DRUNKENNESS AND IMPRISONMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 13

DRUNKENNESS AND IMPRISONMENT.

During a recent visit to Leith Lord Balfour of Burleigh, the Scottish Secretary, made some interesting remarks regarding his now famous letter to the magistrates of Glasgow, in which he pointed out that the Eurnber of commitments to prison was, in j proportion to the population, much greater j in Scotland than in England or Ireland. The statistics showed that this was due to many more Scotsmen than Englishmen or | Irishmen electing to go to prison rather than i pay a fine. Being convinced that this was not to be wholly explained by the Scottish reluctance to part with money, he had had *he cases for Scotland and Ireland (both being whisky-drinking countries) for three months carefully examined and compared. It was found that out of 22,000 cases in Ireland the fine was under 5s in 12.000 cases. In Scotland, out of 24,000 similar cases there were only 1200 in which the fine was under ss. That explained the matter, showing, as it did, that in Scotland the money penalty imposed was larger, and co more people were unable -io pay it, and liad to go to prison in default. He asked Scottish magistrates to consider whether they were too severe, or the costs too high, or were the circumstances of the persons who were fined sufficiently considered. He suggested that it was better that cases of drunkenness should be purged by a fine, rather than by an imp'risoment which was too short to reform the offendeT, which puniAed more severely those dependent upon him, and which put a prison taint upon a large proportion of the population. It is to be hoped j iheso -sensible remarks will cause the nume- ' rous " Bailie bodies " who seek to show their importance and to get a revenue out of the "drunks" brought before them by fining them heavily, to see the stupidity and cruelty of their ways. OBITUARY RECORD. Mr Alexander Walker, senior partner of the firm of William Walker and Sons, Union street, Aberdeen, died on February 10; aged 77. He did good service in the Town Council, and as Dean of Guild, chairman of the iEducaticnal Trust, ai: i in other capacities. He was also a discerning and liberal patron of local talent in art matters. In 1895 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Aberdeen. He is survived by three sons and two daughters. Mt Jamee Finlay<?on, of the well-known firm of Finlayson, Bousfield, and Co., thread manufacturers, died on February 16; aged £0. He was elected M.P. for East Renfrewshire in the Liberal interest in 1885, but when Mr Gladstone dissolved Parliament in the following year he did not seek re-elec-tion. He waa a director of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway Company for 30 years, and took an influential part in the management of other important undertakings in the West of Scotland. Mr George Miln, solicitor and banker, one of the leading citizens of Arbrnath, died on February 13 ; aged 67. Ho took a prominent part in the affairs both of the town and county, and was much' respected. Mr John L. Gibson, a well-known Dumfries manufacturer, died on February 21 ; aged 81. He was much esteemed alike for liis integrity and enterprise. He was the first hosiery manufacturer in the country to abolish the oppressive " frame rent." This was in 1871, and some years later he started making jrldves, and was the first r»anufaeturer in Scotland to adopt fancy tuck work to those xfcioles. The Rev. Dr David Somerville, minister of Roseburu U. F. Church, Edinburgh, died on February 26; aged 64. He was a distinguished student and a Cunningham lecturer, as well as a frequent contributor to the Critical Review. He held charges in Dundee and Rothcsay before coming to Edinburgh. As a cultured and earnest preacher lie was much appreciated. Principal Rainy is an elder in his congregation. He received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh University, his alma mater, in 1899. But a few days before his death the presbytery had granted an application for leave tc call •a colleague and successor to Dr Someryille, who had been prevented by a throat affection from preaching for some time. Mr William Miller, actuary of the Glasgow Savings Bank, died on February 21; aged 56. To his ability, industry, and integrity the great success of the bank is largely due. It has now 250,000 depositors, with funds amounting to about £10,000,000, and is believed to be the largest institution of the kind, not under Government, in the ■world. Mr Miller's death has caused great regret in Glasgow. - The. Rev. Dr R. M. Spence, parish minisiter of Arbuthnot, Kinoardineshire. died on March 3; aged 75. He was ordained in 1849, and a year later was appointed to the charge which he held up to the end of his life. He was widely known as a sontributor ito periodicals on subjects connected with Biblical criticism, ecclesiology, and other branches of archaeology. As a Shakesperian scholar his eminence was generally acknowledged. In 1890 his church was largely restored under his direction. GENERAL NFWS. The Earl of Levea and Melville hhs boon Again appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Gotland, which meets in May, as usual

The Town Council of Edinburgh has resolved to confer the freedom of the city upon Lord Balfour of Burleigh in recognition of his public services to Scotland. Sir Herbert Oakley, who was long and widely known as Professor of Music in the University of Edinburgh, is reported to be occupied in writing his remini«;ences. „ Viscount Esher has purchased the estate ; of Stank, on the shore of Loch Lubnaig, and i inoluding part of Ben Lecli. He has rented the shooting there for some years. While 50 troopers of the 17th Lancers were exercising their horses on Portobello sando the' other day one of the men suddenly began to behave in euch an extraordinary way that he had to be bound with horses' reins. He was conveyed in an ambulance to Piershill Barracks, where he was found to be suffering from a fit of epilepsy. He is | 24 years of age, and has es«n service in i South Africa, The Glasgow magistrates have " wobbled " on the barmaid question. After a pro- ' longed discussion of the subject among them- [ selves in private, they agreed to allow I women to be employed in licensed premises i where a bona fide restaurant businero is I carried on, but men must be employed in any bar used principally for drinking purposes. The Rev. A. E. Garvie, Congregational j Church, Montrose. has been appointed ProI fessor of the Philosophy of Theism, Com- | parative Religion, and "Christian Ethics in the New and Hackney Colleges, Hampetead, London. At a meeting of the Dundee United Free Presbytery the Rev. J. Beveridge, convener of the Temperance Committee, said that 10,000 members were lost to their Church every year through intemperance. , Exactly 66 per ceut. of the ministers in the 'presbytery were "supposed to be" total abstainer?. In one of a course of Celtic lectures delivered by him at Glasgow University, i Professor Magnus Maclean said that at the beginning of the nineteenth century scarcely | a parish or clachan throughout the High- ! lands and Islands had not its own poet. Now, however, there was not a single Gaelio bard of known reputation anywhere in the Highlands. Those that remained lived in the cities and towns of the south. The mail steamer Fingal, while crossing from the island of Tiree to Oban the other day, met with very heavy weather. A young woman on board was so alarmed by the rolling and pitching of the vessel that she went raving mad, and had to be placed under restraint. Profep;or Daniel J. Cunningham, of Trinity College. Dublin, has been appointed to succeed Sir William Turner as Professor of Anatomy in Edinburgh University. At an enthusiastic public meeting held in Penicuick, Mr Charles W. Cowan was presented with a testimonial on his retirement into private life after having acted as Provost of the burgh for no less than 33 . years. The annual report, just published, of Dr Clouston, physician superintendent of the Morningside Asylum, Edinburgh, mentions , that during the year there was an epidemio i of colitis, or asylum dysentery. Two of I the asylum cats were found to be suffering : from the disease, and thereupon " the catlife of the establishment came to a very abrupt termination " — no doubt to the rejoicing of the rats, whose presence there Dr Clouston admits. Damage estimated to amount to fully £6000 has been done by a fire at the mansion lioiipe of Ralston. Paisley, the seat of Sir Charles Cayzer, M.P. The following personal estates of deceased individual/; have been recorded since my lapt: — Mr Archibald Hood, Lothian Coal Company, Boswell, Midlothian, £210,147; Miri Elizabeth Carnegy, Trinity, Edinburgh, £71,046; Lady Louisa Bruce, of Pitliver, Dunfermline, sister of the Earl of Elffin, £60,466; Mr James Pa-ton, chemist, 5 Merchiston Park, Edinburgh, £24,986.