PEOCEEDINGS AT GENEEAL MEETINGS: 



GENERAL MEETING, 5th JUNE 1878. 

 Loi-d PoLWARTH in the Chair. 



Deceased Members. — The Cliairman said— The first business before the meeting is 

 the following resolution recording the'sincere regret of the Society at the great loss they 

 have sustained by the death of Sir William Gibson-Craig ; — " That the Highland and 

 Agricultural Society of Scotland record their sincere regret for the great loss they have 

 sustained by the death of the Right Hon. Sir William Gibson-Craig of Riccarton, Bart. ; 

 and express their sense of the very valuable assistance which the Society has for a long 

 series of years received from him as treasurer and as a member of the Council on 

 Agricultm\al Education." Those who have been in the habit of attending these meetings 

 are well aware of the high services which Sir William Gibson-Craig rendered to the 

 Society ; and I am sure that it will be the unanimous expression of opinion that this 

 resolution should be passed. I beg to move that it be adopted. (Applause.) The 

 next resolution I have to propose is, I regret to say, one of a similar nature. It is as 

 follows: — "That the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland record in their 

 minutes the deep and sincere regret with which they regard the death of Sir William 

 Stirling-Maxwell of Police and Keir, Bart, K.T., M.P., their honorary secretary for 

 the last ten years. They deplore the severe loss the Society and the nation have 

 sustained'by the death, at a comparatively early age, of one who had been so closely 

 connected with the Society, and who had rendered so many eminent services to his 

 country as a scholar, a statesman, an agricultimst, and a man of taste." Sir William 

 was well known to us all as an eminent agriculturist, and as a breeder of stock of 

 the very highest class, by which he rendered great service to his country in the agri- 

 cultural departments. I need not speak of his other high qualities, but will simply 

 move that the resolution be adopted. (Applause.) I may mention that the picture 

 exhibited in the hall of Sir William's first-prize Clydesdale mare "Netty," at the 

 Edinburgh show last year, was presented by him. The next resolution I have to 

 propose is as follows : — " That the deatli of Mr Allan Eliott Lockhart of Borthwickbrae 

 having been communicated to the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, they 

 resolved to record their sincere regret for his loss, and their sense of his services as a 

 member and a director of the society. " I can speak from my own personal knowledge 

 of the geutleman whose death we here deplore, of the great interest he took in agri- 

 cultural matters, and the great services he rendered in his district in connection with 

 the Society. I beg to move the adoption of the resolution. 



Dumfries Show, 1878. — Colonel Gillon of Wallhouse said— I have to report that 

 the Dumfries Show will take place on the farm of Rotchell, on the 30th and 31st July 

 and 1st and 2d August. The entries closed on the 1st inst., and the following is a 

 comparative statement of the head of stock : — 



L^OiXXiiB^ • • a • • 



Horses, . . . . . 



Sheep, ..... 



Swine, . . . . " . 



Poultry, ..... 

 Dairy Produce, .... 

 Implements, .... 



No separate entries were required for the premiums offered for the best woolled tups of 

 the Cheviot, blackfaced, Leicester, and other long-wooUed breeds, as all the tups 

 entered in these classes for the stock premiums compete. The following gentlemen 

 have been named to act on the General Conmiittee of Siiperintendence : — County of 

 Dumfries — Mr Hunter Arundell of Barjarg, Dumfries; Mr Leny of Dalswinton, 

 Dumfries ; Mr Paterson of Brocklehirst, Dumfries ; Captain Yorstoun of East Tinwald, 



