BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

when the cost in terms of central power and financial expenditure was
75
minimal.
Thus the London office began, in 1887, to publish copies of
the annual balance sheet in its newspaper, The Primrose Gazette,
thereby making the figures accessible to all members and by implication
to the general public.57
Some efforts were also made to reduce annual Tributes owed to
the Central Office as in the case of a 20 percent savings introduced in
April, 1886 to Habitations paying within a specified period.58 i n
practice, however, lower fees were instituted more to encourage tardy
Habitations to send in their dues than as an altruistic gesture from
above or a responsive action in support of popular sentiment.
The consequences appear to have been fairly minimal. By
December of that year eighteen thousand circulars were sent out to
Knights and Dames for overdue subscriptions, an astonishing figure
given that only a total of 56,026 Knights and Dames are listed on the
League registry as of the end of March, 1886 and 89,473 the following
year.59
if the average of the two years is taken as a rough gauge of
their membership for December of 1886, then fully 25 percent of the
total number of Knights and Dames were negligent in their payments.
57 The Primrose League Gazette, 24 December 1887, p. 5; 21
April 1888, p. 4; 25 May 1889, p. 10. Detailed figures cited from the
Annual Balance sheet were also made available through the Conservative
press, enhancing public access to League accounts. See "Meeting of
Grand Habitation," The Morning Post, 19 April 1888 and 21 May 1889, p.
2.
58 Minutes of the Grand Council of the Primrose League, 7
April 1886.
59 Minutes of the Grand Council of the Primrose League, 16
December 1886. The Primrose League Gazette, 1 September 1899, p. 9.