Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

—;PERTH6 directors, and has a staff of 5 masters, 2 mistresses,and assistants. Stewart's Free School, in Mill Street,is under the patronage of the deacons of the trades incorporations.The Seymour Jlunro Free School, inCaledonian Road, is managed by two life trustees, and 9others, acting ex officiis. There is an Industrial schoolfor girls at SVellshill ; while the Fechney IndustrialSchool, in the same neighbourhood, instituted in 1864with a bequest by Mrs Fechney, is for boys.Perth has a head post office with all the usual departments; offices of the Bank of Scotland, the Union,British Linen Co., Royal, National, Commercial,Clydesdale, and Aberdeen Town and County banks. Itis also the headquarters of the Savings' Banks of theCounty and City of Perth, established in 1838 andcertified under the Act of 1863, 'for the safe custodyand increase of small savings belonging to the industriousclasses ' of the neighbourhood. Sums of from Is.to £150 are received from individual depositors, andmay be withdrawn whenever required. On 21 Feb.1883, there were 19,239 individual depositors, having acapital of £499,074, which with £9476 belonging tocharitable institutions and societies, gave a totaldeposited in the bank of £508,550. This sum includesthe capital inserted for the district banks at Alyth,Blairgowrie, Crieff, Coupar-Angus, Caputh, Dunkeld,Dunning, and Melville. Forty-three insurance companiesare represented in Perth by agents or offices.There are 4 principal hotels, viz., the British, RoyalGeorge, Salutation, Queen's, besides the TemperanceHotel. Among the charitable institutions are the Infirmaryand dispensary, destitute sick society for Perthand Bridgend, societies for indigent old men and women,Perth Ladies' Clothing Society, James VI, 's Hospital,Perth Ladies' House of Refuge for Destitute Girls, 2schools of industry, a society for relief of incurables inPerth and Perthshire, with HiUside Home in Perth,Perth soup kitchen (17,526 portions issued in 1882-83),Murray's Koyal Asylum, the Lethendy mortifications.Among the sporting clubs are Perth Curling Club(with curling pond off Balhousie Street), Friarton andSt John's (of Perth) curling clubs, Perth bowling club(with green on the W of the North Inch), New Club inTay Street, Perth Hunt, Royal Perth Golfing Societyand County and City Club, James Vl.'s Golf Club,Perth Anglers' Club, instituted 1858, Perth FishingClub, instituted 18S0, and Perthshire Coursing Club.Other institutions are the Literary and AntiquarianSociety, with a museum in Marshall's Monument ;Perthshire Society of Natural History, established in1867, with a natural history museum and lecture-hallin Tay Street ; Perthshire Medical Association, a branchof the Educational Institute of Scotland, the Mechanics'library, instituted 1823, the People's Club and Institute,formed to combine ' the advantages of a commercialexchange with those of a place for instruction andamusement '; a literary society, public baths and washinghouse,a model lodging-house, horticultural and temperancesocieties, a city mission, branch of the ScottishGirls' Friendly Society, and a Perth woman's educationalassociation. Four local lodges of Freemasons meet inthe masonic hall at stated intervals. Perth is the depotfor the 1st, 2d, and 3d battalion of the Royal Highlanders,and of the 42nd regimental district, and it isthe headquarters of the 1st Perthshire Rifle Volunteers.The Perthsliire Courier, Farmers' Journal, and ScottishGeneral Advertiser, established in 1809, is publishedevery Tuesday afternoon ; the Perthshire Advertiser andSirathmore Journal, established in 1829, every Monday,Thursday, and Friday ; and the Perthshire Constitutionaland Journal, established 1835, every Monday andWednesday afternoon. The two first are Liberal, thelast Conservative, in politics. Each of the DundeeAdvertiser and Dundee Courier and Argus has a branchoffice in Perth.Manufactures, Commerce, Harlour, etc.—The manufacturesof Perth were at an early period extensive ;and although they have undergone many fluctuations,they are still tolerably important and diversified.PERTHGloves were early and long a staple product, andbetween 2000 and 3000 pairs were annually made,chiefly for home consumption. Side by side withthis manufacture flourished the dressing of sheep andlamb skins to provide the materials for the glovesand these industries were formerly so important asto give name to Skinner-gate, one of the oldest streetsin the town. Both are now quite extinct, althoughtanning is, of course, carried on to an average extent.But the former importance of the Glovers is indicated bythe fact that to the present day the deacon of the Incorporationof Glovers of Perth is, ex officio, a commissionerof supply for the county. The linen trade of Perthrose to great importance in the 18th century, andfostered intercourse between the merchants of the cityand the inhabitants of Germany and Flanders. A reportin 1794 stated that this was the staple trade of thetown ; and that linen and cotton goods to the value of£100,000 were annually produced by about 1500 loomsin the city and suburbs. The manufacture of cottonfabrics superseded that of linen during the wars withFrance ; but about 1812-15 received a severe check.Similarly the manufactures of umbrella-ginghams,checks, pullicates, and imitation Indian shawls andscarfs have all been introduced into the town, flourishedawhile, and sunk into insignificance. The spinning offlax and tow yarns was commenced about 1830 in a millwith 1250 spindles ; and the manufacture of a mixedcotton and woollen fabric in 1844. Ship-building beganto be carried on in 1830 ; and in 1837 the first iron steamvessel built on the E side of Scotland came from a Perthyard, but the industry has now dwindled, only one saUingshipof 110 tons having been built since 1877. Amongthe other shrunken industries of the place publishingshould be mentioned. In the latter part of last centurya printing press in the town was remarkable for thenumber and excellence of its publications, among whichwas the Enmjclopoedia Perthensis, said to have been at thetime the largest work produced in Scotland out of Edinburgh.At present the chief industries of Perth are dyeing,and the manufacture of ink and gauge-glasses—thelast the most recent. There are four dyeworks at Perth,the largest of which was erected mainly in 1865 in theN part of the town, and is the largest establishment ofthe kind in Scotland. It has agencies in all parts ofthe country, and dyes goods from even remote parts ofEngland and Ireland. It draws a plentiful supply ofwater from the Tay by means of 18-inch pipes ; andemploys many hundreds of hands. The making ofgauge-glasses is carried on by two firms ; and of ink bytwo houses. There are, besides, three manufactories oflinen, table-napery, etc. ; and others of winceys, floorcloth,ropes and twine, bricks and tiles, chemicals, etc.One of the linen factories was built in 1868 at a cost of£20,000, and employs about 600 hands. There arealso iron-works, several foundries, four breweries, andtwo mills.Perth was early a commercial centre of importanceand reputation.Alexander Neckam, who died Abbotof Cirencester in 1217, noticed the town in a Latindistich, quoted in Camden's Britannia, and thusEnglished by Bishop Gibson, translator of Camden'swork :Great Tay through Perth, through towns, through country flies.Perth the whole kingdom with her wealth supplies.Perth merchants carried on trade with the Netherlandsbefore 1286 and long after, and visited the Hanse townsin their own ships. Germans and Flemings very earlyfrequented the city in turn ; many settled in it ; andhad it not been for the usual short-sighted restrictivepolicy adopted towards foreigners, would have developedits trade and manufactures even more rapidly and moreextensively than they did. The rebellion of 1745 demonstratedthe convenience of Perth as a focus of tradefor the N part of Scotland ; and after that date thecommerce of the city once more revived, but it has neveragain assumed anything like a leading position amongthe commercial towns of Scotland. In 1840 it was185