FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Witness, Issue 3571, 22 August 1922, Page 27

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

A LETTER TO SCOTTISH EXILES.

By

ROBERT S ANGUS

EDINBURGH, July 6. More sensible, a 3 we think, than the people further south, we begin our holiday a month earlier. This week the papers have been full of the University bursary lists and the names of the prize-winners at the various schools, and there have been many anxious as well as some elated hearts a® the result of a scrutiny of the columns of small type. Meanwhile the trains to the country and coast resorts have been crowded with families migrating to their summer quarters, so as to get the pick of the accommodation and the best of the prices before the English invasion begins next month. So far, the weather has been bleak, and the farmers who a few weeks ago were crying for rain have got as much as they want and now share the holiday-maker’s desire for a little sunshine and warmth. On the whole, however, the rural prospects ar e good. In the industrial sphere, too, they are improving. With the close of the engineers’ dispute the unemployment lists have appreciably diminished, and quite a few substantial contracts hav e come our way. The miners are still in a restive " condition, for with falling prices and slackened demand their wages have dropped even when they can get work. 'Their leaders are doing their best to discourage the idea of denouncing the national wages agreement, for they know that bad as the conditions are they cannot- with any hope of success enter upon a struggle for better. All they can do is to wait the turn of the industrial tide, which seems to have begun. LOWER RATES. It is pleasing reading for the citizens of Glasgow that their rates for education and poor relief are to drop by almost 2s a pound. This is due partly to the 7£ per cent, reduction in teachers’ salaries, and partly to the lower food prices, which make a substantial difference in the cost of maintaining the indoor poor. All round the demands of the local authorities, including the charges for gas, show signs of diminution, but Glasgow so far holds the record. Even a small additional sum left to “fructify in the breeches pocket” of the ratepayer helps to stimulate trade. THE PERTHSHIRE WOODS. Among the holidaymakers this week are the members of the Scottish Arboricultural Society, who have selected eastern Perthshire as the scene of their ramble this year. They would protest, of course, that they are engaged on a tour for the scientific study of their industry, but all previous experience will be belied if it does not prove a mighty pleasant jaunt. They have chosen’an interesting area for exploration. In Roman times Perthshire was practically one mass of forest, a fact which proved 110 small embarrassment to Severus, but by the middle ages the county , had been practically stripped, and it was not till the eighteenth century that the famous ‘Planting Duke” of Athol!, far outstripping the legal injunctions to re-afforest the county, set an example to his fellow-proprietors. “Aye bo stiekin’ in a tree; _it will be growin’ when you’re sleepin’” was his motto, and the thoroughness with which he acted on it. is shown by the fact that in his 52 years’ possession of the estates he is estimated to have planted no fewer than 14 million larch plants. His successors, including the present Duke, have had reason to be grateful for his foresight. When it. is mentioned that less than, onefifth of the areju of the county is suitable for tillage it. will be appreciated how large a part forestry can play in its economic development. ROAD IMPROVEMENTS. Under the stimulus of the Road Board and the Alinistry of Transport, the local authorities all over the country are engaged in another important branch of rural development—the developmentof the roads. Big schemes are in progress to make a direct route from Oban to Inverness. obviating the ferry at. Loch Leven . Argyllshire has several projects in hand; Perthshire has resumed the much-needed widening of the Killin road—suspended during the war; Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee are taking measures to get rid of bottle necks and relieve congestion traffic on their approach roads; while Kirkcaldy and some of the other Fife towns are getting rid of their narrow thoroughfares. Apart, from the relief given to the unemployed these enterprises will probably prove remunerative in the end, for they will tend to attract motor tourists with money in their pockets. FISHERIES DEPRESSION.

The annual report of the. Scottish Fishery Board confirms the impression that last year was a bad one for the industry it supervises. The herring trade, deprived of the assistance thp Government had given it, in the two preceding years, had to stand on its own legs, which it was ill-fitted to do with its two best markets —Germany and Russiastill to all intents closed. The white fishing, which depends mainly on home demand, was no better. Prices fell, but. working expenses did not to any appreciable extent, and the result can be, seen in the many names of fishermen which appear in the bankruptcy lists. The total value of the fish landed was just over five millions, being over a million and a-half less than in 1920. As one would expect, the number of sailing boats steadily falls. It has gone down to more than a third in the last, eight years while the number of motor boats lias multiplied b v four. The fact that , the total number of craft, declines is explained by the larger size of the steamers. "GRANDAIOTIIERLY LEGISLATION. It is an open question whether the Government has public, opinion behind it in its effort to prohibit street trading. A year or two ago it passed an Act making it illegal to employ youngsters for that purpose, but it was discovered that that did not prevent them carrying on business on their own account. So the Aot is being amended It is quite certain that no legislation will ever keep boyj and girls off the streets—it is unfortunately the only playground of many of them--and one would think they are less likely to get into mischief if they have something definite to do than if they are idle. Not- a few of our successful men would admit that they lost nothing by being out at an early age to supplement the family income, by delivering newspapers in the early morning, or running errands for a neighbouring shopkeeper.

THE WHITE HART, GRASSMARKET. In the course of the demolition of the White Hart Inn, in the Grassmarket of Edinburgh, the workmen discovered a silver orown and five copper coins of the age of Queen Anne—vivid reminders of the past glories of that hostelry. During the memory of most living it has been a rather commonplace public-house, but until the railway age it was one of the centres of the city’s traffic. It. was the starting place cf the coaches for . Lanark, Linlithgow, and Peebles, and it must have been a fine spectacle when the great broad thoroughfare under the shadow of the Castle Rock was thronged with the coaches and their scarletcoated drivers. The White Hart was also the recognised he idquarters of the Highland lairds when they came to town, and past its doors “Bonnie Dundee'’ must have ridden. Word.worn and his sister Dorothy slaved there in the course of their Scottish tour. ‘“Cheap and noisy” was their verdict With the coming of the railways the White Hart wa® left stranded, and its crowning ignominy oame in 19X6, when the Germans on their solitary rail on tile Scottish capital, dropped a bomb on it and partially w recked it. Since then it has remained closed. The days of the Grassmarket as a place for residential hotels is gone, and of “pubs.” it has enough and to spare, even for the «. roll thy attendants at the adjoining markets. AIRS. FOR ADVOCATES' LIBRARY. G*e collection of valuable manuscripts in the ownership or custody of the Faculty of Advocates has been notably enriched by the presentation of the collection of the late bir Archibald Campbell Lawrie \s a young advocate called in 1860 Lawrie imbibed from Cosmo Tunes an interest in the ancient documents of his native land, and when he returned after sening a quarter of a century as a judge in Ceylon he resumed his old hobby. As the result he published several volumes which established his reputation as a charter scholar. His death interrupted his work, and he bequeathed ins material to Mr -Maitland Thomson, late < nrator of the Historical Department of Hie Register House, llis state of health has prevented him from doing much with tile manuscripts, and t.liev have now been handed over, contained in 15 folio volumes to the Advocates’ Library, in the hope that some student will be attracted by the task ot editing them. They date from the days of Malcolm the fourth and William the -Lion. It is a job for a young man, for the material U abundant. A FAMOUS BURYING-GROUND. Uasi .'•in turd ay rhe Old Edinburgh Club spent the- afternoon in exploring the Old Cal ton burying ground under the leadership of Mr I{. p. Skinner, of Donaldson’s Hospital jhe ground of “Caiddtoun” was bought by the 1 own Council from Lord diaiinerino in 1724, and for the next 120 years or more, until it was intersected by the erection of the Regent Bridge, it was the place of interment of most of our famous citizens. Mr Skinner lias compiled a list of the men who lie there —judges, artists, actors, authors, and ministers. David Hume, the historian; Lord Gifford, the founder of tne lectures: the founder of Daniel Stewart*a ilcge: Sir John Steel, the architect; Blackwood and Constable, the famous publishers ; Earl Haig’s grand-uncle; lord President Insrlis; the parents and grandparents of R. L. S. (whose chapter on the Cal ton is one of the most vivid of “Picturesque Notes ’): and the author of “Rab and His Friends’’ are among the most notable names. Ihe cemetery has long been closed, and lew of the thousands who pass its gates daily have the least idea of the historical interest that lies within them. Mr Skinner’s list will be a valuable contribution to local records.