The Mails.

Otago Witness, Issue 1320, 17 March 1877, Page 8

The Mails.

SCOTLAND. (FBOM 008 OWN COBBESPONDENT.) Edinbubgh, January 18th. We have had a dripping winter thus far, and the wet does not seem inclined to leave us even yet, every attempt at frost breaking down ignominiously in & day or two at the mosu. The consequence is that heavy floods have taken place in some parts of the country, and especially in Strathearn, a large portion of which has been submerged. The fields for miles have been under water, which Teached as high as the tops of the fences. The damage to seed and to root crops, such as turnips, still unlif ted, must be very considerable. Many persons, too, haye been compelled to leave their houses, and sickness is pretty sure to follow on^ the heels of privation. The members of the Edinbargn School Board have been considering the desirability of inculcating habits of thrift in thepupila attending their schools, and with this end have resolved "that suitable maxims bearing on economy, and printed in large type, be supplied to the schools for use according to the discretion of the head-master." The Board have also agreed to grant the use of a room in any of their schools to be used as a savings bank, en condition (1) that the persons originating such, a Bank undertake the vhole responsibility ; (2) tfcat the work of the school is not interfered with ; and (3) that all applications on this subject be disposed of by the School Management Committee. These prosals were agreed to by six votes to three.^ In the course of the discussion, Dr Begg insisted that none of the Banks should be managed by a single person, saying "he would not entrust the management of a Bank to a Rothschild — lie would have a Committee. " The experiment of starting Penny Banks will now be immediately made in connection with two of the largest of the Board Schools in Edinburgh. In Glasgow, the School Board has adopted resolutions in favour of a similar course, but as yet there does not seem to be any immedisite likelihood of their feeing carried into effect. Lord Neaves, one of the Judges of the Second Division of the Court of Session, died at Edinburgh on December 23rd after a brief illness. Ec was born in ISOO, and at the age of 14 was dux of the Edinburgh High School. He completed Ins education at Edinburgh University, and W33 called to the bar in 1822. He speedily won fame, both as a pleader and as a consulting lawyer, and filled one high legal post after another until, in 1854, he was raised to the Bench. He was probably the greatest Scottish judge of the cent ary, and he was as popular as he was respected, his social qualities being jf a brilliant order. Lord Heaves was a frequent contributor of humorous poems, as well as learned philological articles, to Blackwood's Magazine. He was buried in Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh. His widow, one son, and several daughters survive him. " One of the last is married to Lord Craighill, another 0 udge of the Court of Session. Natives of Kintyre will be sorry to hear of the death of Peter M'lntosh, commonly called "the historian of Kintyre." Mr Mintosb. died at Dalintober on December 20th at the advanced age of 89, His book passed through several editions, ?,nd he was also known as an excellent Celtic scholar and antiquarian. He was interred in Kilkerran Burying Ground, Campbeltown, and the funeral was very largely attended. The last pier of that gigantic structure the Tay Bridge— the largest bridge in the world-^ was successfully floated into position on December 26th. With ordinary weather it is expected the last girder will be laid in its place in May,, and the bridge be opened for traffic in 3epfen% ,-, ber. Some unprofessional persons having} expressed a fear lest the bridge, from its great length and exposed position, might be bl6wn over, an engineer has published figures to show that to bring about such a result the wind will require to blow with twice the force of a tropical hurricane. The terrific storms of the last five or six weeks have certainly made no impression whatever upon the structure. An interesting address on Scotch Banking vas delivered at the opening of the recent session of the Institute of Bankers in Scotland, by Mr 3. S. Fleming, Cashier and Manager of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Towards the close of his remarks, Mr Fleming said that in regard to the eight larger banks he found that, | at the selling price of 1844, the value of their capital of under 7£ millions was about 12^ millions. The value of their present capital of 9 millions was now upwards of 25 millions, i The average price of thsir stock in 1845 was 183.V per cent ; now it was 283 per cent. I may add that at the close of 1876, the balance-sheets of the eleven Scotch banks showed that their total liabilities to the public amounted to j L 93,946,769, being L 510.971 more than in 1575. The deposits and note circulation amounted alone to Jj86,564.559. The order of precedence, taking the magnitude of the liabilities j as the standard, was as follows: — Bank of Scotland, National, Royal, Union, Commercial, City of Glasgow, British Linen, Clydesdale, North of Scotland, Aberdeen Town and County, and Caledonian. The Rev. Henry Itenton, of Kelso, one of the pillars of the United Presbyterian Church, died on January 3, aged 72. He was ordained in 1829, and in the January of the following year was appointed to the charge at Kelso, which he held during the remainder of his life, being at first the colleague of Mr Robert Hall. In 1831 he was sent to South Africa as special delegate to arrange the differences which had asisen there among the missionaries of his Church, and on his return was chosen Moderator of the U.P. Synod. Mr Itenton also took j an active part in the political, educational, and sanitary welfare of the district in which he resided, and his death will cause a great blank there. He was an able preacher, and a man of emiently straightforward and courageous conduct, never flinching from the candid expression of bis views, yet always stating them with I admirable and graceful courtesy. A strike having lately taken "place among the compositors of the Perthsire Advertiser, that journal is now printed by means of the employment of female " typos." The work is i light, so they are giving satisfaction. An exhaustive article on the " grouse harvest," published in the Times of 28th December^ may fittingly receive notice in a letter of ocotch news. The writer, who appears to possess a thurough knowledge of his subject, estimates the annual rental of grouse shootings in England at about L 85,000, and in Scotland at about L 165.000, nearly thwo-thirds of the latter being contributed by the counties of Perih and Inverness. Including the fishings let for sport, the rentals derived from land and water in Scotland let for such purposes, are estimated to aggregate L 300.000. The total number of errouse sold in an average season in Scotland and England combined is set down at 750,000, this being exclusive of birds given away as presents by those who rent moors, and the number of which there is no means of calculating. The average price per bird given by the dealers is only 2s 6d ; but the foregoing £gnre3 show that the average cost of each bird to the sportsman, in the shape of rent alone, is about 63 3d, The disproportion is still further

increased when the other items of expenditure — such as wages to keepers, dog-trainers, gamewatchers, &c. — are added, so that one is pre • pared for the statement made two years ago by a well known sporting nobleman, to the effect that he calculated he paid more than LI per bird for the pleasure of shooting his grouse. Among the unexpected facts mentioned in the article is one stating that more grouse are consumed in Edinburgh than in Glasgow, though the latter city is nearly three times larger than the former, and boasts also of its much greater wealth. It is likewise surprising to learn that grouse are imported into Aberdeen from London for the purpose of being cooked and potted for transport to India and China. In Arran, during the past season, the Duke of Hamilton and a party of friends, whose number is not given, killed 999 brace of grouse in " a day or two." x On the whole, the grouse industry — for so it may be called— appears to pay everybody except the sportsman, but as he gains health and strength while pursuing his favourite amusement, he may write down his deficit; as simply a new and agreeable kind of doctor's bilL In connection with sport, I may also mention that Mr Dunbar, of Brawl Castle, has just imported a large quantity of salmon ova | from the Rhine, part of them being intended for his own breeding boxes, and the resl for those of the Duke of Sutherland at Brora. Mr Dunbar's purpo.se is to cross the Rhine salmon with those in the Thurso, he having previously succeeded in crossing the latter v/ith salmon from the Tay. The Rhine salmon are said to be the largest in the world, often reaching a weight of from SOlbs. to 901bs. Mr Dunbar is also importing from America the ova of the trout salmo fontanalis, which are first-rate both for sport ar.d [eating. Their average weight is not great, being only from 21bs. to 3lbs. The " new " bridge at Ayr has begun to give way, and traffic across it has consequently been suspended. The bridge was built in 1780, and was widened about 30 years ago. This addition is still safe, but the original portion contain? several large- fissures, and the west parapet is more than a foot off the level at the middle. It has been resolved to erect a temporary bridge, at a co3t of L2OOO, until it is resolved whit course shall be taken with respect to the shaky structure hitherto used, and which in the meantime will be closed against traffic. It is curious that the words which Burns put into the mouth of the " auld brig " when addressing that now tottering seem likely to be verified. "I'll be a brig when ye'rs a shapeless cairn," he makes the sturdy old bridge say, and unless the engineers make a better job of the new bridge than at present they seem to look upon as feasible, the worda seem to be not far from receiving a fulfilment. Ecclef echan, the birthplace of Carlyle, is remarkable, as many of your readers know, for being traversed by a stream over which many arches had been erected, so that the villagers sometimes proudly termed their place of abode " The City of Arches." The stream is now built over for the whole of its course through the village, the completion of the work being due to the liberality of Dr Arnott, of Milkvale, a land-owner in the neighbourhood. A dentist at Dundee, who has just retired from a busy practice of fifty years' duration, has erected a singular record of his past labours. It consists of a summer-house, on the walls of which are arranged, in various tasteful devices, all the teeth which he has extracted during his half -century of work. In this ghastly retreat, worthy of s, Dyak skull-hunter, the retired i wielder of the forceps purposes smoking m?ny a meditative pipe during the pleasant summerhours. More eccentricities of the Kirk are reported from. Aberdeenshire. At the Aberdeen Sheriff Criminal Court on December 27, four men weie charged with having committed a breach of the peace in Kennay Chapel by laughing, throwing sweeties," and smoking, while service was going or*. They denied the smoking, but admitted the truth of the other two charges. In extenuation of their conduct it was pled on their behalf that the preacher indulged in very strange behaviour. While preaching he would sometirces descend from the pulpit, and at other times he would disappear from it altogether ; so that " even the gravest of persons, seeing the service for the first time, could not but be amused." The men were fined 10s j each. At New Deer a struggle is going ou regarding the choice of a minister, and at the close of a public meeting of the Presbytery ! last week, a free fight ensued, restdting in the Rev. P. Al'Laren and some other persons being summoned for assault. How is it that Aberdeenshire has such an unenviable pre-eminence j in Scotland for religious disturbances ? Beacon fires and other signals were seen about a week ago on Fair Island, midway between Orkney and Shetland, where the Spanish Armada came to grief. It was feared that some large vessel had been wrecked there, and that in consequence the inhabitants were suffering from famine. Two attempts were consequently made to send them relief from Kirkwall, but without success. Yesterday, however, the Shetland steamer was able to communicate with the island, and it was then found that the signals had been made on behalf of seven foreign sailors whose vessel had been wrecked there, but that the fears regarding the existence of a famine were happily unfounded. The returns of the foreign shipping trade of the Clyde ports (Glasgovr, Greenock, and Port Glasgow) during 1876, compare favourably with those for the pieceeding year. Taking them together, 1668 vessels of 974,600 tons arrived, and 1725 vessels, of 1,102,675 tons sailed during 1876. All three ports show a large increase in tonnage inwards, but Greenock shows a decrease of 2300 tons in the tonnage outwards, the other two ports showing a joint increase cf 65,000 tons. The Rev. Dr Malcolm C. Taylor, minister of Morningside Parish Church, Edinburgh, has been appointed to succeed Dr Wallace- as Professor of Church History and Divinity in Edinburgh University. The appointment is made by the Crown, and Dr Taylor was formerly known to Her Majesty, while he was parish minister of Crathie, near Balmoral. These facts explain an appointment otherwise unintelligible. The Town Council of Leslie, Fife, gave a " grand concert" on New Year's night, when one of the councillors, figured as a "Negro delineator." The example might be followed by the Councils of some of your up-country municipalities, the proceeds to be given to the local hospital. From frequent practice, Town Councillors are generally well up in the comic business. The bounty given at Christmas by the Duke of Hamilton, in accordance with an ancestral custom gome centuries old, to the poor on his wide domains, was distributed on December 30. Eight hundred families ea^h received Gibs of meat, and three loaves. To supply the former, seven oxen, and six of the aboriginal white cattle in Cadzow Forest were killed.

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