HOME RULE FOR SCOTLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 256, 29 October 1928, Page 6

HOME RULE FOR SCOTLAND.

The rectorial election for the Glasgow University shows the progress made by the promoters of the movement for Home Rule for Scotland, Mr. Cunninghame Graham, the Scottish Nationalist, was only 66 votes behind Mr. Baldwin. Of course, Mr. Cunninghame Graham had other recommendations that would appeal to undergraduates. Writer, traveller, and scornful critic of civilisation, he is one of the most picturesque personalities of the time. It was a journey of his that gave rise to "Captain Brassbound's Conversion." Mr. Shaw gives the following description of him: "The horse he bestrides and dominates fearlessly. He handles the other lethal weapons as familiarly as the pen. Medieval sword and modern "Mauser are to him as umbrellas and kodaks are to me. He is, I understand, a Spanish Hidalgo. Hence the superbity of his portrait by Lavery. He is, I know, a Scottish Laird. How he contrives to be authentically the two things at the same time is no more intelligible to me than the fact that everything that has ever happened to him seems to have happened in Paraguay or Texas instead of in Spain or Scotland. He is, I regret to add, an impenitent dandy. Such boots, such a hat, would have dazzled D'Orsay himself. Someone once told him of Tarudant, a city in Morocco, in which no Christian had ever set foot. He took ship and horse, changed his hat for a turban and made straight for the sacred city." One of his favourite sayings is that failure alone is interesting. He has failed to get the rectorial chair, but in this •instance it is the narrow margin by which he failed against the Prime Minister that is the interesting feature. The result should give great encouragement to those who believe that Scotland should have a Parliament of its own. This demand is mainly based on economic considerations. Of the total revenue contributed by Scotland, only about a'-qudrter is applied to Scottish national purposes, the balance going to Imperial expenditure. The land question, especially the devotion of large tracts to sporting purposes, is a strong factor in the movement.