JOHNSTONE  , a

police burgh of Renfrewshire, Scotland, on the Black Cart, 11 m . W. of Glasgow by the Glasgow & South-Western railway . Pop . (1901), 10,503 . The leading industries include flax-spinning, cotton manufactures (with the introduction of which in 1781 the prosperity of the town began), paper-making, shoe-lace making, iron and brass foundries and engineering works . There are also coal mines and oil works in the vicinity . Elderslie, 1 m . E.; is the reputed birthplace of Sir William Wallace, but it is doubtful if " Wallace's Yew," though of great age, and " Wallace's Oak," a fine old tree that perished in a storm in 1856, and the small castellated building (traditionally his house) which preceded the present mansion in the west end of the village, existed in his day .