16 



THE ANNUAL DINNER. 



In the evening the Members and their friends dined together 

 in the Royal British Hotel, under the presidency of the Earl 

 of Mansfield; Mr Alexander Milne, Vice-President, being 

 Croupier. The guests of the Society on the occasion were 

 Dr Nisbet ; Mr J. W. Tornoe, Consul for Norway and Sweden ; 

 Mr John Macmillan, Master of the Merchant Company ; 

 Rev. Thomas White, Canongate Established Church; Councillor 

 Harrison; Mr James Macdonald, Secretary of the Highland 

 and Agricultural Society: Mr Isaac Connell, S.S.C., Secretary 

 of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture ; Mr P. Murray 

 Thomson, S.S.C., Secretary of the Royal Caledonian Horti- 

 cultural Society; and Mr D. Young, of the North British 

 Agriculturist. The usual toasts were duly honoured. 



THE GENERAL MEET IXC. 



A General Meeting of the Society was held at No. 5 St 

 Andrew Square, Edinburgh, on Tuesday, 7th August 1900, at 

 2.30 o'clock p.m. There was a good attendance of Members, 

 and in the unavoidable absence of the President, Lord Mansfield, 

 Mr Alexander Milne, Vice-President, took the chair. 



Minutes. 



The Minutes of the Forty-seventh Annual Meeting, held in 

 January last, were held as read and approved of. 



Chairman's Remarks. 



The Chairman delivered an interesting address, in which, 

 amongst other matters, he referred to the depopulation of the 

 country districts and the afforestation of waste lands by the 

 State. A full report of the address will be fcund in the 

 Transactions. 



Mr John Methven, Edinburgh, in moving a vote of thanks to 

 the Chairman for his address, drew attention to the scarcity of 

 labour in country districts caused by the rush to the industrial 

 centres referred to by the Chairman, and suggested that the 

 Society should petition Parliament to appoint a Commission to 

 inquire into the matter. 



Mr Munro Ferguson, M.P., seconded the motion and supported 



