ALEXANDER
MURRAYA NATIVE of Rogart, Sutherlandshire, ex-Bailie Murray has been in business in Glasgow as a chartered accountant for over 30 years, and is a partner of the firm of Carswell, Murray & Lauder, C.A. He was a member of the first County Council of Renfrewshire from 1888 to 1891. In November of the latter year he entered the Town Council of Glasgow as one of the representatives of the ward then known as East Pollokshields. Since the re-arrangement of the wards in 1896 he has sat for the twenty-third ward, which embraces Pollokshields East and West. He served as a Magistrate from 1894 to 1898, and was Senior Magistrate in the last year of his office. He has given considerable attention to the subject of the finances of the Corporation, was for three years Convener of the Finance Committee of the Police Department, and for other three years City Treasurer. Two papers read by him on the subject of Municipal Finance have been published by request. The last of these, entitled "The Glasgow Corporation Accounts, with special reference to Depreciation and Sinking Funds," delivered before the Economic Section of the Glasgow Philosophical Society, attracted much attention, and was discussed in The Accountant and other journals, as well as in various Municipal circles, especially in England, in connection with recent criticisms on Municipal administration and finance. He is at present Convener of the Loans Committee of the Corporation, and Sub-Convener of its Committee on Finance. He was also for some years Convener of the Libraries Committee, which during his term of office erected about a dozen district libraries throughout the city - thanks to Dr. Carnegie's generous gift of £100,000 - and carried through the plans and arrangements for the large central reference library in North Street, which is now in the course of erection.
Mr. Murray is a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the County of the City of Glasgow, and a Justice of the Peace for the County of Lanark.
He has also take a large interest in church affairs. He is an elder and session clerk on the congregation of Pollokshields West United Free Church (Rev. Dr. Wells), and has for many years represented the Presbytery of Dornoch (in his native county) in the General Assembly of the Free Church, and since the Union in that of the United Church. In 1889 he was appointed a delegate from the Free Assembly to the Pan Presbyterian Council which met in Washington, and on that occasion visited many parts of the United States. He has been for many years identified with religious and temperance work among the young.
Naturally ex-Bailie Murray is much interested in matters relating to the Highlands. He is President of the County of Sutherland Association in Glasgow, and has been nominated as one of the Governors of the Duchess of Sutherland's new technical school at Golspie.
He is a member of various public boards, including the Clyde Navigation Trust and the Renfrew District Lunacy Board. He is also a member of the Glasgow Municipal Commission on the Housing of the Poor, and of the recently-appointed Licensing Appeal Court for Glasgow. Mr. Murray is not married.