Home Correspondence.

Otago Witness, Issue 1383, 1 June 1878, Page 10

Home Correspondence.

SCOTLAND. (PBOM OUR OWN COBBEBPONDENT.) Edinburgh, .April 11th. The winter, which we hope has now ended, haa been as mild and favourable to the agricultural and paßtoral interests as the summer which preceded it "was the reverse. Never, since the memorable winter Beven or eight years ago when fruit trees were in blossom at Christmas, have dwellers in this hyperborean region got off bo scatheless, so far as winter is concerned. Still spring did not come without the farmers getting a fright. With the Equinox the weather suddenly changed, becoming cold and stormy, with falls of snow. The heaviest of these was on the Ist April, when most of Scotland was suddenly buried in snow, which, even in the streets of Edinburgh, lay nearly six inches deep. In Aberdeenshire the fall was very heavy, and the roads and railways were instantaneously blocked by wreaths of snow, from five to twelve feet deep. The farmers began to tremble for their lambs, which are now making their appearance, but the warm sunshine soon melted away the snow. Since then we have had delightful sunny daya, reminding one strongly of New Zealand weather, but with the drawback of an ill-tempered east wind, which is to our Bunshine what the thorn is to the rose.

Ecclesiastically, Scotland is much exercised just now over a movement in the Free Church which, has been going on for some time past, andseems to be nownearing a crisis. The party of which Br Begg and Dr Kennedy, of Dingwall, are the leaders, is actively agitating against the Disestablishment move* ment which has been gaining ground in the Free Church, and if the two chiefs named can manage it. the Free Church in the Highlands will probably before long find its way back to the Establishment. The immediate cause of contention is a motion to be made before long in the Houbo of Commons by General Sir Alexander Gordon, one of the members for Aberdeenshire, for the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the causes of disunion among the Presbyterian bodies in Scotland . It would be a long and uninteresting task to go into the whole matter in its details, so I will not attempt to do so. It is not unlikely, however, that the movement will end in "a second disruption," as the newspapers are already beginning to term it. The fact is the Highlanders ought to form a church of their own, for they are unlike everybody elße, and consequently are only a source of discord. Ecclesiastical home rule for the Highlands would be a very sensible party cry. It is certainly a little astonishing to hear certain men talk of leaving the Free Church because of certain notorious ca^s of latitudinarianism within it, and throwing themselveß into the arms of the Establishment, where the same views are held so generally that nobody there makes any noise about them, all being tarred with the same brush. For my own part I think it will Ive a happy day for the Free Church when Dr Begg leaves it. For a long time past he has troubled it in. finitely more than any of its external foes, and he wastes more of the time of its Church Courts than any other six men put together. At the same time, while professing the greatest zeal for evangelical doctrine, there are no greater hindrances in Scotland to evangelistic work than Drs Bogg and Kennedy, an allegation which I am prepared to prove. Let them go to the Establishment by all means, for that body will be the only sufferer, and it is not entitled to sympathy. The secret, underhand way in which the whole business has b6en and is being conducted is the theme of indignant remark, and justly so. In the Highlands, for example, all notices of action in connection with it are studiously made in Gaelic only, so that the Saxon population knows nothing of what is being done till too late. This is but a sample of the burrowing whioh ia being carried on.

The mo.vfc disastrous fire which has occurred in Edinburgh for years took place yesterday, resulting in the total destruction of the printing establishment, at Hope Park, of Messrs T. Nelson and Sons, the wellknown publishers. The fire was discovered about 3.30 a.m. by the policeman on the beat, and although the utmost expedition was displayed in giving the alarm and procuring the firt, engines, the rapid progress of the fire defied all attempts to check it. Providentially the wind was blowing from tho east, and thus Clerk street and Newington Church were saved, but the works themselves and the first adjoining house in Buocleuch street were utterly consumed. The blaze was terrific, rendering the whole neighbourhood' a3 light as day ; while the effect would have be9n grr-nd if it had not been an evidence of the desolating ravages of the fire. The paper consumed was scattered far and wide, even the West Meadows being covered with it. The tall chimney was not injured, and the boilers received but little damage, while many stereotype plates of books and blooks for wood-cuts were preserved intact in- afireproof brick building on the windward Bide, and the office books were also rescued. All else, however, was consumed or rendered useless, including the splendid machinery, some of which was quite new, the entire stock of paper, books, &c, among the latter being the firm's exhibits for the Paris Exhibition, large orders for Melbourne and New. York, and a number of valuable books preparing for next Christmas. The damage can only be roughly estimated as yet, as tha building is still burning, but it io believed to reach about £150,000, of which about a half "1 only is covered by insurance in the' Norwich Union Office. The calamity has awakened universal sympathy for the Messrs Nelson, whose loss one hears spoken of on all sides in terms of the deepest and most unaffected Borrow. Several printing firms have already offered them the use of their premises, and the Edinburgh booksellers were to meet this morning to consider how best to manifest their sympathy. It was a melancholy sight yesterday morning to see the noble building in ruins, and the street dotted with weeping' girls, who beheld their means of livelihood thus taken away. With characteristic generosity, one of the members of the firm, ignoring his own loss, went from one sobbing group to another reassuring the girla by promising to provide them with work in spite of the disaster. The number of hands thrown idle is not far short of 700.

Probably there are few men more generally popular in Scotland than the young Earl of Bosebery, and his marriage on March 20th to Miss Hannah de Rothschild, daughter and heiress of the late Baron Meyer do Rothschild, accordingly excited great* interest throughout this division of the 'kingdom. The marriage took place by' civil contract in the Board-room of the Guardians, Mount street, Grosvenor square,' London, and was succeeded by a sort of re-marriage with the religious ceremony of the Church' of England in a neighbouring church. On this latter occasion the Prince of Wales, Earl of Beaconsfield, and a very numerous and, fashionable assemblage were present. The bride was magnificently attired, her lace veil alone having cost 700 guineas. She was given away by Lord Beaconsfield, whe afterwards humorouely remarked at 'tke wedding breakfast, that she was the " beßt .living " he had ever given away. This he might well cay, seeing that her personal- income is' moderately enough estimated at £120,000. Among the witnesses who signed tho marriage register were the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cambridge, and Lord Beaconsfield. It is alleged, however, that the treating of the religious ceremony as a marriage, when the parties had already been* married by civil contract, was a breach of the law, and punishable. This allegation, though its correctness is denied by the Registrar-General, has excited a good deal of attent'on. The bride and bridegroom went to Petworth, in Sussex, the seat of Lord Leconfield, for their honeymoon. On Lord Rosebery's Scottish estates and' ia Edinburgh the marriage was the occasion of various rejoicings, in the shape of dinners, bonfires, and displays of fireworks. One of the bonfires, erected on the mansion hill at the back of Dalmeny House, was twenty feet high, and another, on the pier bead at South Queenßferry, was visible both up and down the Firth of Forth for many|mjles. At the homecoming of the newly-married pair there were also great doings at Dalmeu'y, including a torchlight procession. Two matters connected with the marriage may also be noted before I pass on to another Bubject. The one is that at the civil cere* mony an enorincus quantity of flowers was used, the tea- roses alone numbering over ~ 3000. To supply them every florist in London was brought under requisition. The other matter is more sensational. It is averred that an hour before leaving home to be married, Lord Kosebery received from his bride a small packet and an envelope, The former consisted of a gold box, and th« latter contained the key. When opened, the box waß found to contain a cheque signed, for the last time, "Hannah de Rothschild," the amount for which it was drawn be ; ng £300,000. I hays mentioned these particulars at the risk of clashing with your English correspondent, since Lord Rosebery is looked upon as the peculiar Property of the Scottish people, who firmly elieve that he possesses talents which will yet bring him into the very front -rank of British statesmen, to the greater glory of Scotland. Hitherto, it is alleged, his poverty has kept him back ; but now this obstacle is removed. Time will show how far these hopes will be realised, and as yet Lord Rosebery's ago (31) iB all in bis favour. Mr Macfie, of Airrts, ha& set an example which is worthy of Colonial as well aa ' British imitation. At a recent meeting of the Free Church Presbytery of Lorn, held at Oban, a letter from him was read, in which he stated that he had set aside a bond for £1000, bearing interest at the rate of 4i per cent.," the said interest to be given yearly to some minister within the bounds of tho Presbytery, to enable him to take a holiday. The gift, it is needless to say, was accepted with thanks, and I am much mia« taken if it does not prove a benefit, not only to the ministers by whom it may be enjoyed, but, through them, to their congregations. The Glasgow Corporation are about to supply a speoial hall for lady readers in the Free Library of the oity. The ungalUat »»y

the step is designed ta subserve the interests, not of* the ladies, but of the gentlemen, whom they disturb by their incurable propensity for talking. The weekly number of books consulted at the library is 3500.

I note the following deaths, which have ocourred since the despatch of my last letter : — Mr John Macleod, of Tain, a gentleman Wflll known in the surrounding diatriot, died on March 18fch, aged 88. He bad been a member of the Town Council of Tain for 56 years, and waa for 17 years Provost of the burgh, in and around which he carried out maay improvements. Mr John Haig, the well known distiller, of Cameron Bridge, near Leven, died in Edinburgh on March 20th, aged 76. He was looked upon as the representative man of the Scotch distillers, and as such occupied a position oi influence, at all events. He took a leading part in connection with the Volunteer movement in Fife, and was also Chairman,of the Leven and East of Fife Railway Company from its formation to its amalgamation with the North British Company in 1876. Sir John Andrew Oathcart, Bart., of Carleton, Ayrshire, died at Edinburgh on March 25th, aged 77. # He was at one time a captain in the 2nd Life Guards. He was a Deputy-Lieutenant of Ayrshire, in which County he was widely known, and in it his family seat of KHlochan Castle is situated. Mr Gordon, of Cluny, died in London on March 31st, aged about 58. He was one of the largest landed- proprietors in Scotland, having seven estates in Aberdeenshire, three in Banffshire, three in Nairnshire, a whole group' of islands in the Hebrides, and the Estate of Braid, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Ha was a most liberal landlord, and during his twenty years' enjoyment of his various properties expended about £300,000 \n their improvement. Two years ago he began, unaided, the construction of a harbour at Buokie, to coat £50,000. His seoond wife survives him, but neither by her nor his first wife had he any children.

" The following is a portion of the advertisement of the re- opening of an Established Church not far from Aberdeen, which has recently undergone renovation:— " At the oloss of. each servioe a collection will be made in behalf of the Church Improvement Fund, at present in great distress from an attack' of consumption. The sure and only remedy is a large supply of life-force through the golden medium." In penny-a lining phraae, this extract "speaks for itself." A shameful hoax was played at Airdrie, on the Ist instant, by Borne persons who appear to have been destitute either of common sense or heart. They inserted a skilfully worded advertisement in a local paper, intimating that at noon on the day named, 1000' loaves and 3owt. of cheese would be given away at a certain place in the town. The consequence was that there assembled quite a crowd of poor starving people", many of them aged, whil« even of the able-bodied some were in suoh straits through want of employment that they had not tasted food fur two days. When the hoax was discovered, much indignation was excited, not only among those who had been so- heartlessly duped, but among those whose sympathies had been awakened by the spectacle of •o much distress, and at tirafc it was feared that a riot would be the result. The parties who perpetrated the hoax are known, and nave found Airdrie rather hot for them since the occasion described. There is, indeed, a great deal of distress in Lanarkshire, as elsewhere,' through the lack of employment, and in Glasgow the Corporation is finding work, in connection with various city improvements, for a number of the unemployed. , A number of important ' street improvements are being carried on at Greenock. Bentinck street, formerly called Martha Brae, has been opened up to its full width, and is now a handsome thoroughfare, lined with trees. A, similar improvement is to ba effected in Wood street, as far as the Wood Mariners' Asylum. Above the Gourock toll-bir ,a splendid terrace, with a convex front, and nearly a mile long, ia being constructed.' It will be built upon one Bide only, the, brow of the hill forming the other side, and already a number of the leading oitizens of Greenook are erecting handsome mansions along it. The situation commands a magnificent view, and tho terrace will in its turn be one of the most striking and admired parts of Greenock when completed. The fine mansion of Oromlix, near Dum> blanc, was 1 totally destroyed by fire on March 22, nothing but the kitchen, cellars, and offices being saved. The chapel adjoining the mansion was also burned, but the organ wm saved with difficulty, and after sustaining some damage. The house belonged to the Hon. Captain Drummond of Cromlix and Innerpeffray.

A man named John Bell was found guilty at Ayr Circuit Court, on March 29th, of murdering a girl named Eliza M 'Quarter, the daughter of his employer, a sawmiller at Enterkine. , When aeatence of death was pronounced upon him, Bell, who appeared to be in a state of violent excitement, said : *♦ You see before you a man who has gone on in Bin and wickedness. You see its consequences. Take warning then, for it waa reading novels and drinking whisky that brought me to this. I had a good moral training, but I did not proßt by it. I hope you will be warned by my example." Bell was recommended to mercy by the Jury, and it is probable that the extreme penalty of the law will not be inflicted.

The sfcatisties of the Clyde ship-building trade for March show a welcome improvement, the number of vessels launched being 27, with an aggregate measurement of 27,850 tons. This is the largest amount of tonnage launched in March since 1874.

_Natnralistß in the North are watohiog with interest what appears to bo a corvino emigration in progress. Books have recently made their appearance in large numbers in Orkney, where they were formerly very rare, and it is believed they have come from Caithness and Easter Robs, where they have been saper-abundant for some time past. About 18 months ago I drew the attention of the Otago Acclimatisation Society to the number of rooks in Easter Ross, where the farmers had rather too much of them. Not having been assisted to emigrate, the rooks, with praiseworthy independence, seem to have made their own way to regions where their presence will cease 'to be a burden and become a benefit.