FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22742, 30 November 1935, Page 20

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS Written for the Otago Daily Time®. By Robert S. Angus. EDINBURGH, October 17. Everybody seems to agree that an early general election is certain. In that case the sooner it comes the better, for, though under modern conditions it causes little direct interference with normal life, the uncertainty until it is over checks the confidence which is essential to enterprise. It is no part of my business to take sides or make forecasts, but the general expectation is that, while the Socialists will recover some of the se'ats they so unexpectedly lost four years ago, Scotland will still give the Government a substantial majority. I fear that some of our most useful members—Miss Florence Horsburgh in Dundee and Mrs Shaw in Bothwell, for instance —will have difficulty in holding their Beats; nor should I like to ensure the re-election of Sir John Wallace for the Dunfermline Burghs, Mr J. S. C. Reid for Stirling and Falkirk, or Sir Adrian Baillie for Linlithgow. On the other hand, we are likely to send Mr Tom Johnston, Mr William Adamson, and Mr James Brown back to Westminster; but, according to my Glasgow friends, neither Sir Robert Horne nor Mr Walter Elliot is safe there. I note with interest that on Sir John Gilmour’s own authority the report that he will receive a peerage (which he well deserves) is contradicted. The three I.L.P. members will probably be reelected, especially if the present attempt to make a local truce with the official Socialists is successful. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. One objection to having a general election in November is that it will overshadow interest in the municipal contests, which are now beginning. The Socialists in Glasgow will have to face a frontal attack, but they are confident that they can retain their majority, especially as they have an energetic leader in Treasurer Dollan, who Is making strong appeals to local civic pride, while the Moderates seem rather a bleak and unattractive lot. In the other cities and towns the contests are exciting ■ only a tepid interest. The civil cbairs of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee fall vacant at this time, and, while much wirepulling is going on for the succession, the outgoing occupants have received the usual recognition in the form of having their portraits added to the public galleries. Treasurer Dollan made the interesting suggestion that Sir Alexander Swan should be appointed a trade commissioner to tour the Empire and make known the facilities which Glasgow offers for direct trading. Bailie Raithby, of Edinburgh, made tne still more intriguing proposal that one of the Royal Dukes should be invited to take permanent residence in Hojyrood and become Lord' Provost of the city. I fear the practical objections to such a scheme are much too strong. TRADE CONDITIONS.

Colonel Colville, M.P., the secretary of the Overseas Trade Department, continues to show himself in his public speeches an indomitable optimist, and the other night he declared that in spite of international complications there is every prospect of the trade ' improvement going further. Similarly, Mr Neville Chamberlain, addressing a Unionist demonstration in Glasgow, was moderately hopeful, and his forecast of increased defensive preparations was cheerfully received, for they must mean additional naval shipbuilding, and that inevitably means substantial orders for the Clyde. That river, and Dundee as well, have obtained some new contracts within the last few days. East Fife and Dundee are at present holding exhibitions of their special products, which are greater in variety and better in quality than is realised even by the people on the spot. They are acting in the spirit of Mr Rosslyn Mitchell’s excellent broadcast address the other night, that nothing is more demoralising than to think of the situation in terms of depression, and that eagerness to advertise (which generally means to exaggerate) our weak spots is a poor service to the nation. TWEED INDUSTRY.. The fact that this year’s annual dinner of the Galashiels Manufacturers’ Association was the 15Dth of the series is a reminder that the production of tweed is one of our oldest industries. Is it keeping pace with modern requirements ? Mr Thow Munro, its chairman, evidently thinks it is not. He declared that, whereas before the war 90 per cent, of men’s clothing was made to order, whether in a local village or in Savile row, the proportion is now reversed, and that Scottish tweedmakers have donfe little to supply the raw material of the ready-to-wear manufacturers. I suppose that price has something to do with that, for _ Scottish tweed sells by reason of its quality. But Mr Munro, who is in the best possible position to judge, is convinced that a great potential market has been neglected. Concentration on what he calls the "home front” is all the more essential when tariff and exchange restrictions have reduced the foreign business which used to be so large an element in the FORTH ROAD BRIDGE. At long last there is a prospect of agreement about the Forth road bridge.. The report of the engineers points clearly to what is known as the Mackintosh Rock site (just west of the railway bridge) as being the most suitable, and, though it will cost a little more than the Rosytn site further to the weet, the difference will be more than repaid by greater convenience. The estimate of cost is now reduced to £3,260,000, and _ the local authorities under the leadership of Edinburgh, have agreed in principle as to their shares of the cost. The way is now clear, therefore, for an approach to the Government. I remain of the opinion that the Tay bridge should form part of the same scheme, but that will no doubt follow. GAS GRID SCHEME. A Government committee with Sir Alexander Walker has been set up to investigate the possibility of a gas “ grid ’’ being formed, in the West of Scotland on the same lines as the electricity grid. The scheme, which has the approval of Glasgow Corporation, is expected to be of material assistance to the steelmakers by enabling them to dispose of the gas which is one of their by-products. ELECTRICITY FOR FARMS. Some years ago Sir James Roberts, of Strathallan Castle, handed over the management of the estates to his grandson, Mr James D. Roberts, who has applied to the task the business methods which made the family fortunes in the Yorkshire woollen trade. His latest enterprise is to carry electric power from the Grampian Company’s high-power ‘mains a distance of four miles to Trinity Gask, making current available for all purposes at 15 farms on the way, and also for the workshops and houses at the village of Tullibradine. Oil lamps and storm lanterns will thus become a thing of the past. Mr Roberts has also bought an electrically driven threshing mill for the joint use of his tenants, who ought to realise their good fortune in having a landlord not dependent on their rents for his income. SABBATARIAN REBUFFS. The Lewis Presbytery of the Church of Scotland has declined to endorse the protest of the smaller Presbyterian bodies against the sailing of the Stornoway steamer on Sunday nights. They point out that to change the hour to early on Monday morning would be futile, since it would entail almost the same amount of Sunday travelling, as well as more inconvenience, for passengers from distant parts of the island. In the same connection I note with satisfaction that Kirkcaldy Town Cquncil has decided to open its children’s playgrounds on Sundays. As one member who claimed to be ’ “ & pillar of the Church” bluntly said, “it is better that the children should have innocent amusements in the safety of their playgrounds than hang about the streets and run the risk of being knocked down by those of us who go joy-riding in our motor cars after church.” MR S. J. PEPLOE. Mr S. J. Peploe, R.SA., who died this week after a long illness whrUh compelled him to resign from the staff of the Edinburgh Art College, had built up an international reputation, and examples of his work are to be found in the Luxembourg, the Tate Gallery, and the municipal collections of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Halfway through his career he came under the influence of Cezanne, Gauguin, and Van

Gogh, and though that produced a marked change in his style, it did nothing to impair his brilliance as a colourist.. He was esteemed by his fellows for his genial humour, and for the generosity of his appreciation of the work of others. He had no trace of that jealousy which is sometimes supposed to be part of the artistic temperament.