The administration of Scot land has been conducted since 1885 by a Secretary for Scotland, and since 1926 by a Secretary of State for Scotland. Soon after the Union of 1707, an additional Secretary of State had been ap pointed for Scottish affairs, and this arrangement continued until 1746, except for an interval from 1725-42, during which Scotland was governed nominally by one of the other two Secretaries of State, but really by Lord Islay, afterwards duke of Argyll. In 1746, in the middle of the Jacobite Rising, the Secretary of State for Scotland was involved in an intrigue against the Prime Min ister, and had to resign. His place was not filled, and till 1885 Scotland was under the charge of the Home Secretary, who was always advised by some unofficial "Minister for Scotland"—in the later portion of the period, the Lord Advocate. The govern ment of Scotland by a law officer, under the supervision of the Home Secretary, was an arrangement which could not survive the wide extension of governmental action and responsibilities which took place in the 19th century, and the arrangement was resented in Scotland. A Scottish National Convention, held in Edinburgh in 1884, demanded the creation of a Scottish Office, and in 1885 an act was passed creating a Scottish Secretaryship. In 1926 the office was raised to the dignity of a Secretaryship of State, during the tenure of office of Sir John Gilmour.
Scotland was only slightly affected by the military operations of the war; considerable damage was done at Edinburgh by a Zeppelin raid on April 2, 1916, and the remote island of St. Kilda was bombarded by German naval units on Nov. 21, 1918. But, for the first time in history, the main activities of the Grand Fleet were conducted in Scottish waters, from Aug. 1914 to the surrender of the German fleet on Nov. 21, 1918. It was in Scapa Flow that the crews of 7o German men-of-war scut tled their ships on June 21, 1920; some of them have since been salved. The Clyde took a large share in British naval construc tion, and in various districts munition factories came into exis tence—the largest was built at Gretna in 1915. The expansion of industry during the war period and its diversion to unpro ductive activities had effects which were seriously felt after the conclusion of peace. The country, and especially the "heavy" industries in the Clyde valley have experienced the deepest and longest depression of trade in their history, and it is also in the Clyde area that the shortage of houses has been most severely felt. The failure of Scottish local authorities to solve the housing problem led to Government intervention at the end of 1925, and, since then, considerable progress has been made.
Since the conclusion of the World War a great change has occurred in the political complexion of the country. The Representation of the People Act (1918) increased the num ber of electors from 800,448 at the General Election of Dec. 1910 to 2,211,178 at the General Election of Dec. 1918. With the change in the electorate came a break in the traditional fidelity of Scottish constituencies to the Liberal party. In Dec. 1910 Scot land returned 58 Liberal, 11 Conservative and three Labour members; in 1918, when a proportion of Liberals supported the Coalition Government, there were 58 Coalition, seven Liberal, seven Labour and two Independent members. After the break-up of the Coalition in 1922 the Liberals held 28, Labour 29, and Unionists 15 seats; in 1923 the figures were 22, 35, and 16 respec tively; and in 1924 the Liberals were reduced to nine and Labour 24, while the Conservative holding was increased to 40. During 1922-24 Motherwell was represented by a Communist.
The electorate in 1929 had increased to 2,937,067 and of the 74 seats Labour held 37, the Unionists 22, and the Liberals 14, while one was represented by an Independent Prohibitionist.
Local Veto Experiment.—An important experiment in social legislation was tried in 1920, in accordance with the pro visions of the Temperance (Scotland) Act of 1913, which pro vided that local authorities, on the receipt of signed requisitions from electors in their areas, should take a poll on three alterna tive resolutions dealing with the number of licences to sell alco holic liquors in an area, viz., (I) that there should be no change in the system of licensing; (2) that the licensing court should grant not more than 75% of the licences previously in existence; (3) that all licences in the area should be withdrawn. Polls were taken in 584 out of 1,221 polling areas; in about 300 of the re maining areas no licences were in existence in 1920. Five hundred and nine areas voted for no change, 35 ,for limitation, and 4o for no licence. The contest of 1920 was fought by the Temperance Party upon a prohibition programme, and the result was rather a repudiation of prohibition than an indication of satisfaction with existing licensing conditions. Subsequent polls taken on requisi tions made in accordance with the act of 1913 have not seriously modified the results ascertained in 1920, and it has been generally felt that the act requires amendment, especially in the definition of an "area" as a single ward in the larger burghs, which must be treated as a whole in order to render possible a more equal distribution in any reduction of licences ; in Glasgow, the with drawals of licences after the polls of 1920 were chiefly in middle class residential districts.