5l6 HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



objects of the Society, by suggesting premiums and exhibit- 

 ing stock at their general shows, and his personal attention 

 to agricultural pursuits, all satisfied the Directors, upon 

 mature deliberation, of the propriety of the recommendation 

 they then made to the Society, and he had no doubt it 

 would be borne out by the resolution of the meeting. The 

 motion was seconded by Mr Mackenzie of Portmore, M.P., 

 and Sir Neil was declared to be unanimously elected. In 

 returning his acknowledgments, Sir Neil observed that as 

 an Agricultural Society, the Highland Society was the first 

 in the empire, perhaps he might say in the world ; he could 

 not, therefore, but view his election as the highest honour 

 which could be conferred on a country gentleman. He 

 would endeavour to discharge the duties to the best of his 

 ability. Before sitting down, he expressed his respect for 

 the memory of the late Honorary Secretary, whose urbanity 

 and kindness of disposition endeared him to all. Sir Neil 

 Menzies died in August 1844, and at the General Meeting 

 on the 14th of January 1845, Sir Charles Gordon, the 

 Secretary, reported the loss the Society had sustained by 

 the death of so valuable and esteemed an office-bearer, 

 adding that Sir Neil was one of the most zealous they ever 

 had. 



V. Mr John James Hope Johnstone of Annandale 

 was appointed at the General Meeting on 14th January 1845. 

 The Earl of Rosebery, in moving his election, said it had 

 been the practice, and certainly ought to be uniformly ad- 

 hered to, that the person chosen for the important office of 

 Honorary Secretary should be a gentleman of station and 

 public character, not only zealous on behalf of those con- 

 cerns to which the Society directed its attention, but also 

 possessed of that taste and experience and knowledge with 

 regard to them, which would enable him rightly to discharge 

 the duties which he would be called on to undertake, with 

 satisfaction to himself and advantage to the Society. Mr 

 Hope Johnstone, in returning thanks for the honour con- 

 ferred upon him, said that, actuated by a sense of gratitude 

 to the Society, and by the deep interest which he took in 

 the agricultural prosperity of Scotland, he would consider 



