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The above is a portrait of Mr George Sime, who passed away Wednesday last at the ripe age of 83.
He has had the long connection of 67 years with the firm James Gray & Son, ironmongers, &c., George Street, going first as a boy to James Gray, locksmith, York Lane (the original founder of the business).
THEFT FROM A POLTON GARDENER.—Before Bailie Gibson, in Edinburgh City Police Court yesterday, Robert Copeland (33), residing at 22 Scotland Street Lane, was charged with having, on Friday, 2d October, in Waterloo Place, stolen a silver watch from James Alexander, gardener, Polton Vale, Polton.
In considering the various schemes on which the Town Council have embarked, and the result of their operations, it has to be remembered that all municipalities in the country have of recent years undertaken a great many new functions, and that great difference of opinion has existed, as to whether they were right or wrong in doing so.
Christina Cameron or M’Callum, executrix of the late Hugh M’Callum, asked for transfer of the public-house certificate at 11 East Register Street, held by her late husband.
The usual meeting of the Town Council was held to-day—Lord Provost Sir James Steel presiding.
A letter was read from the chairman of a public meeting held in Greenside, transmitting a copy of resolutions passed at the meeting on the subject of the housing question in Greenside. The letter contained the resolutions which were passed at that meeting.
Beyond the fact that numbers of men are leaving the town for other work, nothing fresh transpires this morning in connection with this dispute from the men's point of view. The communication which came from Graham Hunter from the masters’ point of view has been referred to the Executive in Glasgow, and therefore, if the dispute is advanced a stage will come from that quarter. The strike roll now stands at about 550.
This interesting graffiti at the Broughton Street end of Albany Street Lane makes use of a pre-existing incision in a random flagstone.
At first glance it reads like a half-remembered song lyric, but in fact it loosely paraphrases part of Mao Zedong’s concluding speech to the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party on 6 November 1938.
We thought it might be interesting today to quote from Zedong’s paradoxical Problems of War and Strategy at greater length.
Following our article about a (more interesting than expected) access cover on George Street, reader Sam Murray got in touch about another.
This one is situated on Clarendon Crescent, and includes the intriguing detail ‘BOYCE & JOHNSTON, BEAVER BANK FOUNDRY’. Murray and Spurtle investigated further.
W. D. Macgregor writes: The lecture by Judge Brown on Tuesday night on the housing of the Edinburgh poor has drawn attention to the condition of affairs in Greenside, and though it might perhaps be urged that the dark shadows in Judge Brown’s description are a trifle overdrawn, it will not be denied by anyone who knows the district that there is urgent need of improvement.
Below we reprint in full an article which first appeared in the Scotsman on 30 March 1901 and was later abridged in the Spurtle (Issue 305).
For the avoidance of doubt, Dr Hadwen’s opinions are not entirely shared by the Spurtle. Rather, we find them an interesting precursor of some people’s objections to inoculation today. The footnotes have been added by contributor AM.
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