FROM NORTH OF WEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21529, 29 December 1931, Page 3

FROM NORTH OF WEED

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS Written for the Otago Daily Times. By Robert S. Angus. EDINBURGH, October 29. Little as I have said about the general election hitherto, I had intended to say still less this week. But what can Ido in the presence of such a deluge as we have witnessed? Even when the English results were pouring in on Tuesday night, showing that the Socialist candidates were being submerged almost everywhere, we said that Scotland, more stable in her political convictions, would not greatly modify her previous verdicts. But those who took that view—and we practically all did —were profoundly mistaken. Even the mining districts, which were supposed to be solid for the Socialists, rejected the Rev. John Barr, Miss Jennie Lee, Mr James Welsh, Mr Joseph Westwood, and Mr Joseph Sullivan, Mr Shinwell, and, most astonishing of all, Mr William Adamson, who has been twice Secretary for Scotland, and has represented West Fife for over 20 years. Mr Tom Kennedy, chief Whip to the late Government, lost Kirkcaldy Burghs, and Mr William Graham, who had a margin of five figures in Central Edinburgh, was thrown out by a majority of nearly 6000; Dr Drummond Shiels, an excellent member on every personal ground, could not hold East Edinburgh against a weak Liberal, and, further afield, in North Aberdeen, still another ex-Minister, Mr Wedgwood Benn, was ousted from what looked like a life seat. The Clydeside group, so far as I can see, has been reduced to three members —Mr Maxton, Mr Buchanan, and Mr M'Govern —whose retention of the Shettleston Division by a narrow majority is one of the most surprising and least satisfactory incidents of the election. My friend (Dr Forgan), who foolishly joined the Mosley group, was at the bottom of the poll in West Renfrew, his former seat, and will forfeit his deposit of £l5O. Everywhere the Unionist or Liberal majorities were greatly increased and the Socialists shed theirs in the most astonishing way. REASONS FOR CHANGE.

Obviously no one reason can account for a change so decisive and unexpected, unless all the others may be summed up by saying that the figures demonstrate the good sense of the electors and their determination to show the world that this country means to support the Government in whatever steps are necessary for national stability. It would not have been at all surprising if the unemployed, for instance, had rallied to the party which opposed the reduction of idle benefit, or if the teachers, the police, and the other municipal servants had used their influence against the Government. Of that there has been no trace. Personally, I believe that as potent an influence as any has been the announcement of the Socialists that they propose to control the banks. The average citizen may remain calm when he hears talk of nationalising the land, the railways, or the mines, but when it is proposed to have State control of the bank in which he keeps his small balance, he becomes suspicious at once. A more immediate factor, so far as Scotland is concerned, is that we had practically no three-cornered contests, and only two duels between Unionist and Liberal, one of them resulting in the defeat of Mr James Scott, the late Liberal member for Kincardine, the other a futile attack on the Duchess of Atholl in West Perthshire. We had quite a few of what I may call “ fancy ” candidatures—Communists and Scottish Nationalists. One of the latter, the Rev. T. T. Alexander, appeared in East Edinburgh, and a London newspaper tipped him as a possible winner. as a minister of the Church of Scotland, he could have sat in the House of Commons is doubtful, hut the question does not arise, seeing that he forfeited his deposit. DUNDEE’S TURNOVER.

Among the results which defy analysis or explanation is the one in Dundee, with its two members. When I knew that city better than I can calim fo do now', it was as safe as houses for the Liberals. Then came the Socialist incursion, and one would have said in the light of the figures at the last few elections that a purely industrial town, with a population of Irish extraction to the extent of about one-third, could never be recovered by either of the other parties. 'Yet look at what has happened! Mr Edwin Scrymgepur, a native of the city who has spent a generation in its public affairs, and whose prohibitionist views did not prevent his getting over 50,000 votes at last election, finds hie total drop by 18,000, and Mr Marcus, a young Jewish solicitor, who was a newcomer, drops 15,000, with the result that the two of them are in a five-figure minority, beaten by an energetic Unionist lady from Edinburgh, Miss Horsburgh, and a young London barrister, fresh from Oxford, Mr Dingle Foot, who arrived in the city for the first time about 10 days ago. Dundee has suffered, and is suffering severely from industrial depression; its unemployed must be numbered by tens of thousands, and one would have thought that they, at least, would vote against the parties responsible for the reduction of benefit. After such a marked failure of all the signs on which they are accustomed to depend, the political meteorologists may as well retire from business. If any of them at the beginning of the week had predicted what has happened their friends would have recommended them to see a mental specialist. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. Amid the hubbub of the parliamentary election the preparation for the municipal elections, which take place on Tuesday, have hardly been noticed. The late Lord Rosebery once declared that the welfare of a community depends much more on the men it appoints to its town council than on those it sends to Westminster, and much can be said for that view. If it is right, the class of men who come forward for municipal honours and responsibilities is not encouraging. Many of our best citizens refuse to go through the turmoil of a popular election. That is particularly true of the large towns, where membership of the council is becoming nearly a whole-time job; the small places are generally more fortunate. On this occasion an attempt has been made to avoid elections in order to save expense, but it lias been only partially successful. In Glasgow and Edinburgh the Socialists are still bent on trying for a majority so that they can have a clear run for their collective theories. If they had foreseen the result of the parliamentary elections they would have realised that the times are out of joint for them. Generally, however, the number of contests is much smaller than usual. A NATIONALIST LORD RECTOR. Mr Compton Mackenzie, the novelist, is to be congratulated on being elected Lord Rector of Glasgow University as a Scottish Nationalist candidate. It is true that out of about 5000 students only 84!) voted for him, as compared with 702 for Sir Robert Horne, the Unionist, a former student, 581 for Professor Gilbert Murray, for many years the popular occupant of the Greek chair. 110 for Mr Tom Johnston, the Socialist, and 21 for Sir Oswald Mosley. Ido not read the result ns duo to an uprising of Nationalist sentiment, in spite of the fact that Mr Cunningham Graham, who stood in the same interest last time, came so near success. It is a sign rather that the students have grown tired of political lord rectors and want to hold themselves free, as their colleagues in St. Andrews and Aberdeen do, to choose men of distinction in other walks of life more appropriate to academic honour. Since only half the undergraduates voted, it is a sign, too. that many of them have no taste for the horseplay which marks the election campaigns, [f they wanted a Scotsman they might’ have chosen a more typical one than Mr Compton Mackenzie, who was educated at English schools and universities and had no personal connection with Scotland, except an ancestral one, till he bought a Hebridean island some years ago. TECHNICAL SCHOLARS!!IPS.

Glasgow Royal Technical College has benefited to the extent of £20.000 under the will of Mr John T. Gilchrist, of Greenock, the income to be spent on bursaries and research scholarships. In his lifetime Mr Gilchrist gave £4OOO anonymously for the foundation of the Greenock scholarship. The awards, eight in number, are to be given to evening class students —by competitive examination if necessary —to enable them to attend a full-time course at the day classes, and the most valuable of them will be worth £IOO a year. The college is not too rich in such

prizes, and Mr Gilchrist has provided a memorial of himself more enduring and valuable than any in brass or marble. JACOBITE EELICS.

Mr Angus R. Macdonald, twenty-third chief of Clanranald, has enriched the National Museum of Antiquities by a collection of Jacobite relics, among the most valuable it has ever received. lie has always regarded their ownership as a trust, and he has deposited them in the museum for his lifetime with an intimation that he has bequeathed them by his will, on condition that they shall never leave the museum even on loan. They include two basket-hilted swords which belonged to Prince Charlie, one of them an Andrea Ferrara, a flint-lock fowling piece, an ornamental silver spoon bearing his initials, a snuff box, and a silver quaicli which he gave to Flora Macdonald, that lady’s own snuff box, and a Jacobite medal. Relics more directly connected with the Clanranald family are seven swords, live Highland pistols, a silver brooch given to the aunt of the present chief by Queen Victoria (said to have belonged to Mary Queen of Scots), and the original Red Book and Black Book of Clanranald, Gaelic manuscripts relating to the early history of the clan. These gifts are almost literally priceless, and Clanranald is entitled to public gratitude for handing over property which has so high a sentimental as well as great potential financial value. WINTER SPORT IN THE HIGHLANDS.

Serious steps are being taken to bring home to the British public that enthusiasts for winter sports need not miss them because it is at present a national duty not to go abroad. For a good many years now small' bands of Scottish enthusiasts have taken advantage of the ski-ing facilities which are provided—somewhat spasmodically, it is true —in the Highlands. They can be reached in 12 hours from any part of Great Britain as compared with the 24 or 30 required to go to Switzerland, so that uncertainty is of less importance. The_ railway companies are offering special fares, and a number of the hotels which normally close all winter have decided to remain open—at reasonable terms, I hope. Mr Keillor Greig, who lives on Deeside, points out that it is sometimes possible to ski one day and golf the next and that skating and curling can generally be counted on for at least a month every year. But these elements of variety and uncertainty should be an added attraction, and the attempt to develpp winter sports is certainly worth making.