PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND:

on the evening of St. Andrew’s day, con- tains the names of the principal ofﬁcers of the society and of several of the guests pres- ent at the dinner.- The president was Wil- liam Johnson, attorney general; the vice- presidents were Ewen Cameron and John Stewart; the secretary was Doctor Mackie— son. Among the guests were Lieutenant— Governor Ready; Chief Justice Archibald; Robert Hodgson, M. P. (afterwards Sir Robert Hodgson, lieutenant-governor), and Rev. Father Fitzgerald. These dinners con— tinued to be for many years the principal an- nual event under the auspices of St. An- drew’s Society. At length the society was aﬂiliated with the Highland Society of London. and became in that year, 1837. the Highland Society of Prince Edward Island. As the Highland Society, it continued to en- large its membership, and to extend its in- ﬂuence. Many of the members had then or afterwards attained political. commercial or professional eminence.

Two events connected with the Highland Society may be mentioned here. In 1840 Sir James McDonnell. who held an impor— tant military position as commander of the Brigade of Guards in Canada. visited the Island. The Highland Society presented him with an address, in which reference was made to the services of Sir James at Water- loo and to his distinguished military career.

Marshal McDonald, Duke of Tarentum, one of Napoleon’s famous generals. became a member of the Highland Society. He he— came interested in his countrymen. resident in this Island, from the account given of them by Roderick McDonald, one of the Glenaladales, who called upon the Marshal in 1836, during a visit to France. The Mar- shal sent a contribution to the Highland So— ciety and'was elected an honorary member.

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The annual reunions on St. Andrew’s day continued to be the most important event of each recurring year in the history of the society until 1863. In that year a public gathering, the object of which was to encour- age bagpipe music. was held in the month of September, to which all the Highland pipers of the province were specially invited for a competition in pipe music. All the pipers who attended and took part in the competi-~ tion were rewarded, but special prizes were assigned to the three best pipers, namely: William Gillis, Alexander McDonald and Donald McFayden.

It was in the following year, 1864. that the society was constituted as it now is, “The Caledonian Club of Prince Edward Island.” to include Scotchmen, whether Highlanders or Lowlanders and their descendants, and to include Scotchmen only. The preamble of the constitution states that the object of this club shall be the preserving and perpetuating in Prince Edward Island of the national dress, music and athletic games of the people of Scotland, and to promote the welfare of our countrymen generally. At the annual ﬁeld sports, or gatherings; as they are usually called, prizes were to be awarded as follows: A prize for proﬁciency in Scottish music on the Highland pipes; a prize for dancing the sword dance. Highland ﬂing and other Cal- edonian dances; a prize for putting the stone, throwing the hammer, tossing the caber, leaping, running foot and hurdle races, sack races, and other Scottish games. The ﬁrst of these gatherings took place the 16th of Au- gust, 1864, on the Government House grounds. It is worthy of note, as emphasiz- ing the good feeling which has always ex- isted between the Scottish society and the Benevolent Irish society. that the oﬁicers of the latter society accompanied the former