FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21165, 24 October 1930, Page 3

FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS. Written for the Otago Daily Times. By Robert S. Angus. SPEY BAY, August 28. A fortnight of calculated idleness here has been interrupted pleasantly on two or three occasions. On Saturday night Sir David Mason, the late Lord Provost of Glasgow, motored me to Lossiemouth, where the Prime Minister had invited me to dine in order to meet General Hertzog. It was an informal gathering, at which politics were never mentioned, but it interested me to find that the South African Premier seemed so much at homo in a gathering of Scottish lairds and provosts. Indeed a stranger would have had difficulty in singling out the guest from those who were there to do him honour. He told me that he finds himself very much at home in Scotland, and I daresay that when ho accompanied the Prime Minister to church next day he felt as if he were worshipping among his own people. Those who nave read of the fierce dispute which has developed between the Laird of Pitgavenny and the Town Council of Lossiemouth in regard to the use of the town square would have been amused to see him and the Provost discussing their differences in a spirit of good-humoured friendliness. But I suppose that will not prevent the two of them from going to law on the 1 matter. The laird seems to belong .to , the old-fashioned type who liked a I “ guid-ganing law plea ” on their hands, j I was delighted to meet an old friend ! in the person of Mr Cameron, of Elgin, I whose distillery business remains one of tiie few that have not been absorbed by ' the big amalgamations. THE FISHING TOWNS. Thanks to Major Mackenzie Wood, M.P., I had the opportunity one evening after a round of golf to make a hurried tour of the fishing villages of Morayshire—Port Gordon, Buckie, Findochty, Portnockie and Cullen. It was early in the week and most of the harbours were practically empty, the boats being scattered —so Major Wood told me—all round the coast from the Isle of Man to Aberdeen. In each of the little towns one was impressed by the streets of substantial double-fronted villas, immaculately neat, and giving an air of prosperous comfort. These houses, I was told, are a relic of the comparatively successful pre-war days. Many of them now conceal a real poverty. The problem of the moment is to replace the steamdrifters, which have gone out of condition and require more capital than the men have available. If the State could advance the necessary' money oh easy terms it would be a far wiser and more profitable, investment than the payment of insurance benefit, which is claimed by the younger men during the slack season, thereby depriving them of incentive to save the money which would enable them to become share fishermen. The harbours obviously need extension and re-conditioning. Some of them can probably never be made large enough to accommodate the craft of modern size. Nor is that necessary in view of the drifter’s mobility. It would be better to concentrate on a few large and wellequipped harbours near the railway than to dissipate money on small and remote harbours.

THE FARMING OUTLOOK. Holiday makers who like myself inclined to resent the broken weather of the last two or three weeks may well bear their grievance with patience when they look round the ripening fields *and see the havoc which has been wrought by ivind and rain. Much of the grain has been flattened, and if it can be cut at all its condition will be poor. One farmer a few miles along the coast had four valuable steers killed by lightning. The outlook in regard to prices is still uncertain. On the other hand, Major "Wood pointed out to me a small farm, not more than 30 acres, I believe, where the tenant has made a fortune by horse breeding and dairying. His is not a singular case. The herds. of pedigree Aberdeen-Angus cattle that one sees about the fields show that the farmers, in this neighbourhood at least, are adapting themselves to the changing times. The same adaptability is indicated by the great afforestation schemes which are being carried out on the Gordon Castle estates and on some of the other Spcyside properties. THE LATE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND.

Having seen too many Highland gather- ■ ings in my time I did not go to the . Gordon Castle games on Saturday, A shadow was east over the proceedings by ] the news that the Duke of Northumber- . land, a brother-in-law of the Duke of Richmond, had died that morning. The Duke of Northumberland was half a : Scotsman, his mother having been a daughter of the eighth Duke, of Argyll, ! and he had the fair hair and blue eyes | of the Campbells. He was a frequent visitor both to Inveraray and to Gordon Castle, and the gloomy view he took about politics did not prevent his making many friends on this side of the Tweed. INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION. • Even in this spot, far removed from the industrial area, echoes of the growing depression can be heard. The railways are rapidly reducing their staffs, thereby bringing unemployment into a calling where it has hitherto been little known: an indication of the reasons for that reduction is given by the empty trains that one sees running along the little local line. The Calico Printers’ Association has decided to close its works at Thornliebank, near Glasgow, throwing over 500 workers out of employment. Occasional orders for the building of new ships are being placed, but not nearly enough to occupy the men and machinery available, and almost the only industry which remains active is the building of more 1 motor buses for road ’passenger traffic. NEW ABERDEEN PROFESSORS. , Dr James Ritchie, at present curator of the natural history department of the Royal Scottish Museum, has been appointed to succeed his old teacher, Sir Arthur Thomson, in the natural history chair at Aberdeen. Dr Ritchie’s appointment is, peculiarly appropriate, for while he is a great authority on the anti- ■ quarian side of his subject, he has written much on such present-day problems as sheep rearing and horse breeding. He will thus be a valuable coadjutor of the Rowett Research Institute staff at Aberdeen, which is engaged with problems of animal nutrition and plant- breeding. The materia medica chair at Aberdeen is to be filled by Dr David Campbell, at present a lecturer in Glasgow University, who, like. Dr Ritchie, combines erudition with a gift for popular exposition. GLASGOW STREET GANGS. I gather that the movement for dealing with street gang warfare in Glasgow by some method other than police repression is meeting with considerable success. A local minister, the Rev. Cameron Peddie, has gained the confidence of some of the leading gangsters, and induced them to form a club which will enable its members to vent their high spirits in football, boxing, and other activities less harmful than bottle throwing. They have undertaken to eschew street fighting, unless attacked. Mr Peddie is deservedly receiving the support of the municipal leaders and the police. The mischief has been largely due to idleness, which in some cases may have been a matter of choice, but more generally is due to the state of trade. The lads arc not inherently vicious, and under right influences can be turned into creditable citizens.