FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3714, 19 May 1925, Page 10

FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

A LETTER TO SCOTS OVERSEAS. By Kobebt S. Angus. EDINBURGH, April 3. No apology is needed for again making the industrial position and outlook the opening topic of this letter. Every leader of trade who speaks in public finds it necessary to relieve his feelings by warning the public how serious the situation is, very much in the spirit of the patient who thinks his troubles are more easily borno when he is able to speak about them. Happily, all the signs are not depressing, and the pessimists do not have it all their own way. The position is worst in the heavy industries—coal, steel, and shipbuilding. Tho export of coal during the first two months of tho year is down by one-third in volume and value as compared with last year, but it is fair to add that we are still above the level of 1922. The shipbuilding output on the Clyde for last month was one of the heaviest recorded in any recent March, and if the prospect of two Australian cruisers oeing ordered in Clydebank should be fulfilled tho assistance to employment will be invaluable. The steel trade is not without hope that its possibilities in house-building will be appreciated to the mutual benefit of the industry and the public, and the decision of the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway to order 100 new locomotives, costing £750,000, in the Glasgow area is a broad silver lining to the largest cloud. In other industries trade is by no means slack, and, for 6ome reason which I am unable to explain, jute manufacture is abnormally brisk. AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE. The Scottish Secretary was in Edinburgh this week inaugurating the Agricultural Conference, which, more successful because more persistent tuan his English colleague, ho has brought into existence. With an intimate knowledge of the subject, Sdr John Gilmour does not share tho view of Mr Lloyd George that this is “the worstfarmed country in the world.” On the contrary, he rightly holds that Scottish agriculture is, in the main, on a sound basis, yielding the farmers a good living and the workers a decent wage. Depending less on cereals than they do on the other side of the Tweed, our farmers have suffered less by the vagaries of last year’s weather, except that the barley-growers are finding it difficult to dispose of their produce to the distillers owing to its poor condition. The chief grievance of the Scottish farmer at present is the prospect of having six months of summer time each year. Tho frosts of April and tho dews of’ September create difficulties, but these are not insuperable. A CENTURY'S MAP-MAKING. There is, as far as I know, no natural reason why Edinburgh should occupy the prominent place it does in British mapmaking. It must lie due to tho skill and energy of those engaged in the business. Congratulations are therefore justly owing to Messrs W. and A. K. Johnston on the attainment of their centenary voar. It was on Christinas Day, 1825, that \Villiam Johnston. at the ago of 23, sot up business on his own account. The firm made its name and fame by it* physical atlas, which illustrated the geology, hydrography, meteorology. and ethnology of the world, and was the first of its kind published in this country. Messrs Johnston produced in 1861 the first physical globe, 13 Inches In diameter. The founder of the firm became Lord Pro vost of the city, and wae knighted. Unfortunately, the last member of the family died four years ago, but tho spirit of the business has undergone no change. Of its

200 employees, 31 have been with the firm for over a quarter of a century. CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS. The Government is hoping to get through Parliament this session a Bill for the reform of Circuit Court procedure. At present, the meeting places are fixed jv statute. It is proposed to transfer the power to the judges. It is revealing no secret to mention that the principal aim to avoid the necessity of holding a court at so inaccessible a place as Inveraray. That picturesque and historic village on Loch Fyno is 20 miles from a railway station, and from every point of view inconvenient. No doubt the Duke of Argyll will have something to say to this threatened further inroad upon the dignity of the town which lies at his castle gates. Lord Dunedin ha* introduced a useful Bill which facilitates the process cf striking defaulting solicitor* off the roll. AN ANCIENT DAME. Lord Cockburn would have found on appropriate and striking addition to his vivid portarit gallery of Scottish ladies if lie had known the Hon. Mrs Bontine who died in London this week at the age of 97. She was, in many respects, a sister of those shrewd, sharp-tongued, alert-minded dames whom Lord C«ckburn knew’ in his boyhood. It was a source of amusement, if not of pleasure, to her when her elder son, Mr R. B. Cunninghame-Graham, then an M.P., was sent to prison along with Mr John Burns for being concerned in a Trafalgar Square riot nearly 40 years ago. She disliked convention in opinions, manners. or dress. The disparity of namo between mother and son is explained bv the curious family custom that the heir of the bouse bears the name of Bontine and assumes that of Cunninghame-Gjaham on succeeding to the family estates lne». In the way have mostly been sold bv the present owner. Mr Cunninghame-Graham, who i® (or was) a Socialist of sorts, has ".one the less a pride in his araistocratm linear, and though he has not renewed liis father's attempt to have j" ra I el, ] dared the holder of the triple Earldom of Monteith. Airth and Strathern. lie would promptly re=ent a claim bv anyone else To these barren honours He is almost too picturesque a furore to , be ’ O 'U to h „! own age and country and would have or P on^tho°South American plains of whidt at. on Monteith. ’’Between him and hi™ the ties of affection strengthened as born grew older. the LAIRD of ARDVORLICH There have been rejoicings on Lock Earn side this week in celebration of the majority of Mr John Alexander M'Laren Stewart, LairdUf Ardvorlich. The family has been concerned in many of the stormiest epi sode3 of Scottish history for several centuries and it is 500 years this since since the head of the family had to flee to Ireland after burning Dumbarton, in revenge for his father and brother hav.ng been put to death there by order of James the First Readers of the “Legend of M ° n nhved n remember the prominent part played ™ that story by another member of the family. In more modern times the Ard vorlich Stewarts have been prominent in the military and civil service of India. During tho Mutiny, the head of the family, his wife, and their infant - son were murdered, but through the faithfulness of her ayah the infant daughter escaped to become in later years Lady Ramsay of Banff, and mother of the present Duchess of Atholl. The House of Ardvorhch is picturesquely situated on the south side of the loch. One of its treasures is a large gem of white rock crystal, bound with four silver bands of ancient workmanship, and lone regarded as a talisman which gave any water in which is was dipped the virtue of healing all sorts of cattle diseases. “G. K. C.,” LL.D. Much the most interesting item in the list of new honorary graduates of Edinburgh University is the name of Mr G. K. Chesterton, who is to become an JLL.D. That he should be proposed by the Senate is an indication that we axe less bound by academic convention than is sometimM alleged. The burly figure of “G. K. C., when he appears in his robes, is assured of a boisterous welcome from the student*. The other names include General Bruce (tha leader of the Mount Everest Expedition!, Siir Alexander Grant (who recently made so handsome a gift to the University), Principal Grant Robertson (of Birmingham), Sir Harold Stiles, and Dr Charles Horae* Mayo (the eminent American surgeon). GLASGOW’S BENEVOLENCE. In spite of its industrial depression, Glasgow can still find money for charity. This was strikingly shown at the annual meeting of ~ the Royal Samaritan Hospital for Women, which, in addition to a surplua of £4400 in ordinary income, had extraordinary revenue including a bequest of £16,000 and the proceeds of a bazaar which yielded the magnificent sum of £78,417 in aid of a new building. This must be nearly • record bazaar. Even tho employees’ contributions, raised by weekly pence, were up by £650. Within the last two years, for three of its small hospitals, Glasgow has raised a capital sum of £200,000. EDUCATIONAL CONGRESS. Arrangements are being completed for the World Conference of tho Federation oI Education Associations to Ix 3 held in Edinburgh next July. A local committee is eo-operating with tho American headquarters of the federation, and it is expected that about a thousand delegates will attend from all parts of the world. Hie Prims Minister told me a few weeks ago that hs hopes to pay a visit to the conference. W« prido ourselves in Edinburgh that educas tion is ono of our staplo industries, and that wo have some claim to he regarded as the world’s educational capital. However that may lx l , official and unofficial workers are putting their best foot foremost to make tho gathering a success, both socially and professionally. Tours through the Scott country and down the Clyde have been organised, and I am authorised by the local committee to say that nothing on their part will be left undone to give tho visitors the time of their lives.