HEAD OF CLAN MURRAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 56, 7 March 1914, Page 16

HEAD OF CLAN MURRAY.

The Duke of Atholl is now in his seventy-fourth year, and fov fifty of them he Iras held more titles than any 'lother noblertian in Great Britain. Be>«ides the dukedom the catalogue includes '.two marquisates, five earldoms, three .vigcounties, and eight baronies. Though the Atholl estates are es> 'tensive, funning to gome 200.000 acres, ihe duke is not a -wealthy man. There is little entertainment at the castle except duririg the Week of the Atholl igatlierirtg, when the duke's retainers turn ;out in their bravest raiment and "open house " is kept. The Ifcike is head" of the famous Atholl Highlanders. This is the only private 'regiment— it does not figure in the Army List-t^-whose colours were presented by ■the sovereign. This ceremony took placewhen Queen Victoria was on a visit to "Blair Castle in 1844, The regiment is really a bodyguard of 100 stalwart clansmen, •The duke was nearly seventy years of >ag& before he took the chair at a political meeting, which he did to please his son, the Marquis of Tullibardine, who was then a candidate for West Perthshire, .vvliich he now represents.

-It i« a- notable fact that during the past ye&f nob a single sailing-ship of any dimensions has been built in this country, eaid a recent writer in the London Daily Telegraph. Not only, however, do we refuse to replenish, our sail fleet, but we have disposed of so large a part of it to foreigners that its importance is today painfully reduced. These sales wei'e in many cases' made when shipping was at a- low ebb. and price* were very cheap. Some of tho foreigners who purchased «friling-veßs6ls from us for an old song must have earned enough in the way of profits, when tho boom camp, to pay for their bargains twice over. But with the slump in freights, the eailim*-ship threatens again to become a drtor in the market. AH tho talk about the possibility of helping to -keep her alive by the use- of auxiliary engines has so far been practically profitless. .Apart from the aesthetic aspects of the case, there seem to be two sets of people who Openly ertpress concern at tho disappearance of the sailer. One consists of those British steamship owners who believe that sailing-ship training is desirable for officers. The other embraces certain Bradford wool merchants, who complain that the Australian product reaches them toe- rapidly in stcitmshtps. and say they would be content- to pay a higher freight foy sailing-3hip in order to save warehouse charges at this end. But the usefulness of the Bailing-ship as a warehouse has not served to prevent her from becoming unfashionable, and the process has, of course, been helped by high insurance oharaes. Ac td the subiect of training, it would seem that if wo build nothing but steamers w4 must look to them to furnish the schooling facilities.