honorary  Secretary  of 
the  Fund,  and  on  the  motion  being  seconded  by  Mr.  Weeks,  was  carried 
unanimously.  Mr.  Barron  briefly  expressed  his  thanks. 
Mr.  A.  Dean  asked  whether  the  annual  sum  of  100  guineas,  which 
they  proposed  paying  Mr.  Barron,  would  include  the  item  of  £52  10s. 
now  paid  to  the  Secretary’s  clerk.  On  being  informed  that  such  was  the 
case,  and  that  the  actual  increase  to  be  paid  would  be  50  guineas,  Mr. 
Dean  remarked  that  this  should  have  been  clearly  stated  in  the  report, 
as  it  will  probably  be  misleading  to  many  of  the  members.  He  further 
suggested  that,  instead  of  making  Mr.  Barron  a  paid  official  of  the  Fund, 
it  would  be  more  dignified  to  give  him  the  100  guineas  as  an  annual 
honorarium,  by  which  he  might  still  remain  an  honorary  official. 
Messrs.  Poupart,  Weeks,  McLeod,  and  Bates  were  appointed 
scrutineers  of  the  ballot  papers  for  the  election  of  children  to  the 
benefits  of  the  Fund.  Thirteen  candidates  were  presented  for  the  ten 
vacancies,  the  following  being  elected,  with  the  number  of  votes  polled 
in  each  case  : — Henry  Pearman  Smith  482,  Andrina  Brown  Ritchie  475, 
Seymour  Small  389,  Arthur  Henry  Worth  384,  Blanche  Dean  325,  Amy 
Farrant  315,  Frederick  Pratt  250,  Frank  Leslie  Haycock  235,  Herbert 
Anderson  177,  Reuben  Charles  Steveus  164.  In  reply  to  an  inquiry 
made  by  Mr.  A.  Dean,  it  was  ascertained  that  out  of  the  1300  papers  sent 
out  828  were  returned,  and  that  2577  votes  were  polled.  It  is  also 
worthy  of  note  that  not  a  single  voting  paper  was  spoiled.  A  vote  of 
thanks  to  the  scrutineers  for  the  trouble  they  had  taken,  and  to  the 
Chairman  for  presiding,  brought  the  proceedings  to  a  close. 
CASH  STATEMENT  FOR  THE  TEAR  ENDING  DECEMBER  31st,  1895. 
RECEIPTS. 
To  Balance  from  last  Account  . 
„  Subscriptions,  General . £333  7  6 
,,  Ditto  Collected  by  Local  Secs.  ...  75  7  0 
„  Donations,  including  proceeds  of  Sales  of 
Flowers,  Boxes,  Entertainments,  &c.  ...  163  5  4 
,,  Ditto,  Collected  by  Local  Secs.  .  51  10  6 
,,  The  William  Thomson  Memorial  . 
„  Legacy  from  Mr.  George  Taber  . 
,,  The  Emma  Sherwood  Memorial  . 
,,  Legacy  from  Mr.  J.:Taplin  . 
,,  Annual  Dinner . 
,,  Card  Collection . 
„  Advertisements  in  List  of  Subscribers 
„  Dividends  on  Stock  and  Interest  on  Deposit  ... 
£  s.  d. 
829  13  7 
408  14  6 
214  15  10 
171  9  0 
100  0  0 
13  0  0 
5  5  0 
719  9  4 
38  7  2 
27  14  0 
203  19  3 
£2732  7  8 
Note  : — Investments,  etc. 
2f  per  cent.  Consols 
3  per  cent.  Canada  Stock 
£7070  6  10 
1500  0  0 
EXPENDITURE. 
By  Allowances  to  Orphans  ... 
,,  Emma  Sherwood  Memorial 
,,  Grants  in  Aid  . 
£798  15  0 
13  0  0 
21  0  0 
„  Annual  Dinner  .  . 
,,  Printing  and  Posting  List  of  Subscribers 
,,  Secretary’s  Clerk . 
,,  Printing  and  Stationery  ...  . 
,,  Annual  General  and  Committee  Meetings 
,,  Postages  .  . 
,,  Bank  Charges  ...  . 
,,  Sundry  Expenses  (Petty  Cash)  . 
52  10  0 
18  11  11 
13  11  2 
18  12  10 
1  13  9 
17  13  4 
„  Purchase  of  £500  3  per  cent.  Canada  Stock 
,,  Ditto  £500  3  per  cent.  Canada  Stock 
„  Balance : 
Cash  at  Bankers  . 
Cash  on  Deposit  . 
Cash  in  hand  . 
299  2  1 
300  0  0 
0  19  10 
£.  s.  d. 
832  15  0 
127  7  0 
31  18  6 
122  13  0 
512  11  0 
505  1  3 
600  1  11 
£2732  7  8 
£8570  6  10 
Having  inspected  the  Securities  and  examined  the  Books  and  Vouchers 
supplied  to  us,  we  hereby  certify  the  above  account  to  be  correct. 
(Signed) 
Dated,  January  25th,  1896. 
JOHN  FRASER,  LevtonI 
M.  ROWAN,  Clapham  J 
Auditors. 
The  Secretary’s  Salary. — Voting  Papers. 
The  intention  of  the  Committee  at  the  recent  annual  meeting  of  the 
subscribers  to  propose  that  Mr.  A.  F.  Barron,  from  the  first  the  able 
Honorary  Secretary  to  the  Fund,  should  be  converted  into  a  salaried 
official  by  paying  him  for  his  services  100  guineas  a  year,  naturally 
came  as  a  great  surprise  to  subscribers  outside  the  Committee,  although 
unfortunately  these  were  few  indeed.  It  was  also  a  matter  for  wonder 
that  some  intimation  of  such  most  important  intention  had  not  been 
given  publicly  prior  to  the  meeting.  Why  it  was  not  so  done  the  Com¬ 
mittee  can  answer.  It  was  left  to  me  alone,  none  of  the  executive 
offering  the  slightest  information,  to  elicit  the  fact  that  after  all  the 
proposed  salary  will  not  be  100  guineas,  but  really  means  an  increase  of 
50  guineas,  as  I  was  informed,  in  reply  to  a  question  that  the  sum  of 
50  guineas  now  included  in  the  management  expenses  for  the  Secretary’s 
clerk  would  be  included  in  the  sum  of  100  guineas.  I  do  not  know 
whether  prior  to  my  question  being  put  that  was  the  Committee’s 
intention.  I  did,  however,  point  out  that  as  the  matter  stood  in  the 
report  as  a  [recommendation  the  general  belief  would  be  that  the 
100  guineas  salary  would  be  an  addition  to  the  present  expenditure. 
Whether  Mr,  Barron  for  the  salary  of  50  guineas  a  year  paid  as  a  salary, 
and  not  given  as  I  suggested  as  an  annual  honorarium,  prefers  to  become 
a  paid  official  to  being  the  far  more  dignified  honorary  official  is  entirely 
for  him  to  determine. 
I  do  not  grudge  the  sum  proposed  to  be  paid,  so  far  from  that  I  believe 
there  should  have  been  a  moderate,  and  with  increase  of  work,  gradually 
increasing  salary  from  the  first.  The  present  is  a  particularly  inopportune 
time  for  this  act  for  two  reasons — first,  the  Chairman  of  the  meeting 
referred  to  Mr.  Barron’s  changed  circumstances,  which  all  understood, 
but  which  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  changed  for  the  worse.  If,  however, 
so  much  of  honorary  service  was  given  in  the  past  by  the  Secretary 
because  of  the  liberal  countenance  of  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Horti¬ 
cultural  Society,  how  was  it  that  not  a  word  of  thanks  to  the  Council 
for  past  exceeding  favours  was  heard  ?  Then  the  Committee  in  presenting 
the  annual  report  in  the  first  paragraph  uses  these  words  “  The 
income  derived  from  annual  subscriptions  still,  however,  gives  the 
Committee  some  anxiety ,  the  past  year’s  receipts  again  showing  a  slight 
decrease."  The  italics  are  mine.  If  this  anxiety  and  decrease  in 
contributions  exist,  is  it  not  a  very  inopportune  time  to  saddle  the  Fund 
with  so  great  an  additional  yearly  charge  as  50  guineas  l  enough,  be  it 
remembered,  to  maintain  four  orphans  annually.  Therein,  at  a 
moment  of  comparative  weakness  in  income,  lies  the  sting  of  the 
whole  business. 
With  a  desire  to  ascertain  how  much  or  how  little  of  interest  was 
taken  in  the  election  of  orphan  children  on  to  this  Fund  by  subscribers, 
I  asked  at  the  recent  meeting  for  information  as  to  the  number  of  voting 
papers  issued,  and  the  numbers  returned.  After  investigation  the 
Chairman  (Mr.  W.  Marshall)  stated  that  the  numbers  sent  out  were 
1300,  and  the  numbers  returned  828.  That  is  to  say,  that  less  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  papers  were  returned.  What  a  surprising  lack  of  interest 
is  thus  shown  in  the  election  of  orphans  by  some  472  subscribers.  What 
is  the  reason  ?  Do  they  think  that  their  papers  will  make  no  difference 
to  the  result  1  Do  they  take  no  further  interest  in  the  Fund  beyond 
seeing  their  names  in  the  subscription  list,  or  what?  The  matter  needs 
elucidation.  Now  having  got  this  information  I  should  like  to  be 
furnished  with  the  number  of  voting  papers  returned  duly  filled  up  by 
the  subscribers,  and  of  those  not  filled  up,  but  left  to  be  manipulated 
in  the  interests  of  special  candidates  as  the  polling  proceeds.  After  all, 
is  it  not  the  existence  of  this  abuse  of  voting  which  deters  so  many  sub¬ 
scribers  from  sending  in  papers  ?  That  any  subscriber  after  seeing  the 
statement  as  to  the  needs  or  positions  of  the  respective  candidates 
issued  with  the  voting  papers,  should  practically  admit  they  are 
incapable  of  determining  which  are  the  most  deserving  cases,  passes  my 
comprehension. — A.  Dean. 
