FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20473, 30 July 1928, Page 7

FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS. Written for the Otago Daily Times. By Robebt S. Angus. EDINBURGH, June 14. This week the House of Commons devoted a day to the Scottish Estimates, but, to judge from the reports of the discussion, members had little substantial fault to find with the administration. W r ith the annual reports of the departments in their hands they still seemed to be short of material for criticism, for they complained bitterly that the Scottish Secretary did not speak early in the debate, and thereby furnish them with more. Attention was directed chiefly to the land question, on which no one had anything helpful to say. There was the usual demand i for the creation of more small holdings j without any attempt to show how the money for that expensive process is pJto be found. Sir John Gilmour hotly | denied the suggestion that he has determined to abandon the policy, but he did j uot conceal the fact that he is in agreement with the recommendation of the Nairne Committee that in the Lowlands at any rate there should be no further extension of the dual-ownership system, under which holdings are compulsorily formed against the desire of the landowner. The committee takes the view that in future the Board of Agriculture should buy the land and establish the holders as its tenants. Something was said about agricultural education, which, although good enough so far as it goes, has the defect of not being closely enough' related to the practical work of the farm. RATING RELIEF. Owing to the fact that, contrary to the system in England, local rates in Scotland are paid in equal proportions by owner and occupier, the Government scheme of relief has to be modified in its application on this side of the Border. It is accordingly proposed that during the currency of the existing leases the owner must pass on the benefit to his tenant. The greatest difficulty will arise in connection with the crofters. Hitherto they have paid nothing on their buildings, and only on 25 per cent, of their land, which in future is to be exempt. The proposal is that, since individual valuation would take too long, the value of the dwelling house should be taken as one-sixth of the total value of the holding and assessments based on that. This arrangement may conceivably result in crofters having to pay a few shillings more than at present. But it is clearly undesirable that they should be totally free from local burdens, as would otherwise be the case, especially since they get the main benefit of local expenditure. PUBLIC HEALTH. In its ninth annual report—which in view of the Reorganisation of Offices Bill may also be its last—the Scottish Board of Health deals with a much wider variety of topics than its title would suggest Chief among them is housing. During 1927 the number of new dwellings provided was the largest on record—2l,6oo —or more than double the number estimated to be normally required. Thus a considerable inroad* has been made on the shortage, which 10 years ago was estimated at over 121,000. | But no one with a practical knowledge of the conditions can share the complacence which the board seems to feel. The real problem is not only the shortage of houses but the deplorable condition : of many that are still inhabited when j they are not fit for habitation. For i reasons which are partly economic and partly historical our working classes have been content for generations with a lower standard of housing than pre- ’ vails on the other side of the Tweed, i and have spent a smaller proportion of their incomes upon it. The Board of i Health deals also with the disquieting increase in the demands on the health insurance system, due in many cases, it is suspected, to laxity on the part of the doctors in giving certificates of unfitness. Apart from a slight increase in the death-rate owing to an unusual prevalence of epidemic diseases, the health statistics show no material change, except that the birth rate continues to decline, and is now the lowest . : on record. | ROAD TRANSPORT. This week the parliamentary Joint Committee, which is considering the Railway Companies Bills seeking power to run motor buses, has heard the hostile evidence of the Scottish tramways concerns. Some remarkable figures were given by Mr Pilcher, our tramways manager. He mentioned that in Aberdeen last year the trams carried over 36,000,000 passengers at an average fare of just under a penny each, and made a substantial profit. That, it was contended, is the cheapest travelling provided in any part of the United Kingdom. In Glasgow one can travel 23 miles for twopence. ! Out of £12,000,000 invested in Scottish tramways, almost all municipally owned. ! about £7,000,000 has already been re- ; deemed, but if to the competition of private buses, which already has to be met, there is added a service by the railway companies the financial position may be gravely undermined. I TRADE PROSPECTS. ! In the House of Commons the other day the president of the Board of Trade made a temperately optimistic survey of industrial prospects. But so far as the heavy trades are concerned, we see comparatively little prospect of improvement here yet. The Fifeshire members of Parliament. irrespective of party, have ppealed to the Scottish Secretary for the opening of relief works to meet the necessities of an area the number of miners employed has declined by one-third as compared dith 10 years ago. The m.n have exhausted their unemployment benefit, and are thrown on the parish, which, with its depleted resources, can ill afford to maintain them. On the other hand, the locomotive trade, in hich the Springburn district of Glasgow is specially interested, is enjoying a good supplj of orders, foreign an 1 domestic, and shipbuilding remains fairly active. Inverness is greatly distressed because, under the railway amalgamation scheme, the amount of work being done by the locomotive sheds there is being gradually reduced, and a reply by Sir Josiah Stamp to local protests shows that the capital of the north will be gradually reduced to a small repaii station. | BLINDED SOLDIERS. | I am sorry to see that controversy has again broken out between St. Dunstans, the London institution founded by the late Sir Arthur -Pearson, for the training of blinded soldiers and the Scottish National Institution which exists for the same purpose. Complaint is made that St. Dunstans seeks to draw from Scotland support which should naturally be reserved for the domestic establishment. There is abundant room for both, and • as the chairman of St. Dunstans is himself a Scot —Captain lan Fraser, M.P. —it should not be difficult to arrive j at an understanding. Meanwhile, it is j pleasant to note that a branch of the Scottish Institution has been opened in I Glasgow, where about a score of men j will be employed chiefly in bootmaking I I cannot believe that the generous public j of Glasgow will let the entries languish • for lack of orders. I GEORGE HERIOT MEMORIAL. | This year, being the tercentenary of i the laying of the foundation stone of | George Heriot’s Hospital, the annual I celebrations have been of a more than | usually interesting character. The Loir- I don Heriot Club at its dinner this week decided to erect a memorial in the crypt of St. Martins-in-the-Fields Church, i where George Heriot ia buried. It is

hoped that in the course of the renovations his grave which is known to he there may be discovered. HOW MONEY ACCUMULATES. In 1852 an account amounting to £8 was opened in Dunfermline Savings Bank by the Wellwood Colliery Penny Bank. That bank has been long extinct. The last transaction on the account took place in 1876, when the amount at credit was £23 10s, Since then the money has accumulated and application was mane to the registrar of Friendly Societies to decide the ownership of the balance, which now stands at over £BB. He has ruled that the money belongs to the owners of the Wellwood Colliery and has ordered it to he handed over to them. Messrs Thomas Spowart and Co. have promptly transferred it to the local Miners' Welfare Institute—one of those enterprises whidx are doing so much to improve social amenities m tne coal areas. In this connection I may mention that Galashiels has just received intimation of a legacy of £IO,OOO from the estate of Mr William Forrester, who was for 40 years in business in the town. The money is to be expended by the magistrates in the relief of the deseiving poor who are not on the pauper roll. RIFLE SHOOTING. My old friend. Major Tom Rankeu, will not misunderstand me when I say that I am sorry he has again won—for the third time—the Scottish National Rifle Championship. He is not only one of our best marksmen, but he has done more than any man of his time for the encouragement of rifle shooting. But 1 am sure he would much rather have seen the honour go to one of the younger men. Of these too few are coming rorward. Looking through the list of prize-winners I find it consists largely of men whom I knew when I was more closely connected with the pastime over 20 years ago. Amateur soldiering, and its fascinating auxiliary have lost their attraction for an age addicted to golf, tennis and motoring.