Meeting of RUAS is held in offices of the Chamber of Commerce (1908)
The ordinary meeting of the council of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society had been held during this week in 1908 in the offices of the Chamber of Commerce with Colonel C E McClintock, JP, presiding.
The other members present included Colonel Duncan McNeill, JP; Major W G Forde, DL; Captain Anthony F Maude, JP; Messrs John Carmichael Ferrall, DL; Edward Coey, JP; H B Murray, JP; James McCormick, JP; John McRobert, JP; Edwin Hughes, JP; John Wilkin, JP; John Robson, W Laird, James Coey, John M Galway, John Waters, CE; Walter R Crawford, James Gallaher, W J McCormick, J C Craig, J K Smith, Charles S Harden, Thomas McErvel, J D A Ferguson, Edgar Nugent, John Warwick, W A Lindsay, Robert Henry, MD; Alex. Smiley, George F Richardson, George Nelson, John B McRoberts, and H D M Barton.
The secretary, Mr Kenneth MacRae, was in attendance.
Apologies for non-attendance were received from the Marquis of Downshire, DL; Colonel McCalmont, MP; Colonel Sharman Crawford, DL; Messrs. C Dunbar-Buller, DL, and John Collen, DL.
Before the beginning of the business of the meeting the chairman referred in feeling terms to the loss the society had sustained in the death of Mr William Gibson, JP, who had been a member of the council, and moved that a letter of sympathy be sent to the relatives of the deceased, which was passed.
Mr Smith submitted the scrutineers’ report in connection with the recent election of members of council, which was considered satisfactory.
The following were elected scrutineers for the ensuing year – Messrs James McCormick, JP; W Laird, J K. Smith, and Edgar Nugent.
On the motion of the chairman, seconded by Mr Smith, Mr J Fred Cleaver, Bishopstone, Deramore Park, Belfast, was co-opted a member of council to fill vacancy caused by death of Mr Gibson.
The following standing committees were appointed for the ensuing year – finance, works, selection, education, traffic and advertising, and the sectional show committees.
The finance committees report was passed, on the motion of Mr Laird, seconded by Mr Craig.
Mr Waters submitted the works committee’s report, which dealt with improvement of grounds, repairs to buildings, and lettings. Mr James McCormick seconded, and the report was adopted.
Reports of the cattle. horse, poultry, and dog sectional show committees were proposed by their respective chairmen and adopted.
The poultry committee’s report recommended that competition in the poultry section of the spring show be reopened to the United Kingdom, and that of the dog committee that the dog show to be held in July be a non-championship one.
The following had agreed to act as judges at the spring show: Cattle, Shorthorns, Mr James McWilliam; Garbity, Orton Station, NB; Aberdeen Angus, Mr James Cameron, Glasgow; Galloways, Mr Walter Bigger, Chapelton, Dalbeattie; Ayrshire, Mr Alexander Y Allan, Aitkanbar. Dumbarton; Jerseys and Kerries, Mr W Berry, Higher Walton, Warrington; Dexters, Mr G J B Chetwynd, Wyndthorpe, near Doncaster; dairy and general purposes cattle, Mr P Clune, Department of Agriculture, Dublin. Horses, Clydesdales, Shires, farmers’ horses, draught horses in gear and harness horses, Mr W R Trotter, North Scomb, Stockfield-on-Tyne; polo ponies, Mr D P Hope Johnston, Laragh, Maynooth. Pigs, Large York and Large Black, Mr Richmond, Daybell Hall Farm, Worsley, near Manchester; Large White Ulster, Mr P Clune, Department of Agriculture, Dublin. Poultry, Mr R Stainthorpe, Vine Cottage, Darlington. Butter and cream, Mr William McFadzean, Dundonald Road, Kilmarnock. Honey, the Reverend W Martin, The Manse, Randalstown. Buttermaking competitions (confined to Ireland), Miss Sheedy, Munster Dairy Institute, Cork; open, Mr William McFadzean, Dundonald Road, Kilmarnock. poultry trussing and poultry plucking competitions, Mr F R Nasmyth-Miller, Department of Agriculture, Dublin.
The secretary announced offers of additional spring show prizes as follow: Shorthorn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, £10 district prize for yearling shorthorn bulls and £10 for shorthorn dairy cows; Mr J Stewart Clark, £5 towards prizes for Aberdeen Angus cattle; Mr H de F Montgomery, DL, £5 towards prices for Ayrshires; the Lord (Mayor of Belfast (Sir Robert Anderson, JP)), £3 for dairy cows.