608 
PRESENT STATE OF GLASGOW. 
to the value of from 73,OOOZ. to 80,000Z. 
annually of the goods thus disposed of, 
giving employment from this depart- 
ment to nearly 2000 persons. 
Post Office. — On the I7th of Novem- 
ber, 1709, when the Magistrates of 
Glasgow applied to Parliament for a 
riding post between their city and 
Edinburgh, the whole Post Office re- 
venue of Scotland was under 2,000Z. 
The correspondence of Scotland seems 
to have been at a low ebb at the Re- 
volution, as William III. gave a grant 
to Sir Robert Sinclair of Stevenson, of 
the whole revenue of the Post Office in 
Scotland, with a salary of 300Z. per 
annum to keep up the post. After a 
fair trial. Sir Robert gave up the grant 
as disadvantageous. 
There are four complete deliveries of ’ 
letters now made daily to every part of 
the town and suburbs, and an answer 
may be received the same day to a pen- 
ny-post letter put into the office, or a 
receiving-house, in time to be sent out 
with either of the two first deliveries. 
Revenue at the following dates. 
Ill 1781.. £ 4,f4l 4 9 III 1831 ..£ 3.7,6 12 19 .>5 
1810.. 27,598 6 0 1832 .. 86,053 0 0 
«8|5.. 35,784 16 0 1833 . 36,481 0 0.^ 
1820.. 34,533 2 3 1834 .37,483 3 4 
1825.. 3j,l90 17 1835.. 39 954 4 6 
1830.. 34,978 9 0^ 
Markets. — Prior to 1784, when the 
Highland Society of Scotland was insti 
tilted, the cattle slaughtered in Glas- 
gow were small and ill fed ; since that 
time the quality of butcher’s meat 
has been greatly improved. Inl763, 
when deacon Peter Brown became 
apprentice to the butcher trade, the 
slaughter of bullocks was not known 
here ; a few milch cows only were 
killed through the year. At Martin- 
mas every family that could af- 
ford it killed a small Highland cow, 
which, was called their mart, and this 
served them through the greatest part 
of the year Dr. Cleland has ascertained, 
that from the 1st of May, 1827, till 1st 
of May, 1828, there were 17,840 Wllock- 
slaughtered in this city and suburbs, 
and 144,900 sheep and lambs. Value of 
butcher’s meat for the above year (details 
published in the Annals of Glasgow), 
303,978Z. I4s. 5d. ; bread, 177, 266Z. 
105 . 8d. milk, 6 7, 34 2 Z. 105. Total value 
of meat, bread, and milk, 548,587Z. 155 
Id. Since 1821, a great number of 
rumps of beef has been sent to this mar- 
ket yearly from Edinburgh. In 1835, 
there were upwards of 7,530 rumps 
sent here from tliat city, the average 
value of each was 205. The rumps are 
cured as hung beef. 
Live Cattle Market. — Prior to 1808, 
the principal butchers in this city were 
frequntly obliged to travel a circuit of 
seventy or eighty miles, to purchase 
cattle in lots, and to rent expensive 
parks in the neighbourhood of the city 
to graze them in. The mode of supply 
is now completely changed. In 1808 a 
spacious market place for the sale of 
cattle was fitted up between the south 
and north approach to the city in Gra. 
ham Square, in which there is a com 
modious inn, stable, sheds, a byre to 
hold 120 bullocks in view, and 2G0 pens 
to contain 9,360 sheep. This marker 
place, which is allowed to be one of the 
most complete in the kingdom, occupies 
an area of 29,561 square yards, or ra- 
ther more than six imperial acres, is 
paved with whin, and inclosed from the 
streets by ashlar stone walls. The dues, 
which are moderate, were let by auction 
at Whitsunday 1836, for a period of 
years, at the annual rent of 1,285Z a sum 
which, after paying the interest of the 
debt, the grount-rent, rapairs, and other 
expenses, leaves a profit to the trust 
fund of upwards of five hundred pounds 
per annum. 
Public Executions — From 1755 to 
1830, both in-clusive, 89 persons have 
been executed in Glasgow of whom 5 
were females. During the first 12 years 
only six persons were executed, while 
in the last 12 there were 37. During 
66 years previous to 1831, there were 
27 in which there were no executions l5 
in which there was one each year, 10 
two, 7 three, 4 four, 1 five, and 2 in 
which there were six. 
Shops. — In 1712 there were only 202 
shops in the city, the highest rent 5Z. 
and the lowest 12Z., average about 3Z. 
In 1831 there were 3184 shope ; some 
of them were rented at upwards of 300Z., 
the supposed average about 40Z. 
Pawnbrokers. — Prior to 1813 there 
were no regular pawnbrokers in Glas- 
gow. On the 8th June, in that year, 
John Graham, a retired town officer, 
opened a pawnbroker’s shop in Bell 
Street. In 1830 there were nineteen 
licensed pawnbrokers in this city ; their 
pledges amounted to 410,400, and the 
capital employed in the trade to 
24’apOZ. 
