NOTES FROM SCOTLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8386, 14 October 1890, Page 5

NOTES FROM SCOTLAND.

[from OUR own correspondent. 1 Edinburgh, September 5. THE REV. MR. MATHER.

The Rev. .T. J. Mather, lately Wesley yj minister at Warkworth, who is at present on furlough revisiting the old country after an absence of ten years, recently spent a week in Edinburgh. Ho has been greatly enjoying his visit, but he assured me that tho renewal of his acquaintance with England had taught him to value still more highly than he had ever done the many advantages presented by the land of his adoption. The miserable apology for summer weather during the last few months has made him long for the sunny skies of New Zealand. Mr. Mather has been spending a good deal of his time with his many friends at Otley, Yorkshire, where he lived previously to going to New Zealand. The town at the time of his arrival was in the throes of a labour difficulty. A large number of the mechanics employed in the large printing machine works were on strike lor a small increase of wages. Mr. Mather, having during the years of his absence from the town kept himself well informed as to the relations between the local masters and men naturally felt grep* interest in the matter; and, being confident that the men had justice on their side, ho willingly acceded to a requisition on their part that he would preside at several meetings organised by them. In the course of his addresses to the men he said that he had an ever-increasing conviction that it was the duty of Ministers to interest themselves more actively than they had hitherto done in matters pertaining to the sooial welfare of the people; and, although ho deprecated resort to strikes unless all other means had failed, he could not but deeply sympathise with the present efforts of the workmen of Otley in their endeavours to acquire the reasonable additional remuneration already enjoyed by their fellow-craftsmen in the neighbouring towns. He also took occasion to refer to the great advantages possessed by the workmen in New Zealand in respect to wages, hours of labour, and independence. Whilst making this favourable contrast and advising those who desired to better their condition to emigrate, ho at the same time warned them against the supposition that they would in all cases find employment at their own trade at once. If, however, they would meanwhile turn their hands to what honest toil offered itself, he felt sure that they would before long attain a more advantageous position than they could ever occupy in tho old country. He was also careful to point out to them how by the cultivation of the habits of temperance and thrift, they themselves had the power of materially improving their social condition. Mr. Mather was pleased to inform me that the masters ultimately conceded all the demands of tho men. Mr. Mather contemplates leaving for New Zealand towards the end of October, having booked his passage by the Orient liner Austral.

RAILWAY ACCIDENT. Early on the morning of August 28th, a serious railway accident occurred on the North British Railway, about four miles from lihwgow, in the Milngavie section. A passenger train bound for Glasgow, whilst passing the junction of the Helensburgh and Milngavie lines ran •' 1 to a loop line, and there violently collided with a goods train. The concussion was very great, and it resulted in injuries more or less severe to some fifty of the passengers, most of whom wore business men proceeding citywards. Fortunately there were no fatalities, and most of the injured have since been making speedy recovery. The accident is supposed to have occurred through the engine-driver mistaking the signals. VALUABLE PAINTINGS. Through the death of Miss Helen Watson, of Preston-street, Edinburgh, a valuable collection of paintings, engravings, autographs, ancient books, and manuscripts becomes the property of the Scottish National Gallery, under the will of the late Mr. William Finlay Watson, bookseller, brother of the deceased lady. Some of the pictures are of high value, among the number being Wilkie's original sketch of "The Penny Wedding," early works of Turner, and paintings by Vandyck, Holbein, and Hogarth. There are also some excellent portraits of Queen Mary, Prince Charlie, Edmund Spenser, Shakespero, Charles 1., Darnley, Columbus, James Watt, and many other notable characters. At the time of Mr. Watson's death, some nine years ago, tho National Gallery received a portion of the 1 equest, consisting of some two thousand engravings, drawings, and etchings. Miss Watson had herself been an enthusiastic collector of ancient curiosities, and she has bequeathed her extensive and valuable collection of old china to tho Museum of Science and Art. To this institution she has also consigned a number of other articles of vertu, including the dressing-gown of Napoleon I. and Ciarinda's tea tray, cup and saucer, which had been used by Robert Burns. , SCOTTISH AND NEW ZEALAND INVESTMENT COMPANY. A general meeting of the Scottish and New Zealand Investment Company was recently held to receive tho report of the chairman, Mr. Lockhart, who has just returned from New Zealand, whore he has been for some time investigating the position of the company's affairs. He stated to the meeting that he had mad« a careful inspection of the properties in which tho company was interested, and in cases where he thought the loans had been too large he took steps to reduce the amount, and in some instances he had resorted to foreclosure. lie referred to the re-arrange-ments which had been made in the management, and the reduotion in expense effected thereby. He had come to tho conclusion that very few investment companies doing business in the colonies were in a better position than their own. Mr. Lockhart spoke in the most encouraging manner of the prospects of the colony. In reply to a question lie said that he regarded the property tax in New Zealand as a incest iniquitous one, but he did not believe it would be abolished. Ho also said, in reply to a further question, that tho company had a number of investments at 6 per cent, and GS per cent., but they could nob possibly live under 7 per cent., and he had arranged to raise the percentage to that amount, and the shareholders would soon reap the benefit of the increase. The quostion as to a dividend or its amount could not at present, he said, be determined. The meeting accorded Mr. Lockhart a vote of thanks for his report.

MISCELLANEOUS. The shipbuilding trade on the Clyde is booming (it the present time. The orders booked during August have been four times heavier than for the corresponding month of last year. The firm of W. and R. Chambers, publishers, has been registered as a limited liability company. The capital is fixed at £100,000, in £100 shares, and the whole stock is held by members of the family and employes. The registered office of the company is in Edinburgh, and the business will be carried on in all respects as hitherto. There have been many curious cases of mistaken identity, but perhaps uone more surprising than one occurring the other day in Glasgow. The body of a woman was found in the Forth and Clyde Canal at Fort Dundas, and it was identified by a William Johnstone as that of his wife. The body was conveyed to his home, and from thence he mournfully followed it to the place of interment. It is difficult to imagine his feelings when next morning he observed coming across the threshold the form of his wife—nob her wraith, but herself in real bodily presence. The good lady explained to her bewildered husband that she had been spending a few days with a friend. A correspondent in Dunedin has been writing to the publishers of " In Darkest Africa" that the colonial edition of Stanley's latest book is sure to be much appreciated. The excitement there, he says, is tremendous, and scarcely anything else but Stanloy is spoken of. Any scrap of news about his meetings, speeches, &c., is eagerly read. He says he cannot express in writing the tremendous admiration all colonials have for the explorer. Judging from this you seem to be having the Stanley mania raging almost as fiercely out) there as it has done here. Ib is something appalling to think how the gallant explorer and his wife have to submit to the handling of their names for advertising purposes.

"Stanley" and "Dorothy" tweeds are among the latest) on the market. The prospects of the lady medicos are brightening more every day. The Medical Congress at Berlin extended a welcome to no less than 18 lady doctors. A medical man of Glasgow has just bequeathed £30,000 for the founding of a college for the promotion of the medical and scientific education of women.

On the death of Cardinal Newman, the newspapers of Scotland generally gave voice to the feelings of profoundest reßpccb for the nobleness, fearlessness, and transf arenfc sincerity of the Cardinal's character, t was a subject of general comment how great a change had come over the religious spirit of the times, when Presbyterian Scotland was nob slow to recognise sterling worth even in a prince of the Roman Catholic Church. " Lead Kindly Light," the Cardinal's immortal hymn, was sung in many a Protestant church of Scotland as a tribute to his memory on the Sunday after his death.

Mr. Andrew Carnegie has been lecturing at Dundee on the subject of "The American Republic." He maintained that the republican form of government in America was far less burdensome to the taxpayer than the government of Great Britain. The American people, he said, made ample allowance for the President, but they were not called upon to support his sisters and his cousins and his aunts, and the President had nothing to do with the German contingent. The lecturer in speaking of the laws regarding property said that Henry George could not get an American audience to listen to him, because he advocated the nationalisation of the land, and America was the greatest landholder in the world. Mr. Carnegie expressed the hope that Queen Victoria would reign so long that the democracy would resolve that when she passed away they must be consulted as to her successor. It is not much wonder surely that Scotch loyalists find Mr. Carnegie, with all his gilding, a hard pill to swallow. Dr. Lawson Tait, the distinguished surgeon of Birmingham, has expressed his willingness, if invited, to contest the University of Edinburgh seat in the Liberal interest should the Solicitor-General (Mr. Stormouth Darling), the present member, accept the vacant Judgship in Parliament House.

The twenty-first annual session of the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templers has been held at Aberdeen. It was reported that the Order in Scotland consisted of 1017 lodges with 63,456 members.

Great regret has been expressed at; the rather sudden death of the Rev. Professor Duff, D.D., LL.I)., at Rothesay, on September 1. Dr. Duff held the position of Professor of Church History at the Theological Hall of the United Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh. Not only has he occupied the foremost rank in his special branch of research, but he has taken a prominent part in the administration of the affairs of the Church. He was Moderator in the year 1886. He also displayed great interest in educational matters, and at the time of his death was chairman of the Edinburgh School Board, of which he had been a member since 1579. The University of Edinburgh, in 1887, conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D., in recognition of his valuable services in the cause of education.

Through the liberality of the late Provost Donald, of Dunfermline, who was a member of the firm of Inglis and Co., of the Victoria and Castleblair Linen Works, each of the operatives, numbering in all about 800, received a legacy of £10, and each head of department a larger amount. The Rev. John McNeill, of Regent Square Church, London, often called tha Scottish Spurgeon, has been taking a holiday in Scotland. Wherever he has p:eached he has attracted very large congregations.