Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/659

Rh GLASGOV The river has been the fruitful source of the city’s greatness. As the accessibility of the water- way became greater year by year, so the commerce and the industries of the city developed, and the material wealth increased. Glasgow, too, is fortunate in being the centre of an enormous coal and iron ﬁeld, in the working of which she has greatly beneﬁted. Her industries, now very numerous, are re- ferred to in detail below. They embrace almost every species of manufacture to be found in Great Britain; and this variety is probably the reason for the all but uninterrupted prosperity of the city, for it is rare that every department of manufacture and commerce is dull at the same time. Her resources are so numerous that she is not much affected by stagnation in one or two branches. But Glasgow has undoubtedly come through one or two crises of a serious character in the course of her industrial career. In 1857 the failure of the lVestern Bank struck a hard blow at her trade and commerce, though it was wonderful how soon she recovered from the heavy loss and the derangement of commercial affairs which were caused by the failure. The American Civil War p.aralyscd the cotton manufactures of Glasgow, as it did those of Lanca- shire; but otherwise it did little harm, and the stimulus that was given to shipbuilding by the carrying trade of the world practically falling into British hands more than compensated for other losses. The close of the American lVar was followed by a period of commercial and industrial activity in the city, which, however, sustained a severe check within the last two years, during which time trade has been languishing everywhere. While enterprising citizens were looking forward with some slight hope for signs of a revival, the collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank on the 2d October 1878 fell upon them like a tlmnderbolt. In a few days after the stoppage it was known that matters were far worse than the most sinister prophet of evil could have imagined, much less foretold. The whole of the capital and reserve of the bank, amounting to close upon a million and a half sterling, was squandered, and nearly ﬁve and a quarter millions besides. The total loss cannot be set down at much less than eight millions sterling, and the most of this enormous sum had gone to support great Indian and colonial ﬁrms, which had been hopelessly bankrupt for years. The inquiry into the affairs of the bank revealed such recklessness and misconduct on the part of some of those who were responsible for its manage- mcnt that the manager and the directors were tried on a charge of fabricating and uttering false balance sheets. They were all convicted, and sentenced to varied terms of imprisonment. Since this gigantic failure Glasgow has been passing through the greatest crisis of its existence. A¢lministration.—The affairs of Glasgow are managed by a corporation consisting of -18 representatives of the 16 wards into which the city is municipally divided, and by one representative from the Trades’ and one from the Merchants’ House. The lord provost is the head of the corporation, and is assisted in his executive functions by 10 bailies. The bailies hear and decide cases in the police courts, aided by assessors, who are local legal prac- titioners of good standing. There is also a stipendiary magistrate who sits every day in the central police court, and undertakes the heavier portion of the cases. The dean of guild court has a certain jurisdiction over the construc- tion of new and the alteration of old buildings. The cwrporation of Glasgow, since it became popularly elected, has shown great and enlightened interest in the welfare of the city. It has during the last quarter of a century acquired three public parks for the recreation of the citizens, and laid them out in an ornamental manner. Within the same period, too, it has undertaken and carried out immense works for a supply of water unequalled in 641 the kingdom, has bought up the old gas-works and supplies artiﬁcial light within and beyond the municipal boundaries, and is at present engaged in bringing to a successful close a series of city improvements on a very large scale. City Improvements.—As the last-mentioned work is the most important upon which the corporation has been engaged since the introduction of Loch Katrine water, and formed the model upon which Mr Cross, the home secre- tary, 'Lframed_ his Artisans Dwellings Act, a slight sketch of the plan upon which it was founded may be given here. The city had grown so fast in population during the present cen- tury that it had become greatly overcrowded, especially in the central portions. From the leading thoroughfares of High Street, Saltmarket, Trongate, Gallowgate, and Argyll Street long narrow closes and wynds penetrated into the densely-built spaces behind. The population in these regions varied from 400 to 1000 per acre, and the dirt, darkness, and foul air in which the poor creatures lived, made their homes breeding-places of fevers and disease of every kind. In some of the worst spots the death-rate was 70 per 1000 per annum. The closes and wynds, besides being dens of disease, were the haunts of the criminal class of the population, who were able to dispose of their plunder and escape the police with comparative ease in these deep alleys, many of them connected with each other by ways only known to the experienced criminal. Seine benevolent citizens made a small effort at improvement about twenty years ago, by buying up one of the most notorious of these closes; but it was not till the City Union Railway was projected that the attention of the municipality was fairly called to the question, or that any step was taken by it. The Union Railway passed through some portions of the old town which were densely overcrowded, and it was suggested by the late Mr Blackie, who was then chief-magis- trate, that the corporation might work in harmony with the railway company, and clear out old and densely-crowded properties, which the railway only touched at certain spots. Mr Garrick, the city architect, drew out improvement plans, and in 1866 an Act was passed by parliament enabling the corporation to acquire old over- crowded loealities, to borrow money, and to levy rates. The improvements contemplated involved the destruction of 10,000 houses, all of them really unﬁt for habitation, but which were ﬁlled by upwards of 50,000 souls. The corporation was bound by the Act to ﬁnd accommodation for the dispossessed when the numbers exceeded 500. In point of fact, the corporation never required to build houses, as private enterprise more than kept pace with the operations of the improvement scheme. By the Act the corporation was empowered to borrow £1,250,000, and to levy a rate of 6d. per pound on the rental for ﬁve years, and 3d. per pound for ten years, by which time it was calculated the whole work would be completed. No sooner was the Act passed than the trustees all of them mem- be1's of the town couueil—proceeded to purchase the properties scheduled, a delicate and difficult task, which, however, was most economically carried out, first by Sir James 'atson, and afterwards by Mr James Morrison, the eonveners. The work of demolition also went on; the densely-built districts were cleared out, open spaces and squares secured, streets driven through huge blocks of building, others widened, till now there is hardly a rcnmant left of the old notorious abodes of fever and crime. There is still a good deal to do, and it may be necessary to get an extension of the time ﬁxed in the Act, as it expires in 1881 ; but up to the present time upwards of 30,000 people have been turned out of their unhealthy homes, and have been provided with better ones elsewhere. So far the improvements have been very cheaply executed. The great amount of demolition effected by the trustees and the railway companies greatly raised the value of building ground in the central portions of the town; and the corporation has been able to sell the properties which it had acquired at considerable proﬁt, after utilizing large portions of them for streets and open spaces. The cost to the citizens will be the rates which ‘have been and are to be levied; but perhaps to this should be added an uncertain amount represented by the rise of house rents. Up to May 1878 the sum raised by rates was £305,867; and, adding to that other three years’ rates, the total amount which the improvements will cost will be about £375,000, £40,000 of which was spent in buying :1 1 1I'l' for the use of the people in the north-eastern district of the city. Public IIeaItlz.—The result of these 1'mpr' wements has been a marked decrease in the mortality. In 1866 Glasgow was one of the least healthy towns in Great Britain ; in 1877 it was nearly as healthy as London. In 1866 the annual death rate was ‘_’9'6 per thousand, and continued slightly rising or falling till 1875, when there was a fall to :?.8'7. This was the year in which the work of the improvement trustees began to tell. _ In 1-3; 6 the death rate was 25'? per thousand, in 1877 it was 2810, and in ‘, —— I