SCOTLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11243, 13 October 1898, Page 3

SCOTLAND.

(Fkom Our Own Correspondent.)

• EDINBURGH, Auifust 25. SCOTTISH MARCH OF THE LONDON SCOTTISH.

Much patriotic cnUiusiaam has been excited in Scotland by a week's marching tour of a detachment, numbering 305 officers and men, of the crack volunteer corps above-named. Tho delaclunent, which was under the command of Captain, W. L. Grant, reached Glasgow from London on the morning of Saturday, 6th August. They received an enthusiastic welcome from the citizens, and the Cor-. poration provided them with breakfast. They then marched on to Drymen, in Stirlingshire, where they encamped over the Sunday, attending a church parade at the quaint old parish church. On the following days they resumed their marching through the Macgregor country, and past Callander as far eastward as Aber.foldy. In spite of very hot weather, the men held out bravely, and only one felt compelled to fall out., In every place on their line of route they received the rery heartiest of welcomes, and in some instances farmers insisted on giving every one of the men a drink of milk. : On Saturday ,■ the 13th, they marched from Dunkeld to Perth, where they received a-perfect ovation from the municipal and county; magnates and the general public. They th9n! proceeded by train to Corstorphine. whence they marched into Edinburgh amid the .cheers of the many thousands who thronged the line of route for several miles. This military city, is net to be taken in by military duffers, and its tulhusiastic welcome was no mean tribute to the efficiency of the Lond-m Scotti*:"' At the Drill Hall the men were welcomed by Bailie Selvan, the senior bailie, in tho absence from town of the Lord Provost. Brigadier-general Macdonald (the Lord Justice Cleik), the most distinguished of volunteer veterans, and ex-Professor Masson, a quandam member of the London Scottish,, made speeches which evoked great aprrfause. The Earl of .Wemyss, whb, when Lord Elcho, did so much to start and establish the volunteer movement in Britain, having invited over 60 of the London Scottish to his seat, Gosfbrd House, East Lothian, they drove out on th".i following day (Sunday), and were entertained by him at luncheon. This is one more of the events which have lately combined to give a martial air to life in Scotland. Fcllowing xvpon the march, referred to in my last, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Argyllshire, the King's Own Borderers are about to undertake a, similar march in tlie counties of Roxburgh and • Dumfries. The squadron of the Channel Fleet, after leaving Stornoway, visitoc' various parts Df the western mainland of Scotland, including Obon. Recruiting is also being pushed iii the'more usual ways. Everything points to an oager desire on the part of the authorities to strengthen the backbones of the army and navy—i.e., to increase the Scottish element in both services. This would soem to indicate that fighting is regarded as far from unlikely, for whenever there are any hard knocks looked for,. Scotland is looked to to go to the front, which il is over e.iger to do. . ■ THE SCOTT ANNIVERSARY. 'August 15th was the 127 th anniversary of tho birth of Sir Walter Scott, and in accordance with the. custom followed in recent years, the statues of the groat r oveiist in Edinburgh amd Glasgow were adorned with wreaths to mark the day. The Edinburgh wreath, which was 6ft in diameter, was of heather, on which tho date was picked out in white Cape flowers. In Glasgow a band played at tho monument, and'tho members of the local Scott Club also celebrated the day with a dinner. DESTRUCTIVE FIRES. . By a fira on the premises of Messrs Dr/sdale and Gilmour, Jameson place, Loilh walk, damage was done to the extent of £10,000. At one time the fire wore a most alarming ' aspect, but the wind blew it in a safe direction, and the threatened destruction of much valuable property was averted. The important goods station of the North British Railway Company, at Sighthill, on the north-cast border of Glasgow, was conbumed by fire on August 8. Tho damage is estimated at £8000, and is covered by insurance. Tho executive block in connection with the Consumptive Homo at Mr \V. Quarrier's Orphan Homes of Scotland Bridge of AVier, was burned on August 10. The fire broke out at 2.45 a.m. The building was erected quite recently: The damage amounts to'£4ooo, and is covered by insurance. Some of the boys lent a hand with such good will that their clothes were totally destroyed. Mr Quarrier being ill at the time, he was not allowed to leave his house, but his son and Mr Jack (the resident secretary of the homos) rendered efficient aid. A serious fire took place on the lath inst. at tho Kinleith Paperworks at Curric, a fow miles west'of Edinburgh. Some hundreds of tons of paper material (chiefly esparto grass) were consumed, together with some valuable new machinery. The damage, estimated at several thousand pounds, is covered by insurance. OBITCART RECOIID. ' The past month has been signalised by tho gaps made by death in the ranks of tho Scottish ministry, as will be seen from the subjoined notes. Tlie Rev. Principal Caird died at Greenock, his native place, on July 30, aged 77, just a day before his resignation of his office of Principal of Glasgow University would have ! taken effect. He was ordained in 184-5, and had charges successively at Newton-on-Ayr, Edinburgh, Errol, and Glasgow. In 1860 he received the degree of D.D. from Glasgow University, in which ho became Professor of Divinity in 1862 and Principal in 1873. Ho . iwas accounted one of the most brilliant of Scottish preachers. He published a few of his 'sermons, and a yolinne entitled " Introduction fto the Philosophy, of Religion." Ho was buried at Greenoek; where his funeral was of a public and very impressive character. Another prominent minister of the Established Church; the Rev. Dr John Macleod, of Govan, died on ' August 4, of typhoid I : fever, at the age of 58. He was a cousin of the famous Dr Norman Macleod, of the Barony Church, Glasgow. He became a student at Glasgow University when barely 13, was licensed at 20, and held various charges till he w4s appointed to Govan/the wealthiest living in the church, in 1875. There he did good'work, in spite of High Church whimsicalitiesl He is survived by his widow and by five'sons and four daughters. : The Rev. Dr'Alexander Moody Stuart, a venerated mimster of the Free Church, died at Crieff, on July 31, aged 88. He was a native of Paisley, and most of his career was •spent in Edinburgh. In spite of weak health .and feeble voicey he became one of the most ■eminent preachers in his denomination, and he also published a number of books, several of which had a wide circulation. In 1875 he was moderator of the General - Assembly of the Free Church. For some years prior to JnVdeath he had been obliged to retire from ipublip effort. . The Rev. Archibald Fullarto'n, late parish minister of Cartsburn, while preaching to the patients in Greenock Infirmary, on July 31, fell to the ground, and shortly afterwards expired: He was about 70 years of age. The Rev. Dr Alexander. Andrew, of Stirling, died, after a.few hours' illness, on August ,12, aged 61. He .was born at Paisley, and founded successful congregations at Busby and '.Glasgow. In 1893 he took up his residence at Stirling as editor "of the numerous publications issued by tlie widely-known Drummond Track Depot, which is to" celebrate its jubilee shortly.: ' . . The Rev. Dr M'lntosh, a United Presbyterian minister at Dalkeith, has died in his eighty-nitith year, and the Rev. Thomas Hobart, minister of the Original secession Churchuat Carluke, aged 69—the oldest minister, in his denomination. ; The Earl of Mansfield, " Father of the ; House of Lords," died at Scone Palace on .August 2, a,ged 92. In early life he was an .active politician, but after his wife's death lie retired from political life. He was at one time a most effective speaker, and was also jioted for his splendid hospitality and his skill in. managing his-large estates. His funeral was one of the largest ever Been at Perth. His grandson, Lord Balvaird, succeeds to the • title and estates. . :• "The deaths of the following persons are also announced i— Mr John Hamilton,-of Sundrum, Ayr, the last survivor of.the Earl of Eglinton'B tournament in 1838, aged 92; Mr Murdoch Paterson, C.E., by whom 500 miles of railway in the Highlands were constructed; Mr David Rowan, Glasgow, a noted builder of marine engines, aged 75; Mrs Campbell, of Monzie, the owner of Ben Nevis, and a ,-lady much beloved in the Highlands for her. benevolence; Mr George Sutherland, manager of the Glasgow' Herald, suddenly, aged 52; Mrs Mn'-;aret Binning, "the Alloa centen'ariah," in her 101 st ■ year; Mr. Thomas -Fairl-ey.-head master of Galashiels'Academy, and well known throughout the Borders as an educationist; Mr J. Comrie Thomson, Q.C., Sheriff of Forfarshire, and a leading ('member of the-Scottiili Hr. ■ '.. , ; GENEBAL NEWS. . The present year beinp tlin centenary of the, establishment of Congregationalism in Scotland, the churches of that denomination are holding special services in celebration of the! artniversary, arid the Congregational Union is also raising a special fund for church-aid purposes. -. ._ . ."Roxburgh Castle, a famous Bordei ruin, is to be renovated. ■ ■■•■■- . . '' Mr Henry Sawyer, for 17 years head"master of St.; John's Episcopal School,. Dumfries, shot himself with a revolver, on August. 8. JThe' ./cause of his doing so is not known. ,' He was 'an able'and popular teacher. ?He has left a widow a)id three young children. ••;. -;'■' ' . ,The old'mansion house of Wester' Liyilands,', near Stirling, ■ which has associations with' .General .Monk,, the Covenanters,' and-Prince Charlie, is about" to be pulled dowfn and re-, ,built..;, ,■• .■■^r^-y-r'-:. •■■'"■.;> <-&.*:.. !"; ■.'". The Glasgow;! City Parish Council, having (granted,a more liberal ; allpwarice, to .the deiserving poor,-has'found;itself obliged to raise its rates frpin"lo£d to ls:peri!l.'

Mr Frank Walker, traveller for a firm_of tweed manufacturers at Selkirk, was stung behind the ear by a wasp, and died from the effects two days later. ' . . ' A new line of railway, 14£ miles in length, has just been completed in Fife. It starts from a point between Leven and Cameron Bridge, and runs past Kehnoway and Largoward to Lochty, near Strairtlne. It rims through a district rich in minerals, but hitherto rather distant from railways. , . • The North" British. Railway Company have refused point blank the offer of the Edinburgh Coloration of £65,000 for the canal bum at Port Hopetoun as a site for the Usher Hall The question of the site, after two years" discussion, is as:unsettled as ever. The Caledonian Railway Company will shortly begin the construction of new docks at Grangemouth, the total coat of which will spe?s°onal estate of. -the- late Major Urquliart, of Meldrum and Blyth, Aberdeenshirf has been recorded at £86,642;_and that of the late Mr James^ Matthews, of Springhill Lord Provost'of Aberdeen, at £35,182. An agitation is going on in Edinburgh for thfreestablishment of •a- Zoological Garden in the city It-is 40' years, or thereby, since Se one which formerly. existed ' here was closed The Earl of Hopetoun is one of thoae who is taking an active'part in the present m p ViD?r eKidd, one of the Dargai heroes, being a native of Cupar, his fellow-townsmen gave him a. benefit entertainment Ihe other day, when Sir John Gilmour, of.Montrave on behalf of the subscribers, presented Kidd with a handsome set of bagpipes arid a purse containing 40.sovereigns.; Kidd's wound at Dargai resulted in the amputation Of his left '"it has been resolved to place'a stained glass window in memory, of Principal Caird in the Bute Hall of Glasgow University. The cost, amounting to £100tl,'will be defrayed by past and present students of'the university. Some alarm has been caused,by an outbreak of smallpox in the.fisher quarters of Arbroath. Five cases have occurred, and the further spread of the disease is feared.

— The common caterpillar has more than 200 muscles. _ , . Nimmo and Blair sell " Jadoo, the magic plant grower, arid.which should be used by all growers of flowers and-plants, whether mpats or in the open, border. Thousands of tons of "Jadoo" are used every year for growing plants, and.when better known nothing else will be used.—Advt. — It is certainly a matter for congratulation that just as the stock;of.quinine-produc-ing trees of South America was giving out the thoughtful Briton planted them in India, and now their culture is so scientifically conducted that the ague-shaken thousands need'have no more fears. The convicts in. the gaols are employed in making the-quinine itself into five grain packets, and-in one prison more than three millions and a-half of these packets were produced-last year. - . ■> i ■■; .. • A GOOD CHARACTER. Pears' Soap has an agreeable perfume, a beautiful appearance, and soothing • properties, which -commend 'it 'as the greatest luxury of the toilet.' Peaßs' Soap makes the hands white and fair, the complexion bright and clear, and'the skin soft and smooth as velvet..,;.. V., •

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER.

(From Oub Own Correspondent.) MELBOURNE, October 4. '■ DE ROUGEMONT. 'No one in Australia believes the De Rougemont stories. Copious extracts from tho j " Wide AVorld " are being published in the papers. The wonder here is how the English public can swallow them. One portion of his romance-is that with a party of Blacks he once came upon the exploring expedition led by Ernest Giles, which fired upon his party, and did not recognise him as a white man; that this so disheartened him that he resigned himself to savagery. Mr Tietkens,! who was second in command of the Giles expedition, is now inspector of forests at Maitland, in New South Wales. He ridicules this . story by De Rougemont. Mr Tietkons also ridicules the stories about the pots and pans of virgin g01d... But the mere perusal of the articles is sufficient to prove to any Australian that romance has a large partnership in their composition. Several Melbourne people believed they recognised De Beaumont, the hero of the hoax on the Age .about the Russian ' : scare in the early eighties, from De Rougemont's photograph in the " Wide World." But it is impossible they are the same. There , is a suspicious similarity in name, but De Rougemont is younger than De Beaumont could be. No one appears to know De Beau- j monts whereabouts. Perhaps he is dead. MINIMUM WAGE FOR THE CLERGY. The Church of England Assembly is just over. The principal business was a bill to : provide a minimum salary for a parish clergy-' man of £300 a year. The penalty on any parish not able to provide it was that it should be deprived of a voice in tlie nomi- j nation of its clergyman. The voting showed ' ■ a sharp divergence between clergy and laity. ; J Tho clergy were all for the bill; tho laity all . against it; and it was thrown out. i , Otherwise the assembly had a most uninter- : , esting session. I think the Church of Eng- i < land is less well served in its clergy than in | j the earlier days. Nowadays many of them are ' native born and educated, and these men are , ' not always a credit to the communion. They j j lack intellectuality. Bishop Goe seemed to j , feel something of the sort when he closed this ( ■ year's assembly. He plainly expressed his ; ' dissatisfaction with the character of the de- > ; bates and his disappointment. Now the I ] bishop is a mild-mannered man and a peace--loyer; and this expression of his disappoint- j • merit means a great deal. Without a clergy j ; which can inspire respect, the influence of j i the church must wane. I , A' HERO OF THE BOOM.' j Mr C. H. James's name has comp before ! the public under pathetic circumstances. He . i made an application to Judge Molesworth on ' Friday for a clean certificate in insolvency. '. j Ho filed his schedule some 18 months ago, , : but liad all'along kept out of the court in per- ; i son, apparently funking a personal exasnination. Now he applied for the certificate from ■ Sydney, and his counsel said he wais practi- : cally moribund. For his own part, added the • counsel, if he'were in Mr James's position, he could die without troubling about a certifi- j i cate, and go elsewhere for it, but Home men •

liked to clear their characters before leaving this world, and Mr James was one of those. It was his desire that he should get his certificate from the court before he died. The judge postponed the question, to obtain better evidence a-s to Mr James's state of health. This was on Friday. On, Monday Mr James's 'death was advertised in the papers. Mr C. H. James was the "father" of the | Melbourne laud boom. He came from Adelaide, where there had been a mild thing in boom's, and .he saw the' possibilities, or rather he saw some possibilities. Not even a Hebrew seer could have realised all the possibilities. Mr James introduced the " deferred payments " system which captivated the working man and " assisted " the purchaser to build. In a couple df years he was wortli a million or more on paper.. He built a mansion at Toorak, opposite M. H. JDavies's; and he soon stepped into . the Legislative Council. .An utterly unknown man, his ambition was to get into society. As a step on the way he invited all aristocratic Melbourne to a dinner in the Masonic .Hall. Nobody knew him at this time except by repute as the millionaire land boomer, but everybody went to the dinner. He had 400 guests, and the affair cost him about £2000. This and M.L.C. after his name completed his passport. For three years or less he was happy—went from land i booming into company mongering and bought a run in New South Wales. The end was I filing a schedule for £851,000 odd, and a dividend to the creditors of 6id in the pound. THE NEW DIVORCE LAW. The Simons v.. Simons ease was referred to I the Full Court for decision because an authoritative ruling was desired on the point in•volved. Dr Siihons asked for a divorce from his wife on the grounds of " desertion." Under the Shiels Act of this colony desertion for three years is a ground of divorce. The pecularity of the Simons .case -,vas thai Mrs Simons had never left her home. She had I ceased to agree with her husband for some years, and eventually she refused io share his ; room. She maintained the refusal persistently and absolutely. She remained perfectly pas--1 sive in the divorce proceedings. The judge i sent for-her and. interrogated her. To him | she persisted,, as she had done to her husband. .She had taken such.a dislike to her husband 1 that she could not be a wife to him ever again. There was no question of liking another man. j She simply deprived her husband of her soi ciety from. 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. The court held , that this destroyed- the reality of marriage. The wife showed herself determined no longer Ito be bound by the .matrimonial tie, and thus ! matrimonial life was brought to an end. This I was held to be " desertion," and Dr Simons ' was granted the "divorce. Nothing was said | about the custody of the children, of whom I there are three. NEW MOVE IN BUSINESS. The operations ■ of ; what is known as the ! " Coupon Company" are causing much stir ■ amongst .retailers in Melbourne and Sydney. The Coupon Company does business on these lines. It makes arrangements with retailers ', in all lines of trade. Take a grocer for instance. Tlie company issues coupons to him :at 2s 6d per 100 for re-issue to his cash customers— one: coupon being given to the customer for>each-6d.worth.of goods paid for in cash. Each coupon is worth the twentieth part of sixpence, and when a customer has amassed a sufficient number of tham he goes 'to the Coupon- Company's shop in the city

and selects some article of fancy goods up to , their vsius. The cost to the grocer ia 5 per j cent, of his trade. Ho pays the Coupon Company at this rate, and is supposed to reap tho benefit in increased >;ash custom, 'x'lie larger retailers are making a great outcry Such firms as Foy and Gibson already do an entirely cash trade. Consequently "they do not patronise the Coupon Company. But they are threatened with a loss of business, for the customer goes where he (or she) gets the coupon. Practically the coupon is a discount for cash. Hundreds of suburban shops have the attractive card in the window — " Coupon Shop." At least 1000 such shops exist in Melbourne already. Presuming each does' an average weekly trade of only £20, the Coupon Company has thus a vveokly income of £1000. For this they expend the cost of the fancy goods they give away. And it may well be imagined that a large proportion of the income is profit. In Sydney they are being prosecuted for disposing of their goods by "a device," but it is doubtful if the projecution will be a success. Meantime there is a good deal of excitement over the new systom. All tho small retailers are forced into it. Their customers clamour for the discount coupon. But the larger men aro making a stand against it, though they are at their wit's end to know how to do so effectively. .^ . A SUBURBAN LOURDES. Under this heading the Age describes an interesting "herbalist" who is doing a famous trade out near Heidelberg, some eight miles or so from Melbourne. Ho is aMr P. J. Burton, who grows his own herbs. .- He cures all maladies with decoctions of dandelion, horehound, camomile, etc., etc. -He aslcs no questions about tho-disorder, only judges by the patient's face and his hands and finger nails. Every day the Heidelberg herbalist has a pilgrimage of patients to visit him. One "colonial Robert" is hisall-round charge—no mpro to the Queen, no less to the beggar. He is 74 years old, and all the sick are "rusliing" him before he dies, or, at least, stops business, for he threatens to stop because he is being killed by overwork. On the average 60 patients book to the little railway station a day to see him; a line of twohorso cabs plies to arid fro his cottage, which is set on i hill; and a coffee stall does a brisk business in a lane just outside his domain. There is often crowd of 100 or 200 people waiting admission'; appointments are sought bj' letter a month beforehand; and the morning post brings him over a hundred letters. Of course, the " cures" attributed to him are miirvellous. A MATRIMONIAL RECORD. A record in length and happiness of married life has been firmly established by Mr W. V-. Lambert, of Filzroy, his two brothers, and their wives. In 1894 ?.nd 1896 respectively Mr Lambert's two brothers and their wives celebrated their golden weddings, and jon Friday last Mr Lambert and his wife celoI brated their diamond wedding at the Fitzroy Mission Hall. The total years of married bliss commemorated on ihose three occasions, therefore, amounted to 160 years. There are now living of the three brothers 150 descendants. Mr Lambert ia now in his 81st year, and his wife is 78. They left London in 1857, and so have been in the colony 41 years.- Mr Lambert was for many years engaged in the office of the London Times, and afterwards was connected with the Argus for 17 years.

Subsequently, in 1887, he helped to establish in Ballarat a branch of the Temperance and General Life office. THE MANAWATU-EDINA ' COLLISION. Tho collision which took place in the bay on.April 27 between the steamships Manawalu and Edina was the subject matter of a Eiiit commenced yesterday in the Banco Court, before the Chief Justice, in which the Union Steam Ship Company of Now Zealand, the owners of the Manawatu, are proceeding against the owners of the Hdina to reoover damages to the amount of £3750, representing the total value of the Manawatu, which sank, but has since been raised. The mishap occurred at about a quarter to 8 on a fine clear Jiight, the Manawatu being at the time outward bound for Tasmania, and in charge of Pilot Blanchard, while the Edina was under the control of her master, W. C. Forbes. A strong bar on each side has been retained. SEVERE EXPERIENCES AT SEA. A sensational encounter with hurricane weather is reported by the well-knowii barque Wouona, which arrived yesterday morning from the Thames, New Zealand. Tho Wenona left on September ,with 430,000 ft of timber, a.larg_e proportion of which was, as is usual, earned on deck. All proceeded well until the 18th September, when in latitude 37deg, Bmin S., and longitude 154deg 43min E., the barque fell in with a terrific S.W. gale, which raised tremendous seas. Large volumes of water broke on board with alarming: frequency, and the vessel laboured heavily. The wind at times blew with, cyclonic stienglh, and for some hours the situation of the barque, as immenss seas swooped o\er her, was critical in the extreme. In these circumstanced the hazardous task of jettisoning the deck load was decided upon by the master, in the hope that j when relieved of this the barque would bear up-against .tha elements. The crew were soon'at work in releasing the lashings.of the lumber, and after a laborious and protracted struggle they threV overboard the last instalment of 70,000 ft of valuable timber. Therei after, though some bnd weather followed, the vessel had a fair passage.