BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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multi-page handouts to single fly sheets.
Nevertheless, it was still
well below the record 4,752,754 established in 1886.
Between the 1892
and 1894 Primrose years, the materials circulated at a fairly constant
rate, two million per year.
During the election year 1895, however,
the number actually dropped to one million.
In general, the pamphlets
of both the Primrose League and the National Union in the 1890's
indicate a movement away from Irish issues toward broader political and
immperial themes.57
While the League was generally reticent to address the issue of
diminishing revenue and inert Habitations, the problem had become so
great by 1900 as to receive official commentary in the Minute books.
The records suggest a level of decline far greater than that indicated
in the 1899 Roll.
Thus, the LGC embarked on an effort to revive
associations in Norfolk in response to their reports, which indicated
the area had only twelve good Habitations by December, 1900. By
contrast, the 1899 Roll was more optimistic in its assessment, listing
fully thirty-two Habitations in the county.58
That same year the Agency Committee of the Grand Council
generally dismissed activity in Liverpool noting, "The condition of the
Primrose League in Liverpool is very unsatisfactory but your committee
5 ? The Primrose League Gazette, 19 April 180, p. 2; The
Morning Post, 20 May 1886, p. 2. The Primrose League Gazette, 5 May
1892, p. 3; 18 April 1893, p. 2; 1 May 1894, p. 3; 1 May 1896, p. 2.
LGC Executive Committee Minutes, 4 June 1897; 8 July 1898; 2 June 1899;
3 November 1899; 13 July 1900; 18 January 1901. "National Union Annual
Reports to the Conference," 1894, 1897, NUA 2/2/2.
58 LGC Executive Committee Minutes, 7 December 1900; 18
January 1901. Minutes of the Grand Council of the Primrose League, 4
December 1902. The 1899 Roll of Habitations, pp. 148-53.