PROCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 21 



resolution would be an unpleasant one to have brought forward, and would be espe- 

 cially unpleasant if carried. He could not help thinking it would have been more 

 candid on the part of the hon. gentleman who had intimated the resolutions when 

 bringing them forward to have .said bona fide that he had some matter of complaint 

 against the Secretary of the Society. The members could then have had an oppor- 

 tunity of voting " Yes " or " No " as to their appreciation of his services ; the question 

 would have been perfectly understood and all ambiguity removed. Abstract resolu- 

 tions hardly ever produced much effect, and the resolution before the meeting was an 

 abstract one. He had endeavoured to speak tempeiately, but he could not sit still 

 and hear a gentleman whom he respected immensely — not from personal friendship, 

 though he hoped lie had that also — dealt with as the resolution proposed. He re- 

 spected Mr. Menzies immensely for the intense energy and zeal with which he applied 

 himself to the work of the Society. The motion should not only be cordially and 

 heartily withdra\\Ti, but something more should be done. He ventured to say, from 

 all he had seen of the duties of the secretarial office, and the manner in which those 

 duties were discharged by the Secretary and those employed with him, and having 

 witnessed the energy of Mr. Menzies in the showyards for many years, he ventured to 

 move that, instead of putting aside the resolution of Mr. Waldegrave Leslie, that the 

 following be passed : — " That this Society has perfect confidence in its Secretary, and 

 desires to express aj)proval of the manner in which his duties as Secretary are 

 performed." 



The Earl of AiRLiE asked if this proposal was meant as an amendment to the motion 

 of Mr. Waldecrrave Leslie. 



Mr. Harris, Earnhill, said he was one of those supposed not to be represented in the 

 Society. He was simply a tenant-farmer from the North. He had, perhaps, never 

 exchanged a hundred words with Mr. Menzies on anything but official business for the 

 last two or three years, during which he had had the honour of a seat at the Board. 

 He must say that on every occasion he had found Mr. Menzies a most excellent 

 official ; urbanity, punctuality, and all good points which should distinguish an 

 official he certainly possessed. Mr. Menzies addressed him in the same way as he 

 would address a nobleman. Mr. Menzies was not a party man ; everything seemed to 

 be right about him. As a tenant-farmer, he (the speaker) would simply say to his 

 frienris tliat the management of tlie Society could not be in better hands than at 

 present. 



The Marquis of Lothiax, as the late President of the Society, cordially endorsed 

 every word that had fallen from Mr. Villiers and Mr. Harris. During the four years 

 of his presidency he had a great deal of communication with the Secretary, whom he 

 saw Ijoth at general meetings and at the Board of Directors' meetings, and nothing 

 could possibly exceed the efficiency with which he conducted the business of the 

 Society in every respect which it fell to him to do. He (Lord Lotliian) had come to 

 the meeting at considerable inconvenience to himself, not intending to take any part 

 in the proceedings unless it was absolutely necessary to do so ; but when he .'^aw a 

 series of resolutions before them which, whether carried or not, if spoken to, appeared 

 of the most serious description, and seeing that those resolutions had V»een printed in 

 the newspapers and disseminated over the country, he thought it his duty to come to 

 the meeting, and, if necessary, say something in defence of the Society which did him 

 the honour to make him I^resident for four years. The meeting ha<l been called 

 together to consider these resolutions, and the lion, gentleman who had given notice 

 of them now admitted that he did not know what he was talking about, and that if he 

 had formerly had the infonnation he now possessed he would not have tabled the 

 resolutions. The hon. gentleman had further said he had no resolutions to propose, 

 that he was going to think over the matter, and bring tlum forward subsequently. 

 His Lordship, jiroceeding, said — I object entirely to that ino«le of doing business. It 

 is a matter of astonishment that Mr. Leslie, of all ]ieople in the world, shoiild have 

 tabled such resolutions. He was once a nicjiiber of the House of C<tmnioii>i. and a 

 gentleman who has been in that jtosition, an<l who has been .secretary to the Speaker, 

 ought, at any rate, to know wlmt business i.s. Any1>ody knowing Mr. Leslie's ante- 

 ce<lents would think he had some knowledge of wlmt he was talking al>out. Tlie first 

 resolution has been withdrawn. 'I'Ik- second resolution refers to the Directors, an«l Mr. 

 Leslie might have known before this that there is a committee on the subject to report 

 Itefore the .January meeting. Is it respectful to the Society that we sliouM l>e called 

 together to take up such subjects when the gentleman who lirings forward the motions 

 lias never taken the trouble to lind out wliat he is talking about '. Tlie tliinl resolution 

 on the list is to the effect that the various committees shouhl Ik? revised an<l reduced, 

 ])ut in what he said he has been proved to be altogether wrong. Why di«l he not find 

 out what the facts were/ He complained that the Steam Committee had be« n 

 abolished without lacing aware of the fa<'t that it had been amalgamated with tlie 

 Machinery Committee, of which he is him.self a member. He should surely have seen 

 about that l>efore he brought his motion forwanl. He .•says he did to in onler to 



