PROCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 93 



park. They had levied that local rate for the last fourteen years, and had spent 

 many thousand pounds upon the park; and his helief was that if any rate-payer 

 thought it worth his while to try the question, any single ratepayer would defy 

 both the Highland Society and the Town Council, and prevent the Cattle Show 

 being held in the Meadows. The very idea of a Cattle Show was that there should 

 be an enclosed park, from which the public should be excluded. He gave this 

 information simply as a matter of courtesy and good feeling, having nothing to 

 do, and intending to have nothing to do, with any meeting that had been or might 

 be held upon this subject. 



Sir William Gibson-Craig said that the only interest which the Highland 

 Society had in this matter was, that they should be informed as soon as possible 

 whether they were to have the Meadows or not for their Show. The power of 

 granting the park lay with the Magistrates and Council, and they could not say 

 anything upon that question. He might remark, however, that there was some 

 idea that having the Show in a park tended to improve the grass. 



Mr Handyside said that he had the honour of being a Magistrate and a mem- 

 ber of the Town Council when it was resolved to grant the Meadows for the Show. 

 The} r had no difficulty in granting the park ; but lie must say that the legal 

 objection referred to by Mr M'Laren was not mooted. He did not suppose that 

 any Town Councillor dreamt of it. He hardly thought that any inhabitant of 

 Edinburgh would put himself in what he considered would be the very false posi- 

 tion of offering any opposition to the Show being held in the Meadows. 

 He thought it would be doing great injustice to Edinburgh as a city, and 

 to the decision of the Magistrates when they made this grant, if any one acted 

 in that manner. He never heard that there was any feeling of opposition until 

 he heard of Mr Clapperton's remarks. He could see no good ground for complain- 

 ing of the Show being held in a public park, and he sincerely trusted for the 

 honour of the city that there would be no opposition. 



Professor Macqxjorn Rankine said that perhaps it might be worth while to 

 state that the last two shows, held in Glasgow and Aberdeen, were both held in 

 public parks. 



The resolution thanking the Magistrates and Council for the use of the Meadows 

 was unanimously adopted. 



The Dumfries Show in 1870. — Mr Kixloch reported, in reference to the 

 Show in 1870, that a requisition had been received from the district of Dumfries — 

 consisting of Dumfriesshire, the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and Wigtownshire — 

 asking the Directors to hold the show at Dumfries. That request had been 

 favourably entertained, and he had been instructed to submit the following resolu- 

 tion for the approval of this meeting: — "That this meeting approve of the 

 General Show of the Society being held at Dumfries in 1870, and authorise the 

 Directors to make the necessary arrangements." 



The resolution was adopted. 



District Shows.— Mr Campbell Swinton of Kimmerghame, reported that 

 during the past year local shows of stock for premiums given by the Society had 

 taken place in fourteen districts, irrespective of the intermediate competitions 

 held for premiums given by district associations, and that a sum of about L.250 

 had been awarded, besides a number of medals for the same classes of stock. 

 There had also been awarded two medium gold medals for cheese exhibited at the 

 Kilmarnock Show in October last ; one hundred and twenty-three silver medals at 

 fifty-four different exhibitions for the best male and best female animals, best fat 

 stock, best managed farms, green crops, best managed dairy and daily produce, 

 best collection of seeds and roots, &c. ; one hundred and sixty-seven medals to the 

 winners of the first prizes at as many ploughing matches ; and twenty-one medals, 

 besides sums of money, for the best-kept cottages and cottage gardens in twelve 

 districts. Mr Swinton then stated that the Directors had been for some time 

 engaged in adjusting the lists for 1869, and that it had been arranged, with the 

 approval of the General Meeting, to give the following grants: — Ten districts for 

 cattle at L.25, and a silver medal each ; two for stallions, at L.25 each ; two for 

 entire colts, at L.10 each ; six for sheep, at L.19, and a silver medal each ; one 

 for swine, at L. 10, and a silver medal ; two for dairy produce, at L.10, and two 

 silver medals each ; four gold and eight silver medals for dairy produce, to be 

 competed for at Kilmarnock Show in October next ; the usual number of medium 

 silver medals to the various districts which have applied for grants, as well as 



