Our Home Letter.

Otago Witness, Issue 1417, 18 January 1879, Page 9

Our Home Letter.

SCOTLAND. <FKOM OT7K, OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Edinburgh, November 21st. , Matters in connection with the City of Glasgow Bank failure have not developed much since' I last wrote, but another month or so is likely to tell a different tale, aB by that time' the firafc half of the first call will have become payable. One of the Edinburgh •directory of the late bank, Mr John Stew,art, has been liberated on bail to the amount of £15,000, but a bimilar privilege was'refussd .to his brother- directors after an elaborate argument in the Court of Session. As for Mr James Nicol Fleming, whose disappearance I noted in my last, it turns out that' he is, as was believed, in',Spain, whither he' found his way after' hiding for a' time in, London. He has written: t a friends in Glas*' gow reiterating several times his intention to put in an, appearance when the trial comes on, but adding that in the meantime he will stay where he is, as he prefers Spain to Duke street Gaol in Glasgow." His preference,' jius expressed, has called, > forth aonie 'mmorous , verses in , the .columns 'of, tjie itforth British Daily Mail. The imp'risoiied JSirectbrs and Officials have taken therequired legal steps to bring about their' trial >st.as early a date as possible, "and* the interJf al is being actively employed by the Crown in getting up thG case against them, among the latest steps taken being •the examination by th J e Procurator- Fiscal of Midlothian of the head officials of the different "banks in Edinburgh, as well as some ©0 or 70 stockholders. Meanwhile the liquidators are proceeding as expeditiously as ihey can with the immense task committed to them, . but the difficulties they have to encounter are enormous, for instance, in one day nearly 600 persons applied to them to have their names deleted from tjhe list of "contributories. Oaly four or .five of these applications were granted, and of the remainder many will be carried to the law courts. There is, in fact, only too great a certainty that the assets ot the bank, miserable as they are, will be still further reduced by litigation of a moat piotracted kind, as some of the questions which lave arisen are of a moat intricate, and at the same time a most important character, and will demand a final settlement. Further aevious .'litigation which was threatened by the V London creditors, who were not satisfied with the liquidation arrangements, has,, it is hoped, been averted, ancl as, the liquidators ; are how applying' to have the liquidation carried, oh , under the supervision ot the Court of Session, i* M believed the opposition Will be removed.

There ia indeed much need that no money should be thrown away iv legal disputations, for as time advances and the faotß become better known, it becomes more and more evident that the prospects of an eventual settlement in full of the creditors' claims are very gloomy. Ifc is now generally agreed by experts that to pay 20s in the pound, a total sum of £7,000,000 will be required; and this, it is calculated, means a total call of JESOOO per £100 share on the solvent shareholders. Contrast with this the fact that the complete liquidation of the Western Bank was effected by the payment of an, aggre- i gate sum of £52 per £100 share, and the terrible gravity of the case will-be apparent, Consequently many are urging the creditors to agree to a composition of 15s per pouud, but no definite or united action has been taken in the matter. In view of the terrible distress into which the shareholders have been plunged, active measures are being taken in all the principal towns in Scotland to raise a fund for the relief of the many to whom the failure' means ruin and starvation. The Lord_ Provost of Glasgow very appropriately initiated the movement, and the amount subscribed in that city up to the present time is about £150,000. In Edinburgh, which was later in ■the field, about £60,000 has been subscribed, and 1 the aggregate amount promised throughout Scotland is probably about £270,000 ; while subscriptions continue to come in daily, and in a good many places mnetings for the same purpose are arranged, but have not yet taken place. ' Help is also expected from London, for although the Lord Mayor has refused to institute a fund— rather ungraciously it is thought on this side of the border — a number of Scotch merchants in the metropolis • are taking the matter up' themselves. The need is indeed press ■ ing, and one hears heartrending stories in support of the fund on every side. Let one related by the Rev. Dr Walter Smith, of the Free High Church, at the Edinburgh relief meeting, suffice as a sample. He mentioned the case oi five elderly sisters who were ruined by the failure, adding :—: — "He would never forget the time when he first saw those ladies— nine days after the Bank broke. During that time never a meal had been cooked in that house, and their clothes had never been taken off their backs, and never had they laid themselves down in their beds, they were so bewildered and amazed, vainly hoping that the good God would come to take them- away from the evil that was 'to come." ' More than one shareholder has died from the shock, and a number are now in lunatic asylums, -while i many more are prostrated' by disease, induced by the calamity preying - on their minds. One of these last cases I have myself witnessed. •..."* The > failure caused, as might have-been-expected, quite a panic in the shares of all the Scotch banks,, which were for Some weeks quite unsaleable, and were not I quoted on the Stock .Exchanges} 'Until 'at -length the Committee, of the ">Edin|i burgh Exchange put them in their list at estimated prices. Low as these were, 'when transactions were resumed, the stocks of two .or three of the Banks fell lower* still, in consequence partly of -panic and partly of the necessity for realising' suddenly to meet the exigencies»of the ■ crisis. - The- following tabular statement will show the present fall in the stocks' of the seven leading Scotoh | Banks, excluding the three whose business is purely provincial, and which- have. no> branches in Edinburgh. The shares in every caee are of £100 each :—: —

In the case of the Clydesdale Bank the fall 'was atone time as much' as £120 per share, ' but within the present' week its shares have ' considerably recovered, as the 1 above figures show. ' It is asserted that the depreciation in Scotch bank stocks, in consequence of the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank, amounts in, the aggregate to £3,000,000., The Banks must also have lost, and be still losing very ; greatly by the withdrawal of' deposits in consequence .both of panic and , financial necessity. I hear on good 'autnoiity that 'one' bank has' lost a million in this' way. (There is no i doubt 'whatever that Scotch I banking " as ' a whole has ' received a'- very severe 'bldwi and 'if it" is .'ever .to 'regain the 1 measure of ,public confidence, which 'it enj joyed till lately, one guarantee must be given [ in the'.shapeof a reliable audit, that the annual' ,'bVauce sheet set forth the actual 'state of 1 affairs in tb!e several' banks. At present' the ■public, and even the shareholders, have ho ! security at all in'this respect, and the possible ,'evil results flowing from the lack of .such aBafeguard \ are to be witnessed in the : preseritcalamity. ;i ' , ' • Among, the' other, disasters of the month.must' be- mentioned the insolvency 'of the Benh'arCo'al Company (limited), one of tbelargest'inineral undertakings in Scot; ! land. It was formed in .January, 1872, with a capital of £240,000, and its, dividend for ■ three' years was successively , 7, 30, and 1 20 - , per cent. ' On the , last day of ,1874, it amalgamated -with the. Niddrie [Coal C 0.,, which had been formed a, few, i months • earlier^ and had purchased the estate of Easter Duddingston from the Duke of Abercorn, with" the lease of several coalfields from Mr George Simpson. , The capital o? the united /companies amounted to £510,000.'. Thenceforward , the affairs of the Company declined, and it is alleged that bad management had as much to do with this as bad times. Being unable to meet the debentures due at the term on the 11th j inetant, the directors informed the , share- I holders' of the Company's insolvency, but its businesses still being carried on pending the issue of a report thereon' by a committee of investigation" composed of twelve members.' It is still hoped that arrangements may be made by which' the Company may float over 'the rocks on which it is at present strikingThe "general commercial depression, daily deepening as it still continues to do, is causing a great amount of distress among the working classes, especially in Glasgow,' where the unemployed' have been opposing the giving of any municipal money to the lund for the relief of the City of Glasgow Bank' Bhareholdera. s ,The .Town ,Councii"is employing a, namberbiii public works,, but. the nlief thus afforded is scarcely appreciable.' AH over

| the country one hears of nothing but loweriog wages, shortening hours, closing works, and so on. • Already the distress is terrible, and what it wiJl be if the winter proves as severe as it gives promise of being, none can tell. The, aspect of affairs is most grave, and unless some unexpected relief comes, I much fear that suffering w»H produce its too frequent result of social disorder. At a meeting of the Free Church Commismissionheldin Edinburgh yesterday, it was intimated that there was a falling off in the subscriptions to the Suatentation Fund for the ! half-year of L 4138, which was attributed to the commercial distress. •On the other hand it was alao reported that of the special fund of £100,000 for church extension, £92,000 had been subscribed. The election of the Moderator of the Assembly at its next session was proceeded with, and the choice fell on the Rev. James Chalmers Burns, M.A., of Kirkliston. Dr Somerville, of Glasgow ; Dr Laughton, Greenock ; aud Dr Macdonald, of North Leith, were also proposed for the honour ; but on the suggestion of Dr Beith that a unanimous decision should be arrived at, the names of the three ministers mentioned were withdrawn, and Mr Burns . was unanimously elected. He was ordained in 1837, and at the time of the Disruption was minister of London Wall Church, one of the oldest Scottish churches in the metropolis. Shortly after the Disruption he waa called to Kirkliston, where he has laboured ever since. The Edinburgh Daily Review Bays of him :— "His talent as a minister ia well known; indeed he is reckoned one of 'the most learned theologians in the Free Church of ', Scotland. By all his brethren Mr Burns is ; extremely respected and beloved." He was ' a brother-in-law of the late Dr Guthrie. A terrible struggle with a madman took place in Leith on October 30. The unfortunate man is named Patrick Ferguson, is about 30 years of age, and resided at the .time of the' occurrence ia Madeira street. About three o'clock in the afternoon of the day named a policeman who was walking along' Bridge street was fired' upon by j, Ferguson 1 , without the latter having received i any provocation ' whatever, and, the ballet took effect in the constable's left thigh. The ; police being informed that Ferguson had been manifesting signs of insanity, went to work warily. Several officers, including two detectives, went to seize Ferguson, who was found to have entrenched himself in a dark loft, accessible only by a trap-stair, at ,the head of which waited the madman, armed with a clasp-knife and hatchet. , Accordingly his 'brother went in first, pretending to desire to' examine' some canvas in the loft, but when the madman saw one of the detectives ' with Him he began to flourish his' knife and I ' threaten death to ,all intruders. At length entrance was effected /by, another door,- 'whereupon the madman rushed' down the ?tairs, knocking down the detective, who was' waiting there, and slashing his coat with his; Knife. A constable 1 } then' seized him, but the maniac dealt him'three'atabs, on the neck; shoulder, and side respectively. ' The officers then used their batons vigorously, and soon overpowered Ferguson, who was then securely bound and removed to the police station on a barrow. : Great excitement was caused in Commercial street;' Dundee/on November 7t7 t in consequence of a Polar bear being, at large. The animal in question, with its mate, had been brought from Davis Strait in a whaler; , and had been purchased by • a -Dundee resident with a view to exhibition. The bears were being conveyed in a wooden box placed on a barrow, when the box fell off, the bottom broke, and one of them got away. He went along High street, and at length entered the shop of Mr Jaroiescn, clothier, British Hotel Buildings. Here he leaped on the* counter, but; finding no way of escape open,' he went below the counter in the window,' where there was just room for him to creep. How to get him out was a difficulty, which was at length overcome by .dangling a piece^ of beef before him, in attempting to seize which he put his head through a noose laid for him, which was then drawn tight, and he was then dragged out aud put back into hia cage. ' The plebiscite taken at Kirkcaldy on the harbour question has resulted in a rejection of the ficheme, bywhich' it was'propoaed to sperid'£]3o,ooo'inthe construction of large new docks and other harbour improvements'. ' According .to the number of votes,'the result was !— For the scheme,-672 ; against it, 1213. According to rental; the result was as foli lows ■— For the scheme, £28,721; against it, £37,445. •" f! • • ' '•',■• The opening of a Benedictine 'College at Fort Augustus Was noted in one of my'last letters'." It is now ""stated" that Mr' Hunter Blair, of , Dunakey, wljo is/about 'to join the Benedictine Order/ has giydn £20,000 towards the completion of the college and the monastery which is to be attached to ifc The fund J for the completion of the buildings of 'Glasgow. -University' has,; just 1 come in for a most substaritial,wiridfall by the bequest of £60,,000 under the" will of , the late .Mr C. Randolph', the eminenV marine engineer, whose deatbVis noted below, ' The money is not immediately available, as Mrs Randolph has the,' ( life-rent of it, but' as_ the Senatus has the '£4o^ooo given by the Marquis of Bute, together with ! some money" raised [ by subscription tp go on with, the probable 1 de- [ lay in fingering this last gift will v . not so much matter. ,' ' , f _ • " t As a contrast to the foregoing, it may be noted that the University' of Edinburgh has just lost a valuable bequest which -had originally been made to it under the will of the late Dr Fraser, of Hampstead,'. London, which was last week proved at Westminster. . The testator, in bequeathing £10,000 to the . Scottish Association for .the .prevention of cruelty to animals, prefaces the bequest by the statement • that ,he had formerly bequeathed that sum to the Edinburgh Univer- , , sity building f und^ but on hearing that vivi- j section was practised in the medical schpol of the University, he revoked he bequest, and , left, the money instead to the Society named. , On the other hand it is to be noted that, Professor Blackie's self-imposed ' task of raising £12,000 as an endowment for a chair of the Celtic languages and literature in Edinburgh is practically over; > the money being almost, all obtained. At the last' meeting of the Senattwrfth* University it waa stated that the total amount in hand, includ-l ing interest as at Whiteunclay/1879, wai esii-

! mated at £11,725, the total sum required being £12,000. Steps were accordingly taken with a view to the appointing of a professor to the chair in time for him to begin his duties at the opening of the University session of 1879-80. After a long deliy, tb.B work of rendering the theatre in Castle terrace, Edinburgh, which was purchased by the United Presbyterian Church for its head offices, fit for its new object, has just been commenced. The contractors are Messrs Burnet and Son, of Glasgow, and the amount of their contract is £19,700. It is to be hoped the ragged end 3of the building, which are only too conspicuous from Piiuces street, will be imI proved by the operations now in progress, otherwise a great eyesore will be perpetuated. The Dundee seal and whale fishing for the year is now over, and statistics of the catch have been published. Thirteen sealers caught 84,161 seals, valued at £55,750, or £700 less than last year. The whalers, which also numbered 13, were much less fortunate, catching between them only six whales, valued at £10,080. This is £77,390 less than the value of the catch of 1877, added to which one whaler was lost, with several of her crew. A remarkable case has lately been treated at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. A man named Hutchison was admitted, who suffered from a pain in the chest, cough, and shortness of breath. He was treated for heart-disease and consumption, but died in about a month after his admission. A postmortem examination then disclosed the fact j that the pause of death was a bullet by which he had been wounded when serving as a soldier during the Indian Mutiny. It bad been embedded in his right lung, near the apex of which it had hollowed out a cavity for itself, in which it must have rolled about. Nevertheless, Hutchison enjoyed excellent health till about three months before his death. When extracted, the bullet was encrusted with a hard, white I substance, and weighed about an ounce and 1 a-quarfcer. I note the following deaths, which have occurred since I lasb wrote .-—The Rev. Mr Sinclair, of Flotta, Orkney, died on-Novem-' ber Ist, aged 96. He was the oldest ordained minister of the Church of Scotland. Mr Kenneth Macleay, R.S.A.,' died in Edinburgh on 'November 3rd, aged 76. He was the last survivor of the thirteen'artists by whom the Royal Scottish Academy was established in 1826, and was especially distinguished as a painter of miniature portraits on ivory. By command of the ' Queen 'he painted specimens of Highlanders in the tartans of ;• their respective clans, as well as miniatures from life, of nearly all the members of the, Royal family. )He also painted portraits in water-colour, and Highland landScapes and figures-subjects both in watercolour and oil. Mr John Angus, late Town clerk of Aberdeen, died in that city ,on November 6th, ■ aged 79. He was town clerk from 1840 to 1870, and on retiring from office he was presented with his portrait, procured by public subscription. For five years longer he continued to hold his other office, of clerk to the Harbour Board. His funeral was a public one, and was attended by the Lord Provost, Town Council, and large numbers of the citizens. — A well-known Edinburgh citizen, Mr James Barlas, secretary of the Scottish Union Insurance Company,' died very suddenly during morning service in the Robertson Memorial Church, on Sunday, November 3rd. In the course of the first prayer, he suddenly fell down, and expired almost 'immediately, the cause of death being fatty degeneration of the heart.. His death is much regretted. — Mr Charles Randolph, who was one of the founders of the famous shipbuilding firm of John Elder and Co., Glasgow, 1 , died on November 11th. He was born at Stirling in 1808. For some time he had been in failing health. — On November 12bh, Mr John Matheson, jun., of Cordale, a leading Glasgow merchant, fell down while speaking to a lady in Sauchiehall street, and died almost immediately. He was about 60 years of age, and very much beloved and respected in Glasgow.— Mr Sam Bough, R.S. A., a painter known throughout Scotland, died in Edinburgh on November 19th, aged 58 all but a few weeks. He was the son of a Carlisle shoemaker, and began life a,s a lawyer's clerk. His peculiar habita were against his professional advancement, but his talent overcame etren these serious obstructions.— On the same day died Mr James M'Nab, curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. He was born. jn" 1810," and .from the time he left school worked in the garden named, in the curatorship of , which he succeeded his father in December, 1848,-. , He was, a great authority on horticultural and kindred subjects, oil. which he published quite a host ' of papers.

, •■Sept. J 3o. Bank of Scotland . . £327 British Linen Co. .'. "312 Clydesdale.. '• .. 278 ' Commercial .. 326 National .. .. 327. Royal .. .. 236 JSov 2( £■280 . 265 ''184 250 270 200 too !0. Fall. £47 47 94 76 57 36