The Paisley Thread. By Matthew Blair. (Alex. Gardner, Paisley. 6s.)—The
spinning of thread has been done at Paisley from time immemorial, but it first became a fine art in the hands of Christian Shaw, daughter of John Shaw, Laird of Balgarran. This was linen thread. Then, thanks to the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Crompton, linen was superseded by cotton. The Clark family early achieved success; now the Paisley name which is best known to the world is Coats. Perhaps the most convenient way of showing what has been achieved under this title is to give some figures from the last balance- sheet. Shares of the face-value of 410,000,000 are worth 447,124,000. The ordinary shares received 10 per cent., 4450,000 was paid to a Dividend Reserve Fund, and 4120,003 to the Pension Fund. A town which owns, so to speak, such an undertaking is bound to be interesting; but it has other claims, which will be found duly set forth in Mr. Blair's book. One may be mentioned. "Christopher North" was born there in 1785. The house has been improved out of existence, but a commemorative tablet has been affixed to its successor.
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