FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21627, 23 April 1932, Page 16

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS

Written for the Otago Daily Times. By Robert S. Angus.

' EDINBURGH, February 25. From the Scottish point of view the changes which the House of Commons has made this week on the Import Duties Bill are materially for the better. The deputation'of farmers who went to Loudon to urge that the maize they need for their cattle should be exempt from duty had the satisfaction of hearing Mr Chamberlain announce that he accepted their view; our papermakers who use 80 per cent, of the esparto grass brought to this country are to have that material free of duty; whale oil, important in the jute industry, is also to be on the free list. Scottish farmers recognised that to ask for a tax on meat at this stage was vain, and accordingly they accept the decision. Some complaint is made that the dates under the Horticultural Products Act have been fixed wrongly from the Scottish point of view, and, while I do not know the details sufficiently to judge, I, should be surprised if Sir John Gilmour has made a mistake on a point like that, with which he must be thoroughly familiar. No one is foolish enough to suppose that the fiscal changes will solve the difficulties of the farmers, but they are all to the good. A more promising incident is the fact that the raspberry growers are first in the field with the formation of a selling organisation. A small, compact, and highly-specialised .industry; like; thrit is in ; the best position to organise'itself• Steps towards 'a similar end are being taken also by- the herring trade. ATTRACTING INDUSTRIES. Mr William Watson, of the Scottish National Development Council, has been in London this week addressing . the National Association of- Auctioneers pn the steps which are being taken on tlis side ,of the Tweed, not merely to concentrate industries which must shrink before they are in a healthy state, but to attract new trades. The most promising movement ie that of Continental silk manufacturers to begin operations in this country. Dunfermlinehad.one of its- linen /factories converted to silk by a Swiss firm a-few. years ago; another has - just, been bought; for the same purpose; negotiations in re--gard to others are going on; and if, as is hoped, Mr Chamberlain abolishes the duty , on raw silk, concerns which are now, hesitating will probably set up works- here in order to get tirileously inside the British Empire tariff w-gll. I notice one,small but -Interesting illustration of the readiness of Our industrial leaders to adapt themselves to changed conditions. The contract for the'wood furniture of the: Glasgow Electricity Department ' has been secured by the Fairfield Shipbuilding,' Company. It has a large number ot skilled woodworkers who in normal times are needed for the furnishing of ships, and it has seized the opportunity of finding work for them in another direction. The amount of the- contract is only £2700, but even that is not to be despised by the sorely-pressed on Clydeside.. UNEMPLOYED MARCHERS/ ■ I A bleaker side of-the industrial: situation has been brought into prominence this week by the march of ■ unemployed from various parts of the country to Edinburgh iii order-.to inter view the: officials of the Health Department ih regard to the administration of transitional benefit. For any practical purpose the demonstration was totally useless. It was organised by the Communists with the avowed object of fomenting discontent, and in order to serve that end they did riot shrink from subjecting their dupes to serious hardship, unaccustomed as most of them are to walking long distances. But for the action of the Town Council in placing the Waverley Market at their disposal many of them would have had to sleep in the streets. It','is a tribute to the self-restraint of the men that their conduct whs orderly, l and that after the hearing of their deputation, which would have had just as much effect if its members had gone unaccompanied, they quietly dispersed to their homes. CONTINUED SAYING. Sovereigns were* never so current with us as in England for we were accustomed to the use of £1 notes long before the' war and consequently we have not heard much of their sale mow. The Edinburgh broker who offers 25s each for them is an optimist if he expects much business when,27s 6j is being paid in Loudon. A much more important aspect of the thrift movement is the, fact, that .duringJlQSl the sale of national savings was greater than it has been, in any year since 1924. The amount invested in that way was almost £4,500,000. Even the.; crisis of last September caused no more: than a temporary setback in the move*? ment, and in spite' of dull trade'the sale of certificates has continued to show a large margin over the amount realised—a great - tribute alike to the confidence and the prudence of the average citizen. %

HIRE PURCHASE. Tiie Government has introduced a Bill to deal,with the abuses of the hire-pur-chase system, which, it seems, have been much, more flagrant on this than on the other side of the Tweed. Some firms, mostly operating from Glasgow, have been in the habit of inducing people in the remoter parts of Scotland to enter into contracts, and on any failure to maintain payments, have brought an action in the Glasgow Courts. • The hire-purchaser, generally unable to afford' the time and money needed to defend himself before a distant tribunal, allows judgment to go by default, and the next he knows is that he is arrested and thrown into. prison. Under the Bill the purchaser will have to be sued in his local court and even if decree is obtained, imprisonment cannot follow until the court has been satisfied that the default is wilful. Hirepurchase may be a convenjent and even beneficial system, and it will prosper all the more if abuses are prevented. < DUNDEE COLLEGE JUBILEE. University College, Dundee, has been celebrating the jubilee of its foundation. It owes its origin to a legacy of £140,000 by Miss Mary Ann Baxter, and the three Nethergate villas which were its site, have grown into a handsome range of buildings, suffering a good deal from their piecemeal (development, but still sufficient for their purpose. The proceedings were shorn of some of their attractiveness by the absence of Mr Stanley Baldwin, the Chancellor of St. Andrews University, who could not leave London while he is acting as the Prime Minister’s deputy. Financial depression made it impossible to launch the appeal for funds which was at one time contemplated, but that effort is merely postponed until better times. , The foolish dispute with St. Andrews University has long been forgotten and the two institutions recognise that they are necessary complements to each other. It is indicative of the change in their 'relations that Sir James Irvine, the principal of St. Andrews, has- been acting for some months as principal also, of University College, and the arrangement is proving so satisfactory that it may become permanent. SCOTTISH JUDGE FOR INDIA. Colonel J. G. Thom’s wide circle of friends —in which I am proud to include myself- -will congratulate him warmly on his appointment as a judge of the High Court at Allahabad. It is an interesting but accidental coincidence that it should come within a few weeks of his engagement to be married. Scottish advocates have long been eligible for the Indian Bench, but Colonel Thom is the first to be chosen, and Parliament House naturally hopes that he will have many successors. Colonel Thom was a trooper in the Lothians and Berwick Yeomanry when war brcfke out, and before it ended he was commander of a battalion of Gordon Highlanders at the age of 27. He is only 40 now, so that after the 11 years necessary to qualify for pension he will be young enough to resume political work if he is still as keen about it then as he is now. Though his friends are sorry to lose him, they recognise that he has, decided wisely, and they are confident that he will acquit himself well in hia new sphere. THE MONTHLY VISITOR. Mention of these words will no doubt recall to the minds of distant readers of the four-page leaflet with which they were familiar in the days of their youth. It was distributed free by the Scottish Tract Society, and contained a brief address of a highly evangelistic and even pietistic flavour. It has changed its tone appreciably with the change of times, and it still circulates to the number of over 3,000,000 a year. The total distribution during the 100 years the society has been at work has amounted to 360,000,000. A slight decrease last year was due to the | discontinuance of the Gaelic edition.

OBITUARY. I have to record this week the death three well-known citizens, all of them, as it happens, friends of my own. The Rev. Dr A. S. Inch, moderator of the United Free Church in 1924, died.suddenly as the result of an accident within 10 days ot his retirement after 34 years’ service at the High Church, Dumbarton. He was a hard-working, unpretentious minister whose evangelical views were combined with a keen sense of humour. He was a man of exceptional bulk in all three dimensions, and whenf elected to the moderator’s chair claimed that lie “occupied it more fully ” than any of his distinguished predecessors.' Major R. G. MacDonald was for, over 40 years a member of the staff of Daniel Stewart’s College, Edinburgh, but iwas best known to the general public as an officer of Jhe Queen’s Edinburgh Volunteers and one of our most skilled marksmen. He was one of the distinguished team which built up the high reputation of that corps both at the local meetings and at Bisley, and on many cocasions he represented his country in international matches. I have spent many happy hours in his hut at Bisley and nn the ranges at Malleny. The other death is that of Dr Robert Latta, who was for 23 years professor of logic as Glasgow until 1925, when the state of bis health forced blip to retire. A native of Edinburgh, he held teaching posts at St. Andrews and Aberdeen before be went to Glasgow-to succeed Processor R. W. Anderson. His wrirk as a teacher, made his literary output less than life friends would have liked to see it, and -when war broke;but he devoted himself to the organisation of the military and industrial forces with an ardour which was the main cause of his premature breakdown. His “ Elements of Logic,” published three years ago, and his work on Lbibnitz were The chief products of his pen, but he will ■long be remembered by his old students for his charm of character and his inspir'ing personality. - ;