PPtOCEEDINGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 



GENERAL MEETING, 14th JUNE 1876. 



]\Ir John Munro, Fairnington, Kelso, senior Ordinary Director, in the Chair. 



New Members. — 137 gentlemen were balloted for and elected. 



Address to the Prince of Wales.^ — The Chairman said — Before proceeding Avith 

 the business of the meeting, I have to state that the Directors have prepared an 

 address for presentation to the Prince of Wales on his return from India, and which 

 •will be laid before the Society for its approval. 



Mr F. N. Menzies, Secretary, then read the address, as follows : — 



''To His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales'. 

 " May it please your Royal Highness, ^ — We, the Highland and Agricultural Society 

 ■of Scotland, incorporated by Royal Charter, in general meeting assembled, humbly 

 desire to offer to your Royal Highness our sincere congratulations on the occasion of 

 your return from your visit to India. When your Royal Highness graciously cou- 

 i;ented to become the President of our Society, we recognised in that act an earnest of 

 your solicitude to promote the prosperity of the country, as founded on the progress 

 of industry and the cultivation of the useful arts. We gratefully bear in remembrance 

 that it has been under the l)enehcent sway of your royal ancestors that the industry of 

 this country has been most favoured, and that agriculture, commerce, and all the arts 

 of life have been most successfully cultivated. In like manner, we trust that from 

 your visit to India, and your attention to the interests of that countrj', still greater 

 advances may be made towards that solid strength of the State which is founded on 

 the numbers, enterprise, and opulence of the people. It was extremely gratifying to 

 lis to hear of the cordial and loyal welcome accorded to your Royal Ilighness by all 

 classes of Her Majesty's Indian subjects, and we sincerely pray that the result may be 

 to secure during ages to come that permanent attachment to the Crown which has 

 lieen evinced on the present occasion. — Signed at the desire and in the jDresence of a 

 general meeting of the Society held at Edinburgh on the 14th day of June 1876. 



"John Munro, Chairman." 

 The address was unanimously adopted. 



Death of Sir Alexander Gibson-Maitland of Clifton Hall, Bart. — It was 

 j-esolved by the Society, before proceeding to the business on the programme, to record 

 in their minutes the deep regret with which they regard the death of Sir Alexander 

 Charles Ramsay Gibson-Maitland of Clifton Hall, Bart., and to express their sense of 

 the valuable assistance which the Society has for many years received from him as a 

 Director and as a member of the Council on Agricultural Education. The meeting 

 directed that a copy of the resolution be transmitted to Lady Gibson-Maitland, with 

 their respectful condolence with her and her family under so painful a bereavement. 



Arrangements for the Aberdeen Show. — Mr Gillon of Wallhouse said — I have 

 to report that the arrangements for the Aberdeen show are progressing satisfactorily. 

 There was at one time some difficulties as to the Society's getting the use of the links 

 for a showyard, but these have been overcome. The showyard will be erected by I\Ir 

 Richardson of Annan, who has been the contractor for the last four years. Mr Rich- 

 iirdson will thus complete the period for which the contract was let — nam.ely, five years. 

 The following is a comparative statement of the entries at Aberdeen in 1868 and on the 

 present occasion : — 



1868 1876 



Cattle, . . • . . .373 424 



Horses, . . . . .139 227 



Sheep, . . . . .632 448 



Swine, ..... 57 84 



Poultry, . . . .480 520 



Implen;euts, .... 1158 1812 



