THE GAELIC SOCIETY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2111, 9 August 1894, Page 15

THE GAELIC SOCIETY.

The ordinary mouthly meotiug of this sce'efcy wai held on the Ist inst. in "cbe Stuart street Hall, nnd was numerously attended, the chair being cccup'ed by Mr Dng.ild Tvl'Lichlnn.

The Chairman, having delivered h;>» op( nir g speech, intro'liuei* to the uifct tu.g Mr W. S'.uart (uon of the Lite chief ot the society), who would, he was t-ure, meet with a hearty welcome. Mr Stuart, who is au easy and nueut speaker, then delivered a short address Although aw .y from Dunedin for some years, and consequently not having bad the pleasure of biug prt^rnfc a 1 any of the meetings of tho society, he h*d always been supplied with the newspapers containing reports, especially of their annual gatherings, and h'-id taken a great interest in them, through his father haviug been chief In the Australian colonies, in which he had been h.-journing, Highlanders were well to the front in evvry walk of industry. B^iig naturally endowed wUh bruins they had acquired a fair sha^e of the money and the lsn-1 o f thr^e c Innies Al.b"U»'l. i,ot fotming Gaelic j^cieiie-s ex-ictly on the lisus of the New Zealand one, they had their" Caledonian societies, which served much, tha same purpose, of keepiug alive the associations of the home country and the Highland--. He (the f-pe^ker) ha^ brought »i'h h;m to the meeting th<i presentation stick bis fatter had received from the 8oci»-ty some y«*a»s ago, on the eve of his going to Scotland. He l.ad secured Ihis valuable rt lie, which he would endeavour to keeo safely during his life, and afterwards hand down in the family. Mr Stunrt also exhibited to the meetirg and handed lour.d for inspection the cc-lebrated tnuff mull won by Rob&rt Burns at Craigdarrocb, 18di Octobf-r 1790 (•*.<, ,jer iufcriptiou en the lid) The mull was a sort of challenge trophy i-vhich had to be competed for annually at a drinkir g b>ut The winner was the man who was sober enough nt the e-nd of the night or morning, as fbf case might be, to bl.>w a whistle. Heavy drinking was the role of those days, and the man who could no!, take his liquor properly was regarded as a poor sort of being. Burns had been often gtigrniiis.d as a great drinker, but he was no* in fact, more so than most of the men of hid rime. The mull was received from Home though a friend of the speaker's, and it was his intention to place it in the museum. Mr D C. McDonald, in pursuance of "tbe honours three" controversy, delivered au tddress. in which he maintained that these were the Crown, the Sword, and the Sceptre He aho made feeling reference to t.he dea<h of a worthy member, the late Mr R M'Keuzie. Songs were sung during the evening by Messrs Turner, D. Mathe-00, James M'Donald, L" chlan M'Donild. and W. Smith. A violin solo by Miss Chambers was greatly appreciated, and called for a he;»rty encore. The pipers were Pipe-major M'Kechnie, Mr J. Murray, trad Mr D. M'Kechnie. Several speakers made

reference to tho forthcoming annual gathering, when they expected to see an unprecedented turn-out of Highlanders and friends.