FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 22

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

A LETTER TO SCOTTISH EXILES. By Robert Angus. EDINBURGH, July 14. TLe discomfort caused by the coal strike ■was as nothing to what wo are now suffering from the drought, and when account is taken of the damage to crops it will probably be found that the financial loss is also considerably greater. IV\v of us ever expected to see the day when, in our much miscalled climate, we should be tired of fitin and sighing for a week of thoroughgoinj; ram. Even the holiday makers ate sick of the brazen skies, for the golf courses are parched, the streams which should provide fishing are reduced to a track of boulders with a trickle between, the heather on the moors has either boon burned or is in course of burning, and the thermometer is at a point which makes e tlier physical or mental effort a burden. The conditions remind me of the young Scottish lady who went out to join her husband in India, and at breakfast each morning used to open the conversation with the remark that it was “another fine day.” We have had too many fine days for our taste during the last three months, though we are not quite so badly off as they are in the south, for we have had one or two showers, and as one was reported in Wick the other day, that town may shortly be advertising its attractions as a holiday resort. But we are still living in hope that the Australian was wrong who, in a railway carriage the other day, assured hi 3 fellow passengers that, knowing weather signs as he did, he was convinced that this country is in for three years’ drought. “B. OF B.” Xo modern Scot has gone down to his grave amid more general regret than the nobleman who, though he rejoiced in the sonorous title of Lord Balfour of Burleigh, was known to his intimates by the initials I have written at the head of tins paragraph. My own memory of h;-’ti goes back over 35 years. The first time I saw him was when, as a member of the Endowed Schools Commission lie visited the institution in which I received iny scanty education. The great bulky figure—lie was well over six feet standing in the doorway of the class r i?° m . impressed itself on my mind, and there it will remain. Fifteen years later, ■when he was Secretary for Sfcotland and I W'as a journalist, I recalled the time and place, and told him I was one of the awestruck small boys he had addressed. He remembered the occasion perfectly. It was a great moment oil the opening day of the Church of Scotland General Assembly each year when this giant figure, with rollinggaited stride, lumbered up the aisle amid the thundrous applause of the members, he had come to be regarded as a 6ort of lay reader of that body, and it was a treat , SC X'- }low suddenly he could bring the high-fliers to earth with a thud by his robust common sense. He was the best Secretary Scotland ever had, for though no genius, ho had a soundness of judgment a (jd a n industry which were far more valuable. To a poor man like himself it was a real sacrifice when lie gave up liis office and its salary of £2OOO a year rather than accept Tariff Reform, but within a year he was earning twice as much in foes as a director of sonic of the best railway, banking, and insurance companies, and he never had any desire to return to Government service. A TYPICAL SCOT. Lord Balfour had a fiery temper by nature, but it was nearly always well under control, and there was no man whose services were more in request for the settlement of other people’s differences. For many years lie was chairman of the Coal Conciliation Board in Scotland, and he presided over more commissions and committees than any man of his time. In his eariy days he played a little golf, but curling and shooting were the hobbies of his later years. There was no keener collector and retailer of good stories for he was no believer in the doctrine that eoJemintv is synonymous with sincerity or with_ service. His fellow-countrymen in Lonnon have particular reason to be grateful for his services to the Royal Scottish treasurer 011 ’ " h ‘ Ch he "~ as for many years THE FAMILY ROMANCE Like most Scottish families, Lord Balfour had a romance in Jus. His predecessor in murdf r° f VaS to death for the murder of a local schoolmaster, who was ftttemni } n !oV °’ but - (afte " one unsuccessful now e£ U*Pe m a trunk, which the a drink l ” 6 '?! d T Vn " h ! ,e he went to have dice k ' n" 1 tho rcsult that the plot was discovered), lie was smuggled out disguised m a womans dress brought him h v his , npd *°.'l le Continent? Some jea s later he was involve! in the rebellion of l b, and tin. estates were forfeited and b U Was O,I D in lh o earjy da\a of tho peer now dead (a de scendaiu °f the sister who had helped her vlved esc ‘ ipr,) tliat the title was reA WELL KNOWN LAWYER. Xo one passing along George street about 4 o'clock any afternoon ouring tile last a o years could have failed to be impressed by the spectacle of (wo well-preserved, carefully dressed gont'ei ™ of middle age making their way westwards anu-m arm They were Mr David Dun,las tho advocate and Mr W. J. Dun,las the solicitor, hr\a<j partner of Dunclas and Wi!son which lias tin* mnnaircment of in re landed estates in Scotland than any oilier h-ga) firm Ihe advocate on Ids way- home from tile Pailiainent House called r ol . i.:.. brother, and they had their daily oonMit,-' tional. They were both bachelors and lived together in a David and Jonathan devotion. But the pair has he,., broken by l he death of Mr William ilc was a lawyer of the old type, formal i„ manner oinl appe 'iranfp, unfailing* in comtosv shrewd in judgment, and trusted hv all who knew him His brother (now 1 on! I) u,dienc „f our judge-) is also in failin'. In .dib < iuse r.o sttrpri e if h be reavemc ei hi res gnation from the lic rich Ihe 1) 11 i,, I;, -es aie one ,-f our oldest legal families. THE CAXADf \X GOVERXORG EX EH A Lf-TIl P. G can d > to harm now to mention that when Lord Byng was appointed Gove: n-.p - General of Canada the other name considered ilint of tile Duke of Atholl, but tlie Cov, Mir... , t ~, the eon elusion that he i- young en.mgh to wail till the next vacancy. lie has had to he content for tho pie out with the chair■manship of the b'cotii-h War Savings As.-o, : i ticn.

SIR HARRY LAUDER AS LAIRD. It. will not- cause much surprise that Sir Harry Lauder lias tired of being a Highland laird. He probably found it. a rather costly hobby, especially as his calling prevented him spending much time on his estate. Accordingly “tho big boose,” fts Sir Harry liked to call it, and the 12,CCD acres adjoining it. on the mountain side behind Dunoon, are now for sale. But no doubt the kilt and the curly stick will b© retained. BR EA D ALB AX E’ S JUI RLE E. Very different is the case of the Marquis of Breadalbane, who has just sold 'lavmouth Castle, after it had been in tile possession of his family for generations. “Paralysing taxation and the heavy cost of upkeep” made this course imperative, he explains. I suppose his experience was much the same as the Duke of Buccleuch, who published his accounts the other day showing that of the nominal rent roll of his vast, estates his share, after paying Imperial and local taxes, cost of upkeep, and ail the rest of it, is 5d in the £. Lord Breadal bane’s going is all the more pathetic, in view of the fact that ho has just attained the jubilee of his accession. He forbade his tenants and friends to mark the occasion in any way, but they have disobeyed him to the extent cf presenting him with a silver casket and an illuminated address. AN OLD EPISCOPAL CHAPEL. Though it has been rather put in the shade by the erection of St. John’s Church at the west end of Princes street and of the great cathedral in Melville street, St. George’s Chapel, York place, is stiii one of the most interesting places of worship in the possession of the episcopalians in Edinburgh. It was there that Sir Walter Scott attended regularly from 1810 to 1825—his pew is marked by a brass plate, and that his daughter married his biographer, Lockhart. Its members hate included a large proportion of the Scottish aristocracy, many judges, anj such persons at John Hill Burton. the historian, and Robert Chambers, author of the “Traditions of Edinburgh.” Dean Ramsay was once its incumbent, and another was Mr Cloeve. who attended Deacon Bvodie on the scaffold. LONDON HONOURS TO SCOTS. Two Scots have been publicly honoured in London this week. One of" them was Sir Joseph Macluy, the Glasgow shipowner, who did four years’ hard and most efficient labour a.s Shipping Controller, and had the satisfaction —almost, unique among the holders of offices like his—of gaining the approval of those he had to control. But tie is heartily glad to bo back again to his own business. For many years London has had two Burns Clubs, but they have now sensibly joined forces, and the first meeting was held ill honour of Sir Alexander Gibb, Chief Engineer to the Ministry of Transport and head of the well-known firm of contractors which built Rosyth naval base, and finished it in double-quick time in order to have it available during the late war. Sir Alexander has earned the gratitude of Burns enthusiasts by buying tho Murison collection of Burnsiana and presenting it to the city of Dunfermline, as a memento of his seven years’ connection with that, place during the currency of his great contract. The collection consists of some 1500 volumes and pamphlets—an incomplete Kilmarnock edition among them, —and Fife Is pluming itself on having acquired the books before tho rest of the world knew they were for sale.