FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19529, 11 July 1925, Page 7

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS. Written for the Otago Daily Times. Br Robeet S. Aifoua. EDINBURGH, May 28, 1925. Not long after these linos are written the General Assemblies of the churches will have been dissolved, and the members who have not already gone will be off by the first train in the morning to resume their pastoral duties on Sunday. Looking back over a list of Assemblies that is becoming disqulotingly long, one is apt to lose the faculty of distinguishing the one from the other. Year by year the ritual is closely followed; the reports and debates on the various Churc.i problems are much alike, in spite of their variations: the social and religious ceremonies are almost identical one year with another. Yet each year’s proceedings have their outstanding incidents. This year s promise to bo historical, for they have included the emphatic decision of both the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church to go forward with negotiations for union, now that all legislative obstacles have been removed. The United Free Church had its minority, led by the Rev. James Burr, but it was smaller than a year ago, and so far as one can judge, less full of spirit. Its numbers dropped from 134 to 108, and there is every reason to hope that if the situation is wiroly and patiently handled the dissentients will accept the inevitable. The Church of Scotland, on the other hand, had only about half a dozen opponents to the union motion. ASSEMBLY INCIDENTS All the Assemblies were free from those “ discipline ” cases, which have been a painful feature of some of them. There was an almost entire absence of acrimony from the debates and a rapid growth in the fraternisation between the different bodies. The exchange of visits between the leaders of the, two large Assemblies was carried out in no formal spirit, for the two Moderators —Dr John White, of the Barony, and Dr Harvey, of Lady Glenorchy’s—are old personal friends. There was one innovation, which is likely to become permanent. Lord Elgin, who has been an unexpected success a-s Lord High Commissioner, paid a visit not only to the United Free Church, but also to the Free Church Assembly, where he was received with the utmost cordiality. The Church of Scotland was fortunate in having Dr White to preside over its deliberations. He is convener of its Union Committee, and, in the absence of the Rev. Dr Wallace Williamson—of whose health I receive no cheerful accounts, —its permanent leader. Too many of his predecessors have not reached the chair until they were past their best, but ho is still in the prime of life, and his knowledge of the Church’s affairs is unsurpassed. The Church will not lack energetic guidance during his year of Moderatorship. BROADCASTING THE ASSEMBLIES. In one respect at least, this year’s assemblies will bo memorable. For the first time their proceedings have been disseminated by wireless. The Rev. W. S. Crocket, who listened in at his Tweedsmuir manse, some 40 miles from Edinburgh, states that hp. heard every word of the opening speeches at the U.F. Assembly. The record from ‘‘across the w r ay” was less successful in parts, but that was evidently due to the coughing and conversation of the “fathers and brethren,” and not to any defect iu transmission. Mr Crocket is enthusiastic about the possibilities of the system. The time may come, he says, when a country congregation could assemble on the opening day and by means of loud speakers hear the leaders of the Church. Similarly gatherings could bo organised on the occasion of important debates on such matters as foreign miseions, or homo missions, so that "all would find noble inspiration imparted to them through this potent marvel of our modern ora.” The possibilities of bringing the work of the Church homo to the country are almost unlimited, and it is certain that this year’s experience will bo repeated. I suspect that the experiment is not unconnected with the fact that Mr Reith, the manager of the is the eon of a former Moderator of the United Free Church. “B. OP xi.” To the outsider these initials man convey little, but no Scot needs to be told that they stand for the late Lord Balfour of Burleigh, whoso biography baa been written by Lady Frances Balfour, and timeoualy published on the eve of the General Assemblies in which for 40 years he was in the physical as well as other senses, an outstanding figure. Some one once called him the lay Archbishop of Scotland, and the title did not exaggerate his position in its ecclesiastical affairs. It would have been a great delight to him if he could have foreseen that his son would play a part in passing the Church of Scotland BUI through the House of Lords. Lady Frances has painted her subject with a skilful hand, as ‘‘an honourable, highminded Scottish gentleman, aU of tire olden time,” a man of great force of character, firmness of judgment, and weight of knowledge and experience, who looked the part. He was an excellent Secretary for Scotland, a keen curler, one of the best- shots of bis time, a kindly friend, a jealou« lover of lus native land, and,ho had a lively humour with a Riibelnsian tinge, which would have surprised his biographer if she had known of it. Ho was a striking illustration of how character and industry may make up for the lack of exceptional ability in the attainment of high position and the command of general respect. THE MINING OUTLOOK.

li 4 the coarse of tho last few days I have had tho opportunity of discussing iho coalmining outlook with two men who see it from different angles, and yet have reached much the eame conclusions, —Mr James Kidd, M.P., the Unionist member for "West Lothian, and Mr William Adamson, M.P., the trusted leader of tho Fife minors. Both know tho coal trade intimately. Mr Kidd though ho is a solicitor and a director of coal companies, is the son of a milage blacksmith, and has lived all his life in the mining area. The other Sunday tho unemployed minors of Fauldhouse, most of them Socialists, invited him to discusa the situation with them. Ho had a most friendly reception, and though ho had many unpalatable things to say, his candid and informed analysis of the situation made a great impression. He told his audience frankly that ■their trade is bound to have a trying time during the next year or two, but that if it adapts itself to modern conditions; there is no reason for despair. In that estimate Mr Adamson concurs. Their view is confirmed by the fact that some of the shrewdest and most skilled of our coalmastors, like Mr Wallace Thorneycroft, are showing their confidence in tho future by buying good mining properties wherever they can find them, and investing large sums in development. For the present, however, there is not break in the clouds, and it is generally agreed that things will bo worse before they are better. CLYDEBANK RENT REPORT. I believe that the report of Lord Constable’s Commission on the rent situation in Clydebank has been handed to the Scottish Secretary. It is understood that, though Bailie Dolan, tho Socialist member, has written a minority report, the commissioners are agreed on the essential matters—that the non-payment of rent has bee.n due in large measure to the prevalence of unemployment, but has been deliberately fomented for Communist purposes; that tho system of giving notices to quit should bo simplified and not invalidated through technical and immaterial errors; and that measures should be taken to wipe out the effects of long-standing litigation. The recommendations if adopted, will entail legislation, which the Government has little time or inclination to undertake. A FAMOUS DUNDEE CITIZEN. Mr William Hunter, who died this week in his 86th year, was one of the most devoted public servants Dundee ever bad. He first entered the Town Council in 1879, and he was Provost during the jubilee year of 1887.. His occupancy of the chair was marked by the promotion of ll.e town to the dignity of a city and the conferring upon its municipal head of iho title of “ Lord Provost.” Twenty-two years later he was again called to the position, and it was a surprise and disappointment to his fellow-citizens that ho did not receive a knighthood. The son of a crofter a few miles from Dundee, he was apprenticed as a draper, and even within my time Iris business was little more than a small ribbon shop in the Wellgato. It is now one of tho largest in the city. The defects of his early education he never quite overcame, and the fact was made the occasion of malicious stones by the local wags. But ho had a native shrewdness, which was a great asset to himself and his city, and he gave his time and energy lo the public ungrudgingly. MR J. D. SYMON. Aberdeen University has lost another of its distinguished sons bj tho death of Mr J. D. Symon. The brilliant promise of nis academic career both al Aberdeen and Oxford, was never quite fulfilled, probablv because, he laboured under the handicap of indifferent health and had a certain fastidiousness of taste which prevented him making tho most of his talents in the market-place. One of his intimates at Oxford was the late George Brown Douglas, author of “The House with the Green Shutters," and that work was written when the two of them lived together fn London lodgings. Symon hiiiiseP wrote several novels under another name, and ho did much sound work in literary criticism, notably in connection with Bord Byron. At one time ho seemed on the high road to a great position in London journalism, but for many years ho had been forced to live quietly in the country. WILLIE PARK. A by-gone ora in the golfing world is recalled by tho news that Willie Park, of Mutrelburgli. is do ad. Before tho days of

the Vardou-Taylor-Braid triumvirate, he was one of our greatest players, an open champion like his father before him. and he was on© of" the last to take part in the individual matches for high stakes which need to be more common than they are to-day. After he ceased to be prominent as a player ho specialised as an adviser in the laying out of golf courses, and the results of his work in that sphere are to be found in many places on both sides of the Atlantic. Park probably never had an equal as a putter, and ne was scarcely better known on the links than his faithful caddy "r'iery”—so called from his countenance —who accompanied him wherever he vfent to play an important game.