Towns > Dundee > 1809-1912 - Dundee directory > 1910-1911

RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 25
Commission, to avert any inconvenience that might arise from a
possible shortage, have determined to raise the level of Lintrathen
Loch embankment about 4 feet all round. The widening of Magdalen
Yard Road at its junction with Perth Road, which for long had been
on the tapis, is now happily effected, and the improvement is well
worth the expenditure.
Progressive Municipalists for a time have given expression to their
aspirations after a greater Dundee and all its concomitants. The
success which has attended the incorporation of Downfield has
stimulated the desire to apply the policy of annexation to Broughty
Ferry and Monifieth, a course which has met with small favour
by the representatives of these suburban burghs. The lighting
of common stairs by electricity, after years of agitation, has
now been entered upon. The system is being widely adopted, and it
is the aim of the Electric Department to apply it to the whole City.
Apart from these and kindred undertakings, others of a semi-
public character have been carried on simultaneously. The Technical
College and School of Art in Bell Street, a splendid edifice, is almost
completed ; and on 26th November 1909 the Physics Laboratory at
University College was formally opened. The importance of Dundee
as a naval base has been signalised by the Admiralty selecting certain
portions of the Harbour for the docking of destroyers a^nd submarines,
quite a number of this type of flotilla being accommodated therein.
Educational requirements year by year are on the side of expan-
sion. New schools are demanded on all hands, and those that are
already in use have become so circumscribed in their accommodation
that orders have been issued demanding their virtual reconstruction.
This is the case with respect to the Academies, in both of which the
alterations proposed are of such a drastic nature that they are
tantamount to the erection of entirely new buildings. Efforts are to
be made by the Board to minimise these injunctions, but as the
principle is likely to be applied to all existing schools it is feared
their overtures will meet with slight encouragement. A large
elementary school in Dens Road, it is anticipated, will be ready for
occupancy by the beginning of the school year. After months of
negotiation, the Board has ratified an agreement for a lease of offices
for the transaction of educational business in new premises at junction
of Murraygate and Gowgate, adjoining those of the Directory.
It is desirable to point out that in our present issue the Plan of
Monifieth has been extended and now includes the Golf Course.
Many citizens of honoured worth and repute have been called
hence during the year. Among these are included Mr John
Smith, of Adderley, Monifieth, a notable Anglo-Indian ; Mr
William Thomson, a successful advocate, and son of ex-Bailie
Thomson, of Dundee and Newport ; Mr D, Gordon Stewart,
a prominent local lawyer ; Mr Victor Fraenkl, the chief of one of
the leading firms, and a public man of exceptional ability ; Captain
D. G. Clayhills Henderson, R.N. , the proprietor of Invergowrie, a
man of great force of character, who interested himself in the affairs
of the County and City ; Canon Phelan, the esteemed ciei'gyman of
St Mary's R.C. Church, Forebank ; Miss Jessie Shaw, who devoted