FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18198, 19 March 1921, Page 13

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Br Robeut S. Angus.

A LETTER TO SCOTTISH EXILES.

EDINBURGH, January 13, 1921. Long before those lines reach their readers they will have hoard of the death of the Rev. Dr Alexander Whyte, of United Free St. George’s, Edinburgh. lam ashamed to say that, though I knew him well, I never heard him preach, for it is contrary to my habits to stand in a queue for either a theatre, or, as was necessary to do in Dr Whyte’s case, for a church. , He wielded an immense influence, and it was noteworthy that his congregation included not _ only the simple but some of our foremost citizens, who found comfort and refreshment in his Puritan outlook on life, here and hereafter. But he had none of the sourness traditionally associated with the Puritan. His beaming smile radiated the happiness he was entitled to feel, for he never had a doubt' as to the future, or, after the struggles of his early years, an anxiety as to thepresent. Ho was proud of his nativity of “Thrums” —prouder still after Sir James Barrie had made the place famous —and proud too _of his early hardships, in the course of which ho struggled from apprentice shoemaker to pupil teacher in the school at the neighbouring village of Padanaram (a Biblical name which appealed to him), and then through the _ University on a £25 bursary. But after his college days he had things easy in the worldly sense. He had his choice of the finest churches in the land—he was minister of the most famous before he was forty—and apart from the generous stipend which his well-to-do congregation paid him—he married one of the Barbours of Bonskeid, an evangelical family which could “tocher” its daughters handsomely. Dr Whyte’s books, too. have represented! a substantial income. His later years were marked bv honours and troops of friends, and he had great satisfaction in the career of his eldest son. Mr A. F. Whyte, now President of the Indian Logislati.e Council. ANOTHER FAMOUS SCOT. Perhaps as many of my readers will thrill at the mention of the name of Duncan Fraser os at that of Alexander Whyte. Duncan Fraser was one of the last and one of the greatest of tho precentors. To hear him leading the psalmody at the General Assembly of the Free (afterwards the United Free) Churches, which still eschews the assistance of an organ, was a real treat. But he was best known as teacher of singing for over 40 years in the elementary schools of Edinburgh. Making the test once, he found that he had taught the fathers and mothers of over a hundred of tho children then before him, and the grandfathers and grandmothers of at least half a dozen of them. His book of “Educational Reminiscences” is a storehouse of interesting details of Edinburgh education in bygone days. Witness of the immense improvement that look place in his time, in equipment, teaching methods, and the payment of the teachers, Mr Fraser was no pessimist. Ho was industrious and racy with his pen in prose and verse, a compiler of hymn books and a composer of their tunes. This picturesque figure, with the leonine head and the iron-grey hair, was equally well known and popular among the fathers and brethren of the Assembly and on the Border streams, where he spent most of his leisure times. When he was not angling he was waiting poetry about it. A MILLION FOR LAND SETTLEMENT. The Secretary for Scotland has scored a notable success in inducing his Ministerial colleagues to vote over another million for tile settlement of ex-service men on tno land in Scotland. The amount represents the arrears of the agricultural grant, which was suspended during the war; but it is no secret that when they first appfoached the matter the Government had no intention of paying up that amount. Mr Munro, how.ever, convinced them that it would be a good policy, as well as just, to remove the disappointment, and though he is not boasting of his success, lest it should excite his English, Irish, and Welsh colleagues, he is greatly pleased about it, as he has a right to bo. The only condition laid down is that the grant for each holding shall be less than formerly, in order that the money may benefit a larger number. The new grant will not be enough to provide for all the applicants who have been approved, but it is as much as can be profitably spent in tho near future. THE LEWIS TROUBLE.

Lord Leverhulme. has accepted as adequate the resolution passed at a large series of local meetings, giving him a pledge that there will be no seizure of land in Lewis for the next ten years. If he is satisfied of their value, no one else need be sceptical. But he still insists on a guarantee from the Government that no land will, for the same period, be taken by compulsion. Even if the present Secretary for Scotalnd were ready to give such a promise, ho has neither power nor desire to bind his successors — a* Lord Leverhulme must know. Besides, a public announcement that the Government will schedule no more land in Lewis would Ire a signal for a resumption of raiding. If Lord Leverhulme really wants to go ahead with his industrial schemes, he has all the guarantees he can reasonably require, and lie should trust to the success of his enterprise as a preventative of land trouble in the future. All that can bo done for the Lewismen they well deserve on their war record. The “roll of honour” just published shows that, out of a total population cf 30,000, over 6000 men wore the King’s uniform, and over 1000 were killed. THE STUDENT CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT. Glasgow has been having a great time in connection with the conference of the Student Christian Movement. Nearly 40 countries were represented by some 2500 delegates, and the opening meeting was honoured by an address from Viscount Grey who, on the previous day. had been made an honorary treeman of the city. Glasgow knows, from long experience, how to run gatherings of this kind, and has a wellfounded reputation for hospitality on these occasions Some of the speakers spemed to adopt a rather “dismal Jimmy” tone as to the future, but that was not the prevailing tone. THE CANADIAN CURLERS. So far the weather has been more appropriate to sunshades (or umbrellas) than to curling stones, so that the encounters have had to take place on the indoor rink. Already the visitors have tasted both victory and defeat, and the test matches are still to come. But they have had a real good time, beginning with a dinner at which the fraternal influence of the “roaring game” were duly celebrated, and Scotland’s services to humanity in disseminating the study and practice of curling wore loudly proclaimed. Prose has been inadequate to express the sentiments of the hosts, and on their behalf an Edinburgh man has burst into rhyme in The Scotsman. The sentiments will be accepted as compensation tor any halting-in the lines, as witness: Hail! Knights ot Broom I far faring from tho West, 01.-l Scotia, mother of the free and brave, Holds you in pride as children to her breast; And ne’er forgets that o’er tho stormy wave You pame to fend your mother and to save. She watched, and praved, and blessed you in the field, ‘ . ' Where for her sales your blood and lives you gave; Nor ceased the'struggle till the tyrant”reeled, And freedom’s charter won—with Scottish blood was sealed. Two better known Scottish names than these could hardly be mentioned; hence more than tho interest ordinarily taken in a fashionable wedding attached to tho marriage of the Earl of Elgin with Katherine, tho elder daughter of Lord and Lady Cochrane. The earl is on the verge of 40, so that lie has been in no hurry, a state of mind for which he cannot plead poverty. I do not know the young lady, but her father, whom we knew so long as Tom Cochrane, member for North Ayrshire, is an old friend of minej and a finer fellow you would not meet in a day’s march. Ho is a brother of Lord Dundonald, and has a long record of political and war services. What is hardly less important, Lady Coohrano,_ a daughter of the Earl of Glasgow, inherited tho nice estate of Crawford Priory, in Eifeshire, and thus transferred the interest of the Cochranes from their ancestral district of Ayrshire. The bride showed good sense as well as good taste in preferring to have the ceremony at home in preference to tho conventions of St. Hanover square. Tho crimson cushion on which they knelt in church was that which used to.be in the Ambassadorial pew at Constantinople, when tho bridegroom’s great-grandfather represented Great Britain at the Court of the Sultan of Turkey. GLASGOW’S COAL. A movement is again on foot for the working of tho coal sogms belonging to the Corporation of Glasgow. It is said that under Glasgow Green there are at least a million and a-halt tons, the property of the city. But some hold that there is no such coal, and that if there ever was it has been already worked. It seems worth making: sure in these days when tho royalty would he a welcome addition to the municipal funds. THE COST OF GREATNESS. Edinburgh’s jubilation over her success in absorbing Leith is assuming r*ther a sober tune now that the bills are beginning to come is. First and last, the ©sparse pf the

parliamentary fights will be about £IOO,OOO, and now those officials of Leith who have not been taken over are coming forward with their little claims. They do not err on the side of modesty. ' Three gentlemen are claiming a total of £25,000 in cash, plus a pension of £650 for one of them. They are probably opening their mouths a Httle too wide, but it is evident that the Edinburgh ratepayers will have to suffer financially for being great. , OUR SCOTTISH DAILIES.

I hear that negotiations are in progress for the sale of a well-known Scottish newspaper. It is being angled for by a London syndicate as well as by some local gentlemen. Everyone will hope that the latter will be successful. I am told that the owners of (mother big newspaper business are willing to consider an offer. It will be a great pity if localities cease to own the newspapers they produce, and if proprietors, who have done not so badly during the war, take fright at the first turn of the tide. The smaller papers in Scotland, as elsewhere, are having rather a thin time just now, and the proprietors of the weeklies ar© suggesting a 15 per cent, reduction in the wages of the printers.