Another feature that tended to make
more difficult the Parliamentary reporters' duties at that period, was
the long "takes" which they had to supply--a "take" being the share of
the work which each member of the reporting staff has individually
alloted to his charge. At that time every reporter who entered the
gallery was compelled to write out the proceedings of a whole hour, and
he had to do this with so much celerity and amplitude that the report
had to be as complete as the Parliamentary reports of the _Times_ have
ever been. It has since been found, however, that the labour of an hour
is far too much for one man, if he is to do himself or the report
anything like justice; and hence the "take" of reporters became very
much shortened, until they now seldom exceed a quarter of an hour or
twenty minutes. Another negative phase of Dr. Barclay's journalistic
career which may be noticed, is the fact that he never fell foul of the
Sergeant-at-Arms, into whose custody many an unlucky reporter, who was
accused of having misstated the speeches of legislators, was given.
Despite the fact that Collier was at that time the only shorthand writer
on the staff of the _Times_, it was his misfortune to undergo this
ordeal. He was summoned to the bar of the House, and, having fully
vindicated his report, he was immediately discharged from custody. The
fee of the Sergeant-at-Arms (eighty guineas) was paid by Mr. Walter. On
another occasion a complaint was made in the House of a report by a Mr.
Ross, one of the _Times'_ staff. The occasion was a speech delivered by
Canning, and the sentence which he was said to have misreported was to
the effect that the subject had never been under the consideration of
the Cabinet above five minutes. Ross, however, had the satisfaction of
receiving a letter from Canning himself, in which the great statesman
vindicated the accuracy of the report. Mr. Barclay was never a shorthand
writer. He was accustomed to use abbreviated longhand, and he became so
expert in the use of this system, that he could report without
difficulty any average speaker. After leaving the _Times_, which he did
at the close of the year 1821, Mr. Barclay received a call to
Dunrossness, in Shetland, and he continued to minister in that parish
until the year 1827, when he was translated to Lerwick, a parish in the
same remote region. Subsequently, in 1843, he was removed to
Petercoulter, in Aberdeenshire; and his fourth and last charge