FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 8

FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS.

Bt

Robert S. Angus.

EDINBURGH, December . 2. With -a celerity that was unexpected in the circumstances, the Scottish coalowners and miners reached agreement as to the terms on which work should be resumed, and by the beginning of next week it should be in full swing. Wages at the start are to be the same as before the stoppage and the only present change is an addition of an, hour to the working day. Whether these terms can be maintained after the spurt needed to rejplace exhausted coal stocks, is doubtful, I but the owners have given proof of their t good intentions, and these, it may be hoped, the ' men will appreciate. Mr Robert Smillie, the veteran leader of the Scottish miners, who,- if he had been still president of the Federation, would never have allowed it to drift into complete defeat, has given the men some good' advice—to make , the best of the terms, unpalatable as theyare,’ let the" trade Bettie down for a few ye’ars of peace. Tile Scottish owners..- are clamouring for a temoyhl of the restriction on the exports on which they mainly depend,’ but I gather that the Government 'ia determined that home industry must Move its wants diet before anything jis . offered to Che [foreigner. Like a limb which Has .been long in. disuse, the trade, is resuniShg itS^fUhctioiw''a'‘little painfully,' but

with the toughness which British industry has shown during' the last seven months the situation should soon be normal. ■The trade outlook. It is natural and perhaps beneficial that the paralysis of these seven months should be followed by a reaction' of optimism, taking the form of over-san-guine estimates of the trade outlook. TJyat the accumulation of arrears now to be overtaken will give a temporary stimulus is certain, but the trying time will come when that influence has passed off. .During November the' only launch on the Clyde was a small coastal motor boat; the failure to put a single overseas craft into the water is unique within living memory, and it needs little imagination to realise what that must have meant in unemployment, not merely in the shipbuilding yards, but in the steel works and the scores of engineering shops which produce auxiliary plant. Shipowners (for whom the importation of coal provided an unexpected windfall) are now coming forward with the building' orders they had been withholding till the industrial •ky cleared, and at the moment the prospects are distinctly encouraging. On the whole the outlook for the Christmas season is brighter than at one time seemed possible. ‘ FISHING DEPRESSION. ’ That report, however, does not apply to the fishing industry. The boats which went to the English east coast for the herring season have had a bad time, and some of the men'have had to be sent I home to the ' Hebrides by the poor law authorities without the earnings on which [they normally depend to carry them over

the winter. The continual paralysis of the Continental and particularly the Russian market, A hich used to. buy to the amount of about 3J millions* a year, is a serious factor which seems likely to remain for some time. Mr D. T. Jones, the exceedingly efficient Welshman who presides over our Fishery Board, reminded us, in a* Rotary Club address the other day, that the community would greatly help the fishermen and benefit itself if it would realise the great value of : fish as a food. If ever there was a home industry*with a right to c juragement.it is that of fishing, on which depends so large a population scattered round our deeply-indented coast line. WATSON’S COLLEGE. NEW SITE. The Edinburgh Merchant Company has now definitely arranged to acquire’ Merehiston... Gastie School - and grounds at Morningside as a site for the new George Watson’s College wlwn the present building is vacated to make room for extension of the Royal Infirmary. It may >seem odd that a ...roperty which has been giveir up by one school as too small should be acquired for another school with twice or thrice as many pupils. But the Merchiston School is residential, and the grounds include its playing fields, whereas the Watsonians have their recreation ground at Myrefieldr There is thus enough room for the new building. It is hoped that the sixteenth century building, George Napier’s old house, where he invented logarithms, will be preserved. , The residents in tliei neighbourhood of Merchiston are relieved that the'danger of. the site being occupied by tenements has been averted and sentii..ent ally there • is ' much to be. said;, for. preserving the' educational 'traditions of the place. It is not so aeees.sible as Lauriston, but it is easy to believe

that nothing nearer and suitable was procurable. - ... i WORKERS’ WELFARE. Mr William Harrison, chairman of the Inveresk Paper Company, the young Edinburgh solicitor whose rise to eminence in the industrial world has been spectacularly rapid, is evidently not one of the “hardfaced” type of employers. He has devised ' for his workers at Musselburgh a profitsharing scheme to be administered by employers and workmen, and he has in hand a welfare scheme which is to provide playing fields, swimming baths, gymnasium, and so forth. Mr Harrison declares frankly that some employers are oppressors, and that the workers must have trade unions to protect them. He has succeeded in evoking an excellent spirit in his own staff. The companies with which he is associated have a capital of about 12 millions sterling, and as he is only a little over 40 the achievement is remarkable. I am glad to notice that, .in connection with the raising of capital for the dye-works at Perth, arrangements are being made for the. employees to become shareholders by buying their holding in instalments. While it would be foolish to exaggerate the importance .of profitsharing, it has an effect even greater than the financial, and it is 5 an indication of the new spirit which it is hoped to develop in industry. - EDINBURGH’S CENOTAPH. “Having been again refused its first choice in East Princes Street Gardens, the Edinburgh Cenotaph Committee, after much searching, has unanimously recommended that the memorial should be erected opposite the west door of St. Giles Cathedral, where the Duke of Buccleuch statue now stands. It is odd that in a city with so mafiy- sites visible from a distance it should be necessary to choose one which, though in a main thoroughfare, is huddled in by high buildings. Besides, the decision, if confirmed, will only raise another difficulty—where to put the Buccleuch statue, which is much above the average merit of such statues, and commemorates a notable man. As I have said before, we have a knack of getting ourselves into a tangle on site questions in Edinburgh. But on reflection 1 am inclined to think that the choice for the cenotaph is a good one—at the most interesting point in the “historic mile,” at the door of our principal place of worship, and almost within sight of the Castle. The more visible memorial of the war will be provided by the Castle scheme which is now approaching completion. QUARRIER’S HOMES. I make no apology for again mentioning the work of the Quarrier Homes at Bridge of Weir, whose proud claim it is that it has never turned a destitute Scottish orphan from its doors. Fifty-five years ago the work was started in a humble way by William Quarrier, an almost illiterate .Glasgow workman, and although it was.feared that the disappearance of his forceful personality would cripple the enterprise, it has gone on expanding since his death. During their existence the homes have trained 18,480 boys and.girls, well educated and sound in mind and body, who would otherwise have been doomed to a life in 'a Glasgow slum. A third of the pupils have emigrated to Canada, and almost without exception they have done well. The revenue of the Homes since their foundation has been nearly two millions, and the remarkable faet'is that the whole of it has been received without collectors, advertisements, or other public appeal -with the exception of the annual pamphlet containing the account of the year’s work. I have heard William Quarrier himself declare that many a night he had gone to bed not knowing where the money to provide next day’s food for his hundreds of inmates was to come from, and yet that it had always been forthcoming. The Homes are one of the greatest miracles of modern philanthropy, GLASGOW’S TRAMWAY MANAGER. A simmering dispute, a relic of the general strike, has now culminated in the resignation of Mr James Dalrymple, the general manager of the Glasgow tramways. He refused to reinstate about 300 men who quitted their posts, and in that attitude he was upheld by his committee. The recent elections, however, gave the Labour party a majority on the committee, and though its decision to reinstate the men would have been overridde. by the corporation, Mr Dalrymple has resigned rather than continue to work under a com--mittee which will not support him on what he deems a crucial matter. He has accordingly decided to exercise his right to retire under the corporation’s superannuation scheme. A SANER SUNDAY.

By a substantial majority the Corporation of Glasgow has decided that the children’s swings in the public parks shall be available for use on Sundays. The proposal was met by the usual clerical and Sabbatarian objections, but these were overruled. How anyone who is familiar with the spectacle of children playing about the crowded streets and “close-mouths” of Glasgow on’ a Sunday afternoon can think that they would not be safer and healthier in the fresh air of one of the public parks passes my comprehension. As Bailie Barbour, a woman magistrate, pointed out, Glasgow has a world-wide reputation " for the ricketiness of its children, and Anything that tends to improve that condition should be welcomed. SIR GEORGE BAXTER. The bearer of a name held" in much honoui in the Dundee district died this week in the person of Sir George Baxter, Bart., of Invereighty. For many years he was head of the firm of Baxter Brothers, knowi throughout the world for its linen and jute products, but most of his activities were devoted to public work. The son cf Mr W. E. Baxter, member for Montrose Burghs and a junior Minister in Mr Gladstone’s Government of 1868, he was a Liberal until the. Home Rule split of 1886, and thereafter, he became an enthusiastic Unionist.. Tliree times he'tried ,to enter the. House of Commons, but the' electors decided otherwise. He was an .indifferent speaker and was seen to better‘ advantage iu administrative work.. His. main interest was..the University College of Dundee, with which -he /had: A .family connection and' of which he, had ."been a director since, its inception' and many -.■years . chairman. There po.hetT the . barbnietcyi .; \