34 Annual Meeting. 



The Chairman, in making the presentation, said he had been 

 deputed in the name and on behalf of the members to pay a slight 

 compliment to Mr. R. M. Young, who since 1885, a period of 

 twenty-six years, had acted as hon. secretary of the Natural History 

 and Philosophical Society. They felt that his valued services, 

 given to the Society all these years, deserved some recognition 

 from them, and they were sure no honour would be more grate- 

 fully accepted by him than a portrait of his revered father, one of 

 the most venerated and respected of their fellow-citizens, who had 

 received from his Sovereign the high distinction of being made a 

 member of the Privy Council, and who, as an indication of his 

 varied and cultivated gifts, had occupied the presidentship of that 

 Society as well as of the Belfast Literary Society, and who was still 

 chairman of Belfast (Linen Hall) Library. They all rejoiced that the 

 Right Hon. Robert Young was present on that occasion, and that, 

 notwithstanding his eighty-nine years, he was still in the possession 

 of such physical and mental vigour. As they all knew, one of the 

 special features of their Society was the discussion of the latest 

 scientific discoveries, especially in their practical and utilitarian 

 bearings, and it was worth noting that during the time Mr. R. M. 

 Young was secretary that such subjects as the phonograph, wireless 

 telegraphy, and horseless carriages were first brought under the 

 notice, in a public society, of the people of Belfast. Further, it 

 was during Mr. Young's period of office that, in 1891, the Society 

 obtained their scheme from the Educational Endowment Com- 

 rnissioners, which enabled them to transfer their Museum collec- 

 tionS; through the Library and Technical Instruction Committee, 

 to the Belfast Corporation. Mr. R. M. Young was an ideal 

 secretary in such a society as theirs, being a man of most diverse 

 artistic, historical, and antiquarian tastes, as his edition of " The 

 Town Book of the Corporation of Belfast (1613-1816)," his 

 •'Ulster in 'g8," his " Historical Collections Relative to Old 

 Belfast," and his " Belfast and the Province of Ulster in the 

 Twentieth Century" all showed. Sir John Byers, in conclusion, 

 said that to him personally it was a great pleasure to take part in 



