FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3803, 1 February 1927, Page 18

FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

Robert S. Angus.

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS.

By

EDINBURGH. December 9. We are now at the height of what may be called the show season. This week it is motor cars; last week it was cattle, canaries, and de ; and simultaneously there is a perfect epidemic of bazaars and sales of work designed to capture those persons who are on the Lunt for Christmas presents. The fat stock show brought the usual influx of farmers and breeders, who showed no signs of that lack of prosperity of which they so frequent'? complain, and my agricultural friends tell me that the quality of the animals, especially of the Scottish breeds, shows a steady improvement. That view is confirmed by their success at the Smithfield show in london this week. But it is a sign of the times that, while cattle attracted thousands, cars brought tens of thousands to the Waverley market, and I suppose the result will be that by early summer tire roads will be still more crowded. It is a standing mystery to me how men who. in former days would never have thought they could afford to run a horse and gig, are now able to run an opulent motor car and to incur all the incidental expenses involved. It certainly shows no sign of that lowering of the standards of life which, the experts assure us, is necessary if we are to recover from the burden of the war.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. Mention of agriculture reminds me of an interesting talk I had the other night with Sir John Gilmour, the Secretary of State for Scotland. I indicated not long ago that he is dissatisfied with the present condition of higher education in agriculture. But ho has also clear views as to how it can be improved. He is anxious to see a definite allocation of work as between the present institutions, to prevent overlapping, and to see that the teaching is related closely to both the practical side of farming and scientific research. Work of world-wide importance in animal breeding is being carried on at Edinburgh under Dr Crew, a fact which the Rockefeller trustees have Recognised by a gift of £30,000; Aberdeen, through the Rowatt Institute, is engaged on problems of seed improvement; and Glasgow, it is hoped, is now on the eve of a big step forward by accepting the offer of the Ayrshire mansion house of Auchencruive as the headquarters of its dairying’classes. The controversy as to t!.e transfer from Kilmarnock seems now on a fair way towards settlement. Sir John Gilmour, as a practical farmer, realises that not only is research remunerative but that without it Scottish agriculture cannot hold its own. THE LOCAL VETO FARCE.

Though they are not all concluded, the polls which have been taken under the Scottish Temperance Act confirm the impression that the system is a costly farce, on which the licensed trade and its opponents spend a great deal of time, energy, and money without bringing 'about any substantial change. The Park Ward of JGUasgow, which has few public-houses now,

has decided to go “dry,” but the only effect will be that those who want a drink will have to go a little further for it. Edinburgh, on the other hand, has shown that the prohibitionist cause has lost ground on the whole and that the public interest in the controversy is waning. As to the results in the few places which have abolished public-houses, the two sides are as far from being agreed as they are in the United States of America. DR WHYTE OF ST. GEORGE’S.

On Sunday morning the memorial which the congregation of United Free St. George’s Church, Edinburgh, has erected to the memory of the Rev. Dr Alexander Whyte, for so many years its minister, was formally unveiled. The ceremony was performed by Sir Frederick Whyte, who has just returned from the world tour he and his wife have taken after the conclusion of his term as first President of the Indian Legislative Assembly. One would have thought that Dr Whyte had sufficient monument in the many books he wrote and in the traditions associated with his church. But it is natural that the generation which knew him should desire some visible reminder, not so much to themselves, as to their successors, of the man whom they loved and reverenced. The lemorial, which stands in the entrance hall of the church, was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, R.S.A., and has its chief feature a medallion portrait, with an inscription to “A Great Preacher, an Inspirer of Youth, a Lowly Follower of Christ.” AN ITINERANT PROFESSOR.

-Professor H. J. W. Hetherington, who is about to vacate the Chair of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University to become vice-chancellor of Liverpool University, must be the most travelled university teacher of his age. Only 38 years of age, and graduating at Glasgow in 1910, he has alieady been on the teaching staffs of Glasgow, Sheffield, Cardiff, Exeter, and back again to Glasgow—all in 15 years. His subject is philosophy, but he has enough contact with realities to be a firstclass administrator, and he was on the secretariat of the International Labour Convention at Washington in 1919. He does not take up his duties till next Sep--1 tembei, bi? which time he will have been three years in Glasgow. DR JAMES BEGG’S SON.

Old memories are stirred by the news of the death of Mr F. Faithfull Begg at Hove in his seventy-ninth year. He was the son of the famous Dr James Begg, of Edinburgh, who “came out” at the Disruption of 1843 and up to the end of his long life was a staunch defender of what he regarded as orthodoxy in doctrine and practice. He was one of the last opponents of instrumental music in churches. His family, perhaps owing to a natural reaction, did not follow in his narrow path. One of his sons, assuming the name of Walter Bentley, became a fairly well-known actor, and, if I am not mistaken, still carries on business as a theatrical agent. Mr Faithfull Begg, after a few years in New Zealand, became a stock-broker in Edinburgh, and afterwards in London' and prospered exceedingly. At one time he was a keen politician, and for five . years he represented the St. Rollox Division of Glasgow in 'the House of Commons. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain’s tariff reform campaign, and hd had the distinc-

tion of carrying to a second reading the first Bill for the enfranchisement of women —a cause of which his aunt Emily Faithfull was an early leader. He was a witty speaker, with a wealth of good stories, and, until indifferent health forced him to retire about a dozen years ago, was a welcome figure in business and social circles. THE SCOTTISH ZOO. The Zoological Society of. Scotland, whose success has been a striking refutation of the doubts surrounding its foundation, is now embarking on another important development at its gardens at Corstorphine. A much needed extension of about 40 acres has to be laid out and £25,000 is needed for the puropse. The success with which larger sums have been raised in the past under Lord Salvesen’s enthusiastic leadership forbids any doubt as to the new enterprise. But it will entail a considerable effort. The Prince of Wales has agreed to head the list of patrons. The Scottish Zoo has achieved, some remarkable results not merely in attracting visitors, but in the breeding of animals which it was supposed would not stand our northern climate. . It is one of the best arranged and equipped institutions of the kind in the world. MASONIC PROSPERITY.

In spite of the coal stoppage and the general industrial depression, the Grand Lodge of Scottish Freemasons is able to announce another prosperous year. Its aggregate funds increased by £14,000 to £319,550, the greater part of them held for the benefit of the annuitants and the orplii-ew. "Lord Blythswood has been in--Xaiied as Grand Master and, with so influential a set of officers as he has, the craft should continue to make progress Our lodges are much more democratically conducted than they are south of the Tweed. In this connection I may add that the annual appeal on behalf of the Royal Scottish Corporation which exists -for the benefit of Scotsmen and Scotswomen down on their luck in London met with a hearty response this year, but the money is all needed, and Mr T. R. Mohcrieff. the secretary, is always glad to hear of new subscribers. AN EDINBURGH BOOK.

My veteran friend, Mr John Geddie, who completed his seventy-eighth year two days ago, and is still in harness in daily journalism has found time —I cannot imagine how—to produce another book about Edinburgh.. He has already written about “Romantic Edinburgh,” “The Fringes of Fife,” “The Water of Leith” and “The Stevenson Country” and there is probably no man living who has a more ultimate acquaintance with the historic buildings, closes and streets of the Scottish capital in which he has lived and worked for over 50 years. On this occasion Mr Geddie has written on “The Fringes of Edinburgh,” and 'though he never strays far outside the municipal boundary, he is able to take his readers to many sequestered nooks as well as to others which the tide of house-building threatens to alter beyond all recognition. He writes about Corstorphine, Colinton, .Cramond, the Water of Leith, Newhaven, Trinity and Liberton. His lightly, carried and genially transmitted erudition is agreeably supplemented by Mr Arthur Wall’s illustrations in colour and line.