BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

37
members charged with overseeing funds.
They were appointed by Grand
Council and subject to its review.
Communications, like the
organization as a whole, were chiefly in the hands of the Council.
Specific instructions were provided by the model bylaws
concerning the election of officers, the arrangement of meetings, and
the maintenance of an up-to-date register and minute book. The
Habitation executive was responsible for subdividing the district into
regions, each supervised by an individual officer charged with
overseeing registration and canvassing, a further elaboration of the
scheme first developed in 1883.50
A host of other details concerning
management were provided in the bylaws, in effect standardizing the
process.
Habitations which devised their own rules had to submit them
for the approval of the Central Office. 51
Despite the advances made in organization, the gain in terms of
League membership were neither immediate nor overwhelming.
On the
twenty-third of April the Organizational Secretary's report claimed a
total of forty-six Habitations and a bank balance of £532.52 jhe
financial figure was an inflated one in the sense that it seems to have
represented a maximum for the year, reflecting the surge of donations
which came in on the anniversary of Disraeli's death.
By 26 November
1884, the number of Habitations had more than doubled, totaling one
50
Minutes.
Ibid., 10 May 1884.
Suggested Bylaws contained in the
51
Ibid., Statutes and Ordinances contained in the Minutes.
52 Minutes of the Grand Council of the Primrose League, 23
April 1884.