Scrotch Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 43, 15 February 1889, Page 3

Scrotch Notes.

Lord Salisbury's forlorn hope of aid from the women of the kingdom in maintaining the existing condition of things, if not of succeeding in measures that are positively retrogressive, hat been rapidly adopted by the Unionist party generally. At Kelso, for example, Mr. Beton Karr, M.P., enlarged on this tneme xt a meeting of the Primrose League, held there the other day in the Corn Exchange. This hopeful party, however, appear to forget how ardent women have always been in the cause of beneficial reforms, and it should be the object of the sex now to show them that they are con» BTvative only in what is good and just. If Lord Salisbury and his party, relying on the noise made here and there by a handful of fin* ladies in connection with the Primrose League, introduce and carry a Bill to confer the franchise on women, they may find to their cost that they have made a mistake. There will be a new application of* Edmund Burkes famous Bimile of the oxen and the grasshoppers when the influence of the women of the masses is openly manifested. If they have kept silence while the Primrose dames have beta chattcriDg they have still been something more than nonentitiei. A great deal of interest attaches to the approachirg election for the Qovan division cf Glasgow. The constituency is looked upon as a Conservative ptrongbold, and a Qladstonite victory there would be an event of great importance. The Conservatives, it is belie Ted, will put forward as their candidate Sir John Pender. The Gladstonian candidate is Mr. Wilson, who has already taken his stand boldly on the Home Bnle platform, and declared himself determined to advocate justice for Ireland. He is actively supported by Mr. Campbell Bannerman who, for a short time, wbb Chief Secretary under the Gladstone Government. This gentleman, in a speech recently made by him, called on the electors to restore the light of Liberalism in Govan, and show themselves worthy of tboae principles of freedom and the spirit of nationality which were the common heritage of Scotchmen, An organ contest is at present being conducted in a iather lively manner at the West Free Church, Broughty Ferry. There is a majority in favour of the introduction of the instrument. A strong minority, however, resists. As a sample of the arguments used, the following written on a voting-paper by a protesting member it worth recording :— "The West Free Church being a well sun* cburcb, there is not the slightest excuse for getting the help of a machine to do the praise of G< d for the congregation. The deacons may »s well propose a speaking machine to be put on the pulpit to do the praying and preaching. Possibly they may consider the present service* too vulgar and unattractive. So why not also go in for a littV millinery and ask the choir to dress in their bed-gowns, as some genteel churches do. However, all this tomfoolery would not be he plain and simple worship of their fathers, but possibly some of the present generation are wiser than those gone before." The Lord Advocate, replying to Dr. Clark ia the Honse of Commons, has put an end to all hopes of compensation on the part of Hugh Matheson of Clashmore. The argument used was rather a carious one. It was to the effect that, although Matheson had been arrested and punished in mistake for a man named M'Leod, several men had been engaged in the iiot, and Matheson was very like M'Leod. There were no adequate grounds, therefore, for admitting thHt a miscarriage of justice had taken place. As to the 13 jurymen who had expressed their opinion that the man had been unjustly punished, they were not specially qualified to pronounce on the matter. Service at St. Gilea' cathedral, Edinburgh, the other Sunday was interrupted by a woald-be confessor who cried aloud, " Prince Albert

Victor^is my king, and John the Baptist is my lord and saviour, Amen." The particular twist in the brain that gives prominence to • prince not remarkab c for much, and apparently needing a good deal of lickiDg into shape before he is fit to play the king in any decent way, is remarkable. There are not wanting people who think that it is in unreal realms only His Royal Highness is ever destined to reign. At any rate, as things are, there is very little interest attached to him, and nobody seems to consider him in relation to the futnre. This madman was a rare exception to a general rule. Sheep-farming hBB been of late fir from prosperous in Scotland. Owing to higher prices for lt>mbs and draf .-ewes thisyear.it was believed that an improvement would be evident. It is stated, however, (hat, on the other hand, a decrease in the number of lambs, as well as in the price of wool, counteracts the benefits thus obtained, and leaves much still to be desired. A windfall coming to a gipsy tribe, owing to the industry of a former member, is an event not often chronicled in the history of the strange and doubtful people referred to. It is said that the family of a late queen, known as Either Faa, or Blythe, and frequenting the neighbourhood of Kelso, has, nevertheless, been so favoured. They arelbe heirs, if rumour speaks the truth, of a man who, being banished lor some breach of tribal law, went to California, where he first traded as a pack-pedlar, and afterwards became the owner of land in which rich mines were discovered. The property has been left by will to the poorer members of the family, of whom there are said to be some 36. The Crofters' Commission, sitting in the Lochinver district, has elicited evidence which shows that on some of the Duke of Sutherland's estates arrears were small because work had been provided for the tenants at 2s a day, of which half went to pay arrears due. It was shown that in several instances rents had been paid out of money sent home by friends in America, Africa, New Zealand, and other countries. Houses had been sometimes thus erected at a cost of £100. Tenants had been evicted without compensatien, fiaed for getting married, and in several other ways ill-use t and plundered. On Lady Matheson's estate in Lewis an average reduction of 36 per cent, has been given in rents, and one of over 80 per cent, in arrears.