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expect that, with a single exception, these are proceeding with the minimum of friction.

It is not many months since the announcement of

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the association of the great Belfast company, Harland & Wolff, with the firm of Caird & Co.

This Greenock ship

yard was practically established by the late Mr James Tennant Caird. On his death in 1888, the business devolved upon his four sons-Mr Patrick T. Caird, Mr Arthur Caird, Dr Robert Caird, and Mr William Caird, of whom the two

first-named survive. While according to arrangement between parties these gentlemen remained as directors of the reconstituted company, Mr J. W. Kempster was transferred from the Belfast yard as managing director at Greenock.

The one tangible body of opposition emerges from what may be called the domain of sentiment. The area occupied by the Old West Kirk and the graveyard are wanted for the shipyard, which now so impinges upon the sacred precincts that to-day the vast hull of a P. and O. steamer overshadows the whole length of the church buildings on their eastern side. This opposition is being raised principally by a number of lairholders, church officials, and members of the Burns cult, and is to some extent being organised at each of these sources. Preliminary to other action, opinion of counsel has been asked as to the legality of interfering with the historic building and kirkyard for such a purpose. The shipbuilding firm offers to rebuild the church (as it now stands) on a site farther west, and to convey thence also the dust and memorial stones or tablets of Highland Mary and others to whom is attached a specially sentimental or or historical importance. The following letter from Messrs Caird & Co., shipbuilders, Greenock, to the Rev. Adam Currie, minister of Old West Kirk, was submitted to a meeting of trustees a week or two ago:

26 Owing to the pressing necessity which has arisen for the increase of merchant shipping, and consequently for the rapid construction of ships, it has become imperative to enlarge our shipbuilding yard, which, owing to insufficient depth, prevents the construction of the larger class of steamers now called for. The principal cause of our being restricted is due to the fact that the North Parish Church and the old churchyard surrounding it lie between the west part of our yard and the other property which belongs to us fronting Crawfurd Street, so that it appears that the only way in which we can effect the requisite extension will be by our coming to an arrangement for the removal of the church and churchyard to another site. To enable this proposal to be considered, we would mention that in proceeding with such a scheme we would be agreeable to provide another site to which the church

and graveyard could, with all care and reverence, be transferred. . . We would undertake at our own expense to take down the church with the utmost care, and, so far as practicable, to re-erect it stone by stone, so that when again erected it may be the identical church, its windows, ornaments, mural tablets, vaults, &c., being carefully set aside and replaced in their exact positions, and the whole work to be carried out as expeditiously as possible, under proper supervision, to the entire satisfaction and in the interest of the congregation and of the Presbytery.... We should further endeavour in every way also to meet you in regard to any loss you might be occasioned by disturbance or otherwise. Apart from the considerations mentioned, we feel it must be recognised that the matter is one affecting not only the prosperity of Greenock, but is also one of national importance, especially owing to the unfortunate position in which the country now finds itself in regard to shipping."

The trustees unanimously decided not to entertain the proposal.

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That is the only proposal which has as yet been made public, and it formed the basis of the discussion which took place at the annual meeting of the Burns Federation in September last. The Greenock delegates, however, left the impression that it had been withdrawn, and no other had taken its place.

We understand that the question has been brought before the Presbytery, and that certain lairholders are taking steps to defend their threatened rights. Meanwhile the Federation has appointed a Vigilance Committee to watch the development of events.

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We have pleasure in laying before our readers an epitome of a lecture delivered by Mr J. Fraser Paton to the members of the Greenock Burns Clubs on 20th September last, which deals with the historical associations of the old church and churchyard, and which appeared in the Glasgow Herald the following day :

"It is supposed to have been the first Protestant church built in Scotland after the Reformation. One authority says that it is perhaps the only Protestant church in Scotland that has been honoured with a Royal Charter and confirmed in the privileges of the same by a spccial Act of Parliament. It was one of the earliest

ecclesiastical manifestations in Scotland of the spirit of religious reformation which was appearing in our native land at the end of the sixteenth century.

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"In 1589 James VI., when about to set out to Norway to fetch his bride-who was to become the mother of Charles I. granted a charter to Sir John Schaw authorising him to build a church and manse and set apart a graveyard on his estate at Grinock,' and the approving Act of Parliament was passed on 5th June, 1592. For two centuries and a half that old kirk was the outer symbol of the religious

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life of our forefathers in and around the locality, and out of that time it was the only church in Greenock for 150 years. The New or Mid-Parish Church was built in 1741, when more church accommodation was needed because of the increasing population, and the Old Kirk by the shore subsequently became known as the Old Parish Church, and afterwards as the West Parish Church, which name was retained until 1841. At that time the church had fallen into a state of disrepair, and its accommodation was quite insufficient for the increasing population of the parish. As it could not be enlarged owing to the graves surrounding the walls, it became necessary to build a new church on a different site. Accordingly the West Kirk in Nelson Street was built, and the old church was closed. It stood deserted for over twenty years, and fell into ruin and decay, but still a silent witness of the religious life of the early days of the town. In 1864, by a general sum of money by voluntary subscription, the kirk was restored to its place among the religious activities of the town, and it became the North Parish Church, more familiarly known as the Old West Kirk.

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In the interior there are many fine windows by Morris & Co., Cother, and Ballantyne, of Edinburgh. There is a large window over the Schaw aisle, the gift of Sir Michael Shaw Stewart, Bart. ; above the Sailors' Loft is one erected by subscriptions. As to the famous modern windows of Morris & Co., from the designs of the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones, for all those who love and understand art and symbolism they must prove full of attraction and interest. They are the outcome of a school which was a recession from and a protest against a teaching that was prevalent at that time, that art was merely the outcome of a patient and slavish copying of nature. They are richly imbued with the traditions of art chiefly from Italian and mediæval sources. They are an example of colour' as opposed to mere colours,' and are of an exceedingly high order of excellence. On the subject of the graveyard Mr Fraser Paton went on to say that the two vaults within

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