The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-02 00:00:00

SOCIETY OF ARTS.

Last evening a very crowded meeting of the
members of this body was held at their house,
John-street, Adelphi.
As the resolutions that were to be submitted to
the meeting involved the whole subject at issue be-
tween the council and the board of examiners, Mr.
C. W. Dilke said that the council thought it would
be desirable that, upon this occasion, the 'chair
should be occupied by some gentleman whose
opinions had not been given upon the points at
issue. He therefore moved that Mr. Bodkin should
take tie chair.

Mr. BODKIN having taken the chair, he called
upon the secretary to read the bye-law as to spe-
cial meetings ; which having been done, the fol-
lowing expression of the council's opinion was read
to the meeting :

" The council consider that it will conduce to the
convenience of members to give a brief summary on the
points which they have proposed should be brought
before the present general meeting.
" The first subject is the legality of the present bye-
.

laws affecting the examinations.
" Members will bear in mind that these bye-laws are
new, having been passed as recently as last February ;
and, during the past month of November, were, for the
first time, about to come into operation. The attention
of the council was drawn to the fact that the bye-laws
were contradictory to the charter—that they were il-
legal. That they are illegal the solicitor of the society,
who is now present, will assure the members if they
entertain any doubts upon the subject.
" The council submit to the members the expediency
of passing new bye-laws. The proposed new bye-laws
simply place the board of examiners under the control of
the council, as they were before the bylaws attempted
to remove them from that control.

"The council repudiate altogether the slightest inten-
tion of disrespect to the examiners, in suspending their
functions in order to prevent an election of them con-
trary to the charter.
" The-council place with confidence their programme
of examinations before the knernhere at large.",

Memorials in favour of :the continuance of oral
examinations were presented by Mr. Baines from
various places in the north.
Mr. W. PORTAL presented memorials from
places in Hampshire in favour of written exami-
nations.

Mr. CHESTER then rose to move the alterations
in the bye-laws. He hoped the discussion would be
carried on without personality, and be confined
simply to the business matters for which the meet-
ing was called. The meeting was called to repeal ex-
isting bye-laws which were found to have been passed
in misconception of the powers of the society. The
council wished not to shirk the question, but to
meet it openly and fairly. He believed that
much censure had been passed upon the council
simply from a misapprehension ; the council had
no desire to suppress examinations, they merely
Suspended them until the constitution of the board
of examiners was in accordance with their. charter.
The council, although not at first .unanimous in
their opinion, at last became so, and the subject
had been debated at many meetings of the council,
which had been very numerously attended. The
board of examiners became almost an independent
body, and its chairman need not be a member of
the Society of Arts. When the board of examiners
sent out the list of their successors the council
should have called the society together, but they
had not time ; they therefore suspended the action
of the board of examiners. Ho much regretted
the antagonism that had been exhibited against
the council in this matter, and the agitation that
had taken place. He hoped that whatever ar-:
rangements were come- to, they would be still that
the management of ,the seeiety was left in the
hands of the council. With regard to examinations
the council entirely gave up the examinations of
private school., which the council considered were
a purely commercial speculation, and would con-
fine themselves simply to institutes in union with
the society. He hoped the meeting would not be
led away by the misrepresentation that the exami-
nations had been suppressed, as also by the circular
issued by the late board of examiners, which ho
criticised severely. He spoke as expressing the
opinion of the council that the examination should
be by means of written papers, and not by oral
examinations. It was a mockery to bring men from
a distance to be examined: The council did not
wish to centralise ; wherever there was an institute
there might likewise be a local board. The council
applauded the movement by the universities as
regards the granting of honorary degrees, and
would be willing to pecuniarily assist candidates
for that honour.
Mr. J. GRIFFITH FRITH seconded the motion.
The Rev. Mr. MITCHELL wished to know when
the discovery *as made as to the illegality of the
bye-laws ?
A satisfactory answer was given, when it was
asked whether the matter had been submitted to
counsel for opinion 1

Mr. Tooke, the• solicitor, explaitied that he had
no doubt upon the point, and therefore did not
deem it necessary.

After some discussion, the alterations in the
bye-laws were carried by a large majority.
Mr. BAINES then rose to move a resolution,
declaring the society's belief in oral in preference
to written examinations. He concurred in the
confining the examinations to the moral effect
the visits of the exanners had upon the mem-
bers of the various institutes, especially in the
north, where there was a ready and steady pur-
suit of knowledge in class instruction, and be
looked upon the examinations which the York-
shire Union took up with warmth and earnest-
ness, as being indebted in a great degree to the
personal exertions of Dr. Booth, and he believed
that little would be done unless the society sent
down examiners to conduct the examinations.
By • sending their examiners they would prevent
petty local and personal prejudices from inter-
fering in examinations.
Mr. WATTS seconded the resolution. .

Messrs. Crease, v Webster, W. Hawes, Arlkin-
son, S. Morley, Dr. Carpenter, and others, took
part in the discussion.
Dr. BOOTH at length rose, and read the reso-
lutions that were passed with reference to the
formation of local boards for the arrangements of
examinations. He explained that the resolutions
passed by the society had to be ignored, as they
were impracticable.
Mr. COLE was iu favour of oral examinations
where prac!icable.
Mr. WILKINSON moved an amendment, leaving
the whole matter in the hands of the council,
which, having been seconded, was carried.
After some discussion as to the council's re-
fusal to allow Dr. Booth the use of the columns
of the society's journal, the chairman was thanked,
and the meeting separated.

THE WOOL MARKET.

LIVERPOOL, DEC. 1.

The unfavourable state of business referred to in
our last report has existed during the whole of
the past month with increased intensity, and it may
well to regarded as one of the most serious ordeals
in a commercial point of view which this country
has ever encountered. Almost each day has brought
accounts of fresh disasters, including many firms
of old standing and undoubted respectability, caus-
ing universal mistrust, and threatening the standing
of the most prudent trader.
Under such a state of pressure, with the Bank of
England minimum rate of discount at 10 per cent.,
and a much higher one in the open market, sales of
nearly all kinds of produce have been almost out of
the question, and have for the most part
.been made
under circumstances of necessity, and the Exchange
has been frequented more to discuss the news of
the day than for the purpose of business.
In the wool-market, with the exception of one or
two forced sales of small amount, there has been
literally nothing doing beyond the sale of a few
bales in hand for immediate wants, and prices are
altogether nominal. It is a source of great satis-
faction to notice that the wool trade has stood its
ground so well, very few failures having occurred,
and only one firm of any particular standing, exclu-
sively in the trade of English on commission.
The public sales of colonial wools have been going
forward in London since the 12th ult., and, consi-
dering the very unfavourable circumstances, the
result must be considered in the highest degree
satisfactory. On the most current kinds of fine
colonial the decline is 2d. to 21d. per lb., and on
other sorts up to 4d. per lb., the home trade taking
a larger proportion than usual. These sales will
close on the 4th inst., to be followed by public sales
of low descriptions on the Bth and following days,
but the quantity is not important, being about 4,000
bales of East India, and probably a couple of thou-
sand bales of low foreign.
The present extremely high rate ofinctaeirlesotnlmyubset
prove a barrier to any business, but .t
regarded as temporary, and there seems reason to
expect that an immediate relation will supervene
It will no doubt take some time to recover from the
present shock, but we look forward to a healthy
trade, and in our next report we expect to be able
to quote prices with some degree of precision.
Imports of Foreign Wool—From the Ist Jan. to
the 30th Nov., 1857, 156,467 bales ; from the lst
Jan. to the 30th Nov., 1856, 125,414 bales.

THE HEIGHT OF ASSURANCE.—At the meeting of the
Chamber of Commerce which took place in this city on
Friday one of the members wbo rose complained in
strong terms of the want of bank accommodation in
Glasgow, while that gentleman bad been allowed to
overdraw his account in the Western Bank by 60,0001. I
Some of the members,'as a mark of disapprobation, rose
and walked out of the room,—Glasgow Daily Mad.