FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20292, 28 December 1927, Page 4

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS. Written for the Otago Daily Times. By Robert S. Angus. EDINBURGH, November 17. If I were to take the sam e view as the London newspapers seem' to do of what is interesting Scotland this week I should devote the whole of this letter to the Oscar Slater case. I do not propose to do so. Oscar Slater, it may be remembered, is a Silesian Jew who nearly 20 years ago was convicted (by a majority verdict) on a charge of having murdered an old lady in her house in Great Western road, Glasgow. He was sentenced to death, but' reprieved and sent to penal servitude for life. Agitations for his release have been repeatedly set on foot during recent years and resisted by successive Scottish Secretaries. Sir John Gilmour has now not merely released Slater, but offered if Parliament will pass the necessary legislation, to give him the advantage of the Court of Criminal Appeal Act. That course is not only fair, but should satisfy those who are genuinely concerned lest there has been a miscarriage of justice. I should add that the public interest, in Scotland at all events, has been nothinr. like so-great as has been represented. Slater, on the admission of his own counsel, was not the highest class of citizen, and under present-day conditions he would never have been admitted to this country. His departure from it would be no loss, and I can well imagine cases more deserving of public sympathy and attention. NEXT YEAR’S MODERATORS. A good deal of quiet wirepulling in, ecclesiastical - circles has been brought to an end for another year by the announcement of the names of the next General Assembly Moderators. The Church of Scotland choice is the Rev. Dr Jahies Montgomery Campbell, of St. Michael’s, Dumfries, convener of the Home Missions Committee, and for five years the church’s university lecturer on pastoral theology. Forty years ago, as a boy, I used to sit under him when he was minister of Wallacetown Church, Dundee, ana I remember him as a well-groomed and hard-working young man, held in much esteem as a preacher. Of the quality of his sermons I was no judge, for I confess my thoughts were generally elsewhere. The United Free Moderator is to be the Rev. Dr Harry Miller, who 20 yeans ago gave up a prosperous church in the west end of Edinburgh to become warden of the students’ settlement in the slums. There he has done noble work under depressing conditions and the church’s recognition of it will be warmly approved. The Free Church Moderator is to be the Rev. Archibald D. Cameron, of Creich, Sutherlandshire, who, it must be admitted, is little known beyond his own parish and presbytery. POLITICAL ACTIVITY. Though the Scottish M.P.’s hav e returned to Westminster for the autumn session there is little diminution of political activity. All parties are preparing for the next general election which may take place within the next year and cannot be deferred more than two years. The Unionists are in , high spirits and claim that on an appeal to the country to-morrow they would hold .their own. That is not due so much to their own strength as to the weakness of their opponents. The Socialists are undoubtedly in a discouraged mood at present, partly as a reaction from the blunders of last year and partly owing to domestic squabbles. The Liberals, in spite of a certain amount of official bustle, do not give the impression that they are making any headway. They are awaiting the promised scheme of land reform which a committee is now devising for them. In Elgin the party has secured a formidable candidate in' the person of Colonel Tennant, who, as a nephew of Lady Oxford and a local land owner, has both family and territorial influence on his side. But I doubt if he will displace the Hon. James Stuart. In South Edinburgh the Liberals have adopted Principal A. P. Laurie, who is about to retire after many vears from the command of the Heriot-Watt College. One can only admire his courage and energy in trying his fortunes in so hopeless an area. POPPY DAY .COLLECTIONS. Armistice Day celebrations were held in every town and village last Friday, and, in spite of wintry weather, they were taken part in by large and impressive gatherings. In Edinburgh Prince Henry unveiled the Stone of Remembrance. The “ Poppy Day ” collection on behalf of Earl Haig’s fund has come to be a recognised feature of the day, and has excited a healthy local rivalry. For the large towns the'* figures can only be estimated as yet. Glasgow is disappointed that its total does not promise to exceed £SOOO, in comparison with which Edinburgh’s £3OOO may b 0 regarded as good. Some of the smaller places have done remarkably well. The local competition between Rothesav and Dunoon, to which I recently alluded, seems to have resulted in a victory for the former place with £152 as against Dunoon’s £l4O, although the latter, with Sir Harry Lauder's assistance, made a rrallant last-moment spurt. On the evening following Armistice Day the omcers of the famous 51st Division held their eleventh annual reunion, this time at Gleneagles, and had an attendance _of about 250, presided over by Brigadiergeneral Allison, of Inverness. A letter was read from the Mayor of Beaumont Hamel giving an assurance that “on this and future anniversaries of our deliverance the Scottish Standard will be flown on the flagstaff of Beaumont Hamel to hear witness to our eternal remembrance.” ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY RECTOR. By a majority of only nine votes —316 to 307—Lord Birkenhead was elected by the students of Edinburgh University as their rector for the ensuing three years, in preference to Sir Archibald Sinclair, while Mr John Masefield, who was put forward as a non-political candidate, received 200 votes. I suspect that the narrowness of the margin is explained by personal rather than political reasons. Lord Birkenhead got himself into hot water over his rectorial address to the Glasgow students a year or two ago, and Sir Archibald Sinclair would naturally receive a certain amount of support from Caithness students in respect of his local connection. The contest was marked by the usual silly horseplay which, I sometimes suspect, is kept up more as a recognition of a fairly modern tradition than because the students really enjoy it. GLASGOW OLD COLLEGE. Dr David Murray, who is by profession a solicitor and by tastes and occupation a historian and antiquary, must be almost the only survivor of those Glasgow who remember the Old College, looking over its green towards the Molendmar Bum, a site whic.i is now commemorated only bv th e name of College strict way station, while the stream has disappeared into a sewer. Dr Murray matriculated on November 1, 1857, and he is still actively connected with the university as a member of its governing body. He has rendered a service of which he alone was capable by writing “ Memories of the Old College of Glasgow.” A tenacious memory and a ‘aste for ransacking 'ld documents and volumes have enabled him to give a vivid impression of life in the old days the university was transferred to the heights of Gilmorehill. The eighteenth century professors assemble in the norter’s lodge to talk and play whist or to sup in Glasgow fashion on a haddock or a bit of toasted cheese, or a few dozen oysters “ with a modest glass of cold rum punch or hot brandy toddv according to the season ” while Archie Cameron. the inn i tor, turned an honest penny by selling drams to tiie students and citizens. The picture he gives of the residential system suggests that modern changes have not all been for the better. SCOTTISH DIARIES.

Another Ixv.k I must mentioned s Scottish and Irish Diaries,” by Mr

Arthur Ponsonby, M.P., who was private secretary to Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, and succeeded him in the repre sentation of the Stirling Burghs as a Liberal. He is a Socialist of sorts now, and one of his literary hobbies is the study of diaries. His anthology, published by Messrs Methuen at half a guinea, must have entailed years of reading. He thinks that “ the Scot may be regarded ns speciallv addicted to diarywriting,’’ partly due to the religious motive during the Covenanting period. The publications of the various Book Clubs, in which Scotland has been specially rich, have afforded Mr Ponsoiiby a wide field, and readers to whom these are not readily available will bo glad to have some of their best and most characteristic passages brought together in attractive and convenient form. Walter Scott’s dairy he regards as “ among the half dozen best, although there might be some differences of opinion as to the other five.” A FRIEND OF THE BLIND. Edinburgh has discharged a long-stand-ing debt this week by making public recognition of the work of the Rev. Dr Thomas Burns, of Lody Glcnorchy s Parish Church. The occasion was ms attainment ox his jubilee as a minister. It might be said—Dr Burns himself would probably say—that in that capacity he has merely done his job although few men would have tackled a slum parish with the blithe energy he has shown and not merely held his own but gained ground, providing a fine new church and gathering round him a large team of enthusiastic worker;!, carrying a wide variety of social and religious activities. Oi Burns’s pre-eminent service has been his work on behalf of the blind, providing the nobl e establishment at Newington and set.tinn up there the training of blinded ex J ' servicemen with a thoroughness and success which even his rivals and critics havo acknowledged. As an advocate and an organiser Dr Burns can have few enuals. He was presented with his portrait (which is to be hung in his church hall) and numerous other gifts. The mly shadow on the occasion was that his devoted wife was not spared to take her well-deserved share in the tribute. “ Tommy Burns ” is a model of what a parish minister should be, and none the less so becanse he has strong social m stincts of which he is unashamed; if no has any antipathy it is towards the sourvisaged cleric who'mistakes solemnity of demeanour for real seriousness of outlook on life and its nroblema. A DUNDEE OFFICIAL. Dundee has lost one of its most valued citizens by the death of Mr James Thom son, who served it for nearly 40 years as city engineer, city architect, and lattei’ly director of housing. Ho retired from active work three years ago, but the city retained his services as a consultant, and it was while calling on the Led Provost on official business that he collapsed. He has left a permanent monument in the form of the great improvements effected in the centre of the city under his supervision.