Our Home Letter.

Otago Witness, Issue 1581, 11 March 1882, Page 8

Our Home Letter.

SCOTLAND

(»ROM Otnft OWN OORRKSPONDBNT.) Edinburgh, January 12th. THE SEASON.

Things are settling down again after the interruption customary at the passage from one yea? to another. The fact of Christmas and Nev^Year's Day falling this time on Sundays had a beneficial effect in more ways than one. The enormous and ever-growing correspondence caused by the custom of sending Christmas cards to -friends was overtaken by the Postoffice with but little delay, as it was spread over two days. The magnitude of this correspondence may be imagined from the fact that in Glasgow alone two millions of letters passed through the Post-office at Christmas. The New Year's Day pressure, though exceptional, is not so great as that of Christmas, even in Scotland. Both the days observed as holidays wore marked by mild windy weather, much more like March than December or January. The Sunday breaks caused the drunkenness to be less concentrated than usual, and the police calendars, especially in Edinburgh, were exceptionally light in coilsequence. It is stated, however, that a bad feature this year was the more than usually large proportion of young, persons of both sexes who were taken into custody because they were drunk and [incapable. This is probably owing to the fact that employment is .more plentiful than it has been for gome years, and the foolish have consequently more money to spend. This same circumstance of more abundant means receives illustration in the greatly-increased number of travellers by railway. In Edinburgh, the North British railway booked twice as many passengers as it did a year ago ; and the Caledonian railway passenger traffic likewise exhibited a large increase. The extraordinarily mild weather of which I wrote'in ray last still continues, and furnishes abundant material for conversation and newspaper paragraphs. The Scotsman mentions having received from East Linton, HaddingtbnshuV a bouquet made of flowers gathered there in the open air on the last day of 1881, and , consisting of ".Wast Lothian stocks, daisies, primroses, cowslips, chrysanthemums, he'paticas, garden peas, pansies, a tea-rose (Glorie de Dijon), most of them in very fair bloom." Yet East' Lirjfcon is a cold place. The many frosts we have had have been too ■hort' in their duration to keep back this abnormal development of floral life, even when strong enough to provide skaters with ice able to bear them. A correspondent wrote to the Scotsman from Denham Green, Btating that "oil December 24th, while his boys were skating on ice on his ponds fully two inches thick, lie' pulled "three nice roses" in his garden } dandelions and diasies were blooming, And the black' currant and flowering currant were in full bud. The .farmers have taken adVantage of' the open Bea'son.to push on with their ploughing, which is better forward than Usual. ' In marked contrast to the last two Winters, moreover, stock .re}uire very little artificial, feeding, so that their, owners' pockets are receiving a sorely-needed, .relief. ■ ' ' ANOTHER FURIOUS STORM. If 'any one should be inclined to charge me with monp.tqny for reporting tremendous storms ' month after I , would only remark, by way of reply, that it is much worse to experience the storms which-willjlong make this winter memorably than merely to read; about- them. A ieroe hurricane from the eout^-west prevailed all over Scotland on the 6th iiiit.; and did a great amount of damage both* in town and country. It .culminated about the time tfyftt it was .high tide on the west'cbast.Vitn the result that many of the , seaside towns there were more or less flooded. From Girvan,, Ayr,' Saltcoats, Ardrossan, j Green'ock.'H^elensburgh. and Dumbarton came i the same, pitiful 'story of invasion by the sea or dammed'back rivers. At Ayr the sea rose two feet above', the harbour wall, and flooded the town to an extent unknown for 50 years. At Dumbarton agreat part of the town was submerged/and.'boats were used' in the streets, where the water rose up to the breasts of the horses. "The police and post offioes had to be closed, andshopkeepers in many cases had to sit on' their counters until the tide ebbed and the water retreated from their premises. Between Gouroek and Greenock the drivers of the tramcars had to be lashed to their vehicles, like sailors at the wheel in heavy weather ; and one fierce gust drove a car, horses and all, bodily backwards. The papers next day had columns filled with accounts of the fury and destr'uctiveness of the tempest, which came, in sudden squalls of tremendous violence. In the Breadalbane district many thousands 'of trees were levelled with the ground. Taking this winter as a whole, the havoc wrought by the wind in , overthrowing trees is without doubt unparalleled in the history of Scotland.

THE DUNEOHT QUTBAGK. Practically nothing new has transpired regarding the theft of the body of the late Earl of Crawford from the vault at Dunecht House, Aber'deens'hire. A great many conflicting statements have been made regarding clues to the rdbbers, but the truth seems to be merely that the police have a little information, but not enough to enable them to take any decided ■tep,* It is believed- the body is hidden somewhere in Ldhdon, and has not been removed to the Continent as was 1 - at first surmised. Meanwhile the Government have offered a re« ward' of £100/ and the Earl of Crawford £500 more to any accomplice, not being the actual committer'of the crime, who will first give auch 'information as will lead to the arrest and conviction" of the criminals, and it is added that ; th6 H6me Secretary' will advise her Majdsty to grant a free pardon to any such informer. The reward has now been offered for fully two weeks, and as yet without, any apparent result.

THE SCOTCH BANKS. Several of the unlimited stock banks have lately held special meetings of their shareholders with a view to adopting the principle of limited liability, with a greatly-increased capital, in the manner which has proved so successful in London within the last two or three I ' years. The action is preconcerted among the various banks, and as the public mind has been well prepared to understand and even to desire this change, bank stock, far from declining, has risen. The National Bank, which held its annual meeting since I last wrote, declared a dividend of 13 per cent., with 2 per cent, bonus, besides adding £30,000 to the rest, and carrying £24,300 forward ; and its £100 shares are now (like those of the Bank of Scotland)'quoted at £300. The shareholders of the North of Scotland Banking Company agreed to change the name of that concern to the ** North of Scotland Bank (Limited) ;" and in lik« manner the name of the Aberdeen Town and County Banking Company is to be changed to "The Town and County Bank (Limited)." .

THS SCOTTISH IRON TBADE IN 1881. THa annual-return of the Committee of Iron Merchants setting forth particulars regarding <the make, consumption, and stook of iron in JScottynd during ,1881, gives a very satisfactory account, on the whole, of tba .condition of this 'tading industry; The tot** quantity pf pig. •tf ©a m4wri ww 1,176,000 toni, &m W7,000

tons more than in 1880. At the same time, the exports of pig-iron for 1881 amounted to only 578,000 tons, being 93,000 tons less than in 1880. This discrepancy is accounted for by the great stride in advance taken by the steel trade, as noted by me in former letters. The steelworks already in operation are as busy as they can be, and others are in course of erection. Hematite is being imported in largelyincreased quantities from Spain and Cumberland to the Clyde, whence some of it is re-ex-ported to America; but the greater part is consumed in the Lanarkshire steelworks. The demand for mild steel is not confined to ship and boiler plate.B, but also extends to rails ana bars, which used formerly to be made of iron. At the same time, the pig-iron trade is far from being in a languishing condition, as the demand from Russia, Germany. Holland, and Italy is increasing. In spite of the fact that the stock of iron in store in Glasgow at the end of 1881 was more thanl3o,oootons in exceasof what it was 12 months previously, the feeling in the iron market is described as being encouraging, and prices are fully maintained. The home demand is now greater than it has been for years, caused partly by the great activity in the 1 shipbuilding industry, noted below, an 4by the requirements of the new Forth and Tay bridges, but also ,by the fact that new factories of different kinds, employing large quantities of machinery, are springing up in and around Glasgow. I lately mentioned the approaching commencement of the' extensive works of the Singer Company at Dalmuir, covering many aeYes of ground. Since then the old Baltic Works in Bridgton, Glasgow, covering four acres, have been acquired by a coiripany for the purpose of being converted into a manufactory of electric light apparatus. The lace industry, too, has lately been successfully begun on a large scale both in Glasgow and in Ayrshire. These are specimens of the progress which the great western city and. itb neighbourhood are making, and that region having also been exempt from the disasters which have well-nigh crushed the agricultural interest in the other parts of Scotland, its prosperity is now so great and so general as to excite the envy [of less favoured districts.

CLYDE SHIPBUILDING IN 1881. The great rally in the shipbuilding industry which took place on the Clyde in 1880 was more than sustained in 1881, which, reckoning by the tonnage launched, is the most prosperous year on recjprd, surpassing even what has hitherto been looked upon as the shipbuilders' annus i)iirahiUs—\%li. In all there were launched in 1881 313 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 331,868, being an increase of 72 vessels and 92,853 tons, as compared wjth 1880. The excess of tonnage in favour of 1881, as compared with 1874, is 45,000 tons. The value of the ships and machinery turned out in 1881 is estimated at £8,000,000, as against £6,000,000 in the preceding year. The steel vessels launched amounted in the aggregate to fully 75,000 tons, or almost a fourth of the whole. Seven of these vessels made up between them' a total of 40,000 tons, their individual tonnage ranging from 5013 to 7392 tons. Including the yards on the Leven and the Cart, there are in all 37 shipbuilding yards on the Clyde. With the engineering' works connected with them, they give employment £0 some 50,000 persons," one. yard alone employing nearly a' tenth of that number. Reckoning by tons, the order of merit of the six firms who head the list for 1881 is as follows :— John Elder arid Co., J. and G. Thomson, A. Stephen and Sons, Dobie and Co., W. Denny and Bros., and the London and Glasgow Company, Messrs W. Denny and Bros., of Dumbarton, launched two steamers in December, which have been built for the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. The first, launched on pecember 21st, was the Manipori, of 1830 tons gross register ; the second, launched on December 31st, the Mahinapua, of 426 tons gross register. The ceremony of. naming the< ships was performed respectively by Miss Deriny and Miss Janet Denny, daughters of MriPeter Denny, of Helenslee, senior partner of the firm. Both vessels are of steel, built to the 1 highest class at Lloyds, fitted with the latest improvements, and with a special regard to the comfort of passengers ; and their engines are po be of the newest make and full power. It is stated that Messrs Denny have no less than nine other steamers on hand for the same enterprising company. This will be a suitable place to mention that the scheme inaugurated py the Messrß Denny in August, 1880, for giving rewards to workmen in their service -who invented or improved the! machinery or tools employed, haß been found to work very well indeed. The Committee appointed to consider the claims made by the workmen and to adjudicate the awards, report that in 1881 there were considered 32 new claims, besides two postponed from the preceding year. Of these, 22 were found wor r thy of award, eight were rejected, and four are still under consideration. The Committee affirm that "in their opinion the scheme is no longer to be regarded as tentative, but as an established success, doing much to produce greater efficiency and economy in everjr class of work, and to develop the inventive talent of the workmen. About half of the claims were made in connection with the carpenter and joiner departments, and the Committee add regarding them :~? Some of the machines in these departments have been modified or altered so as to do twice the quantity of work ; some to do a new class of work, and others to do the,same class of work with greater ease and safety." The firm have altered the rules so as to allow of the giving of a greater reward than the maximum of £10 formerly fixed, and they have also added provisions for aiding the inventor to patent his invention, they merely reserving the right to use suoh invention themselves free from the payment of any royalty or patent rights. It is not unlikely the scheme may now find favour with other firms. Before passing to another subjeot, I may note here that m Aberdeen, as on the Clyde, the shipbuilding trade was more prosperous in 1881 than in any preceding _ year. In the " Granite city," however, this industry is now confined to the yards of two firms only.

POURING OTL ON TROUBLED WATERS.

An attempt is being made at Peterhead to settle by actual experiment the reputed efficacy of oil to allay a heavy, breaking sea. The promoters of the expoiiuient are Mr Shields, of Perth ; Mr Armit, of Broughty Ferry, well known in connection with the raising of the wreck of the Tay bridge ; and Mr Yeaman, exM. P. for Dundee. They have erected a wooden building at the north-west end of the Roanheads, in which there is placed a force- pump, which sends the oil through piping upwards of 200 yards to deep water, and thence across the harbour entrance for an equal distance, covering the whole channel taken by ships coming into the harbour. The pipes are sunk by means of heavy metal blocks attached to them, and they are also fitted with " roses " through which the oil flows. A trial of the apparatus was made the other day, and it appeared to work satisfactorily. As, however, the wind was off the land, the sea was not rough enough to afford a sufficient terft of the value of oil as a bar-smoother, so that operations were ad* journed till the next severe easterly gale. If the plan succeeds, it might bo worth the notice of the authorities in some of your New Zealand \ ports with tan *t their mouthi, n the cost

seems to be moderate, and the oil need not be " turned on " till required for a vessel coming in.

MORE TROUBLE IN THE FREE CHURCH.

I mentioned in a recent letter that Mr Robertson Smith had been nominated with several others for election to the office of elder in the Free High Church, Edinburgh. His name headed the list at the election, and on December 25th the newly-elected office-bearers were called upon, as usual, after ordination, to answer the questions appointed by Act of Assembly, 1846. Before putting the questions, the minister of the church (Rev. Dr Walter C. Smith) said that "the adherence of the officebearers to these questions was in so far as they agreed with the Holy Scriptures, because the supreme rule of faith with them, as with all Protestant Churches, was not any confessional creed, but the Scripture itself. These confessions," he added, " were subordinate standards, and were simply received in as far as they agreed with the Holy Scripture." > Such a statement as this did not long remain "unchallenged. Three days later it was taken up in the Presbytery, and Dr Walter Smith then explained that it had been made to "give relief to the conscience of a young man in difficulty about accepting office as a deacon." Sir Henry Moncrieff and others pointed out that such a statement simply reduced the Confession to a nullity, so far as the use of it as a test at all was concerned. The Presbytery eventually adopted a motion by Sir Henry Moncrieff refusing to accept the answers made by officebearers at ordination on the footing referred to, and appointing a committee to confer with Dr Smith and his session, and report to the next meeting of Presbytery. The matter is an important one, and this is by no means the only case in which it has cropped up in congregations, though Presbyterial action has not previously been sought in regard to it. It is a little cloud which threatens to spread till it darkens much of the sky. One of the worst things about such a controversy is- that there are always ready to rush into it a number of persons who know and care nothing about either the Bible or the Confession of Faith, but who seize every opportunity of assailing both, under the pretence of defending the truth. We have plenty of such hypocrites here, and I see from your correspondence columns that they are not scarce with you.

OBITUARY BKCORD.

Mr George Mackay, ex-chief constable of Lanarkshire, died on December 30th, aged 72, at his residence, Auchingramont, Hamilton. On retiring in 1875 from the office he had long and worthily filled, he received five years' pay, or £2500, from the Commissioners of Supply, that being the highest sum they could legally vote him. The public and the county gentry presented him on the same occasion with a piece of plate and 800 sovereigns, and the members of the police force also presented him with a piece of plate and 100 sovereigns. Mr James Watt, a prominent merchant in Leith, and who was thrice elected provost of that burgh, died on December 22nd, aged 75. He was a native of Brechin, but had lived in Leith ever since he came there as a lad to push his fortunes. His funeral, though private, was very largely attended, and many marks of respect were shown in the streets through which the cortege passed.

GENERAL NEWS,

The Duke of Argyll is importing from Canada some wild turkeys, with* a view to attempting the acclimatisation of those birds on his estates.

( It has been decided that the so-called " Scottish memorial" to Dean Stanley shall take the form of a stained-glass window in St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. The cost is estimated at about £350. Tlje trees— estimated to- number about 50,000 — blowndownin the grounds of Dunse Castle in the, terrific storm of 14th October last, have been sold -to an Earlston firm, who intend erecting sawmills to cut them up. The time allowed by contract for the removal of the trees is four years. About 60 of the finest trees in the avenue were raised by mechanical appliances and replaced in their former positions, where they seem to be taking root again.

An exciting scene took place the other day, at Barrhead station. An express train, bound' for the South, was stopped >by signal, there being a goods train on the line in front of it. Presently a part of the goods train was seen returning at a great rate, some of the trucks having become detached as the train ascended a steep gradient, down which they now rushed. Some of the passengers in the express climbed out of the windows, and the engine-driver strove to get up speed backwards, but' a tremendous collision would nevertheless have occurred if a pointsman had not had the presence of mind to shift the points, thus shunting the runaway trucks on to the other line. The grateful passengers by the express made up a handsome subscription for him on the spot.

Since, swimming ponds were . constructed, several years ago, by the Dundee Corporation, 5000 boys and nearly 2000 girls have learned to swim in them. The construction of similar ponds in Aberdeen is being advocated there. The personalty in Great Britain of the late Earl of Caithness has been sworn at under £36,000, and that of Mr Jardine, of Lanrick Castle, under £1,371,000.

Following the recent example of the Duke of Marlborough, the Duke of Hamilton .has resolved to sell the magnificent library of Hamilton Palace by auction 1 in June. The library is celebrated as containing the splendid collection of books made by Beckford, of Fonthill, whose daughter married the present duke's grandfather. The latter also greatly enriched the palace library by purchases he himself made. The manuscripts number about 800, and range from the 9th to the 16th century. They belong to various countries, and some of them are unique. It is expected that the Hamilton library, when brought to the hammer, will fetch prices even higher than those obtained by the Blenheim library, though the latter have astonished Europe,

In a review of the trade of Dundee during 1881 it is stated that that year was the most trying to spinners and manufacturers, especially the latter, of any of the past eight bad years. This statement seems to apply chiefly to the lighter kinds of goods, as the demand for heavy articles and for yarns was good. A Farmer's Alliance for Scoland has been inaugurated at Aberdeen, and branches are being formed in many parts of the country. It is constituted after the model of the similar organisation in England.