KIRKCUDBRIGHT. 



465 



l- A salary of 1 50 i paid by the burgh to the principal 

 .i.e. teacher;, in the academy. And no assessment has ever 

 """ been imposed on the inhabitants, either for lighting or 

 j.nving the streets, for carrying any public work into 

 ., or for any improvements made on the town. 

 The chamberlain's accounts are regularly audited, and an 

 abstract is printed and circulated among the burgesses. 

 .J _-. The harbour of Kirkcudbright is the best in the stew- 



artry. At ordinary spring tides, the depth of the water 

 in the river is about MO feet, and at the lowest neap 

 tides 18 feet. As there is no difficulty in navigating 

 the river, it is well calculated for commercial purpo- 

 ses; but as the population of the stewartry is chiefly 

 supported by agriculture, and as there is no internal 

 communication with any of the manufacturing districts, 

 foreign trade has scarcely any footing. The salmon of 

 the river Dee is reckoned peculiarly excellent. The 

 greater part is exported to Carlisle and Wliitehaven. 



Kirkcudbright has been vastly improved during the 

 last 30 years. The streets, which are well paved and 

 1-ghted, intersect each other at right angles. The hou- 

 ses are generally two stories high ; and although those 

 in the new streets, built by the societies, have a some- 

 what monotonous appearance, they are all neat, clean, 

 and comfortable. There is no alternation of stately edi- 

 fice* and miserable hovels ; but the general aspect of 

 the whole town bespeaks at once the good taste and 

 easy circumstances of the greater portion of its inhabit- 

 ants. In lhl(j, a commodious new jail, in the (iutli it- 

 style of architecture, was erected. One of the towers 

 reaches to the height of 75 feet, and, viewed from a 

 distance, the building has a magnificent and sombre 

 appearance. One half of the expenc* of this jail was 

 dct rayed by the landlords of the stewartry. A Urge 

 and elegant academy, containing a spacious room for 

 the public subscription library, has also been erected in 

 the course of the two last years. 



The town is well supplied with butcher meat from a 

 regular market, and |.iovisions of all kinds are abun- 

 dant and comparatively cheap. The water for the use 

 of the inhabitants is conveyed in leaden pipes from a 

 tpring about Jth of a mile distant. 



There is here no bridge over the Dee, but passen- 

 gers and carriages are ferried over in a flat-bottomed 

 boat, into which the latter can be driven without much 

 inconvenience, which is impelled along a cable stretch- 

 ing across the river. In stormy weather, however, or 

 when there is an unusual current, this conveyance is 

 not without danger ; and the erection of a bridge, so 

 constructed as to admit of ships passing through, would 

 certainly be a very great improvement The intelli- 

 gence and public spirit of the inhabitants, give us reason 

 to hope, that this will be accomplished at no very dis- 

 tant period. 



liing can be finer than the environs of Kirkoud- 

 bright The rising ground] on each side the river, 

 from TongueUnd to the sea, are embellished with thri- 

 ving plantations. And the policy of St. Mary's Isle, 

 the family seat of the Earl of Selkirk, distant about one 

 mile from town, is liberally thrown open to the public. 



ruins of the old castle of Kirkcudbright, built, 

 in 1 .in of liombie, ancestor of the pre- 

 sent Lord Kirkcudbright, are still pretty entire. The 

 town itself, appears formerly to have been surrounded 

 by a deep ditch and wall. 



The higher class of the inhabitants are, in general, 



raely well informed. The range and compass of 



their conversation, is perhaps unequalled in so small a 



town ; and contrasts remarkably with the unvaried 



VOL. ill. FART 11. 



Kirkcud- 

 bright. 



sameness and vulgarity of that of the greater portion 

 of their agricultural neighbour?. They are distinguish- 

 ed for their hospitality nnd urbanity of manners; and 

 a stranger will nowhere meet with more civility and at- 

 tention. The lower classes are, for the most part, so- 

 ber and industrious ; and all ranks are uncontaminated 

 with the contagion of cant and fanaticism. 



In 1801, the population amounted to 2080; and in 

 181 1, to 2760 individuals. The assessments under the 

 property tax act, on lands, tenements. &c. iritfiin the 

 burph, for the year ending 5th April 1815, were fixed 

 ;it i :iK>, and on the profit* of trade, &c. at 296. 



As a considerable part of the late improvements in Building 

 Kirkcudbright, have been a consequence of the opera- SIK^'HS- 

 tion of two building societies, and is the principle on 

 which these societies have been organised is quite no- 

 vel, and at the same time exceedingly simple and effi- 

 cacious, it may not be improper shortly to elucidate it. 



One of these societies consists of 60, and the other ot 

 90 member*; the regulations in both are similar, except 

 that the monthly subscription of the one is greater than 

 of the other, and that the houses are also superior. At the 

 commencement, a general plan, suitable for the greater 

 proportion of the members, was adopted, and specifica- 

 tions made for securing the proper execution of the 

 work. On guinea is paid by each member at entry, 

 and afterwards a monthly subscription of 10s. n'd. in 

 the one society, and 5s. in the other. When funds 

 are in this manner raised, sufficient to build two or more 

 houses, estimates are obtained, the contract executed, 

 and a ballot takes place, to decide the right of property 

 in the houses to be built that S.M- I .u-li member is 

 enabled to make additional improvements at his emit 

 expence, receiving from the society the contract price ; 

 and the contractors are also bound to execute all extra 

 work at fixed rates. The member receiving a house, pays 

 to the society, over and above his monthly contribution, 

 five per cent, per annum, upon the sum expended in build- 

 ing his house, in name of rent ; so that the interest of the 

 capital laid out by the association, is annually added to 

 the monthly subscription of the members, and by this 

 means a progressively increasing rapidity in building 

 takes place ; and the society continues thus operating, 

 until every member is furnished with a dwelling-house. 

 The cost of a house depends upon the price of materials 

 and labour at the time, and fluctuates from 'JOO to 

 240. To equalize the payments of the members, the 

 sums annually expended are all added together, and 

 the total interest is paid in equal proportions, by those 

 who hare got their houses. The shares in each society 

 are transferable ; but the person purchasing a share, 

 must be acceptable to a majority of the members, and 

 must be responsible for any debts due by the original 

 subscriber to the association. 



The greatest number of the members composing 

 these societies are tradesmen, and, independent ol' every 

 other benefit attending the institution, a tendency to 

 economise and accumulate capital is produced. In a 

 short time, each individual has a considerable property 

 embarked in the concern, and is cheered by the pleas- 

 ing and comfortable prospect, that at no very distant 

 period he will find himself the sole proprietor of a well 

 finished substantial dweliing-houtie worth from 200 

 to 240, acquired entirely by the monthly savings of 

 10s. (id. which, but for this association, might, in many 

 instances, have been spent in an ale-house. These so- 

 cieties were organised in 1 808. 



But however correct and well founded the principle 

 on which these societies are instituted may at first sight 

 3 x 



