SCOTS NIGHT

Southland Times, Issue 20014, 30 October 1926, Page 8

SCOTS NIGHT

GREAT COUNTRYMEN ADDRESS BY MR STRavuAN NATIONAL HISTORY RECALLED ‘These are the men who set up our national ideals and the men of whom old Scotland feels proud. They are the ones who in their youth played on the strings of her heart and in her memory they live still,” said Mr T). A. Strachan, M.A., at the conclusion of his address on “Eminent Scotsmen” to members of the St. Andrew’s Scottish Society yesterday evening.

An address by a Scotsman to Scotsmen on the subject “Eminent Scotsmen” is sure to draw a large audience in any of the British dominions, and in no place more so than in New Zealand. This was amply demonstrated at Stobo Hall yesterday evening when a large audience gathered to hear Mr D. A. Strachan, M.A., on this topic. The speaker was introduced by the Chief, Mr J. L. McG. Watson, and after several items had been given he called upon Mr Strachan to speak. Mr Strachan said that institutions like Sottish Societies served to keep alive the memories of the nation’s great men. Scotland was a comparatively small country of an area of approximately 30,000 square miles with a population of four millions of people. It was not however the large and populous nations which produced the greatest men as history proved. Scotsmen could be found in every country and old families in such nations as Spain and Italy proudly bore names as Macdonald and Kirkpatrick when the original Scottish blood had long been lost through years of intermarriage. The chief aim of the British Empire in the past had been nation building, and when one spoke of the British Empire one thought not only of Englishmen, but of Scots, Irish and Welsh, all of whom had borne an honourable part in the extension of the nation as it was now constituted. Scotsmen had been wonderfully successful in the settlement of far-off lands, and it was well that their descendants should know something about the early history of the country and the lien who in a great measure helped to make it famous. Those young people were really/not conversant with the doings of their ancestors with the possible exception of names such as Burns and Scott. In a way the society had an important function to fulfil in strengthening the bonds of Empire, and all true Scotsmen felt it incumbent upon them to cultivate a knowledge of those who had gone before. Americans attached an immense importance to the fact that Shakespeare was numbered amongst their ancestors. The fact that that nation had later broken away from the motherland did not alter the relationship. Americans were proud that they spoke the same language and came from the same country which had produced writers like Shakespeare and Chaucer.

The history of Scotland went far back into the mists of time. Extracts from Roman historians showed that the inhabitants were imbued with indomitable courage and were not as many people supposed a race of savages, but had attained a high state of civilisation. First among the names of Scotland’s notables came that of Duns Scotus, who in 1300 visited the continent of Europe. That great dialectician had immediately been recognised and in every university his name had been mentioned with respect.

Next came John Knox, who held the belief that the children of the nation belonged to the nation, and as such were entitled to receive a good education. For three hundred years his educational system had held undisputed sway. That was the type of man which Scotland produced every now and then. Lord Napier, another Scotsman, had worked out the system of logarithms which was still used by surveyors, astronomers and those in other branches of mathematical work. William Paterson was the founder of the Bank of England, and that institution remained to-day as a monument to his financial genius. Adam Smith was the founder of- the system of political economy which had been put into practice by Pitt during his ministry. The speaker then touched on James Watt and his invention of the steam engine, or more correctly, his producing an efficient engine. Scott and Burns were too widely known to require comment, and were closely followed by Carlyle, who had made history real and dramatic. His was a gospel of duty. Many had doubts as to whether R. L. Stevenson was as great a man as he was said to be. He was one of the foremost writers of his time. He had vividly represented the thoughts and mind of the boy, but his genius did not end there. He could write to a much larger audience as instanced in “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.” Campbell’s war songs were the finest ever produced, and he held a position from which he was never likely to be ousted. General Haig had been the ruler of more millions of men during the Great War than had any other man previous to that time.. Lyell had set out the order of the strata, and his work in that direction had stood the test of time. Wallace, together with Darwin, had laid the basis of evolution, although his personality had been sunk in that of Darwin himself. Sir Patrick Manson and Sir Ronald Ross had investigated malarial bacteria and had made possible such a great work as the building of the Panama Canal. On a wider scale it could be said that as the result of their work one-third of the globe had been rendered habitable. Carnegie was of a type fairly common in Scotland. His work extended in the establishing of free libraries throughout his native land. Lord Strathcona had opened up Canada by means of the Canadian Pacific Railway, while Livingstone, Baker and Moffat had opened up Africa. Dr Bruce had earned fame for himself through his exploration trips to Arctic and Antarctic regions. “These.” said the speaker, “are only a few of Scottish notabilities. The examples serve, however, to show the different types of intellect which the country has produced. The race originated in a land of granite and won food from hard and sterile soil, and it was only natural that some of the hardness of the land should enter into their souls. They have, however, always loved truth, freedom and democracy. They have stood against repeated blows of fate, but have developed a spirit of optimism which the present generation will carry still further. These are the men who set up our national ideals and the men of whom old Scotland feels proud. They are the ones who in their youth played on the strings of her heart and in her memory they live still. My personal aim in Southland has been to foster a love df education in the minds of the children and to impress upon them they work always in the Great Taskmaster’s eye. We never know from whence the next outburst of genius will come. There is something divine in the nature of every man and with this memory something nobler yet may be achieved.” During the evening items were given as follows—Misses C. McLaren and Helm, Messrs Barlow, Leng-Ward and Riwi Kingsland songs, Mr W. Buchan recitations. A vote of thanks to the speaker and the performers, proposed by Chieftain John Miller, was carried by acclamation.