MODERN SCOTLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 150, 26 June 1937, Page 26 (Supplement)

MODERN SCOTLAND.

CICELY HAMILTON'S BOOK. Several writers, Scots and non-Scots, have set out of late to tell the world their impressions of present-day Scotland, and most of us are familiar with at least Mr. H. V. Morton's books. The latest to make the Scotlajid of to-day her subject—and she takes a different line from him, supplementing what he has said —is Cicely Hamilton. She calls her book —published by Dent—"Modern Scotland." One has only to glance at the illustrations on the jacket to see the line she follows. They suggest the engineering, the farming and fishing industries, the huge tourist traffic, the problem of the Highlands and islands, and the Church. And these are among the things she deals with, and it is this practical and more serious point of* view that is the feature of the book. It is all the more opportune, in view of the great Empire Exhibition that is to be held in Glasgow next year.

A considerable amount of space is devoted toGlasgow, the Irish immigrant* in it, and the industrial area o€ which Glasgow is the centre, with its population of somewhere about two millions and a half. To-day it is in the main, as in old days, a hive of industry. It is reported that half the shipbuilding of the world is carried on at the moment on the Clyde. There were but signs of this when Miss Hamilton last visited the district, and what she saw then gave colour to much of what she says about the poverty and the misery she came upon in certain quarters. She rightly draws attention to Glasgow as a "live" literary centre, as that fact is not generally known. She covers most of tiio country, and one can see that she has been keenly observant, has read a good deal, and, even more, has been largely influenced by the opinions of many of the people she has met. What" she writes about the Sutherland clearances and emigration will be of especial interest to many of her readers. The Psalms in metre she quotes from are apt to mislead those who are not familiar' with the metrical version of the psalter used in Scotland. They have apparently misled her. The book is attractive in appearance, is well written, and, on the whole, gives a true picture of the country as it is to-day.