parish for more than thirty years. More recently, other pits have been sunk to work the same section of minerals at Meiklehill, now being carried on by James Wood (Limited); at Easter Gartshore by Messrs. J. & W. Wallace; and at Woodilee by Mr. John A. M'Callum. These works employ a very large number of men, and are of immense importance and value to the town and parish of Kirkintilloch.

And more important still is the future prospect of their continuance, which we regard as most hopeful. There cannot be a reasonable doubt that the valuable minerals which have long been worked in the eastern part of the Kelvin valley by Messrs. William Baird & Co., and in the western end by the Carron Company and others, will extend all through the middle of the valley and underneath the town of Kirkintilloch. The best seams, however, in the bulk of this unworked area lie at great depths, and will require large capital to win them. But this will be forthcoming sooner or later when the present more easily reached seams are getting exhausted.

It may truly be said that Kirkintilloch was never on a sounder basis of prosperity than she is at present, as the established industries have already filled up all the house accommodation. She is one of the very few towns having canal and railway accommodation so convenient, and the future development of her mineral wealth is an inheritance for her chileren.

We have only one other industry to notice, viz. :

SHIPBUILDING.

Startle not, gentle reader, neither rub your eyes, nor say, "I never knew that Kirkintilloch was a seaport town." If you did not know before, you know it now, and it will be proved to your satisfaction before we have done.

It is true that Kirkintilloch shipbuilders have never figured in the Glasgow Herald with statistics, and we are unable to state the out-turn of vessels for this year, or compare it with previous years. We can only say that a good many new vessels have been built from first to last, and a vast amount of repairs done, but all in a quiet, unassuming Kirkintilloch way, and with no attempt at empty boasting or display.

At the launch of each vessel, however, we can assure our readers that everything was done in the most correct and orthodox manner. There was "the numerous and select company assembled"; the lady who "gracefully performed " the ceremony of christening; and there was the correct adjournment for lunch. Our conservative friends-who have a monopoly of loyalty-will be glad to hear that "the usual loyal and patriotic toasts were always given -two especially being on no account whatever omitted, viz., "The Queen," and "The Magistrates of Kirkintilloch;" and if the volume of applause following each had been measured, truth might have awarded the latter toast to have had the greater amount.

Besides a long list of iron lighters, which would only be burdensome to the reader, the following screw steamers have been successfully built and launched :-Helena, Lizzie Gardner, Adelaide, Lyra, Delta, Arthur, Dina, Albert, Scotia, Argo, Neptune, Orion, Analine,* the last being a fine tank vessel built for Messrs. Ross & Co., of Falkirk, to carry oil, these gentlemen being so convinced of the excellence of the work turned out at Kirkintilloch that they sent the order there, passing by all the shipbuilders of the Clyde, Belfast, and elsewhere.

* Since this was written, the s.s. Nelson has been added to the number.

Of the foregoing ships built at Kirkintilloch it might have interested some of our readers had we been able to give the length, breadth of beam, horse-power of engines, etc., etc. It may suffice to say that they are all substantial, sound, and honest ships, each capable of carrying a good bellyful. And let no carping critic from Lenzie or Waterside say with a sneer, "Oh! only canal scows, after all!" No, good friend, you are wrong there; they are all oceangoing steamers, or were, for some are lying in the bottom of the ocean. But it would be a hard task for you to hunt up the rest. You would find very few on the canal-you would require to go to Belfast, Larne, Coleraine, and other ports in Ireland, and you must also go to Montrose, Aberdeen, and other harbours in the north of Scotland.

All these steamships have been built under the superintendence and direction, and, indeed, after the designs, of Mr. John Thom-manager for Messrs. J. & J. Hay— who is the father of shipbuilding in Kirkintilloch. Long may he live, and may his shadow never grow less!

Considering what has been already accomplished, it is a matter of regret that the Forth and Clyde Canal was made so small, as it cramps and confines the energies of our Kirkintilloch shipbuilders, which might otherwise have expanded to any extent.

But, "there's a good time coming, boys, wait a little longer." Wait till the Forth and Clyde Ship Canal is made, and then "you shall see what you shall see.”

Fortb and Clyde Ship Canal.

A WELL-KNOWN townsman of Kirkintilloch fifty years ago was wont to say when a statement of his was disputed, “I saw it in the public prints, sir," and this he regarded as conclusive. The Forth and Clyde Ship Canal must, on the same reasoning, be a true and sound fact, for it appears in "the public prints," not only in common penny papers, but in a most respectable and ably-written publication, which all may see for themselves in the Glasgow Mitchell Library, where it is registered and laid up in the archives of that valuable institution. And let no one regard the idea of such a canal as a wild chimera till he has "read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested" the book in question.

The unfortunate circumstances attending the Panama Canal, and the unforeseen difficulties in making the Manchester Ship Canal, have, for the present, shelved the Forth and Clyde Ship, but it is not a sanguine prediction to say that all three will be made in time.

The marked success of the Suez Canal, the Forth and Clyde Canal, and the river Clyde itself-which, as far as Glasgow is concerned, is neither more nor less than a canal -will, by-and-bye, encourage capitalists to "try again."

Without going into the reasons for making this canal, and the inducements for capitalists to embark in it—which are ably set forth by Mr. J. Law Crawford, in the book now referred to, we may shortly say that the route has been regularly surveyed, and plans and sections made by

*

* The author says of the estimated revenue from the proposed canal:— Considering the numerous sources from which the revenues of the Forth and Clyde Ship Canal would be derived, an annual income of £600,000 could be safely anticipated."

Messrs. Crouch & Hogg, C.E., who also give a report on the scheme. Reports have also been made by Messrs. James Duncan, Twechar; and Mr. John Todd, mining engineer, Kilsyth, relative to the minerals on the proposed route of the canal.

The following extract from the work of Mr. Milne Home, LL.D., F.G.S., on the estuary of the Forth and adjoining districts, viewed geologically (1871), is so interesting that we give it verbatim :

"This, probably, is the proper place for noticing the very remarkable discovery made by Mr. Bennie and Mr. Croll of a deep trough which traverses Scotland at its narrowest and lowest part, viz., the district which connects the estuaries of the Forth and the Clyde. The discovery is one of great interest in various aspects, and chiefly in regard to the agent or agents concerned in the formation of the trough. Messrs. Bennie and Croll describe the line of the trough as running close to the canal which connects the two estuaries joining the Clyde at or near Bowling, and the Forth at or near Grangemouth." "The trough is stated to be now filled with Pleistocene strata, viz., beds of sands, gravel, and boulder clay-the boulder clay occurring in numbers of beds, and thickness of beds, unusually great. At Grangemouth the bottom of the trough is ascertained by boring to be about 260 feet below the present sea level, and the depth of the trough, where its sides consist of rocks, is said to be about 118 feet. At the end next to the Firth of Clyde the bottom of the trough is said to be about 200 feet below the sea level. At one place (near Garscadden) the north side of the trough is actually an overhanging buried precipice. The width of the trough can be less easily ascertained than the depth, all the borings for minerals being, of course, vertical. But at Grangemouth, where the trough passes through coal workings, the width is considered to be about 600 yards. At Kilsyth Mr. Bennie states that the trough or 'channel (as he terms it) seems to have been split into two branches by the Barrhill, one going round it by the north, and the other by the south.' 'The south channel,' though the main one, is narrow, perhaps not more than 300 or 400 yards across, and is flanked by great hills of trap which rise over it to a height of several hundred feet, yet the channel between them maintains a depth of from 90 to 120 feet, and