GAELIC SOCIETY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10589, 5 September 1896, Page 7

GAELIC SOCIETY.

This- society held its ordinary monthly mestipg onThuraday night in the' Stuart street Hall, "if r D. Matheson occupied the chair. Owing to counter attractions in the shap*s af Celtic weddings and Masonic meetings the attendance was soD-iew-hai smaller than usual, and apologies for absence were received from Messrs Dl 0. M'Donald, G. Ritchie, and Dugald M'Lachl.i'i. A letter from Mr D. Matheson (Lake Ohau) was Mad suggestis-*; that Dr flo-Sou Macdonald's lecture, 'Celt ana Saxnn from Prehistoric Timai/'should be published iu pamphlet form. -,'"■■ v. • The SGOKETAkY (Mr MaoLeod): reported having received-'for' ,the...Ciaelic Library., from Mrs Copland' (("ore), a _aodeiS,_i» donat(oa of Gaeli9 bciok(;,:iu'ctuding ,ra M'Lebd'arid De war's Gaßiic"Scglish and English-Gaelic dictionary slid : a Gaelic astronomical, ■svs.rk; These works would be doubly.. valnabl** - .to -the society, as they formed part' of the library of..the lato Dr "Ciillies,., whQ.,,h.-id heeo, ■ one. .*}(.,,.t'l» eai-lie-it* and' -host' rc-ipected office ; .bearers of the society, and .probaliiyth.e best Gaelic sc'qolar tbat they had had in their ranks. He h.ad edited a ''Gaeliccolumn " fill" sonie" years in one of the Dunediu papers, and.he "(the speaker)" did not think a single mistake in grammar or orthography, would be'found iir the whole,- of the work that went through his hiind". * The best, thanks of the society were due to Mrs Onpiatid for. her kin/ln'eas iii rerdfmberios'their libraryI'with these books;--(Auplause.) Mr MacLeod also gave an account of his -own and'the president's visit to the Irish Gafiie Societ.v on the oceu-iaii of their first at" anal gathering. As a - depqtatio^ they were warmly welctiincd by Father Lynch and the othar ofliceheareri, and it wa»'refr«shlii*» to hear the Gaelic saUitai-ions And resr>ori^6i "Ta gu inaith cioviiias ta.tu" und the " Beannachd leat" at part-iiij:* but, from'efrcumstao'ees'whieh were explhi.-.ed, there was less' Gaelic in the proceedings than th--re otherwise would have been.- He hoped the two societies would strive mote than ever 10 pr*)serve ths ancient Celtic foague. An extract from a' Efciue paper was read givipg a description of the levoltio*; cruelty exercised in Karth. ITist in evictin? the small teniiiits tli»i*e only some two months ajo, and wonder w»s e-preased that such atrocit-ics could, at the end of the nineteenth century, he: permitted to take place in Scotland. .„ . ■'

The concert was opanad by Mrs Campbell siugiiig "6ed tha mi gun' c.hrodh gun aighenn," which she did* very nie'dy, as also "Thug ji'ii gaol" it a later stags. .Mrs' Murray sang '"ihe banks of the Devon" wit-h-good fast* an expression. .Mrs MTherson, whose first appearand tbis was.at these mee.ti-igs, made an escsllt'Tit impression by her sin^iMg of " A hundred jirprti'.*. and .V" and "The standard on the braes o' Mar." MrU. M*theson's song (" Anus a shleanti 'sr 'ii a" rb-b'miiog-"),- Mr J. Turner's ("Gu m'u sl?-« a ehi mi"),' Mr .John rtosi's (" Ral) Tmnson'a umiddie") and Mr Colin M'Kenzie'a (" Jock M'Grath") all elicited appreciative applause. The bagpipes weie played by Pipe-major M'Kiichcie and Mr Alexander Muiray, Mr Philip jVTLswj wns elected a member.