Scotland

Railways.—The first railway in Scotland for which an Act was obtained was that between Kilmarnock and Troon (91 m.), opened in 1812, and worked by horses. A similar railway, of which the chief source of profit was the passenger traffic, was opened be tween Edinburgh and Dalkeith in 1831, branches being after wards extended to Leith and Musselburgh. By 1840 the length of the railway lines for which bills were passed was 1911 m., the capital being £3,122,133. The chief companies were the Cale donian, formed in 1845; the North British, of the same date; the Glasgow and South-Western, formed by amalgamation in 185o; the Highland, formed by amalgamation in 1865 ; and the Great North of Scotland, 1846. By the Railway Act of 1921 the Cale donian, Glasgow and South-Western, and Highland lines were taken over by the London, Midland and Scottish Company, and the North British and Great North of Scotland by the London and North Eastern Company.

Mining Industry.

Goal and iron, generally found in con venient proximity to each other, are the chief sources of the mineral wealth of Scotland. The principal coalfields are Lanark shire, which yields over of the total output, Fifeshire, Ayrshire, Stirlingshire and Midlothian, but coal is also mined in the counties (usually reckoned as forming part of one or other of the main fields) of Linlithgow, Haddington, Dumbarton, Clackmannan, Dumfries, Renfrew, Argyll and Peebles, while a small quantity is obtained from the Oolite at Brora in Sutherlandshire. The earliest records concerning coalpits appear to be the charters granted, towards the end of the 12th century, to William Oldbridge of Carriden in Linlithgowshire, and in 1291 to the abbot and convent of Dunfermline conferring the privilege of digging coal in the lands of Pittencrieff. The monks of Newbattle Abbey also dug coal at an early date from surface pits on the banks of the Esk, but it was not used for domestic purposes till about the close of the 16th century. In 1606 an Act was passed binding colliers to perpetual service at the works where they were employed, and they were not fully emancipated till 1799. An Act was passed in 1843 forbidding the employment of children of tender years and women in underground mines. In 1927 there were 502 mines of all kinds in operation, employing 113,061 hands (87,620 below ground). The total output of coal in that year amounted to tons. The quantity of coal exported in 1927 from the principal Scottish ports was 5,476,722 tons. Since the World War the position in the coal trade has been one of grave difficulty.

Between 1913 and 1927 Scotland lost 39 per cent of her foreign trade, and the inland demand was also below normal.

The rise of the iron industry dates from the establishment of the Carron ironworks near Falkirk in 1760, but it was the intro duction of railways that gave the production of pig-iron its greatest impetus. In 1865 when the industry was at the height of its prosperity, 1,164,00o tons were produced. In 1927 only 692,100 tons of pig-iron were made. In 1905, 832,388 tons of iron ore were raised but in 1927 only 28,345. The ore came mostly from Linlithgow, Stirling and Dumfries.

The oil shale industry is wholly modern and attained to con siderable magnitude after its establishment (in 1851 and following years). Linlithgowshire yields nearly three-fourths of the total output and Midlothian nearly one-fourth. The mineral is chiefly obtained from seams in the Calciferous Sandstone at the base of the Carboniferous rocks. The total production in 1927 was 2,047, 263 tons. In the previous four years production had fallen by nearly 800,000 tons Stirling. Better results were hoped for in 1928, as a result of improved refining methods.

Fire-clay is produced in Lanarkshire, which yields between -/ and of the total output, Stirling (nearly and, less extensively, in Fifeshire, Ayr, Dumbarton, Linlithgow and a few other shires. With the exception of the counties of Orkney, Shetland and Caith ness, granite is quarried in every shire in Scotland, but chiefly in Aberdeenshire, Midlothian, Ayr, Fife and Lanark; limestone is quarried in half of the counties, but especially in Midlothian and Fife ; large quantities of paving-stones are exported from Caithness and Forfarshire, and there are extensive slate quarries at Balla chulish and other places in Argyllshire, which furnishes about three-fourths of the total supply. Sandstone, of which the total production in 1927 was 251,715 tons, is quarried in nearly every county, but particularly in the shires of Lanark and Dumfries. Lead ore occurs at Wanlockhead in Dumfriesshire and Lead hills in Lanarkshire. In 1927 there were produced 4,352 tons of dressed lead ore. A small quantity of zinc is mined in Dum friesshire: over 24,000 tons of barytes were raised in Ayr in and nearly 48,00o tons of Banister, largely in Stirling. The precious metals were once worked at Abington in Lanarkshire and in the Ochils. Schemes for the utilization of water-power are in opera tion at Foyers (where alumina is treated) and Loch Leven, and in process of construction in the Lochaber district (1928).