FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19844, 17 July 1926, Page 21

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

A LETTEJI TO OVERSEAS SCOTS. Written for tb- Otago Daily Times. Bt Robert St Axcus. EDINBURGH, Juno 3. Those who olnini to see nn enrly end to the coal stoppage must have greater >• were of vision than mine. To all appearances the suicidal quarrel is'likely to go on for some time —an estimate which I give with trepidation in view of Mr Lloyd George's recent unfortunate experience in prophecy on the general strike. So far ns I can see, the mood of most of the men is that which was expressed in similar circumstances many years ago, when nn old minor was asked how long lie meant to old out. “Hand oot!” lie exclaimed, "I'll hand oot til Ithe nuid wife at Windsor is gathering sticks in her apron.” It. is easier to hold out nowadays, for tho iatnl authorities and various benevolent societies are feeding the children, and though there arc no union funds to speak of, the men seem able to rub along somehow. I am far from saying that the alien are unanimous in their approval of (he policy of their leaders. Some of them at least' would he willing to work longer hours if the present rate of wages could Ito maintained. But that does not impair their wonderful loyalty. Another remarkable feature of tho dispute is its orderliness. That is mainly due to tho fact that that on this occasion no attempt has been made to withdraw the safety men. PARALYSIS OF INDUSTRY. Meanwhile, the creeping paralysis which is overtaking nil forms of industry dependent on coal is extending. Tho railway services are cut down to a minimum. Most of the steel works are stopped, nnd the shipbuilding yards arc in process of stopping. The textile trades nre living on stocks of fuel that are fast diminishing. The trawlers and steam drifters, denied supplies of home coal, are resorting to the Continent for bunkers, and the same is true of tramp steamers. Happily a spell of warmer weather has made tho drastic reductions in domestic fuel less serious. Altogether it is a bad business, which must leave its traces for many a day on our industrial prosperity. STRIKE SEQUELS. The newspaper industry is still suffering from the results of the general strike. The Glasgow Herald and its allied evening papers are determinedly carrying out their decision that for the future they will have a non-union office, and I believe a considerable part of the staff is sleeping on tho premises in order to avoid interference by outsiders. Tho Lanarkshire miners are boycottin'* the evening papers sUld patronising the Glasgow News, which is conducted on union linos. In, Dundee the Messrs Thomson, who own both, have decided that tho temporary amalgamation of the Advertiser and the Courier is to be permanent —a development which must amaze those who remember the relations between, and the respective positions of these Journals ?0 years ago. In Aberdeen the Press and Journal is also being published as a non-union enterprise, and though it ha« not yet got back to its full size it has the appearance of having surmounted its worst difficulties. The journalists and the many skilled craftsmen who ' . ;V p been thrown out of work by those changes will long have cause to regret the thoughtlessness with which they to the call of tho Trade Union Congress in breach of their contracts. ’ THE GENERAL. ASSEMBLIES. The General Assemblies of the three Presbyterian Churches, which were adjourned three weeks ago in consequence of the general strike are now in session. The attendance is naturally below the normal, and the social gatherings which usually attend them are being curtailed. Lord Elgin, as Lord Hick Commissioner, went into residence at Kolvrood Palace on Monday night, and is holding a series of dinners nnd receptions. He hopes to have the Prime Minister as his guest at the beginning of next week on the occasion of his flying visit to receive tho freedom of the, city, but the industrial situation may require the postponement of that engagement It is probable that the abnormal conditions will tend to shorten tho assembly sittings. They had a deputation of the miners’ leaders before them the other day to state their case. AN AGRICULTURAL PROBLEM Almost tho only industry which is not affected by the coal stoppage is agriculture, but it has a problem of its own at present. After being immune for two years, while England was suffering severely, we hare now nn outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease to face. The one fortunate feature of tho incident is that tho source of outbreak has been unniistakeably traced. It was found in a consignment of pig carcases imported from Holland for the bncon-cunng factory at Cai'luke. A , Continental origin for the British outbreaks has long been suspected—in particular straw packing—and it is something gained to have the matter placed beyond doubt. The importation of dead pigs from Holland has been stopped and it is believed that all tho affected carcases have been traced. The experience has at least one moral — that we should rear enough pigs ourselves to make our factories independent of Continental supplies cf raw material. EDINBURGH MEDICAL BICENTENARY. Next week the medical faculty of Edinburgh University will attain tho bi-cen-tenary of its formation steps are being taken to celebrate the occasion appropriately. Representatives and distinguisnod visitors from the principal medical schools and the societies of the world have been invited, and every effort will bo made to provide them with both scientific and social The central feature of the proceedings will be the formal opening. of the reconstructed department of Surgery, with its facilities for research, provided moans of a grant of £50,000 from the Rockefeller foundation of New York. A dinner will be given by the Royal College of physicians which, along with the Town Council of Edinburgh, was primarily responsible for the establishment of the faculty in 1726. One gratifying feature of the guests—list it that so many of the representatives of medical societies and graduates of Edinburgh. ANCIENT RECORDS. A departmental committee has recommended that all local legal records dating hack before 1876 should he removed to Edinburgh and placed under the care of a records authority tor safe custody' and public study. I believe that in nearly all our older towns which are the seat of a sheriff’s jurisdiction there are many old documents of great historical interest and value, which are being allowed to rot in cellars, a prey to damn and vermin. These papers have long eeased to be of personal or local interest, but in competent hands they can be made to throw vivid light on the life of bygone times, especially the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They need to be fully examined and indexed, and money should he made available for the publication of those that are of "eneral interest. Under present conditions, they arc in danger of laeing ruined. THE SCOTTISH ZOO. Those who remember the wanv years of agitation which were required to found the Scottish Zoological Gardens must read with satisfaction the annual record of progress and development issued by the directors. Year by year they have been able out of surplus revenue t>~ add to the attractiveness of the place, and'during the vear under review they have had the largest number of visitors on record. Having acquiring an adjoining golf course, the directors have now the opportunity of making the Scottish Zoo the largest place of its kind in the world, as well as one of the best. That means that a capital sum of at least £‘25,000 will have to be raised, and the necessary steps are being taken. It must be a source of great pleasure to Lord Salvesen. who was the pioneer of the movement to establish a zoo, that he has lived to see it so triumphantly fulfilled. SIR JAMES CANTLIB. I was sorry to read this week of the death of Sir James Cantlie, who for many years carried on a successful medical practice in London. He was in the best sense of tho word “a character.” Alike in ideas and his mode of expressing them, he was ns far removed as possible from the commonplace, and whether he was urging on medical students their duty to join the R.A.M.C., telling elderly people of the value of “physical jerks.” or warning old ladies of the dangers of tea-drinking, he had the knack, which was, in fact, a gift, of putting his views in a memorable way. Perhaps he suffered a little from his reputation as a humorist. His hearers were never quite sure ", hen he meant himself to be taken seriously. My own associations with him wove social ami not professional. I have seldom heard a man who could tell Aberdeenshire stories or sing a Scottish song with greater gusto, and be derived as much enjoyment from

them as his hearers did. Though he was well over 70 and had to retire from practice a year or two ago, he retained his zest of life to the end. He was an authority on maiiy branches of his profession from tropical diseases —the result of nine years’ residence in Hongkong—to physical training. Contemporary with Dr Mitchell Bruce. Sir David Perrier, and Dr Shirra Gibb, he belonged to a generation which did much 10 enhance the standinif of Aberdeen ns a medical school. OUR MUSICAL FESTIVALS. The musical festival movement has grown so gradually in our mulst that it was something of a surprise to find in my morning paper the other day no fewer than three columns devoted to the record of these gatherings in variom parts of the country. That fact alone may be taken as a sign that it has established itself firmly. The competitive element no doubt grates on the believers in “art for art's sake,” but presumably it is necessary in order to stimulate interest. Local choirs are now followed with as much keenness as the doings of the local football club, and the merits of individual vocalists are canvassed with something approaching nscerbity. This week Edinburgh has had its meeting, at which Mr St. John Ervine adjudicated on the reading and recitations, and Sir Richard Terry on the music. Both had many encouraging, as well as challenging, things to say. Sir Richard thinks that one of the defects of oni performers is excessive shyness, but he regards that as a fault on virtue’s side. As an evidence that there may be much unsuspected talent in our midst he mentioned that a domestic servant has been discovered who has. if any woman ever had, the voice of a great singer, and that a fund is being raised to supply her with the necessary training. At the Aberdeen festival prominence is given to the playing and the dancing of reels and strathspeys, as well as to folk dancing, which is more of an imported art. At all the gatherings special attention is given to the juniors, and the enthusiasm assurance that the movement will grow. After all, it may prove tha'; we are not shown by the young people is the best so unmusical a people as we have been prone to believe.