GLASGOW SIXTY YEARS AGO

NZ Truth, Issue 142, 7 March 1908, Page 7

GLASGOW SIXTY YEARS AGO

NO HOUSE WITHOUT A BOTTLE OF WHISKY.

Peeple Living m Underground

Hovels.

It is well at times to turn over the pages of our city's history, writes a contributor to. a Glasgow paper, m order to discover that, "despite what pessimists may say, we are advancing m the right direction. What was Glasgow 60 or 70 years ago ? Let ex-Bailie Reid, of Cqatbridge (a much respected son of St. Mungo), who lectured to the Liberal Club at Coatbridge the other evening on "Personal Reminiscences of Historical Events," give readers a glimpse of what the Second City actually was m the days of his youth. Sir- Walter Scott, the great novelist and poet, who has done so much for Scotland's world-wide fame, had left behind him a lingering sentiment of romance, which 68 years ago found somewhat fantastic expression m .

THE GREAT EOLTNTON TOURNAMENT, , ; ; ■.■'; '*a copy of the militant past." Thousands flocked from all parts of Scotland and England to witness that notable event, and mv parents (says Bailie Reid) were among the sightseers, with my small self in their, company* To this day I can recall how proud I was in my new Highland tlres.s, and how terrified at the wild and fearsome charge of the mailclad horsemen as they spurred their fiery steeds. To me the whole spectacle seemed vsry real ; and when the , shock of meeting caime, many gallant cavaliers were borne to earth and pierced right through by the lances of the victors. At least that is. how, it appeared to mv affrighted vision, though the actual facts, I sup^ r pose, were hardly so tragic, and no. coroner's inquests were held. We often, and with cause, deplore t?he drinking habits of -the- people, and the statejof society at present, but. the social conditions of that period were infinitely worse. On the. occasion of a friendly visit in those days there was never a cup of 'tea offered by way of refreshment and as a pledge of goodwill, IT WAS WHISKY— ALWAYS WHISKY.

No house, though, its inmates had to live on tatties and herring, was ever without a bottle of whisky. On Sunday nights the streets of the East End of the town m the manufacturturing districts, were swarming with girls and young men half-drunk, boisterous and full of mischief . No decent woman dared to venture, abroad after dark on Sunday night, without male escort. The streets were dark— the gaslight, which was then m its infancy, was poor, the shops were, shut, and the gloom of a winter's night was unrelieved save by the glimmering from the doors of public-houses or licensed grocers. Nearly, all grocers were licensed then, and they mostly had sitting accommodation for their customers. But only their doors were open on Sundays, for though they kept open shop, it would, have been sacrilege to". take dowiu their shutters— 'fan abuse of the \ Sawbath Day"— from which their pious souls recoiled. sUp till 184.5 Olasgow had !no means of inter-communi-cation worth speakinp of. True, there were the stage cqaches, leaving every day for London and Edinburgh ; arid there were "noddies" for hire— a sort of lightcab, which were expensive. The great mass, however, trusted to their legs. But on New Year's Day of 1845 a great innovation was introduced— namely, the first of our public conveyances. A pioneer appeared m the person of Mr Frame (or "Fram," as he was popularly called), who saw the paying possibilities of a cheap ride for our footsore citizens. So he organised an omnibus system for the conveyance of passengers from Barrowfleld Toll (now Brid|geton Cross) to the Gushet House, Anderson, right thrpugh the centre, as it then was", of Glasgow, a distance of TWO MILES FOR TWOPENCE. From '45 to '50 were black years m Glasgow's history. Famine and pestilence ravaged the land. A series of bad harvests, as I have already mentioned, sent food up to fabulous, prices. A lift, loaf cost' Gd. Laboring men could only earn from 10s to 12s weekly ; ,even tradesmen could seldom make more than 18s a week. The houses of the workers were insanitary to a degree, 10 per cent, of the. population living m underground hovels, burrowing like rats m their holes. The' walls of these houses were slimy and overrun with vermin of all kinds,- and it was not at all uncommon to hear of rats attacking children.. Damp, unventilated, and air together noisome, what wonder that m such plaguieF-strickten dens typhus, small-pox and cholera were rampant. Nearly everyone you met had a face pitted with small-pox, while the death-rate m the more unhealthy' quarters of the city rose to 100 per

years' ago this New Tfear we wer,e scudding before a southerly bustler, under top-sails, 'somewhere off Jervis Bay, and next itetf our anchor had j gripped the muddy bottom of Sydney; Harbor. j My father met me on arrival, andtook- me up to the Manning, where he was engaged m ship-building on the very site where Taree now stands. Not many acres were cleared r there then. One of the vessels he built there was the Fanny Fisher, a J barque-rigged vessel of 250 tons, ] which only a few years a~o was en- ! gaped carrying coal for the Gas Company. In her . day she was looked I upon as a crack vessel, and a credit to the colony ; and it is doubtful if a bigger sailing ship has been built m Australia since her launching. As to

STORIES OF OLD COLONIALS

and reminiscences, wasn't I the carpenter of the immigrant ship Rattler, and knew many of the leading politicians of New South Wales when they were toddlers ? No sir, to compare the old-time pioneer immigrant to his modern namesake, is to compare the Trojans to toadies. (The series of "Tragedies of. the Sea" will be resumed next week, when the wreck of the Cumberland will be told.)

1000. To make matters worse, employment was not to be had. THE PEOPLE WERE STARVING previous to this, the tax on foreign grain preventing importation— and this benefitting the landlord at the working-man's expense. Nearly eyery-< thing was taxed— food, clothing, light, paper. I remember sitting on. a cart m a procession, holding up a big Freetrade loaf m one hand and a wee miserable morsel of a taxed-grain loaf m the other. It has since been shown that the country was then on the verge of a revolution, which would undoubtedly have been precipitated had not the great Sir Robert Peel averted the threatened danger by espousing the cause of the people. Ultimately, as you all know, Freetrade won. But while it is easy to impose a Protectionist tax, it is not easy to get it repealed, or when repealed to reap/ the benefit for many years to come. About 1847 a lamentable catastrophe occurred through a false alarm of fire having been given m the Theatre Royal, Dunlop-street. I had been infected with stage fever, as is mot uncommon with boys, and on this particular Saturday night I had managed to raise the wind to the extent of being able to pay for admission. I was amongst the first to crowd inside m the forefront of the "gods," and I was lucky enough to secure a seat well forward m the gallery. -To that latter circumstance I- have' very little doubt, I owe my life. Theatres m those days we're not the comparatively safe buildings they are now. : The stair leading to the gallery was very steep, and only about six feet wide, while at the foot of the stairway the door opened inwards, forming a veritable trap. During the performance A FALSE ALARM OF FIRE WAS RAISEDand immediately there was a rush for the exits. The natural 1 result was that<the. dopr got jammed, and iquickly the stair was blocked, with a struggling, panic-stricken* mass of agonised humanity. Those behind surged forward on top of those m front ; there was no resisting the pressure of that stampede ; and the screams of helpless women were answered by the shouts and oaths of desperate men, while the steam , rose from their bodies as from a cauldron. Fortunately for me, having been m a front seat/ I could not get near the doorway ; and, almost frightened out of my boyish wits, I was trying to get over the gallery to the one below, when the actors broke down the par-, tition between the stage and the auditorium, and so my safer exit was secured. Then the door at the foot of the stair was smashed open, and the dead and injured victims were withdrawn. Over 60 young men and women perished m this calamity—all through a simple false alarm and want of corwmonsense precautions. In the City Hall, Glasgow, too, I have seen and heard a whole host of notabilities \ in ' my time, such as G&ugh, the greatest of temperance orator? ; John Bright, the silvertongued tribune of the people and the . champion of Freetrade ; and Jenny Lind, the sweetest of sweet singers, t whose fame and popularity are commemorated to this day by that perishable but long-lasting monument, the baker's "Jenny Lind." ( Then there was 'GENERAL TOMI THUMB, the smallest ,of small dwarfs, who made his first appearance there on a table stretching the length of the hall; m Highland costume, and many other notabilities.