of all the firsts for piping. But he only came in second. Whereupon he inquired of the judges what mistake he had made. “Oh, nae mistake,” they said. “Ye played capital.” “Surely, then,” he asked, “I was entitled to first prize?” “Maybe ye wis; but, ye see, ye had a’ the firsts for dancing.” “But was I not the best dancer?” “Nae doot aboot that.” “And was I not the best piper, too?” “We’re no sayin’ but ye wis.” “But I thought the best piper ought to get the first prize!” “Oh, nae doot; but we thocht ye had gotten plenty already.” Mac Lennan always told this story afterwards with great glee. “Do you know,” he would say, “these judges were the most interesting men I ever met. I wonder what they would have done if the competitor was a hammer- thrower or a jumper. They could not say thirty feet was less than twenty-five feet. Taken all over, however, the bigger competitions are honourably conducted, and the best men always come out first. These now competing are mostly the retainers of titled gentlemen, with a number of private individuals who unite to an ordinary occupation an enthusiasm for the pipes. There are several ways in which the gatherings could be improved and made more interesting to the general public and of more value to the devotees of the pipes. The names of the tunes played might be published with the list of results, as well as the names of the prize-winners; prizes might be offered for new tunes, and for essays on the history or merits of tunes; and thus composition would be stimulated; and, above all, the old plan whereby the player was kept out of sight of the judge might be reintroduced. The judging at local competitions is often looked on as a joke, and not worth protesting against. Were the judges ignorant of the identity of the players, the charge of favouritism could not be made, and that in itself would be a great step gained. If pipers would form a society among themselves and insist on only thoroughly competent men being allowed to act as judges the charge of ignorance of the music would fall to the ground. And again, some attempt might be made to put a stop to the liberty which everybody seems to have to organise a competition, call it “amateur championship” or whatever he likes, issue medals of little or no value, and pocket the receipts. All the gatherings, say in Scotland, could be managed by one organisation, a pipers’ society such as that suggested, or a more comprehensive Highland society of some kind, and a certain uniformity of grades in confined and open and amateur and professional competitions introduced which would give confidence to the competitors, make the principal prizes a known quantity, and interest the general public in the results. That, of course, would not preclude the holding of competitions under the auspices of well-known and accredited athletic or patriotic organisations.