GLASGOW 



233 



inaugurated. The city in 1656 in described as a 

 1 very neate hurghe twin one of the most consider- 



aMest burgh* in Scotland, its well for the structure 

 as trade of it ;' and the Hatiie writer commends the 

 'mercantile genius of tin- people.' 



As early an l."l(i trades in Glasgow were form 

 ing into guilds, lint it \\.-i- not till 1672 that 

 tin- letter of guildry, adjusted in 1603, was con- 

 tinued by parliament, which put an end to 

 tin- perpetual disputes tatween the merchants' 

 and the trades' guilds. These two classes still 

 exist, the former being represented by the Mer- 

 chants' House, and tne latter by the Trades' 

 House, the heads of which, the dean of guild and 

 tin- deacon-convener respectively, have l>een since 

 1711 constituent meml'i-i- of the town-council. 

 In 1833 all the complicated arrangements in con- 

 nection with municipal elections were set aside 

 liy the Burgh Reform Act, and the number of 

 councillors in Glasgow was fixed at thirty, over 

 and above the dean of guild and the deacon- 

 convener. Since then the number of magistrates 

 and councillors has increased with the increase of 

 the city boundaries. As constituted in 1890, the 

 town-council has forty-eight members elected by 

 the citizens three for each of the sixteen wards 

 of the city with the addition of the dean of guild 

 and the deacon-convener of trades. The council 

 elects the Lord Provost, ten bailies, a bailie of the 

 River and Firth of Clyde, and other officers. The 

 city is represented in parliament by seven meml>ers 

 for as many different electoral divisions ; and the 

 suburban divisions, Govan and Particle, also each 

 return a member. 



The corporation of Glasgow, since it l>ecame a 

 popularly elected one, has carried through great 

 operations for the improvement of the city. By 

 its various departments, each controlled by com- 

 mittees from the general council, the lighting, 

 cleansing, water-supply, &c. are administered. In 

 connection with the water-supply, the corporation 

 in 1854-59 constructed immense works for a supply 

 of water unequalled in the kingdom, bringing it from 

 Loch Katrine, a distance of 34 miles. The water 

 is conveyed by aqueduct and piping to a reservoir, 

 70 acres in area, about 7 miles from Glasgow, 

 where it is filtered and distributed by pipes over 

 the city. The average daily distribution now 

 exceeds 40 million gallon:. The cost of the con- 

 struction of these wcrKs, including the price paid 

 to the previously existing water companies, has 

 been 2,350,000; ami in 1889-96 extensive works 

 were completed at a further expenditure of 

 1,000,000, for raising the supply or the city to 

 100 million gallons daily. The valuation of the 

 city in 1855, the first year of the Lands Valuation 

 Act, was 1,362,168; in 1870 it was 2,126,324; 

 and in 1894-95 it reached 4,208,000. 



The lighting of the city also forms one of the 

 municipal departments, the corporation having 

 acquired powers to purchase the properties of the 

 two gas companies which formerly supplied Glas- 

 gow and its suburbs. At the present time over 

 '2.SIH) million cubic feet of gas per annum is 

 applied to the public : the capital expenditure on 

 the various works amounted in 1889 to 610,000, 

 and the annual revenue is 390,000. Between 1866 

 and 1890 the town-council as the City Improve- 

 ment Trust spent two millions sterling on objects 

 such as are indicated by its title, ana at present 

 that body holds property valued at over half a 

 million of money. Of thoroughfares in Glasgow 

 there are about 200 miles, and the Clyde is within 

 the burgh spanned by ten bridges, of which three 

 are railway viaducts and two suspension bridges 

 for foot-passengers. Parliamentary sanction was 

 obtained in 1889 for constructing a tunnel for foot 

 and vehicular traffic under the river at the harbour. 



Throughout the city there are upwards of 100 miles 

 of main-Hewers, the largest in brick being 6 feet 

 in diameter, and the -m;ill'--t 2 feet. 



Of buildings powwKHirig historical interest Glas- 

 gow is conspicuously destitute, with the very notable 

 exception of the cathedral, which in a. fine example 

 of the Early English Gothic stvle of architecture. 

 It was lifgun by Bishop Joceiyn about 1197, to 

 replace, the church built in ll.'iii by Bishop John 

 Achaius, which had been destroyed by fire. The 

 structure was largely added to by Bishops Bonding- 

 ton and Lander, ana was practically brought to its 

 present form by Bishop Cameron in 1446. It was 

 saved from injury in the fit of iconoclastic zeal 

 which followed the Reformation by the activity 

 of the Glasgow craftsmen, and afterwards, from 

 time to time, was carefully repaired by the Pro- 

 testant archbishops who governed the see until 

 the Revolution. The cathedral is in length from 

 east to west 319 feet, and in width 63 feet. It 

 was designed to be in the form of a cross, but the 

 transepts were never erected. From the centre 

 rises a tower, surmounted by a graceful spire, 225 

 feet in height. The most famous part of the 

 building is the so-called crypt under the choir, 

 which for elaborate designing, and richness of 

 ornamentation on pillars, groining, and doors, 

 stands unrivalled amongst similar structures in 

 Britain. Properly speaking, however, it is not a 

 crypt, but a lower church formed to take advan- 

 tage of the ground sloping eastward towards the 

 bed of the Molendinar. Alx>ut 1854, under the 

 direction of the government, the building was 

 repaired antl renewed, its general character being 

 scrupulously maintained. At the same time the 

 ancient tower and consistory house on the west 

 face of the cathedral were removed. Since then 

 a series of stained-glass windows has been provided, 

 mostly by Munich artists. 



The city chambers opened in 1889, built at 

 a cost of 530,000, form an architectural feature 

 of great importance, and occupy a prominent posi- 

 tion, filling the east side of George Square. The 

 Royal Exchange, a handsome building ornamented 

 with colonnades of Corinthian pillars, contains a 

 newsroom 122 feet in length bv 60 feet broad. In 

 the building of churches Glasgow has made 

 great strides during the last thirty years, so that 



Erobably no other town in the L nited Kingdom 

 as done more in this respect, and the ecclesi- 

 astical buildings of all denominations vie with 

 each other in the elegance of their adornment. 

 The architecture of many of the banks and other 

 public buildings is varied in style and rich in detail, 

 and the post-office buildings, of which the founda- 

 tion-stone was laid by the Prince of Wales in 1876, 

 though severely plain and massive, deserve mention 

 for their great size and perfect planning. Not with- 

 out reason, indeed, Glasgow has been called one of 

 the best-built cities of the empire : its streets are 

 well laid out and spacious, and the houses which 

 line them are substantially built of excellent stone 

 which is quarried in abundance around the city. 



Glasgow is especially well provided with public 

 parks, having three beautifully planned pleasure- 

 grounds in different districts of the city, besides the 

 Glasgow Green a wide expanse along the north 

 lank of the river all of which ore maintained by 

 the town-council as a Parks and Galleries Trust. 

 The statues in Glasgow are not numerous, though 

 some of them are very fine. The equestrian statue 

 of Wellington stands opposite the Royal Exchange, 

 and that of William III. at the east end of Argyle 

 Street, near the site of the old cross. The greatest 

 numlier of monumental statues are in George 

 Square, where in addition to the equestrian statues 

 of the Queen and the late Prince Consort are to be 

 found figures of James Watt, Sir Walter Scott, 



