Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

ROADS, CANALS, RAILWAYS, STEAMERS, TELEGRAPHS, Etc.
An act for allowing the deposit of small savings in
such post offices as might be authorised by the Post-
master-General was passed in 1861, under which
220,117 accounts had been opened with the Post
Office in Scotland to 1893 ; and since 1861 13 private
savings banks in Scotland have closed and transferred
their funds in whole or in part to Post-Office Savings
Banks.
The following table exhibits various details regard-
ing the several banks :—
Insti-
tuted.
Name.
Partners.
Branches.
Paid-Up
Capital.
Uncalled
Capital and
Keserve
Liability.
1695
1727
1746
1810
1825
1830
1825
1836
1838
1838
Bank of Scotland, ....
Royal Bank,
British Linen Company,
Commercial Bank, Limited, .
National Bank of Scotland, Limited,
Union Bank of Scotland, Limited, .
Town and Comity Bank, Limited, .
North of Scotland Bank, Limited, •.
Clydesdale Bank, Limited,
Caledonian Banking Company, Limited,
1864. 1896.
— 2196
— 2703
798 2327
805 2740
1455 2286
1060 2375
529 1638
1249 3287
1302 2157
725 1076
1864. 1896.
60 118
74 127
52 118
76 130
72 107
103 134
31 63
34 67
60 113
16 26
£
1,250,000
2,000,000
1,250,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
252,000
400,000
1,000,000
150,000
£
625,000
4,000,000
4,000,000
4,000,000
1,008,000
1,600,000
4,000,000
600,000
The Perth Bank (circulation £45,515) was incorporated
with the Union Bank in 1857, the Edinburgh and
Glasgow Bank (circulation £137,104) with the Clydes-
dale in 1858, the Eastern Bank (circulation £37,440)
with the Clydesdale in 1863, and the Dundee Bank
(circulation £38,616) with the Royal in 1864.
ROADS, CANALS, RAILWAYS, STEAMERS, TELEGRAPHS, Etc.
By Thomas Allan Croal, Edinburgh, Correspondent of the Railway News, London.
If the civilisation of a country were to be measured by
the condition of its communications, Scotland would in
her earlier history present a problem of a mixed kind.
Of good roads, in the modern sense, she has become
abundantly supplied within a century and a half, but
previous to that time there were comparatively few
' made ' roads, excepting those wonderful works of the
Romans, whose remains still excite admiration. But
it is urged by competent modern writers that Scotland
stood higher four hundred years before the Union in
all that indicates prosperity and order, and in parti-
cular as regards roads and bridges, than she did in the
intervening period. The two great Roman roads en-
tered Scotland near Carlisle and Jedburgh, the former
advancing through Eskdale and crossing Birrenswark
(where remains of a strong camp exist), thence north-
ward, till it reached the western extremity of the north-
ern wall; while the latter passed by the Eildon Hills,
and thence to the shores of the Forth. Other roads
of lesser importance were made, and north 'of the wall
the road has been traced as far as the heart of Aber-
deenshire. There are in Scotland several reputed
Roman bridges, examples being at Inveresk in the east
and Inverkip in the west. The bridges in the post-
Roman period were numerous, including those over the
Forth at Stirling, the Tay at Perth, the Esks (North
and South), the Spey, the Dee, etc. The selection of
points for bridges was so happy, that succeeding ages
have in most cases simply replaced or duplicated those
structures, except where the advance of science has
sought to bridge estuaries instead of rivers. Though
roads were of necessity numerous, their quality was, as
a rule, poor, more especially in upland districts and in
the Highlands. Hence the expression ' a made road '
is so well understood in Scotland, that it is only the
stranger who finds anything incongruous in the refer-
ence to Wade's military roads ' before they were made. 1
Most of the roads were mere footpaths, or were at best
intended for riders or for use as drove roads. ' What
vexed me most of all,' says Captain Burt in his Letters,
' they called it a road.' Yet fifty years before General
Wade came to Scotland, a visitor had expressed his
opinion that ' the highways in Scotland are tolerably
good' (Kirke's Modern Account of Scotland). Their
goodness must have been relative, for we find that
about this period, when a coach was to be run between
Edinburgh and Glasgow, the contractor only undertook
to perform the journey there and back in six days,
employing six horses, and the enterprise, though sub-
sidised, proved unprofitable, and was given up. For
interesting glimpses of the state of the roads of Scot-
land, reference may be made to various passages in
Hill Burton's History; to Boswell's Tour, with Dr
Carruthers' notes on this point; to Scott in Ouy Man-
nering and other works; to MacCulloch's British Em-
pire, etc. The Great North Road between Perth and
Inverness, with its less important side roads, the par-
liamentary roads and bridges planned by Telford and
carried out in the 19th century, and the enterprise of
the various counties, or of individual proprietors (the
Duke of Sutherland, for example), have covered Scot-
land with a network of good roads ; while the necessities
of the modern tourist traffic have caused many old
roads to be improved, or new roads to be made. An
example of the improvement of old roads is seen in the
amended gradients of the road from Auchnasheen to
Gairloch by Loch Maree; and a new road, entirely the
growth of tourist traffic, was made in 1884 from the
' Clachan of Aberfoyle ' to the Trossachs. The earliest
Turnpike Act in Scotland dates from 1750, and under
it and subsequent acts many highways and cross roads
were made. Tolls were always a grievance in Scotland
as elsewhere, and although (except in the case of some
riotous proceedings at Dunkeld Bridge) Scotland had
no ' Rebecca's Daughters ' to tear down the toll bars, a
vigorous agitation arose against them. In 1845 Mr
Pagan of Cupar Fife took up the subject, and after
much discussion a Royal Commission was appointed,
which in 1859 recommended a plan for the total aboli-
tion of tolls, and in 1883, under a general act passed
1715