FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3993, 23 September 1930, Page 79

FROM NORTH OF TWEED.

A LETTER TO OVERSEAS SCOTS.

By

Robert S. Angus.

EDINBURGH, July 24

Dumfries is the scene this week of the Highland and Agricultural Society’s show, at which the rivalry of stockbreeders reaches its annual climax. It is 100 years since the society first went to Dumfries, and those who are apt to think that our agriculture is a nonprogressive industry can correct that impression by contrasting the figures of 1830 witluthose of 1930. Not only has the increase been almost tenfold in many departments, but many new activities have made their appearance. As was to be expected, the feature of this year’s show is the collection of Galloway and Ayrshire cattle, breeds whose importance is becoming every year greater in view of the contribution which dairying must make if prosperity is to return to agriculture. Another sign of the times is the farther growth in the application of mechanical aids to agriculture; they show that the successful farmer has to be also something of an engineer. The veteran Sir Herbert Maxwell, still taking a keen interest in affairs, recalls in a reminiscent article that “ we old fellows can look back to a time before the first reaping machine clattered through our fields, hay and corn harvest being cut with the immemorial scythe and sickle as in the time of the Pharoahs.” It is probable that farming has made more advance during the last century than in the 30 centuries that preceded it. FARMING DEPRESSION. Considering the circumstances, it was a tolerably cheerful company that assembled at Dumfries. The “ Highland ” week is the occasion of his annual holiday for many a farmer; it gives him an opportunity of meeting old friends and of seeing the latest developments in his business. On the whole, stockbreeding is the section of agriculture which is best holding its own in these trying times; certainly it is doing much better than arable farming, which is again threatened by a changeable season of too much drought followed by too much rain accompanied by cold. The townsman is apt to feel aggrieved if his holiday is spoiled by too much wet, as has been the experience of the Glasgow holiday makers this week; for the farmer the consequences are far more serious, and unless we get abundance of sunshine

during the next three or four weeks the outlook will be even gloomier this winter than it was last. THE CALTON SITE. Again the Calton site is metaphorically blazing. The Office of Works, anxious to please everybody, seems in a fair way to pleasing nobody. Its plans, which were were disapproved by the Fine Arts Commission, have been examined by the Town Council, ■which thinks that they are not so bad and that with a little alteration they might be suitable. So it looks as if the controversy will have to be begun all over again. I suspect a certain amount of professional jealousy in the strident demands that the plans should be thrown open to public competition. The Government reply is that the best architects will not enter into a competition and that those who do are more anxious to produce an imposing exterior than an interior which will be convenient for use as public offices. All that seems to be settled is that the Sheriff Courthouse should be transferred to the Calton and that the National Library should remain where it is. Neither of these arrangements is ideal, but if they are the best possible there is no more to be said. So far the Government has declined to let the public see the plans, and that in itself both shows and induces a certain lack of confidence. SIR AUGUSTUS ASHER. Though Sir August Asher’s death was no surprise to his friends who knew how ill he was, it is none the less deplored. I have seldom known a man who had more grace of manner and appearance. To us of the present generation the athletic prowess of his youth was known by hearsay, though some of us still remember his playing cricket for rhe Grange Club when he was approaching 50. But those who came in contact with him when he was county clerk of Midlothian had personal reason to be grateful for his unstudied courtesy and unobtrusive efficiency. To his official duties he added those of chairman of the Scottish Rugby Union, the Scottish Cricket Union, and the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association, and he was also for some years secretary of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Though one of the most modest of men, he was fond of telling how, when he was captain of a team of Scottish gentlemen which defeated Gloucestershire, W. G. Grace described him at the match after dinner as the worst bowler he had ever seen. When W. G. came to Edinburgh a year or two later Asher bowled him with his second ball. The great man walked up the pitch and shook hands with his conqueror. But I can imagine the disappointment of ten spectators. FORT AUGUSTUS ABBEY.

This week the Benedictine monks at Fort Augustus celebrated the jubilee of their settlement at the foot of Loch Noss. Their monastery occupies the site of the Hanoverian fort built by General Wade in 1729 and of the Duke of Cumberland’s headquarters from which, after Culloden his, soldiers laid waste the countryside. It was in a dungeon there that the Lord Lovat was confined before he was taken south to be beheaded on Tower Hill. But they were happier memories than these which occupied the thoughts of the large company assembled to celebrate 50 years of religious and education work. It ineluded Father John Cummings, now Abbot of York, the only survivor of those who in 187 G took part in the work of clearing the site now occupied by stately buildings. The Fort Augustus monks have founded two establishments on the other side of the Atlantic, and they hope in the near future to open a school in Edinburgh “ worthy,” as Abbot Knowles said, “ of that great educational centre.” Among the guests were Archbishop Macdonald of Edinburgh and Sir David Oswald Hunter-Blair, both of them former Abbots of Fort Augustus. THE MORAY ESTATES.

I understand that the Earl of Moray, following the example of the Duke of Montrose, has decided to sell a large part of his property to meet the death duties to which he has become liable on succession. He has put in the market the beautiful old family estate of Kinfauns,

near Perth, which has been in the ownership of the Grays for hundreds of years, and to let the home farms of Doune and Donibristle. The famous herd of pedigree Shorthorn cattle is to be dispersed. The Earl will make his home at Darnaway Castle, Morayshire, and even there he has had—greatly to his regret—to reduce the outdoor staff. S. R. CROCKETT.

Does anyone, I wonder, read the works of S. R. Crockett nowadays? The question is suggested by the announcement that steps are on foot to erect a memorial to him somewhere in the Galloway scenery in which he laid most of his stories, but whether the site is to be New Galloway, his birthplace, Heston Island—the scene of “ The Raiders ” — Kippford, or Auchencairn, has still to be decided. In any case it will be modest in character, and the Galloway Associations of Glasgow and Edinburgh, which are in charge of the scheme, have asked that subscriptions should be limited to ■ss. Crockett gained much through following in the wake of Stevenson, but unlike him he worked too rapidly—stimnlated perhaps by over-praise and high prices—for his output to be of uniformly high quality. But at his best he could tell a story excellently and he had a deep affection for the “ Grey country,” which he helped to give a place of its own in fiction. I have not put his stories to the test of re-reading, but my impressions of their freshness and vigour are still vivid. SCOTTISH LEGISLATION.

In the closing -weeks of the session Parliament is finding time to put through several Bills of Scottish interest. Mr George Mathers, the Socialist member for West Edinburgh, has had in his first session the rare distinction of securing the passage of a Bill, a small but useful one legalising the adoption of children. Another, for which the Duchess of Atholl has been largely responsible, amends the law dealing with illegitimate children. A third, not of exclusively Scottish application, is the Bill prohibiting barbers’ shops to open on Sundays. Its sponsor has been Mr James Stewart, member for St. Rollox, -who belongs to the trade. He has made several previous attempts to secure the reform, and his success now is due in no small measure to his personal popularity. Indeed, he is so grateful to the Tory friends who helped him in both Houses that his fellow-Socialists chaffingly warn him that his adherence to his Socialist faith is in danger. .