Our Home Letter.

Otago Witness, Issue 1490, 5 June 1880, Page 9

Our Home Letter.

SCOTLAND.

(from oxtr own correspondent.) Edinburgh, April Bth. THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Amid the excitement created by the

general election, other matters have been well nigh totally lost sight of jjince I last wrote. The telegraph will take the edge of interest off any letter that can be written on

the subject to readers ho distant as mine, yet it may be helpful to have a brief statement of facts from one in the very centre of the conflict, whose echoes are now receding. Mr Gladstone's candidature for Midlothian, and bis vehement and maintained impeachment of the policy of the Government, especially in respect of foreign affairs, were the stones which agitated the usually quiet political pool in Scotland, and naturally the excitement was greatest in Edinburgh, which was the centre of the right hon. gentleman's operations. The Conservatives unwittingly contributed in no small degree towards increasing the fervour of Liberal feeling in the city, by putting forward Mr Macdonald, the Solicitor general for Scotland, to contest one of tne two seats for Edinburgh. Mr Macdonald had been ignominiously defeated in a similar endeavour in 1874, but the Conservatives maintained that their principles had greaily gained in favour in Edinburgh since that date, and the junior member for the City, Mr Cowan, was known to have declined considerably ia the good opinion of his constituents. Mr Macdonald's candidature had the effect of fairly rousing the Liberals, who refused to give him a hearing anywhere until he resoited to the expedient o£ small, packed meetings, and he even required police protection when leaving his meetings. At the poll Messrs M'Laren and Cowan, the Liberal candidates, received 17,807 and 17 301 votes lespectively, or about double as many as in 1874, while Mr Macdonald received only 5651 votes, or 62 less than he did six years ago. The poll was not declared till nearly midnight, and for hours before Forreßt road— where the votes were being counted— was thronged by a surging mob, estimated to number 20,000 persons, who were at times only kept back by the police striking right and left with their batons. In Glasgow, which is a three-cornered constituency, tne Tories made a fight with a much better chance of success, but were overwhelmingly defeated, though they had two powerful candidates in the persons of Sir James Bain, an ex- Lord-provost of tho city and Mr Pearce, sole partner of thefamous shipbuilding firm of John Elder and Co. Sir James Bain was early driven by rowdyism to the shelter of "drawing-room meetings, but MrJPearce manfully faced the mud, stones, hoots, and jeerß of the mob to the last, though at times he required the clobo escort of 50 policemen. At one of the meetings held by the Liberal candidates in St. Andrew's Hall, tbe front of one of the galleries gave way, and alarge number of persons were precipitated on the heads of those below. Several were injured, but not seriously, and the immense audience of 5000 persons behaved with admirable coolness, otherwise the results might have been terrible. When the poll was declared, the crowd— which was estimated to exceed 40,000 in numberindulged in demonstrations of delight of the most obstreperous kind. Of the county elections, that for Midlothian was, of course, awaited with most interest, though some of the others caused reioioings of the liveliest kind. There were seven polling-places for Midlothian— viz., Gorebridge, Roslld, Dalkeith, Ratho, West Calder, and Forrest road and Grindlay street, Edinburgh. Moßt of the "faggots" voted in the city, and they had to submit to a great deal of coarse and caustic wit. Lord Dalkeith voted for himself at Dalkeith, and Lords Claud and George Hamilton came from London to vote for him at Edinburgh. Mr Wardlaw Ramsay came from Torquay for the same purpose, and it was reported that the Torieß had even gathered wandering voters from Algiers and Egypt. Altogether, 90 per cent, of the voterß on the roll turned up among them being some very aged men and a considerable number of invalids, some of whom had to be supported from their conveyances into the polling-booths. At West Calder Tory voters were barely safe, - and If any " faggots " had been registered there they would have been exposed to Berious risk in coming forward. Not a single Tory bill was allowed to remain up anywhere in the place. The municipal 9 Authorities in Edinburgh, warned by the Experience of the previous week, erected strong barricades across George IV. Bridge, near the Sheriff Courthouse, where the poll was to be declared ; aa well as in front of Lord Rosebery's town residence in George street, where he and Mr Gladstone were staying. The poll, however, was declared an hour sooner than was expected, in consequence of which the crowds were much smaller than they would otherwise havo been. Nevertheless they numbered thousands, and their enthusiasm can only be adequately described by the word "wild" Mr Gladstone made a brief speech from a balcony, cand'eß being held on either side of his head to let the people see him ; and both he and Lord Roaebery, who followed him with an equally brief speech, made in compliance with loud calls from the crowd, were cheered in a manner that was simply frenzied. • Throughout Scotland the news of Mr Gladstone's triumph was received the same evening with manifestations of delight, even more marked than thoße jußt referred to. In many townß there were torchlight processions, bonfires were lit in the streets, fireworks were let off, houses were illuminated bells of town ht.Ha aud churches were rung 'jubilant speeches were nude by pr> vosts and other leading men, aud altogether the country Blept HUla that night for joy. The wildest case of excitement which has come under my notice occurred at Lanark, where an individual drew off his boots, tossed them into a bonfire, and then danced round the flaming pile in his stockings ! At Dslkeith, where Mr Gladstone's opponent is bett known and leasb liked, an attempt was foolishly made to prevent a public bonfire from being kindled. The oonsequenoe was that ft riot ensued, and »ext night fte people

lit a huge bonfire, which they were allowed to enjoy to their hearts' content. With respect t . the ol,her county contests, I may no!e that tho Liberal victory in Dumfriesshire, where tho Duke of -Buccleuch's influence is vastly greJcr than it is in Midlothian, was hailed by the Liberals with peculiar delight. Tbe Bame was tbe case with Perthshire, where the Conseryatives made a most valiant stand, Voters were brought by them from the South of England, from the Continent, and from Algiers ; and they also ran a special train from Greonock to Callander with only two voters ! Not to be outdone, the Liberals brought men from Dresden, Florence, and Rome. The Peablessbire election, however, was the fiercest fight of all, Peebles being the county most afflicted with "faggots." In anticipation of disturbances, the police at the town of Peebles were reinforced by 40 constables from Edinburgh and 30 from Glasgow, a measure which had the effect of incensing the inhabitants. The millowners locked in their h<*uds, but they left the machinery running, and climbed out over fences and wails, the girls being especially prominent in the escapade. When the special train arrived from Edinburgh with the faggots, numbering from 50 to 60, the latter marched from the station to the polling- place, under the escort of the police, "nd preceded by boys bearing a board ou v -_ich were painted the words, "Peeblesshire Faggots," while alongside there ran crowds of mill-girls and other non-electors, who pelted the luckless faggots with mud. At length some of the Glasgow police loist their heads, and, drawing their batons, struck the girls about the body before their lieutenant could stop them. Amid the row which followed the " faggots " got safely into the polling-station, but on their return the mud-throwing was resumed, and the police again drew their truncheons. The Provost immediately ordered them to put their batons up again, and exhorted the townspeople to behave quietly. The appeal had an instantaneous effect, the crowd seizing the Provost and carrying him along shoulder-high, while the " fsggota" got into the station, and were there locked in and guarded by the police till their train came to take them away. The election resulted in the crushing defeat of the Conservatives, "faggota" and all. As yet, only two Conservatives have been returned for Scotland, viz., Lord Elcho, for Haddingtonshhe, and Mr Orr-Ewing, for Dumbartonshire— -the latter by a majority of nine votes only. Thoughout the elections, both iv towns and counties, the polling haa been unpreccdentedly heavy — a result mainly attributable to the increased interest in politics created by Mr Gladstone's speeches, which fairly roused many a sluggish Liberal, whiie the Conservative tactics in regard to " faggots," &c, blew into a fierce flame the fire which Mr Gladstone had kindled. THE SEASON AND TBADE. March this year has been of the dry and dusty character which Is reputed to make it worth a king's ransom, and agricultural and pastoral prospects are accordingly very bright. The farmers are from a month to six weeks further on with their work than they were at tho same date last year ; while the genial showers which have fallen during the past week are bringing away the autunm wheat splendidly. If the year proves as favourable throughout as its commencement is auspicious, agriculturists will recoup themBelvessome of the heavy losses of the years immediately preceding. The lambing ou the lowlands is nearly over, and has been extremely good. That on the higher grounds seems likely to be equally above the average, and flockowners are beginning to breathe again. Even if the prognostications of a good year, however, should be verified, it will take more than a single year to retrieve the paefc, though one good year would take the strain off many a farmer, and inspire) him with fresh hope. Accordingly the hirings of farm servants, as far as they have gone as yet, show no improvement in wages or demand for labour. This class is one of the slowest in deriving any benefit from bettered prospects. As for manufactures and trade, although the horizon is not brighteniug quite so rapidly as it is for agriculture, there is a decidedly hopeful tendency in the present state of things. The unemployed are very much fewer, and no longer parade the streets or block up the corners. In a few cases wages evince a tendency to rise, and during one week in March not a single fresh bankruptcy wa3 reported in Glasgow — a fact unprecedented in the history ot that city for 10 yeftis before, and some of those years were characterised by uuusual prosperity. The commercial atmosphere Beems to be clearing, and doubtless it would do so more rapidly but for the anxiety which prevails regarding the probable course of events ou the Continent this summer. The half-yearly report of the North British Railway Company— a document which is a pretfcy fair indicator of the state of Sjotch industry — is less discouraging than some had expected it would prove to be. It ib true there is a loss on both passenger and goods traffic, but the former is now improving, and the latter is shown to have occurred entirely in respect of grain, potatoes, and other agricultural produce, and therefore to havo been due to last year's bad harvest, The mineral traffic showed a healthy increase. At a meeting of the shareholders there was some rather stormy language used with respect to a proposed allocation of £120,000 from revenue for the restoration of the Tay Bridge, but the directors carried their point by a largo majority. In consequence of this heavy demand on its resources the Company pays a dividend on some only of its preference stocks this half-year. The bridge, however, has co clearly demonstrated its value, that its reconstruction as speedily as possible is felt to be imperative, even at the cost ot coauiderable present sacrifice. St. Andrew's university in straits. Some particulars which have been published regarding the University of St Andrew's show that that ancient seat of learuinft is in a bad way, financially. As many of your readers know, the University consists of the united College of St. Salvator and St. Leonard, embracing the arts and medical faculties ; ?au<i St. Mary's College, which is theological. Much of the revenue of the United College is derived from farms, but the terrible agricultural distress whioh has existed of late years has caused a very

great falling off iv tho income thus derived. Latterly, as the farms did not find tenanis, the College authorities were obliged to won* them iheuaselvfs, but In upite of every earn a lo.is resulted year after .year. To clear off the debt thus incuired the salaries of vho professors have been reduced, until they are now shockingly low. I prefer not to give exact figures, as these are variously stated by different authorities, and no official statement has been published. The tact appears to be, however, that the professors— and especially those of the medical faculty— are being slowly starved out. In explanation of the silence which has been maintained in regard to this state of matters, it if? stated that ifc is due entirely to feelinga of delicacy. St. Andrew's University being well provided with buildings, it has not required to appeal to the public in a way such as that adopted with co great success by tbe Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the professors naturally cannot bear the thought of asking for donations to supplement their slender and still declining salaries. It is said that fi-orn £15,000 to £20,000 would be required to put tbe College into a satisfactory position again, but that a good deal more would be necessary to make its endowment what it should be. JSfo appeal has been issued by the College authorities as yet, but I suppose they will be glad enough to receive contributions. At the same time, with all due deference to the ancient fame of the University, and to the character of the estimable gentlemen who compose its professorate, it is a question whether the country at large would lose by the decease of the University. It is now left bo far behind by sister institutions, and is itself so imperfect in equipment and bo impaired in reputation, that the cause of education would probably benefit by its struggling existence being terminated. St. Audrews degrees are in very low repute in. deed now, and they are sinking lower still, bidding fair to reach the level of certain American degrees. For the sake of the other Scotch universities, it ia to be hoped this result may be averted, either by the resuscitation or the extinction of the decaying institution. This will be an appropriate place to mention that by the will of the lato Dr Andrew Vaus Dunlop, of Kutland square, Edinburgh, there has been bequeathed to Edinburgh University property estimated to exceed £50,000 in value, some accounts placing the total figure as high as £70,000. Of this amount £20,000 is life-rented by a relative of the deceased, but the remainder will be paid over to the University as early as possible. The testator directs that £3000 shall be given to the general fund of the University, and the remainder devoted to the foundation of the 16 "Vaus Dunlop scholarships. " The first six of these are to be for medical students, and the remainder are to be divided equally among students of other classes, which are specified. The scholarships =*re to be of the annual value of £100 eacb, and to be tenable for three years. This bequest is likely to have an important influence upon the University, whose scholarships or bursaries, though numerous, arß for the most part very small in their individual value. OBITUARY RECORD. Many old Aberdonians will regret to hear that the Rev. Alexander Gerard, LLD., died on the 23 rd March, aged 68. For about 40years, though with abreak,he\vaa a teacher in Robert Gordon's Hospital, Aberdeen, while he achieved distinction even on the Continent, as an inventor of a number of scientific instruments. One at least of those was adopted by the Admiralty for use in the Royal Navy. In 1875 he received the degree of LL.D. from his alma mater , Aberdeen University, and last year a number of his old pupils presented him with his portrait. Another Aberdeen notability died on March 27th, aged 99. I refer to Mr Charles Winchester, advocate, who was not only the oldest lawyer in Scotland, but probably in the United Kingdom, he having been ad« mitted to the Bar at Aberdeen in 1807. His intellectual faculties remained unimpaired till within a few days of his death, his powers of memory, in particular, being very remarkable. Mr John Bell, head of the firm of J. and M. P. Bell and Co., Glasgow Pottery, and a much-eßteemed citizen of Glasgow, died on March 29fch. He possessed one of the finest collections of paintings in Glasgow, which is saying a good deal, and it is said there is a prospect of the collection being kept together. Mr Bell, of lato years, un happily, became mixed up with the firm of Lines, Wright, and Co., of Cifcy of Glasgow Bank notoriety, and advanced it quite a fortune for the purpose of doing business in India. Sheriff-substitute Galbraith, of Glasgow, died at Partick on the 4th inßtanr, after only three days' illness. He was bom in 1831, and was educated at Glaßgow University, where he was one of the most distinguished students of his day, carrying off two gold medals, as well as scholarships and other prizes. In 186G he was appointed to the office which he held at his death. He leaves a widow, a son, and four daughters, one of whom is married. GENERAL NEAVS. The annual report of the Bank of Scotland, just published, shows a profit for the year of L 168,000, and the directors recommend the maintenance of last year's rate of dividend, viz., 13 per cent. This is a very good result of a year's operations in times so bad as those of the past twelvemonth. The LIOO shares of the Bank now stand at L 290. I mentioned in my last the further serious damage done to the breakwater at Wick by another storm. In spite of this the works are being porsevered with — perhaps I should rather say persisted in. Through them the town is now in debt to the Government £57,820; and as the whole of this money has literally been swallowed up by the sea, the harbour trustees are now preparing a memorial asking that the debt may be remitted. Barnbougle Oastle, so well known to Edinburgh people as a holiday resort, and famous as an ancient stronghold of the once-power-ful family of tho Mowbrayß, is now being partially rebuilt by the ISarl of Rosebery. A former earl would have demolished it 70 years ago but for Government interference ; but the present holder of the title is restoring ifc instead of enlarging his own adjoining residence, Dalmeny JJoiwe, The principal

rooms iv the castle as restored will be used as a library and as a ballroom. The work w»a actively pwetdiog when I vished i)vj s>poii :\ f'jr*nigb.s ftfio Mr B-efc Hatte/^e America humourist, has Ik en appointed "Unibed Slates connul at Glasgow. The appointment has given much satisfaction, no«* only in that city but in Scotland in general. A movement, initiated by Colonel Williamson, of Lowers, is in progress for uniting Crieff and Comrie by railway. t The line would be eight miles Jong, and it is proposed to form, with a view to its construction, a company with a capital of £30,000. The operations for raising the wreck of the Tay Bridge have been carried on with considerable success during the month. A good deal of the iro-iwork, together with the remains of several of the carriages and of the guard's van, has been got out and brought to bank, and the engine and tander will probably ba raised in a day or two. The brake is found not to have been put on in the guard's van— a fact which indicates the suddenness of the catastrophe. It is expected that the official inquiry into the latter will be ressmod in London abont the 19h mat.

During tho election campaign the newspapers have necessarily made great efforts to keep abreast of the day's news, while their advertising columns have also been crowded with addre«ses, noticea of meetings, &c. To meet the demand thus created, some "monster" issues have appeared, among which may be mentioned that of the Scotsman for March 20bh. It consisted of 112 columns, of which 69 were filled with advertisements, to the number of 2999. The total matter in the paper amounted to about 300,000 words, equivalent to the c>utt-nts of two threevolume novels ; 61,200 copies were printed, the paper employed weighing eight tooo. while the sheets would have extended 104 miles if spread out in a line. The whole issue was printed and folded in three hours and ten minutes. One subsequent issue of the Scotsman was of equal dimensions.