PROCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 83 



the Government, and that he had the satisfaction to state that a reply had heen 

 received to the effect that the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury were pleased 

 to place on the estimates of 1868 the sum of L.150 for that purpose. He had also 

 to state that the University had fulfilled their pledge in order to make the Chair 

 more useful than it had hitherto heen, by instituting degrees in agriculture, the 

 examination in which is to be conducted by the University examiners in conjunc- 

 tion with an examiner appointed by the Society. 



The noble Chairman said it was very satisfactory to learn the result of the 

 application to Government in this matter. The University had done well in rais- 

 ing the position of the chair, and he had no doubt that it would be followed by a 

 good practical result. 



The report was adopted. 



The Aberdeen Show. — Mr F. N. Menzies, the Secretary, said— In the un- 

 avoidable absence of Mr Kinloch, yr. of Gilmerton, Chairman of the Committee 

 on General Shows, I have to report that the arrangements for the Show at Aber- 

 deen, on the 28th, 29th, and 30th July, are in a satisfactory state of advance- 

 ment, and that there is every promise of a most successful meeting. Nearly 

 1200 head of stock have been entered for competition, besides upwards of 460 head 

 of poultry, and a very large number of implements, as well as general collections 

 of seeds and roots, and coniferae, and other forest trees. The Directors have on 

 this, as on all former occasions, received the cordial co-operation and liberal 

 assistance of the Lord Provost and Magistrates of Aberdeen. A subscription of 

 L.75 has been voted by the Town Council towards the Premium Fund in addition 

 to a free grant of the use of a portion of the Links for a show-yard. The counties 

 embraced in the district of the show have subscribed as follows : — Aberdeen, 

 L.490 ; Banff, L.120 ; Kincardine, L.161 ; eastern division of Forfarshire, L.219. 

 The Royal Northern Society have promised L.100 ; and the Spey, Avon, and 

 Fiddochside Farming Association have contributed L. 12, 12s. The Waterworks 

 Committee have kindly agreed to give the requisite supply of water for the yard 

 free, only making a small charge for the use of the pipes already laid into the 

 Links, to which the Society's pipes will be joined. All the contracts have as yet 

 been undertaken by parties resident in the district, except that for the erection of 

 the show-yard, which the Directors resolved in May last to take into their own 

 hands, owing to the lowest estimate received from Aberdeen having greatly ex- 

 ceeded what the Society has been accustomed to pay at other places. At a meet- 

 ing held at Aberdeen on the 12th inst., committees were appointed for the various 

 departments. One was named on accommodation for strangers. Such a com- 

 mittee was found of the greatest use at Kelso, Stirling, and Inverness ; and I am 

 glad to say that at Aberdeen it will be under the efficient charge of Mr John 

 Angus, Mr George Reid, and Mr Alexander Yeats, secretary of the Royal Northern 

 Society, who has obligingly consented to act as convener. For the admission of 

 the stock and of the public, Major Farquharson of Haughton, and Sir William 

 Forbes of Craigievar, have respectively been named conveners. His Grace the 

 Duke of Buccleuch acts as chairman of the Appeal Committee. The Lord Provost 

 has signified his willingness to preside over the Committee on Police. Mr Anthony 

 Cruickshank, Mr Campbell, Blairton ; Mr Campbell, Kinellar ; and Mr Walker, 

 Portlethen, were nominated for the Forage Yard. With reference to this de- 

 partment, I may report that two gentlemen, one of them not an exhibitor 

 at Glasgow, brought forward charges against the Forage Committee there of 

 having supplied very inferior stuff at exorbitant prices. I consider it very 

 unfair that such charges should be made at Aberdeen at this period, and not at 

 Glasgow while the show was going on, when I could have shown the Directoi s 

 the quality of the forage supplied. I may now state, that I have seen Mr 

 Young, Fiilford, the chairman of the Forage Committee, who is ready to declare 

 that the contractors acted in the most liberal way, and that not one atom of bad 

 forage of any kind was supplied. I have also a letter from a well-known exhibitor 

 from Dumbartonshire, who says with reference to the charges made at Aber- 

 deen : — "I -was surprised to see that the Aberdonians were complaining of the 

 forage at the Glasgow Show. I found whatever I bought as good and as reason- 

 able as I could have got in any retail shop in the city. I had almost a mind to 

 write to the newspapers a letter to that effect." Colonel Gordon of Fyvie lias 

 been named convener for the committee in charge of the ball ; and Major Innes 

 of Learney for the public banquet. In regard to the last matter, I may men- 



