Country Meeting of 1895. xxm 
Highway Boards:— Auckland, Barnard Castle, 
Castle Edeu and Sealiam, Darlington Dis- 
trict, Durham and Chester-le-Street, Greta 
Bridge, Northallerton, Richmond District, 
Stockton, and Hartlepool. 
Chambers of Agriculture : — Cleveland, Darling- 
ton, Durham and N.R., and Stockton-ou- 
Tees. 
Agricultural Societies, Ac .: — Newcastle Farm- 
ers’ Club, Barnard Castle, Beamish, Pontop 
and Consett, Bishop Auckland, Northumber- 
land, Sedgefield and District, Stokesley, 
Wensleydale, and Whitby Agricultural Socie- 
ties ; the Durham and N.E.R. Agricultural 
Horse Society ; the Gainford Horse and 
Foal Show Society ; the S. Durham and 
N. Yorkshire Horse and Dog Show Society. 
The Secretary also read the 
report of the Committee of Inspection 
(the Hon. Cecil T. Parker, Sir 
Joseph Spearman, Bart., and Mr. 
James Hornsby), recommending the 
acceptance of the invitation from 
Darlington, and advising the selection 
of the site known as the Hummers- 
knott site. 
Deputation from Darlington. 
After some general discussion on 
the report, 
Mr. W. T. Scarth introduced a 
deputation from the town and dis- 
trict of Darlington, including Lord 
Barnard (Chairman of the Local 
Committee), the Marquis of London- 
derry, K.G., Sir Henry Havelock 
Allan, Bart., the Mayor of Darlington 
(Mr. G. W. Bartlett), the ex-Mayor 
(Mr. Edward Manners), Alderman 
T. T. Sedgewick, Councillor G. W. 
Marshall, the Town Clerk, the 
Borough Surveyor, Mr. A. W. F. 
Eade, Mr. Christopher Middleton, 
Mr. Richard Ord (President of the 
Darlington and North Riding Cham- 
ber of Agriculture), Mr. Richard C. 
Pearce (Secretary of the Chamber), 
Mr. F. Raymond Steavenson (Assis- 
tant Secretary of the Local Com- 
mittee), &c. 
Mr. John Dent Dent and Mr. S. 
Rowlandson, members of the 
Council, also accompanied the depu- 
tation. 
Lord Barnard said he appeared 
in his capacity as Chairman of the 
Committee which had been formed in 
the neighbourhood of Darlington for 
the purpose of inviting the “ Royal ” 
Society to hold its annual Country 
Meeting of 1895 in that town. The 
county of Durham itself was justly 
celebrated in more than one way, and 
the North Riding of York, which was 
a purely agricultural district on the 
other side of the Tees, was within 
two or three miles of the borough 
of Darlington. Cotherstone cheeses, 
Wensleydale cheeses, the famous 
breed of Clydesdale horses, and 
latterly the Wensleydale sheep, were 
amongst the agricultural specialties 
of the district. The ground which 
they had had the privilege of showing 
to their friends on the Inspection 
Committee was, perhaps, not an ideal 
one, but he remembered perfectly 
well what Sir Jacob Wilson said in 
the showyard last year, that an abso- 
lutely ideal ground was impossible. 
In point of beauty, and other advan- 
tages, it might be favourably com- 
pared with ground to be found in 
almost any other locality. The town 
of Darlington itself was one of the 
most important industrial centres of 
England. He said that not out of 
hostility to other towns, but simply 
because they thought that the town 
of Darlington and the neighbourhood 
around it merited their attention. It 
had this advantage over other towns, 
that it was, perhaps, the most central 
place in the district in point of rail- 
way accommodation and in point of 
ease of access to other parts, of 
England, and particularly by the 
North-Eastern line to the counties of 
Northumberland, Cumberland, and 
Westmoreland. Referring again to 
the ground, the only difficulty was 
that a footpath ran across it ; but 
they had every reason to believe that 
steps could be taken for diverting 
that footpath temporarily during the 
show, as was the case at the Cam- 
bridge Meeting of the present year. 
They had the support not only of the 
large landowners and of the farmers, 
who were an important class both in 
numbers and position in the locality, 
but they also had the most hearty 
support and assistance from the 
authorities and inhabitants of the 
borough itself. The Mayor would 
put before the meeting the claims 
and advantages which the borough 
afforded. The President of the Dar- 
lington Chamber of Agriculture (one 
of the most useful bodies in the 
neighbourhood) would say a few 
