Chapter V.

To Scotland and the North.

After seeing something of London some of us went by train to Scotland. The railways are all in the hands of private companies. In England these do not work to the same extent with one another as they do in Scotland, and tickets are confined to one route, but in both countries passengers can break the journey where they please.

It must be confessed that manufacturing towns such as Sheffield and Leeds are not very interesting to casual sight-seers and that, notwithstanding their great commercial value, they leave on the memory mostly impressions of smoke and dirt; at any rate, this was so in our ease as we journeyed North.

At Garsgill. in Westmoreland, we stayed a couple of days and saw something of English farming. Here is a man of 25. He is a farm labourer. His wages are from 12/ to 18/ per week; but, observe. nothing is found; out of this he keeps himself. A strong girl is paid from £6 to £12 a year. She willingly works indoors or out. In consequence of the cheap labour work is not "rushed" as with us. and what is lacking in expedition gains in thoroughness. The hedges are faultlessly kept. But in the management and handling of sheep they are nowhere. In shearing, often one man holds the sheep while another works the shears. Also, it is usual for one man to lead the horses while another holds the plough. Primitive indeed!

Such is the force of custom that, although the farmers admit that in dry weather it is unnecessary, all cattle are housed for three months during the winter.

Cattle and sheep fetch about double the New Zealand price. Horses in Westmoreland are about the same price as with us. The sheep are mostly of Highland breed. The wool is almost as coarse as goats' hair. They are black faced, have horns, are very hardy, and of about the same weight as our Romneys.

Cattle and sheep vary with the varying conditions of the country. Westmoreland is very stony and hilly, and most of the cattle raised are pure Polled Angus, while throughout both England and Scotland the principal cross is Shorthorn and Polled Angus.

In this English county numbers of old Highland cattle are kept. Their colour is red. with long hair, and long horns. They are rather smaller than the Angus. Here both houses and fences are of stone, and are generally two or three hundred years old.

Another thing English farmers can do and we can't—grow Swedes for stock fattening. Part of their success lies in a better rainfall, and part in the way the land is managed, and part in a rotation of crops. From the railway we saw hundreds of crops, and not a single poor one.

Before leaving Westmoreland a word must be said as to its surrounding scenery. An old castle we passed should be mentioned, "for castles are such curiosities to colonials." It was that of Kendal. or rather the ruins, once the home of Catherine Parr, the last wife of the page 10 much-married Heury VIII. We saw this ruin on the way to the Lakes—there are about twenty in all. The country around is thickly wooded with sycamores and oaks. As everyone knows, Windermere is the largest lake. As for Ullswater and Coniston, it is impossible for an ordinary pen to find words to describe their wild beauty. Even New Zealanders concede that there is grandeur indeed in Lake Wastwater. Boats can be hired on any of the lakes. In the summer months small steamers make daily excursions, carrying from 20 to 50 passengers. Coaches run from the different landing-places between the lakes. The neighbourhood thrives on tourists. That is the industry. In each place there are some very fine hotels.

Grasmere may be called the Literary District, since many famous poets and authors made it their home half a century or so ago. We saw in the churchyard of this place the graves of Wordsworth. Rusk in, and Hartley Coleridge. The oldest church in the Lake Country is that of St. Oswald. The present building can be traced back 800 years. Leaving this Lake District we next stop at Carlisle, near the Scotch border. In the neighbourhood a wall built by the Romans to protect the town from the Picts and Scots still stands, and looks as strong as ever.

In the Museum is a collection of Roman stones, some thousands in all. Their inscriptions give detailed accounts of Roman doings in Britain, accounts which did not figure in their books of history.

At last we reached Scotland's commercial capital, Glasgow. From a distance the city looks a perfect collection of smoking chimney stacks. In order to carry the smoke away factory chimneys are compelled to be 200ft. high. Here we visited the great ship-building yards on the Clyde. Alcohol is still a very serious menace to the stability of the Scotch working classes. It is true more drink is consumed in England, but there it is of a lighter kind. Whisky, which is as cheap as beer with us in New Zealand, is the common drink. The severity of the climate is said to account for this in part. In both England and Scotland it is almost as usual to see women drinking as men.

Just a word may here be offered as to the British Workman. Speaking quite generally, and as a mere recorder of facts, to an onlooker he seems to be narrow, altogether selfcentred, and wanting in all-round sight. In such cities as Glasgow and Liverpool especially, owing to foreign competition, trade of all kinds is very dull. It is putting it very mildly to say that this is every bit as hard on the employer as on the workman. But the latter does not see this, or won't, and insists upon the observance of a code of labour rules according to which a workman only decs about a quarter the amount of work per day that was accomplished 20 years ago, while he draws higher pay. Competition is keener, profits cut down to a vanishing quantity, labour more exacting than ever. In their attempts to "corner" large contractors, on several occasions lately, workmen have counted without their host. He has retaliated and put his contract through with American labour, paying, of course, passages to England and back. Unless there is a good working co-operation between Capital and Labour there is not the ghost of a possibility of things improving. The British workman's grievance is very real, because although his pay is good his employer cannot afford to keep him going more than half-time. Master and man never needed so much as they do to-day a good large fund of common sympathy to fight the common foe—foreign competition. Unless Chamberlain's policy, or something like it, is carried, England's outlook will not be more reassuring as the years roll by. The situation looks nearly hopeless, since there are any number of politicians on the war-path with a party cry—any cry. It is not at all intended to imply that England is pre-eminently the country for such adventurers: in fact, the very opposite is true. But there they are. They swarm in every land. The above is all a digression, and can be taken for what it is worth, and viewed as utterances poured out while visiting various factories in Glasgow. This city is a great centre from which to make trips into the Western Highlands. A visit to Loch Lomond, a lake 21 miles long, with an area of 27 square miles, and a depth in parts of 630 feet, made us feel uncommonly clannish. for its shores were the home of nearly all the clans in their infancy.

But since the history of clans would drive any but the Scotch stark mad. we pass over the subject, but do so with page 11 [unclear: eep] regret. We sorrowfully record the fact that it is an irreverent age. [unclear: n] haps even irreverent ones would find of interest to learn that on Loch Lo-[unclear: ond] itself steamers are built to carry passengers. The clans will peep in not. for on the spot where stood the home of the McGregors there is now a first class hotel; it is the con-[unclear: ting] link between this lake and Lech Katrine; close by is the cave here King Robert Bruce hid for sometime after an unsuccessful brush with the Douglas clan.

To anyone interested in Scotch history the whole district teems with [unclear: laces] and things associated with the wild old clans. In 1724 George I. sent General Wade to report on the district, He found 22,000 fighting clansmen who believed the Scotch Lowlands to be their inheritance. In 1747 the jurisdiction of the chiefs was abolished, roads here made through the country, and [unclear: rts] built. The first to take command of these forts was General Wolfe, who after wards won Canada to our Empire at the battle of Quebec.

From Glasgow to Edinburgh, the distance of about 70 miles is easily reached by train. Sir David Wilkie, who knew European entries so well, said. "Here is combined the architectural beauties of all Italy and Greece." In fact, on all sides this "modern Athens" one hears spoken of as the "prettiest city in the world," at any rate all Scotchmen say sO: of course, Italians might not agree. But it would be worth a long journey to see one more beautiful.

Colleges abound, and they are not empty. In them are to be found students from the whole civilised world. A fine view of the city can be obtained from the Castle, which rises on a rock high above the city. It is so built that before the days of 4.7 guns even Highlanders themselves could only take it by surprise. But the vantage pound for a bird's eye view is Arthur's Seat, a high cone overlooking the town. Parts of 12 different counties can be seen. A fine carriage drive winds round it nearly to the top. On the slopes of this hill the old Scotch hillside services are still held. It may here be stated that Edinburgh is a city of churches, and that two-thirds of the people, are regular attendants. Few visitors leave without seeing the monuments on Carlton Hill. That to Nelson is very fine. It is worthy of note that there are more monuments to the memory of the Prince Consort and Queen Victoria in Scotland than in England.

Holyrood draws great numbers of visitors. Its chief attraction is its connection with the sad story of Mary Queen of Scots. Her apartments remain almost exactly as on the day she left them; great care is taken in preserving everything. Looking back from the vantage ground of time, we now see how the ill-advised connection of the Stuarts with the French Royal Family changed the course of Scotch history.

In 1840 a monument was raised to the memory of Sir Walter Scott, at a cost of £16,000. It is 200 feet high. There is a fine view from the top. It is said to have invited the admiration of the best judges of Gothic architecture in Europe. Another of the sights near Edinburgh is the Forth Bridge. It is nearly a mile and a quarter long, and is 450 feet high, the highest in the world. The masonry piers on which it is built are from 50 to 90 feet under water. It has two sets of rails, so that two trains may cross at once; 10.000 tons of steel were used in its construction. It is painted to check rust. The surface is 25 acres, which takes 250 tons of paint. It was seven years in building, and cost £3,500,000.

While we were in Scotland the decision of the House of Lords was announced in connection with the Scotch Church case; much of the money involved, some millions, is laid out in colleges, churches and manses.

A great number of ministers and their families will be homeless unless the decision of the House of Lords can be upset. The great majority of the nation is opposed to the decision, and feels that the Lords, by ignoring the existing Church, have trampled upon Scottish freedom. The nation is angry, but the ministers of religion throughout the country are working hard to guide their congregations into a right way of viewing the subject. There is a very general feeling that the case is yet a long way from settlement. The hope is growing that ultimately the House of Commons will be able to deal equitably with the matter.

At St. Andrew's we were fortunate enough to see the annual fair or market. People come from all parts, and in this page 12 respect it is not unlike one of our agricultural shows. But the principal business is the hiring of farm servants for the year.