FROM NORTH OF TWEED

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 47

FROM NORTH OF TWEED

A LETTER TO SCOTTISH EXILES.

B y

Robert S. Axgus.

EDINBURGH, May 31. Now that the General Assemblies of the Churches are over for another year and the fathers and brethren, t-o say nothing of their wives and daughters, have returned to the places whence they came it may be of interest to take a glance at the outstanding features of their deliberations. From the social point of view, the meetings were spoiled by the weather, for when it was not raining hard there was a biting wind, and many of the dainty frocks which had been prepared for the Holyrood garden parties and similar festivities had to bo discarded in favour of warmer year. They are great occasions these social gatherings, when men who sat at the same bench at school and college but are now stationed at different ends of the country foregather to discuss old times or meet on the golfcourse and the bowling green to test each other’s prowess. For the ladies of the manse, Assembly week (which lasts nearly a fortnight) is also an occasion for renewing old friendships and for sampling the wares of the Princes street shops, what time their spouses are (as they are told wh«n they get home) wasting their money in the second-hand bookstalls of George IV Bridge or Chambers street. Then there are a host of ancillary church meetings about missions, music, theology, law, history, and so forth. Altogether a busy time, which alike in anticipation and recollection, beguiles the drudgery of parochial work during the. rest- of the year. CHURCH UNION. In the Assemblies themselves—l mean the Arid Kirk and the U.F. for the “Wee Frees” stand si.:l ... ly and rather selfrighteously aloof--ire main topic of interest was the debate of Union. That movement has been carried appreciably forward. The Established Church was virtually unanimous, for the small minority which sought to alarm the Assembly over the proposals of the Haldane Commit,tee for converting the teinds into a fixed capita! sum and devoting any surjilus to tne purposes of the Church at large, found so little support that they virtually retired from the contest. In the United Free Assembly the minority was larger, though still small, but it was notable for the inclusion of the Rev. Dr John Young, formerly Joint Convener of the Union Comniiit.tee. The strict “voluntaries” are still a force though a diminishing one, and I shall be surprised and disappointed if in the end they do not recognise the trend of the times. THE MODERATORS. Both Assemblies were fortunate in their Moderators, both of them professors—Dr Milligan, of Glasgow, and Dr Cairns, of Aberdeen, who, in the course of the week, was unanimously appointed Principal of the College there in succession to the late Dr Iverach. Dr Cairns made the important proposal that in anticipation of formal union, which has been under discussion for 15 years and will take a year or two more to consummate, the Churches should set up a council of co-operation. The Free Church has declined to take part in the movement, on the ground that the leaders of the other Churches are not sound in the “fundamentals,” but in the two larger bodies the scheme has been warmly welcomed. Dr Milligan had a pleasant meeting with his former students, who made him a handsome presentation in recognition of the honour conferred upon him by the Church. ASSEMBLY V ETER A NS. Churchmen are notoriously a long-lived race. One of the finest speeches in the Union debates was made in the U.F. Assembly by Dr Archibald Henderson, formerly of Crieff, who, though he is 85 years of age showed that his frail little frame contains a spirit of undiminished enthusiasm and vigour, relieved by a genial humour. He is not disposed to be content with a Mount Pisgali view of union. He hopes to live to enter the land of reunion. Dr John Cowan, the U.F. law agent, is only a year or two his junior, and has completed 50 years’ service. Dr Russell, the Convener of the Church of Scotland Committee on the Highlands and Islands, was again able to submit its report, and as he has been 70 years in the ministry he must be well over 80. Among the younger veterans, if I may be allowed such a phrase, is Lord Sands (better known as Sir Christopher Johnston), who succeeded the late Lord Balfour of Burleigh as unofficial lay leader of the Church of Scotland. THE CHURCH PROCURATOR. In succession to Mr William Watson, who as Lord Advocate is no longer eligible to be Procurator of the Church of Scotland, the Assembly elected Mr William Chree, preferring him to Mr Robertson Christie, who, it will be remembered, made his name as a junior counsel for the Free Church in the great litigation of 22 years ago. Mr Chree is a son of the manse, his father having been a minister up Kirriemuir way. As a conveyancing lawyer he has long enjoyed a big practice. The Procuratorship carries a modest salary, but it brings in a good deal of incidental work, and its holders invariably find their way to the bench in the course of a few years. THE CHURCH AND T EMPERANCE. With few exceptions the ministers of the United Free Assembly are total abstainers themselves, and there was. therefore, little difficulty in securing from them a unanimous declaration in favour of the Scottish Temperance Act being used when the ballot takes place this autumn to secure a “No license” majority. In the “auld kirk,” where there is more variety of personal habit, some difference of opinion was manifested. and in the end an amendment was carried suggesting that the electors ought to have an additional option of voting in favour of a. reformed public-house. In support of that movement there lias been formed a Scottish Public-house Reform League, with Lord Salvesen, Sir Richard Irodge, and representatives of the Church of Scotland, the Episcopal Church, and the Roman Catholic Church at its head. They are to send a deputation to the Scottish Secretary, who, unless I am mistaken, has long been a believer in the system of disinterested management. MR LLOYD GEORGE IN EDINBURGH. Tt was a shrewd move on the part of Mr Lloyd George’s friends to bring him to Edinburgh during Assembly time, for on no other occasion could he get an audience so representative of the whole of

Scotland. Of course, his topic was nonpolitical, or, at any rate, non-party —an appeal to the churches to use their influence in the cause of international peace. He had two magnificent meetings, one in each of the Assembly lialis. and he could have had several more of equal dimensions if there had been time and accommodation. He toll! me afterwards that lie had seldom ■ had such thrilling meetings. DR ALEXANDER SMELL lE. We have had four Assemblies this week instead of the usual three, the fourth being that of the Original Secession Church which has been meeting quietly in its local church, attracting little attention except from its own members, but honoured by official visits from the moderators of the two larger churches. In the course of its sittings, the Original Secession lost its bestknown member in the person of Dr Alexander Smeliie, who died at his manse at Carluke after a long illness. Though he had many tempting offers to join other churches —he was spoken of as a possible successor to Dr Alexander Whvte at United Free St. George's he remained faithful to the small communion in which he had been born. But by his writing and preaching he exercised an influence far beyond it. He was the foremost divinity student of bis time, and his literary promise was fulfilled by the many devotional liooks he wrote. The best-known of them is ‘The Men of the Covenant.” a series of biographical sketches of the leading Covenanters,” forming a history of the Scottish Church during the persecution. Dr Smeliie was no narrow sectary, and love for the Church of his Fathers did not shut out from his mind the vision of a reunited Scottish Presbyterianism. LABOUR AND THE LEYAS. During the parliamentary recess four of the Scottish labour members paid a visit to tne Lewes. Their stay was too short, and too much taken up with public meetings for them to have a real opportunity of seeing things for themselves, hut l gather that they have returned south with some of their preconceived notions considerably shaken. They see that land settlement by itself is no remedy, and that it must be accompanied by a development of the fishing industry and still more by a system of well-organised emigration. They tell me that the most urgent and immediately practical reform is better protection from the depredations of trawlers, which systematically ignore the three-mile limit and ruin the fishing around,s. That at least is a matter on which there can be no difference of opinion. TRADE TROUBLES. A Dundee jute manufacturer whom I met two nights ago tells me that another lockout is practically certain. The employers claim that the arbitration to which they reluctantly consented as to the looms in tbo works of Messrs Cox Bros, has been settled in their favour, and that while the workers were willing to accept it. they are prevented by one trade union leader who aims at dominating the iiidustr-. They regard the struggle as one for the control of the trade and are not disposed to submit. On the other hand, the trouble in the Lothians in regard to the hours of the farm servants has been settled at the last moment bv an agreement to go to arbitration. A stoppage at this season would have been disastrous for all concerned. PROFESSOR JOHN CHI EXE. Edinburgh medicine has lost a great leader of former days by the death of Professor John Cbiene, who for many years held one of the chairs of surgery. He was c-ne of the assislants of Lister, whose methods and principles he carried oil after his departure, in spite of a good deal of hostility on the part of the older men. Chiene was a first-rate teacher and i - rime favourite with the students, with whom his geniality made him in great demand for (heir social gatherings. He rendered important service during the South African war. His son is one of our foremost surgeons. THE LAST OF THE EMPRESS. Many will learn with a pang of regret that the Clyde training shin Empress has finished her career. During recent vears the number of admissions has been declining. and still more markedly the proportion of those who have taken to a seafaring life had fallen off. During ihe 50 years of the Emnress and her predecessor over bOOi) boys have, been trained, and of these one fourth served in the war. The need for economy is the sole reason for the withdrawal of the support of the Scottish Education Department, which takes the view that the needs for training of this sort can be sufficiently met by the training ship Mars on the Tav. There is nothing for the association to do but to wind up its affairs and distribute its surplus funds.