FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22498, 16 February 1935, Page 16

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS.

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

EDINBURGH, January 3. Though not by nature a pessimist, I cannot help asking myself uneasily whether all the bright auguries which are being drawn at the opening of the year will prove to be justified? They seem almost too good to be true. With one exception —and it is an ugly one, an increase of nearly 6,000 in the number of our unemployed during a month which saw an improvement in every other district —all the signs seem favourable, and the records of the last twelve montns show that substantial progress has already been made. The fact that our eight banks have deposits amounting to 284 millions —an increase of 3J millions—can be read in two ways. It means that we have larger cash assets, but it also means that their owners unable to find sufficient use for them in their business. It should not be necessary to point out that that money belongs to the depositors, and not; as the Scottish Socialists seem to- assume in a recent manifesto, to the banks, whose directors are therefore not entitled to spend them on public purposes which give no immediate return. in this connection I may mention the decision to open in Glasgow a branch of the Overseas Trade Department, whose scheme of export credits has not been used by our Scottish business men to anything, like the same extent as their opposite numbers on the other side of the Tweed;. SAYINGS. TAXES, AND RATES.

A much better indication of the general financial position of the population is given by the statistics of the savings banks. These, so far without exception, record substantial * increases _ in the deposits. Edinburgh showed a rise of nearly threequarters of a million; Dunfermline, in spite of the depression from which its staple industry, line'n, has suffered for years, saved over £23,000; and even a small place like Dalkeith put aside more: than £14,000. These figures, it should be understood, take no account of deposits' in the post office or in the purchase of savings certificates. Another good omen is the report from Glasgow' that the rates a're being paid with greater promptitude than last year, and, as usual, the incometax officials in Waterloo place were embarrassed on the first day of the year by a rush of people bent on handing over the amounts that were due. A former head of the Inland Revenue Department once complained to me that' Scotsmen were a perfect nuisance to his staff, because so many of them paid their incometax on receipt of their assessment notices. That--phenomenon, he said, was totally unknown in England. Anyhow, the police on Tuesday had to form would-be taxpayers into four queues in order that they might transact their business. NEW ENTERPRISES.

One of the best bits of news I have read for a long time is to the effect that a syndicate has been formed' to manufacture, a cheap-priced motor ear of Scottish design, the invention of a. Drymen engineer. It is said to have great possibilities, and to have powerful financial backing. As has been frequently pointed out, it is both surprising and disappointing that Scotland, with all its engineering skill, experience, and pro-ducing-power has hitherto taken next to no share in the largest and most prosperous industry which has grown ,up in our time. The promoters of the new scheme will not lack choice of sites for their works. Falkirk is making a strong bid for them —it is the seat of the lightcastings trade —but almost any of the towns in our industrial belt'can offer all necessary facilities. Another encouraging development is the decision of Scottish Oils, Ltd., to sink two shafts at West Calder to work newly-discovered deposits of shale, and to erect an electric station at Addiewell to supply the necessary power. A few more such incidents will greatly simplify the task of Sir Arthur Rose, the commissioner for the Scottish “special district,” a- name which is preferred to “derelict” or “distressed” areas. He has just issued a reminder, which should not have been Deeded, that his appointment does not justify any slackening in the voluntary efforts for the areas in question, and that he will be glad to consider all practical suggestions. NEW YEAR HONOURS. Scotland has her full share of the New Year honours. . Foremost among them stand the admission of Dr J. W. Mackail,

an Edinburgh graduate and one. of the greatest scholars of his time, to the Order of Merit, and of Lord Linlithgow to the Privy Council. The new knights include Professor Duncan Tovey, of the music chair in ■ Edinburgh, who has done so much to encourage the love of good music; Mr Williaih Reid Dick, a Glasgow man, who is president of the Society of Sculptors; Mr John B. Orr, who at the Rowett Institute at Aberdeen has brought the discoveries of the laboratory to the practical assistance of agriculture; Dr J. D. Sutherland, who until a few weeks ago was the leader in our forestry development; Lord Brovost Swan, of Glasgow; Mr John Wallace, M.P. for Dunfermline, the London director of the Kirkcaldy linoleum industry, which has done something to • counteract the ‘‘southward drift;” Mr William Martineau, of Kincrai’g, Ross-shire; Major-general Douglas Baird, a' native of Elgin; General C. J. C. Grant, a son-in-law of the late Lord Rosebery and member of a family which has an unbroken connection with the British Army extending over nearly two centuries; Colonel P. R. Cadell, an Indian civil servant, who belongs to the well-known Cockenzie family; and Captain Walter Biichanan-Smith, a Dumbartonshire man, who is T Lieutenant-Governor of Nigeria. Mr John E. Highton, secretary of the Department of Public Health, becomes a C.B. TEACHERS’ CONFERENCE. Working for the greater part of their time within the trammels of a syllabusmuch more elastic than they used to.be — it is natural that teachers should welcome their annual congress at which they can discuss the larger aspects of their profession and its duties, and it is creditable to their public spirit and so many of them should forgo their family gatherings at New Year for the purpose. They are meeting this year at North Berwick, which even in raid-winter has its attractions. They heard an excellent address from Miss Janet M. Lawson, their president, who in an international survey protested against the nationalistic doctrines how being inculcated in countries like Russia, Germany and Itiily, and commended the broader dutlook which happily prevails in this country. She took a hopeful view of the outlook and suggested that a great advance, including the raising of the school age, may be nearer than is generally supposed. Another woman speaker, Miss Margaret T. Robertson, of Glasgow, protested against dubious teaching of history by means of films, and Mr Melville Dinwiddie, the Scottish director of the 8.8. C.. dealt with the difficult problem of children’s speech. The delegates do not generally concern themselves at their winter congress with merely professional interests, but they were probably glad to hear it said by an outsider, Professor Crew, of Edinburgh University, speaking to the Schoolmasters’ Association in Edinburgh, that teachers should stand alongside the medical, legal, and other professions, in status and financial reward. A CHURCH REMOVAL.

When the word “ High ” appears in the title of a Scottish Church its significance is geographical and not ecclesiastical, and the one in Edinburgh owes it to the fact that it,is perched on the ridge leading up to the castle. From this week it will cease to be used for the purpose for which it was built immediately after the disruption. It is, to be used for a much-needed extension., of the new college, and the congregation will move to a new church in Blackford avenue erected under the will of Mr William Crambe Reid in memory of his father. The building has occupied about four years, and, alike in its design and in the richness of its decoration in which eminent artists and craftsmen have been engaged, it will rank as probably one of the finest churches built during the present generation. One unusual feature for a town church is the preservation of ample space round it. The High Church has had several distinguished ministers, including Dr' Robert Gordon, a disruption leader. Principal Rainy, Dr Walter Smith, and Professor R. S. Simpson, now in Cambridge. DEPARTURE OP THE PRIMUS.

Bishop Robberds, who for over 30 years has bdcn bishop of Brechin, and for the greater part of that time Primus of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, had reason to be proud of the send off which was given him when he left Dundee to live in the. South of England. The Lord Provost was in the chair, and Dr Robberds’s Presbyterian brethren were present to express their appreciation of his work and character. The Primus mentioned

that among many gifts he : had received from his colleagues, was a garden,-Mat, 1 inscribed _“ a wooden bench from, a wooden Bench; ’ siltely 'a rather heavy specimen of.episcopal humour! u ■ MR ALEXANDER-GUTHRIE. A link with old days has been broken hy the death of Mr Alexander Guthrie, at the age o£ 88. He was a eon of Dr Thomas Guthrie, one of the disruption leaders, and . donor of -the ./statue to- his memory which stands in Princes street. Mr Guthrie, after leaving' the Royal High School, spent his working' life in San r ranoisco and afterwards: in Liverpool, as a partner of the World-wide firm of palfour, Guthrie,-and Co. He was keenly" interested in philanthropic work in Liverpool, and also in the orphan school founded at Liberton by his father. .