SCOTLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 53

SCOTLAND.

(Fjrom Our Own Correspondent.) Edinburgh, May 7. political. " North Aberdeen (city) has just been the scene of an electoral contest which is causing a good many searchings of heart. The sitting member; Mr W. A. Hunter, having retired on account of illhealth, the seat was contested by Captain Piris (Radical) and Mr Tom Mann, the well-known labour demagogue. There are only a few unionists in tte constituency, and therefore the most part held aloof altogether. The poll took place on the Is!; May, and to the surprise of all restilbed thus :— Pirie. 2909 ; Mann, 2479 ; majority for Pirie, 430. At the general election last year the Radical candidate- gob in by a majority of 3548, tke Labour candidate polling only 608 votes altogether. At thß general election 51 per cent, of ike voters polled ; at last week's election 57 per cent, did so. Ib is clear, therefore, that the Liberal causa is nob in a healthy condition in North Aberdeen, and hardheaded Aberdonians do not readily change their allegiance in politics, or in anything else. Now that Mr Gladstone is 'out of the way, men feel fiee to vote as they please, and this probably explains the figures given above. THE U P. SYNOD. The synod of the United Presbyterian Church is holding its annual meeting, in Edinburgh this weik. The Rev. James Rsunie, of St., Vincent street Church, Glasgow, was elected moderator. Nothing of general interest has thus far occurred aj the sittings. The ohurch has now 577 congregations, with 191,831 members, the latter figures showing an increase of 931 for, the year. The churcli'a total iacoma for the year from congregitional sources amounted to £34-3,831-. and troui non-congrs-gabional sources to £67,014— making, in all, £410;848, which is an increase of £19,241 on the total for 1894. IS EDINBURGH^ TJNIVEBSITT DECLINING? At the half-yearly meeting of the General Council of Edinburgh University, held on April 21, Mr A. E. Mackuigob drew attention to the falling off in the number of studi-nfc, and eald he thought there was tome relation between that circumstance and the fact that all the professors are now entirely independent of fees. Dr Scott-Dalgk ish maintained that the falling off referred to was nofc- increasing every year, for iv 1892-93 the falling <.ff was 261, in 189394 ib was 163, and jn 1894-95 it was 125. Ib was too Boon to charge the falling off to the change in the method of paying the professors. It was due to a considerable r xtent bo the examinations for the entrance classes havingbeen raised so high and so suddenly as to be almost prohibitory. He hoped that in the course of time that matter would cure itself, and that the Examination Bowd would Be brought under Borne kind of superior control or supervision. The council were disappointed when tttey found that the Uoivcrsiby Commissioners disregarded their recommendation (hub a certain parb of the professors' incomes should be dependent on the succf S3 of their classes. I may add that fche»workiug of the new arraugamenb will be very keenly scrutinised ab a'l our oniveriit-ej. Scotsmen like to get value for their money, and especially so in educational matters. ■ INDUSTRIAL NOTES. The 2nd of May was this year observed as 41 Labour Day" in Glasgow on account of ib being a Saturday. The u?u»l demonstration on the green, gob up by fcbe local leaders of the Labour p-urby, met with compstition from the Sociulisbs. The latterhad four stance*, with a Urge blowl-red banner waving over each, inscribed en which were the sentiments : " Profit is Plunder," "Rer>t is Robbery, and "Work for All, Overwo.rk for None." Tb.9 speaking was violent in tone, bub harmless in effect. I mentioned in my hsb that Messrs Clack and Co., the well-known thread manufacturers, of Paisley, were about to add a new mill to their already very extensive works. Now the announcement is made that this firm and that of Messrs J. and P. Coats (Limited) nre abont to amalgamate. The arrangement is to take effect from June 30, and will be applicable alike to their home and foreign establishments. The united C3cc--rn will ba one of extraordinary size and importance. „ At the annual meeting of the South of Scotland Chamber of Commerce held at Hawick, the chairman (ex-Provost Hogg) said the local Industrie:: were not in a satisfactory condition, The improvement expected from tho removal of the restrictive duties in the United S'afc-js and the rife in the price of wool had nob taken place. Still trade, though far from .being in a flourishing state, was nob dull. He attributed the want of advance bo the change of taato and to foreign cjmpe'.ition, and wondered if the effect of the former might nob be lessened by an adapt ition of their machinery to meat it. The . outlook, both industrially and. politically, was nob encouraging in bhe meantime. Ib the coal mining industry tbere seem to be at lasb some Bigns of improvement, especially in the counties of A; r and Fife. In tho former county the ironstone miners are also actively at work. In Fife fully balf-timo is the Average, and the coal-shipping trade shows signs of improving. In Lanaik.hire and Ayrshire, during the past few mouths, a good many colliers have abandoned theic culling altogether, and have found work ajd other occupations. This has, no doubb, improved matters for their fellows. .The Scottish miners are at present watching the unrest among their English brethren wibh keen interest, and in spite of all the bitter experience of the not very diebinb past, talking of making common cause with them if a general sbruggle should take place. And this at a time when German coal is actually beginning bo be imported inbo Britain ! The boom in shipbuilding on the Clyde continues. The yards are getting filled up, in epite of overtime beirg worked iv many cases, and valuable new orders are being received in rapid succession. The present remarkable cheapness of fuel is aho an important factor in the case. THE COMING RAILWAI RACE. Indications are not few that the railway companies afe preparing for a resumption of the racing which attracted such world-wide attention last August, and it promises to be more interesting than ever. The Norbn British has begun to double its line between Arbroath and Montrose, where the existence of only a single Hoe proved to be a weak spot in ibs armour. The Caledonian is trying its new engines, which | are the largest in use in Scotland, and one of them has established a record by drawing a I train composed of 13 vehicles from Carlisle to Beatbock summit— a distance of 50 miles, with a rise of nearly 1000ft— in 61 miuubeg, wibhoub strain. Hitherto two engines have been required to draw a train of 11 vehicles the same distance in the same time. The Midland Company have built new engine) to enable them to compete for the traffic from London to Glasgow. For the West Highland line 12 engines of great power, and suited to a line abounding in curve?, have been constructed. A useful innovation on the same line is the fixing on the windows of ! canvas maps of the district, to fee used «s blinds.

THE NEW Wi.YEm&Z STtfTim,' EDINBURGH. I have ff om time to time-referred to the very extensive operations in progress in this ciby in connection wibh thia^sbsliou and the bridges which cross ib. The memorial sbone of the North bridge is to be laid with due public honours in a forbnighb, and lha reconstruction of bhe Waverley bridge is also in progress. The buildings facing bhe General Posb Office on bhe western side of North bridge fctreeb have been demolished, and a huge hotel is bo be erected on the site by the railway company, as well as its own chief offices. By degrees, as the traffic permits, bhe platforms will be reconsbrucbed and extended, and when they are completed they will probably ba the largest , in the' kingdom. Westward* the" lines' 'have been doubled as far as Corstorphine, land being taken for the purpoEo off the Princes streeS Gardens, and 'new tunnels made. under the Mound and to Haymarkeb. Eastwards a j similar widening is going on, and a .new ' tunnel is being bsred through the Caltoa Htll. It is inevitable that a consideraba time must yeb elapse before all these extensive work* can be complsbed, bub when that consummation js. reached, tho gain to the ciby will bs immense. An eloganb and commodious North.bridge will ! in itself be a greab gaiu, alike from an tetbhetic and from a business poinb of view. The worries, j delays, and losaes caused by the inadequacy of the station and its approaches to copa with fcho, enormous and ever-growing traffic, arc proverbial, and if they are abolished many thousands will rejoice who only come fo Edinburgh as visitors. As the city lives in a great measure upon i's attractions, the improvements in question are really of vital importance to it. No one seems to know how much tho cost of the eutire scheme will be, bub I am bold that bhe gbabibn and ibs approaches alone will cosb over two million sterling. Those who can remember, as I do, the tt»tion in bhe days of the Bdiuburgh and Glasgow railway, of the-Scotland street tunnel, and of a Waverley route only open as far as Hftwick, cannot bub be i-truek with the enormous growth of the traffic. Greab as are the improvements now in progress, I am inclined to think- that in bub a few years after their completion bhey will be found insufficient. The Forth and T»y bridges have revolutionised Sco'land from a railway point of view. Cobnuts who have not been in. this country for a number of years will be surprised, on visiting it, to sco with what rapid strides it is progressing, and when the block at the W&verley station is removed, the progress is bound tobj yeb more rapid. Consequently this improvetnenb is of national, and nob merely municipal, importance. THE ONION BANK OF SCOTLAND (LIGHTED). The annual general meeting of tho shareholders of this bank was held in GUsgow on April 22. The direcbDrs' reporb stabed thab the net proßb on ths year's operations amounted to £140,518, which is £21,275 more than in the preceding year, A dividend was Jechred ab the U6ual rate of 10 per cent. ; £25,000 was added to the reserve iuud, bringing it up bo £540,000 ; and a balanco of £20,289 was c&rried forward to n«b year. The bank's liabilities in regard bo deposit and current accounts are set down at £11,443,482, being an increase of £180,019, and in regard bo nota circulation ab £949.244, whicli is'aa'incsreaseonlasli yeartif £34,978. SUICIDES IN GLASGOW. Mr Robert "P. Mowafc, * stockbroker ab 163 West Georgs street, Glasgow, shob- himself in his office on April 16. He had been working late, aud a countable who looked in ab his office shortly after midoighb found him lying dead on the floor, with a ballet- wound through his head and a revolver still grasped in bis righ 1 ; hand. Mr Mowat was only 36 years of age, and was highly esteemed on the Glasgow Sbook Exchange. Another and very extraordinary suicide was discovered in Glasgow on the morning of Monday, April 20, when an electrical engineer named Adam Bolbon was found hanging from the hook of a spring balance weighing machine ab bhe works of Messrs Mavour and Coulson, 6 Orr sbreeb, .Culton. -Balton's clothes were lying on a chair near him, while "he was dressed in a lady'rf uodercli/tbing, with corsets, while in his hand, held up to bis face, was a small mirror.. On a table close by him lay a heap of sensational illustrations from a cheap picture publication." Bolton, who was married, and was a foreman in the works named, is described as having been a quiet, industrious man, -generally liked and respected. DISASTROUS FIRES. Several destructive fires have occurred during the month in different parts of Scotland. On April 25 a fire broke oub in Camperdown shipbuilding yard, Dundee, owned by Messrs Gourlay Bros, and Co., and resulted in the' destruction of- the joiners' shop (where, it originated), sawmill, stores, and a qaantity of stacked wood. The damage is estimated ab £20,000, most of which is covered by insurance. On Sunday, April 26, a fire broke oub in bhe extensive distillery of Messrs Jamej Calder and Co, (Limited), at Kinneil, Bj'ucs. Nearly the whole of tho premises devot?d to tho manu-' facbure of whisky was destroyed, as well as nearly 6000 quarters of grain. By dinb of -greab exertion, however, and- bhe running of no little rile, the spirit was run off tato puncheons in the spirit store, and thus saved. Besides the Bo'aefs brigade, bhose from Linlibhgow, ;and, Falkirk aided in mastering the, fire, which at one time threatened to destroy an adjoining row of miners' houses. . Had the spirit canght lire nothing could have saved them. A? it is, the damage done is estimated to amount to £50,000. ' The fire is believed to have originated in one of the kilns. * Ab Aberdeen a great fire took place on April 11 in the timber yard of Messrß John •Fleming and Co. (Limited), Alberb quay. ' Besides buildings and machinery, about 1500 loads of timber were burned. The total amount of the damage, which is covered by insurance, is estimated at £20,000. FEARFUL BAILWAV ACCIDENT. A shocking railway accidenb occurred on April 13 at the high-level sbab'on ab Manuel j Junction, not far from Liulibbgow. Mrs Lovell, wife of a paper manufacturer ab Linlithgow bridge, was walking along bhe platform wibh a frieod, when au express from Glasgow to Aberdeen cama rubbing pasb ab great «pai d. The wind caused by its progress drew Mrs Lovell's dress towards bhe train, by wlrch it was caught.. She .was dragged under the train, her head cub «ff, and her hands aho nearly Eorered from her. body. A similar accidenb book place in Cumberland a few years ago, and ib is a wonder thab more do nob happen, as people are often very careless in standing too near the edge of the platform while an express rushes past. In such % case, of course, the enginedriver is in no way to b!a'me. . -OBITUARY RECORD. 'Mr J. F. Stormouth Darlinp, who from 1882 to 1893 was secretary of the Bank of Scotland, ' and was previously agent of the Bant of Kelso for 25 years, died on April 28, aged 63. Ha was much respected on the Borders, in Edinburgh, and in Forfarshire, where he owned the -estate of Lednabhie. He retired from the bask on account of failing eyesight. One of his brothers is a judge of the Court of Session. The deceased was a btchekr. Xhe Very Rev. William Webster, Dean of (he

Dioceso of Aberdeen and Orkney, has died aft the age of 86. From 1835 to 1841 he had *- charge at Drumlithie, and from 1641 to 1893, when .he retired, he laboured at New Fibsligo. In 1887 he was appointed to ' the deanery named, and retained the post till his death. He was a very retiring man and much respected. The Rev. J. Enoz Brown, parish ministerial Longbank, Renfrewshire, committed suicide qn April 29. Ho had held no servico3 on the previous Sunday, and on the 28th sent in his resignation to the presbytery, a deputation from which was to have waited upon him oa the 30sh.* Mr Brown, who was found to have swallowed a quantiby of prussic acid, was re« garded as a young minister of much promise. The Rev. Dr Laird, minister of the Freo Church at Cupar, Fife, died on April 19, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, and the sixfcy-fiffh of his ministry. He Was one of the now sadlydwindling band of pre-Disruption ministers. He " came oub " of the charge of Inverkeilfour, in Forfarehire, and at once had s wooden church erecbed, bhe construction oE which only occupied* a week. The windows were of canvas. In 1847 he wai called to Montrose, and 1853 to Capar, to sucseed the late itev. Dr Cairns, oa the departure of bhe latter to Melbourne. In 1889 Dr Laird was moderator of "the Free Cuurch. He was a quiet, useful mm, greatly esteemed by all classes of the community. Mr J. Denovan Adam, R.3.A., an eminent Scottish painter, died . at Glasgow on April 22, aged 53. He was specially noted for bis pictures of Highland cattle, one of which was bought by the French Government for th 6 national cjlkctjon in the/Luxembourg. Quite a colony of artists gathered round his residence &b Craigmill, near Stirling*. Mr Adam is survived by his second wife and a numerous family. , Much regret has been caused by the death, ab the premature age of 48, of Dr Wcod, who for ' a number of $cir« had been physician-superin-tendent of the Edinburgh City Hospital, and. in that, capacity had earned golden opinions oa all hands. ' Dr Wood was -for f ome years in a commercial house in Dundee before he adopted medicine as a profession. He succumbed to an attack of pneumouia. Mr Andrew Tmaca, provoßt of DysMt, ft gentleman well-known throughout Fife, has died at bhe ag£ of 72. He was a linen manufacturer, and for over 30 years had' also rendered valuable' service to the burgh in connection with its public affairs. He leave 3 & widow and grown-up family. ■ . Another Fife worthy — Mr James Eaglesham, managing partner of the Saline Valley Coal Company— suddenly dropped down doid in his home at Silino the other day. He was about 60 years of age and unmarried. . . : Mr Robert M'Lean Calder, well-known in Berwickshire and throughout the Borders generally as a poet, died in London on April 12. He was born ab Dans in 1841, and from 1866 to 1882 he lived in Cauada, where be made a repubation as a wiiter of Scottish lyrics.. In 1887 he published a volume of " Home Songs," which enjoyed much favour among Scotsmen both ab home and abroad. Me James Dodds, ommonly ksawji as "the Beaton centenarian," died tbere on the 15th , April, only 10 dijn after completing his 103 rd ' year. He retired 34 years ago from h : s calling as a shepherd, and possessed an extraordinary • memory. - . J Mr Alexander Allardyoe, a literary man very well-known in Scotland, died on 23; d April at Porbobello,' aged 50. He begin his career as al'a 1 ' •journalist in India, where he made hia mark.' He afterwards resided for a time in Berlin, and 1 then in London, contributing to leading journals and magazine?. Finally he o-ina to' Edinburgh, where, fcr a number of yearn before his death, he noted as assistant editor of ' " Blackwood's Magaziue." He also publi&hsd Beveral works of fiction and hittory. . GENERAL MEWS, The Ayr Town Council is contemplating the . construction of an electric tramway from Burns's motiumenb to Frestwick, through Ayr, a' tob»I» distance of about six miles. Experiments - wibh sludge from Gla«gow sewerage have shown thab ib.. contains useful properties as manure, and as effers cf from 10s bo 20s per ton have bean made for ir, itii hoped ■ ib will prove a valuable oour'ce of revenue. The Town Council of Aberdeen has resolved to establish an aquarium in connection with (ha - bathing ttaMon, on the condition thab tho univerMty authorities undertake bo supervisees formation and then to maiabain it at their own cosb. At BurntislaDd a burglar broke into a villa, helped himcelf to food and cigars, and thoo took off his clothes acd pub on a suit belonging to the owner of the house. Ha had other things ready to carry off, when he was dutarbed, and he was afterwards captured at Kirkc-Udy. Complaints are biting mads ab tho harbour of Grangemoath bsing allowed to filfc up wibh,' mud. Yet the port has a large < xport trade in coal, and imports more bijnber thin- Glasgow, Greenock,~and Porb Glasgow pub together. The harbour is owned by -the Caledonian Railway' .Company, , : Contracts bavo been entered into for the cabling of the, tramways of Edinburgh, with..,/ the exception of' a section bstwean filar chmonb road and Churchhill.. It is expecleJ thab the work will b& finished by bhe end of 1897, and will.oosb under £250,000. A block of property in Union streab, Aberdeen, between Dee sbreeb and Langstane placs, with a rental of £355 and a feu duty cf £16 103, was put' up at auction the other day at au upsefe price of £7000. After spirited bidding, ib was secured fora firm of silk mercers for £10,810. At a meeting in Glasgow recently, EmeritnsProfessor Dickson stabed that tho university still possessed the largest library in the city. Ib contains 160.000 volumes, besides the Hunterian Library of 13 000 volumes, and bhe Library of the Divinity Hill, consisting of 7500 volumes. The personal estate of tha lata Colonel Dickson, of Panbride, Forfarahire, has been proved as amounting to £34,000; and that cf Mrs Margaret Bell, Taycliff, Dundee, at £18,862. A curious occurrence is reported from Dy^arb. In the Town Council, where a new provosb was being elected, the candid&bes were Bailie Allan,, who occupied the chair, and another gentleman. As the result was a tie, the chairman had to give his casting vote, and he naturally did so in favour of him. Sir Charles Pearson has been appointed bo fcbe Scottish judgethip vacant through the resignation of Lord Rutherford Clark, aud Me Graham IMurray will succeed Sir Charles 83 Lord Advocate, while Mr Scott Dickson is to be Solicitor-general for Scotland. " T ■ • A year's trial of tho anti-toxin- treatment of diphtheria in the B&videre Hospital,' Glasgow, has yielded encouraging results. In 1893, thq year before the new treatment was first tried, 62 out of 153 cases of diphtheria, or 40 5 per? cent., proved fatal. .In, 1895 : . when th& supply of anti-toxin flreb became equal to the demand, there were only 25 deaths out of 179 cases, thq morality thus being 14 percent. ' The Barns Centenary Exhibition is to be beia in Glasgow from July^to October. Lord Rosebery will preside, and deliver an address att » great public meeting in Sb. Andrew's H»U«O July 21.