PROCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS, 23 



ever shall be. He hoped that Mr Martin would carry his motion, as he felt certain that 

 any motion for inquiry would lead to its being brought out that there were many 

 districts not taken up in the eight they at present visited. In Glasgow and Edinburgh 

 the Show might be held every four instead of every eight years. Then there were such 

 places as the kingdom of Fife and the county of Forfar alongside. Some were not 

 going to keep up their annual subscriptions because they did not have a Show at 

 Dundee. In Fife they had Dunfemiline and Cupar, very like Kelso, where by-the-bye 

 they had to pay £1 for a bed. There was also Oban and other places that they 

 might occupy in the Highlands. 



The Rev. John Gillespie, Mouswald, approved of the first part of Mr Martin's motion 

 relative to inquiry, but disapproved of the second delaying decision as to the Show at 

 Kelso for 1880. If a committee were appointed a sufficient inquiry could not be made 

 before June, and that would be too late for securing a proper Show for the ensuing year. 

 The Duke of Buccleuch referred to the fact that both the motion and amendment 

 spoke of the appointment of a committee. He had had a pretty long acquaintance 

 with the proceedmgs of the Society, and he could not recall any instance of a committee 

 outside of the Directors being appointed by a general meeting. The Society elected 

 their Directors to carry on its business, and when there had been a difference of opinion, 

 such as there now appeared to be, they referred the matter to the Directors, requesting 

 their particular attention to the subject. He saw that by the bye-laws, " Committees 

 shall be appointed by the Directors, and shall in all cases report to them for theii- 

 consideration and approval." As he understood it was in the power of the Directors 

 on that or any other subject to appoint a committee to consider it, and he should sup- 

 pose from the words used that they might appoint a committee either of themselves or 

 taken from the general number of the members of the Society. If they were to pass by 

 their Directors and appoint a committee on a hasty decision at a meeting such as this, 

 they might very likely get themselves into very considerable confusion. His impression 

 also was that hitherto they had had confidence in their Directors, and that they had 

 every reason to repose confidence in them. He had no doubt, from what occurred 

 that day, and what had occurred on former occasions, that if there was a strong feeling 

 manifested on the part of a general meeting that this question of the place where a 

 Show was to be. held should be reconsidered, the Directors would of themselves take 

 up that matter and be prepared at another meeting of the Society to state what their 

 views were, and the reasons which had led them to the conclusion that they might 

 arrive at. He entirely agreed with what had been said by previous speakers, that the 

 object of the Society was not to make money. He considered that they were as much 

 bound to go to a poor part of the country as a rich one. As said by Lord Lovat, it 

 was to the poorer parts of the country — the parts, they might say, the least advanced 

 in the science of agriculture — that the presence of this Society was of the greatest value 

 and importance. He believed that the presence of the Society would be of benefit to 

 Inverness as well as to Kelso. The latter was celebrated for its once magnificent abbey, 

 destroyed by the English invasion. The only thing they had got to fear now was that 

 when they held their meetings at Kelso those who invaded them from over the Border 

 might be carrying away some of their best prizes. It would only be serving them right 

 if they allowed their English neighbours to do so — if they were not incited to improve 

 their animals as also their style of agriculture there. He hoped, therefore, that 

 Mr Martin would not press the motion to a division, but that he would be satisfied to 

 leave it to the consideration of the Directors, with a request that they would take the 

 matter into consideration and report to a future meeting of the Society whether any 

 alteration should be made in the places in which they were to meet. He recollected 

 that the matter was very much discussed at the general meetings about twenty years 

 ago, that it was taken up seriously by the Directors, and that the decision they then 

 came to seemed to give universal satisfaction to the Society. 



Mr Geeig, Harvieston (of Messrs Fowler & Co.), argued that if they were to have 

 such confidence in their Directors as not to look into their matters themselves, they 

 might as well not meet there at all, but leave matters wholly to them. There was almost 

 unanimous feeling throughout Scotland in regard to the Board of Direction, and if 

 they went abroad in Scotland and asked the opinion held, it woidd be found to be this, 

 that the agriculture of Scotland had not progi'essed by the efforts of this Society during 

 the last fifteen or twenty years. That was the general opinion. He would be very 

 sorry indeed to be one of those who would appoint Directors and then not to leave to 

 them what really should be left to them. But he held that it was the duty of the 

 members of the Society to look into those grievances which so generally prevailed 

 amongst them. He should be very sorry indeed if it were thought he wished in any 

 way to reflect discourteously on his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, but he felt that so 

 far as the appointment of committees were concerned, they should be selected outside 

 the Direction. If the Directors were what they were said to be, such a committee 

 would he a means of strengthening their hands. 

 Mr Haddon, Honeybum, said that nothing had fallen from his Grace to merit any 



