NOTES FROM THE OLD LAND

Otago Witness, Issue 3316, 3 October 1917, Page 41

NOTES FROM THE OLD LAND

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

GLASGOW, July 28. Scotland continues to play an important part in tho government of the Empire. This has, indeed, ever been the case since she "attached" England. Several changes have again taken place in tho Ministry, which will have been cabled ere now to the Dominion; but this notwithstanding, 1 cannot refrain from making a short reference to one of tho new members of the Uibinet. Sir Eric Geddes, who succeeds Sir Edward Carson as tho First Lord of the Admiralty, is one of the great discoveries of the war. Ho is one of those men who not only gam renown for themselves, but add lustre to the country to which they belong. With the war came the opportunity for tins great Scot to make his influence felt A native of Edinburgh and a brother of Brigadiergeneral'Sir Alexander Campbell Gedcks, tho Oirector-general of Recruiting, Sir Eric was deputy general manager or the XSor.theastein railway when he was called upon to assume the duties of Deputy Directorgeneral of Munitions Supply. Then he was transferred to the War Office as Directorgeneral of Military Railways, and he suosequently acted as Inspector-general ot Transportation on Sir Douglas Haig s staff. Magnificent results were achieved by him in France, and on the completion of his work there he was attached to the Admiralty for the supervision of naval construction, with membership of the Admiralty Board, holding the honorary rank of vice-admiral. Sir Eric had no seat ini the House of Commons when he took office; but one was speedily found for him. He is now member for the ancient arid historic city of Cambridge, and made his first public speech there after his election. If wo may judge from his candid but guarded statement and his past work on behalf of his country, Edinburgh and Scotland will have every cause to be proud of Sir Eric Geddes. There are no end of reliable stories connected with the war, in which the heroism of Scots is the leading feature. Sir John Jellicoe, at a meeting in the Mansion House, London, described' how a Scottish wooden drifter, tho Gowanlea, defied three Austrian cruisers. The little vessel had on board only one six-pounder gun; but she used it vigorously, and refused to surrender. Fresh from the stocks in Fraserburgh in 1914, she went straight into the patrol service, and has been several times under fire. On tho first occasion the captain was in the cabin, when a shell passed right through it, this being his first intimation of the presence of the enemy. Several of the crewwere then lost, and the boat was badly damaged. Joseph Watt, the captain of the Gowanlea, is only 30 years of age, and his home is in Fraserburgh. He has been decorated for bravery by the King of Serbia. When the history of the war is written it will be found that Scottish drifters and other craft of the kind have played a noble part in the defeat of the Huns. Quite a number of memorial services have been held in connection with different Scottish regiments which have taken part in the war. One of the most impressive took place in the stately old Cathedral of Glasgow the other day in honour of the officers, noncommissioned officers, and men of the Seventeenth Highland Light Infantry, who fell in the battle of the Somme and elsewhere in 1916. The battalion was raised by the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, and was composed of the finest specimens of the young manhood of the West of Scotland. The Rev. A. Herbert Gray, White Memorial United Free Church, who had acted as chaplain to the regiment, was the preacher. After paying a fitting tribute to the character of the men, he said they had a vision of the British as a nation of really free men —free not only from foreign dorm nation, but from greed, luxury, and lust. "There can,"_ Mr Gray proceeded, "be no sufficient memorial to them but a different and better Scotland. The monuments to tho dead of this war are not yet up. It may bo they will be only brass plates and marble slabs; but before God they deservo a better monument —a monument of Britain turned to God; a Britain temperate, chaste, and believing; a Britain really free at last From a hundred graves in that foreign land,' from the spots where they fell, and which aro now sacred spots for us, from trench and shell hole, where death found them, their voices call —young musical voices ; the voices of boys still in their teens; the voices of martyrs on life's threshold, and they ask a better Britain as their memorial."

Tho Rov. Dr Ewing, Grange United Fre<Church, Edinburgh, must bo known to many of the colonial troops who wore engaged on the Gallipoli Peninsula. He has been presented personally by the King with the Military Cross " for long, continuous service with the troops under conditions of exceptional peril on Gallipoli." The King, in presenting tho decoration, had a moment's conversation with Dr Ewing, and expressed' regret that ho had been wounded. His Majesty said, " I am very happy to bestow upon you the Military Cross."" and shook the rev. gentleman cordially by tho band. Dr Ewing's letters to his congregation during his sojourn in Gallipoli wore models of descriptive writing, and breathed tho most fervent devotion for tho troops with which he served. Ho made fitting references to the oourage and spTondid qualities of the soldiers. Dr Ewing has received instructions to hold himself in readiness to resume duty as a chaplain in Palestine in tho late autumn. This great war has smashed many of tho old prejudices which used to exist. Tho Church or England and the Established Church in Scotland used to have a monopoly of the chaplaincies; but now tho dissenting churches are having their full share of the work and the army is tho bettor of it.

When the "Rev. J. Esslemont Adams, West United Free Church, Aberdeen, was recently appointed one of the nine chief assistants to the principal chaplain to the Forces at the front, he offered to demit hi* charge. Mr Adams is onoof the most brilliant of the ministers of the denomination, and i.-t a clergyman of much influence in the Granite City. His congregation would not hear of his resignation, and in accordance with their wishes he has withdrawn it.

A good many changes have of late taken place in. the sheriffships of Scotland. On the Heath of Lord Dewar Sir Christopher N, Johnston, K. 0., has been elevated to the bench as one of his Majesty's Senators of the College of Justice. It is not many

weeks sinco ho was elected member of Parliament for the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews, whon he resigned the sheriff-principalship of Perthshire, was succeeded bv Mr John Wilson, K.C. The appointment" to Perthshire is regarded as the best of the kind in Scotland. Another of the prizes of the profession is the sheriffprincipalship of Lanarkshire.. This became vacant by the death of Mr J. Gardner Miller, K.C., a native of the City of Glasgow, who was a distinguished student of th<} Western University in arts, graduating M.A., and afterwards taking his LL.B. degree in Edinburgh. He was admitted to the Scottish Bar in 1881.. He has now been succeeded by Mr A. O. M. Mackenzie, K.C, a son of the late Lord Mackenzie, a senator of the College of Justice. He is a B.A. of Oxford, and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1885, and took silk in 1912. For a considerable period ho had acted as one of the sheriff-substitutes in Lanarkshire; but was latterly sheriff-principal of Renfrew and Bute. In the latter position he is succeeded by Mr David Anderson, K.C., who leaves the sheriff-principalship of Dumfries. Mr Anderson is a son of tho lato Dr Joseph Anderson, the celebrated antiquarian, and»was born in Wick, Caithnessshire, when his father was editor of the John o' Groat Journal before becoming the curator of the Edinburgh Museum. Mr George Morton, advocate, becomes sheriffprincipal of Dumfries. Ho is a son of Mr Georg'e Morton, farmer, Auchengray, and was educated at Lanark Grammar School and George Watson's College, Edinburgh, eventually passing on to the university of tho latter city, and graduating M.A. and LL.B. These legal appointments are usually the reward of faithful political services; but under tho present Coalition Government both sides of politics are being recognised. An effort made by the Scottish Branch of tho Red Cross Society to raise £IOO,OOO has been crowned with success. Nothing appeals more to tho Scottish people than tho relief of the suffering of our maimed warriors. In the present effort all grades of society took part, and every device was used to attain the end in view.

The Duke of Richmond and Gordon has been installed as Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen in succession to the late Earl of Elgin and Kincardine. Allusion was made at the ceremony to the services which, through four centuries, the Duke's ancestors had rendered to the university. In returning- thanks for the honour done him the Duke of Richmond and Gordon spoke of the value attached to education by Scotsmen, and particularly in the north-eastJrn. counties. Referring to the war, he said ho was afraid we must look to another winter of it; but whether we have to face ono winter more, or two winters, the result would always be the same.

There is a good deal of rivalry between two sets of people who desire to see a canal constructed between the .Forth and the Clyde capable of bearing tho heaviest vessels afloat. Ono set of business men want the canal to go by way of' Loch Lomond, while the other set, composed largely of Glasgow people, think that the direct route of the present canal should be adhered to. Those who favour the former route have shown a good deal of enterprise by having complete plans preparoa and sent to the Admiralty, as well as an estimate of the cost. It is stated that the authorities in London havo bepn favourably impressed with the plane thus submitted. There is not* much likelihood of anything being done by the Government while the country is at war. One of tho best-known of our Glasgow citizens has been removed by the death of Mr Hugh Alexander, who was for many years a member of the corporation. Mr Alexander took a deep and active Interest in the Trades Houso, and at the time of his demise ho held the position of deaconconvener, which carried with it a seat in the Town Council. A native of Ayrshire, he came tc Glasgow when a youth, and by his strict integrity and consistent endeavour rose to tho position of a prosperous business gentleman who wa3 highly respected in all walks of society. In marked contrast to the late deaconconvener is the character of ono of the oity magistrates. Robert Hunter, who carried on business as an iron and stool merchant in St. Rollox, and who had attained to' a position on the city bench, was convicted at a sitting of the High Court of Justiciary of resetting certain quantities of metal. Lord Mackenzie, who presided at tho trial, addressing Hunter, said: "You have disgraced the honourable office which you held. The sentence upon you is one of 12 months' imprisonment." So far Hunter has not resigned his seat on tho Town Council, and it will not become vacant through default for something like six months. The reprehensible custom of cockfighting is not yet stamped out in Scotland. A remark which was let drop in a public-houso in Stirlingshire was communicated to the authorities in Glasgow, witli tho. result that tho police paid a visit to stables on the banks of tho Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas. They found 50 men assembled, and in largo cages were game cocks clipped, and with their spurs cut off ready, a police witness said c for the steel spurs being put on In tho yard was a ring marked off, and there, it was suggested, the fight would have taken place. In the end the sheriff found the charge proved, and imposed a. fine of £lO. with the alternative of 30 days' imprisonment.

General Regret is felt in most circles in Scotland that LoYd Dalmeny, the oldest son and heir of Lord Rosebery, should deem it expedient to "cry the credit" of Lady Dalmeny through the columns of The Times. Lady Dalmeny, who is the younger daughter of the Jatc Lord Henry George Grovornor, uncle of the Duke of Westminster, and has two children —a boy and a girl,—replied by giving "(lie sum total " of her indebtedness up to date, which amounts to £656 15s 3d. "On mv household account.'' she goes on. ' ; £2060. represented by a bank overdraft, which has accumulated since the year 1910, and which Lord Dalmeny from time to time has had full knowledge of. and until the recent advertisement lias never objected to. And 1 further declare that since my marriage in 1909 Lord Dalmeny has never made any payment on my account bevond a certain fixed personal allowance, which has never exceeded £IOOO a year, and an allowance foj household expenses, which has never cj - cecded £IOOO a year." There the unhappy business ends so far as the public is concerned.