Napier Commission in the Isle of Skye

Introduction

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On this site have been posted transcripts of the findings of the Napier Commission during its sessions in the Isle of Skye in May 1883. More formally, this Commission is known as The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands.

UHI (University of the Highlands and Islands) Millennium Institute, at its campus at Lochaber College, Mallaig, has digitised the thousands of pages of the report and made it available on their website, from where the below background information was copied.

The commission was set up as a response to crofter and cottar demonstrations against excessively high rents, lack of security of tenure on land that had been in families for generations and the forced evictions of crofters.

The demonstrations started in Wester Ross and Lewis in the 1870's, and by the early 1880's had moved to Skye. Local police forces were called upon by the landlords to enforce what they believed to be their rights. However, with limited resources, the police found it difficult to cope with the increasing demands put upon them. Therefore, it became an issue needing the attention of Prime Minister Gladstone’s government and he ordered the appointment of the commission.

Under the orders of William Gladstone, and backed by Royal approval, the commission was appointed in 1883, by the Home Secretary, Sir William Harcourt. Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier, was selected as chairman, with five other members - Sir Donald Cameron of Locheil; Sir Kenneth MacKenzie of Gairloch; Charles Fraser – MacIntosh MP; Sheriff Alexander Nicolson of Kicudbright and Professor Donald MacKinnon of Edinburgh university – making up the panel.

The commission began its work in Braes on the Island of Skye and travelled the length and breadth of the Highlands and Islands (including Orkney and Shetland) gathering evidence from crofters, landlords and others who were familiar with the plight of the indigenous population.

The final report was hastily published in 1884 and led obliquely to the 1886 Crofters’ Holding Act.

The Napier’s Report is a valuable piece of documentary evidence from the Highlands and Islands (including Orkney and Shetland) in 1883, presenting facts and information on the population, as well as the political, historical and social climate of the time.

The text was copied from the PDFs, supplied by UHI Lochaber, and pasted into a word processor for cleaning up and correction, where necessary. In case of doubt, the original text was consulted. Spelling errors in local names have not been corrected. The text of the original report has been broken up into locations (listed in the panel to the right).

Appendices have been added, where applicable to the Isle of Skye (no's A.I to A.XXIV); the headings on this site omit the letter A.

Appendices

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Appendix I - Statement by Rev Joseph Lamont, Snizort
Appendix II - Statement by five Bernisdale tenants
Appendix III - Statement by Rev James Grant, Kilmuir
Appendix IV - Statement by Rev James M Davidson, Stenscholl
Appendix V - From Rev John S Mcphail, Kilmuir and Stenscholl
Appendix VI - Statement by James Urquhart and Alexander Mcleod, Kilmuir
Appendix VII - Statement by Capt Allan Macdonald, Waternish
Appendix VIII - Statement by Rev D Johnstone, Waternish
Appendix IX - Statement by Macleod of Macleod
Appendix X - Statement by Rev Archibald Clerk, Kilmallie
Appendix XI - Statement by Rev D McCallum, Duirinish
Appendix XII - Statement by John T Mackenzie, Dunvegan
Appendix XIII - Statement by Rev Donald Mackinnon, Strath
Appendix XIV - Statement by Rev Alexander Cameron, Sleat
Appendix XV - Statement by Rev Finlay Graham, Sleat
Appendix XVI - Statement by Rev James Ross, Bracadale
Appendix XVII - Statement by John Robertson, Greshornish
Appendix XVIII - Statement by Rev A Galbraith
Appendix XIX - Statement by Alex Macdonald, Treaslane
Appendix XX -Statement concerning properties in Skye
Appendix XXI - Notes on Kilmuir
Appendix XXII - Statement of Major William Fraser
Appendix XXIII - Number of decrees of removing
Appendix XXIV - Statement by Donald Macdonald, Tormore

Appendix XXIV

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STATEMENT by DONALD MACDONALD, Tormore, late Factor on the Estates of Macdonald, Glendale, etc., Isle of Skye.

I venture to submit the following remarks bearing on evidence already given before the Commission by myself and others, and also on the object of the Commission generally, in the belief that the Commissioners may not be indisposed to afford me now the opportunity (which I had not at the time) of answering statements affecting me made by others, and supplementing and explaining statements made by myself.

The evidence is referred to as reported in the Inverness Courier of 19th May as regards the diet at Isle Oronaay, and in the -Scotsman of 16th and 25th May as regards those at Dunvegan and Portree respectively.

I.—CARRADALE CLEARANCE.
Alexander M'Gillivray, representing the tenants of Aird, stated that Carradale, now in the occupancy of Tormore, was taken from the people. Carradale ia a miserable pendicle of land (formerly a part of the farm of Aird), and my having to add it to my own possession, was in a manner forced on me, as I was unable to induce the tenants of Aird to consent to it being reunited to their farm. Some time before this took place, two of the crofters, at their own urgent request, got larger and better crofts which became vacant elsewhere. A fourth was not a resident crofter, but was merely keeping the lot on, temporarily, at my request. Three of the remaining four were constantly complaining of the want of a road (the nearest being four miles from them), and want of a school, and they were urgently desirous of being transferred to some more suitable location. To get supplies they had to go by boat at least ten miles round one of the most dangerous headlands in Skye. The last and only tenant who would have remained, was a man whose family had all left him except one daughter, married to a man from Lewis, who, with his wife and family, had, contrary to the estate rules, settled on the croft.

II.—INGOING TENANTS PAYING THE ARREARS OF OUTGOING TENANTS.
Donald Beaton, Ferrindonald, stated "that on entering his croft at Carradale, it was made a condition that he should pay £16 of his predecessor's arrears; he had paid £14 and had £2 yet to pay." This is quite incorrect, as will appear from annexed excerpt from rent ledger (Appendix No. 1). The balance of £4/14/8 standing against the outgoing tenant Widow M'Leod, was fully covered by outgoing valuations into which Beaton, the incoming tenant, was assigned, and of which he got the benefit,—the £14 which he says he paid as arrears, being really the rents for seven years of his own possession at £2 per annum. I also annex copy letter dated 18th May 1883, addressed by Widow M'Leod to the Scotsman, and of my letter to her in 1875, therein referred to, showing that she left no arrear (Appendix No. 2). Again, at Dunvegan (15th May 1883), John M'Sween, crofter, Skinidin, says that arrears of rent due by his deceased brother at Ramasaig were laid upon him. I send herewith more, copy account from rent ledger (Appendix No. 3), which disproves this,— and the receipts in the possession of the parties tally therewith. This account shows that in 1872 the arrears, amounting to £30, were struck off as irrecoverable. This man also stated that I had said to him that he would get a new lot at Skinidin if he gave up his sheep stock to me, and that I got his sheep. This is untrue. M'Sween's share of the sheep stock at Ramasaig, valued at about £20, were certainly delivered over to the proprietor on M'Sween's removal to Skinidin; but McSween was paid the full value of them.Generally, I may observe that on the Macdonald estates (and I believe on most other estates), the rule is that where the outgoing tenant leaves arrears, the same are payable out of the valuations due to him by the incoming tenant. If there be any hardship in this, it is certainly not the latter who has cause of complaint. If he required it, he got plenty of time to pay, and I know of only one single case during my tenure of office in which an incoming tenant paid as arrears more than he got value for, and in that case it waa a mere trifle voluntarily paid.

III.—ALLEGED EVICTION OF DONALD M'lNNES.
Donald Mcinnes, crofter, Duisdale, said "he had been removed twice,— first from Boreraig to Drumfearn, and then from Drumfearn to Duisdale. I have made careful inquiry about this, and I am credibly informed that this man never had land either at Boreraig or at Drumfearn. It is within my own personal knowledge that for the past thirty years (during which period he was employed as a herd by the Duisdale crofters), he had no land anywhere, until I recently gave him a croft taken off the farm of Knock, which certainly has not been under small tenants since this man was born,—seventy-five yeara ago. Having been always on very good terms with this old man,—indeed having assisted him in stocking his recently acquired croft,—I had some friendly conversation with him about the seemingly extraordinary evidence which he had given, when he stated that he did not know exactly what he was saying,—that " words had been put into his mouth,"—and that he was now sorry for what he had said. The mode in which evidence of this kind has been concocted and presented to the Commissioners, must now have become so patent to them, that I need make no further reference to it,—but I may here take the opportunity of saying once for all, that had the evidence been taken upon oath, few, if any, of such stories (at least so far as regards Skye) would have been told to the Commission,—and further, I may state my conviction that the so-called delegates, in giving the evidence which they did against my management of the estates under my charge, and against myself personally, were simply the mouthpieces of Messrs. Murdoch, M'Hugh, and others, who went before to prepare the way. The Commissioners have already had some evidence of the contrary feeling which generally prevails among the tenantry with whom I was connected; and ample confirmation of this could be furnished if necessary. Reference being made above to the farm of Knock, I may here mention, as evidencing the desire of the proprietor to accommodate small tenants, that a large portion of good land was cut off this farm on its falling out of lease, and divided amongst crofters at a considerably less rent than had been paid for it by the large farmer; and at my own personal risk, I became security for an advance of money to four tenants who built substantial slated houses on this new township. A portion of the very more best land on this farm was also, at the urgent solicitation of the Rev. Mr. Graham, taken off and allotted to him on my recommendation, at a rent considerably under what could have been got from another tenant,—and this makes the strong animus which Mr. Graham displayed against me when giving his evidence all the more unaccountable.

IV . — MY ALLEGED CONNECTION WITH THE FIRM OF NEIL KENNEDY & Co., ISLE ORNSAY.
I should imagine that the Commissioners are now satisfied on the 17th May 1883, assurances of Mr. Kennedy and myself alone, that I am not, and never and at Portree, was, interested in the business carried on by Mr. Kennedy. I certainly was partly the cause of bringing Mr. Kennedy to Isle Ornsay, as he was in my opinion a suitable person to carry on such a business, and was prepared to give a better rent than the former tenant, who was vexatiously delaying to come to a point about a new lease, and was evidently desirous of dictating his own terms. As already explained, I certainly did assist Mr. Kennedy to take over the business, and I did so solely because I considered it for the interest of my constituent and the crofters of that district of Skye, that Mr. Kennedy should become tenant. Two items of evidence have been brought against me in this matter :—
(1) It was stated that I had caused notices to be posted up at Ardvassar, Isle Ornsay, and other places on the Macdonald property, to the effect either that any tenant who should deal at any shop except that at Isle Ornsay would be muleted in an additional rent of £2 by way of penalty, or that any tenant opening another shop on the Macdonald estate would be muleted in a similar penalty. I stated at Isle Ornsay, and I still affirm, that if any notices in these or similar terms appeared at the places mentioned, they must have been forgeries. But having now had time to investigate the matter, I find that through an awkward mistake on the part of some subordinate officials on the Macdonald estate, copies of a notice (to which I referred in my evidence) relating exclusively to the Glendale property, on the other side of the island, had actually been posted up in the parishes of Sleat and Strath, or either of them, but were visible for a very short time, having been torn down as soon as the mistake was discovered. I have explained in my evidence at Isle Ornsay the nature of the Glendale notice, and the circumstances in which, in the opinion of the proprietor of that estate, it became necessary to issue it. Some copies of this notice had unfortunately got into the hands of the Macdonald estate ground officers, who no doubt supposed it to be their duty to post them up. It is very clear, however, that no person who read this notice with any attention (except perhaps the Rev. Finlay Graham) could possibly have imagined that it had any reference to the Macdonald estates, or to a shop monopoly either at Isle Ornsay or anywhere else.
(2) At the Portree diet a receipt was produced in the following terms :
— " 18th August 1875.—Received to account of Donald Beaton, Carradale, £2,16s to old account also £7 to the new account.—(Signed) Neil Kennedy & Co.," and this was produced with a view to show that old accounts due to me (for meal which I had supplied to the tenants at a much lower price than what was charged them by the former tenant of the Isle Ornsay shop), had been transferred to Neil Kennedy & Co. Knowing that such was not the case, I could at the time only account for the terms of this receipt by the conjecture that, as a matter of convenience, Kennedy had on my behalf accepted the payment offered of an old account due to me, and (perhaps to save a stamp) had put the two sums into one receipt. But it has since turned out that the " old account" in question was really due to Kennedy himself and he has explained this in a letter giving a copy of Beaton's account from his ledger which appeared in the Scotsman newspaper. It should be observed that this Donald Beaton is the man who stated (" erroneously " as I have already shown) that he had been made to pay arrears of rent due by a former tenant.

V.—ALLEGED INCREASE OF RENT BETWEEN TERMS.
There was produced at Portree a notice from the Macdonald estate office to a tenant, dated in October 1872, intimating an increase of rent, to take effect from the preceding Whitsunday term. As already explained in my evidence, a general rise of about 5 per cent, was agreed to by the crofters on the basis of a re-valuation made by Skye valuators, in place of the probably higher valuation that might be made by the professional land valuator from Morayshire, who was employed by the late Lord Macdonald'a Edinburgh agents to re-value all the holdings on the estate.This increase was further intimated verbally to every tenant at the Martinmas rent collection in 1871. I had to be away from home for a considerable time in the early part of 1872, and, before leaving, I instructed my clerk to give, at a sufficient interval before 1872, a written notice (in addition to the verbal notice given at the preceding Martinmas) to certain of the crofters who, in my opinion, required a special reminder. I cannot now say when these notices were actually given to the parties, or how some of them came to be dated as they were. The date must be just one of those unintentional mistakes which sometimes will happen. Looking to the fact of the verbal notice previously given, no one could have suffered any prejudice by the mistake. There was no intention that any proceedings consequent on the terms of
such notice should in any case be taken, and in point of fact no proceedings were taken. The case of a notice given in June 1876 to R. Murchison, merchant, Gedentailor, of an increase of rent as from Whitsunday in .that year (referred to at the diet at Portree, 24th May 1883), is quite a different matter. This man was teacher of a side school who opened a shop and, in connection with his dealings, made himself most obnoxious to the neighbouring crofters. The notice in question was given in their interest, and in point of fact the notice was never acted on. While on this subject, I may take the opportunity of stating, from my pretty extensive knowledge of the West Highlands and Islands, that Lord Macdonald's crofters are, taking everything into consideration, by far the easiest rented of any of their class, and that crofters' rents generally, on most if not all the estates in that district, are in almost every case at least 25 per cent, lower than those of the larger farmers on those estates, and in many cases the difference is much greater.

VI.—ALLEGATION BY NEIL SHAW, LOWERGILL, THAT HE GOT NO COMPENSATION FOR HIS HOUSES AT WAY-GOING.
I offered at the diet at Portree to produce a statement of account relating to this matter but the Commissioners declined to receive it "as it might lead into endless discussion." I now give this account (Appendix No. 4) which- shows not only that Shaw's claims were fully settled, but that I allowed him £1, 13s. 7d. out of my own pocket. It will be observed from the account that I was in advance £50 for him , for 6 months, for which no interest is charged; and I may mention, besides, that he was allowed to remain at Lowergill until he found it convenient to remove, and his cattle were there for a very considerable time after the Whitsunday term of removal. I happened to meet Shaw in Portree some days after the evidence was taken, when he said that he had no cause whatever of complaint against me, that if he had said anything of the kind it was wrong, and that he was so well off in the new possession he had got at Eyre on the Macdonald estate, that he would not return to Glendale even if he was offered to get back Lowergill free of rent.

VII.—ALLEGED CLEARANCES ON THE GLENDALE ESTATE.
A great deal has been said about the clearing of the two townships of Lowergill and Ramasaig on the Glendale estate, and, with regard to these, the carrying out of arrangements for the benefit of the tenants themselves, has been distorted so as to look like acts of oppression by the proprietor and his agents. There were six tenants on Lowergill, three of whom wished to leave and get more suitable holdings elsewhere. Two of the remaining three would have remained, but it was considered best for the interests both of the proprietor and themselves that they should remove, and they were accordingly also provided for advantageously elsewhere. As regards Ramasaig, every effort was made to continue the place in possession of small tenants. I refer to copy letter to me from the late Sir John Macleod, the proprietor, dated 15th May 1879) (Appendix No. 5). On many occasions I pressed the remaining tenants to increase their holdings (including grazings) by taking lots becoming vacant through other tenants removing of their own free will. There was no desire or intention to depopulate this place and add it to adjacent sheep farms in the proprietor's hands, until it became quite evident that owing to the impossibility of getting the vacant lots taken up, such a course was unavoidable. No tenants on any other part of the property were ever removed to make room for any of these tenants: it was only when vacancies occurred elsewhere that this arrangement was carried out; and, generally, I have to state that in no case during my management of the estate was any tenant removed to make room for another, nor, except in the single case of John Mackay, Hamenerar, was a tenant deprived of any portion of his land. The reduction of the extent of the croft in this case was justified by reasons of a most satisfactory nature. I may add that the proprietor was kept particularly informed of the full details of my management of the Glendale estate, and this remark also applies to my management of the Macdonald and Lochcarron estates. Referring further to the alleged evictions on the Glendale estate, I was very much surprised by a statement made by John M'Pherson, one of the Glendale delegates, at a meeting of Highlanders held at Fraserburgh, towards the close of this year's herring fishing there. It wilt be recollected that this man was one of the most prominent of the so-called delegates. At this meeting at Fraserburgh—according to the Inverness Courier M'Pherson said he "had seen homes burned down and their occupants burned out. In one case where an old sick woman was being carried out before her house was set on fire, the factor had the inhumanity to say, ' Let her alone, she has lived long enough already, let her burn.'" In consequence of this I wrote M'Phereon a letter, of which and of his reply I send a copy herewith (Appendix No. 6). In his reply he admits that he never saw anything of the kind either at Glendale or anywhere else, but merely read in publications by certain notorious agitators statements that such things had happened in Sutherlandshire years before he was born. I refer to this as showing the birth-place and process of development of many similar and utterly groundless stories which simple-minded but imaginative men have been induced by fomenters of discontent to
retail as their own personal experiences.

Perhaps I may be allowed to state my opinion that the condition of the Skye crofters generally has vastly improved within late years. The prices of cattle, sheep, fish, etc., have more than trebled within my own recollection, as has also the price of labour. I pay as much to my farm and other servants in Skye as I do to those on my farm in Nairnshire, and the cost of labouring an acre in Skye is much more than it is in Nairnshire. Nevertheless, this improvement might have been still greater were it not for various causes, among which I shall here mention only two—(1.) Subdivision of crofts, which, notwithstanding every measure adoptod for its prevention, has prevailed to such an extent that the population is now more than double that which can be supported with any degree of comfort upon the land suitable for the purpose; and (2.) The system of raising money on bills at exorbitant rates of interest—the discounters of these bills reaping a double profit at the expense of the unfortunate crofters—first in the shape of usurious discounts, and then by forcing them when the bills fall due, to sell their cattle at unsuitable times to the bill-holders themselves at a ruinous sacrifice. During my term of office, I did everything in my power to discourage this system, and I may safely say that had I gone into it myself, I could have covered personal losses of my own to the extent of at least £2000. I may explain that this system does not prevail to any extent on the southern part of the Macdonald estates. I am further bound to say, that long practical experience has forced me to the conclusion, that the conditions of soil and climate in Skye are most unfavourable to any more extended system of arable farming on the island. Such an attempt particularly by small tenants, even were they possessed of the requisite capital to do justice to the land, would, in my opinion, simply result in aggravating, in the course of a few years, the distress and discontent at present existing. An increased development of the fishing industry might do much to improve matters; but, on the whole, much as I would deplore the expatriation of any large body of my fellow-islesmen, I cannot refrain from stating my conscientious conviction that emigration on a pretty extensive scale, and with suitable assistance, is the only really effectual measure for improving the condition of these poor people. I regret very much the unreasoning opposition which has been manifested to this proposal, an opposition which there cannot be a shadow of doubt has been originated and is kept alive by gentlemen who should know better. I allude to certain Free Church ministers in the island, who seem in this matter to act from much the same motives as actuate the parish priests of Ireland in opposing emigration.
D. MACDONALD.
21st Nov. 1883.

I. COPY from ESTATE LEDGER of the RENT ACCOUNT of WIDOW M'LEOD and DONALD BEATON for No. 4 CARRADALE

Widow Mcleod, 4 Carradale
25 Nov 1871	To Arrear, as per state received from the exrs. of the late Mr. Mackinnon	£3/1/6
	Half year's rent due this day	£0/16/7
26 May 1872	Half year's rent due this day	£0/16/7
	By Arrear		£4/14/8
		£4/14/8	£4/14/8
Donald Beaton
	To Arrear	£4/14/8
25 Nov 1872	Half-year's rent	£1/0/0
24 Mar 1873	By Cash		£4/10/0
20 May 1873	Half-year's rent	£1/0/0
	By Arrear		£2/4/8
		£6/14/8	£6/14/8
	To Arrear	£2/4/8
25 Nov 1873	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
1 Dec 1873	By cash		£2/0/0
26 May 1874	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
	By Arrear		£2/4/8
		£4/4/8	£4/4/8
	To Arrear	£2/4/8
25 Nov 1874	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
30 Nov 1874	By Cash		£2/0/0
25 Dec 1874	1 month's rent	£0/3/4
	By Arrear		£1/8/0
		£3/8/0	£3/8/0
	To Arrear	£1/8/0
10 Apr 1875	By Cash		£1/4/8
26 May 1875	5 months' rent	£0/16/8
	By Arrear		£1/0/0
		£2/4/8	£2/4/8
	To Arrear	£1/0/0
25 Nov 1875	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
20 Dec 1875	By Cash		£2/0/0
26 May 1876	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
	By Arrear		£1/0/0
		£3/0/0	£3/0/0
	To Arrear	£2/0/0
25 Nov 1876	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
20 Dec 1876	By Cash		£2/0/0
26 May 1877	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
	By Arrear		£1/0/0
		£3/0/0	£3/0/0
	To Arrear	£1/0/0
25 Nov 1877	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
12 Dec 1877	By Cash		£2/0/0
26 May 1878	Half year's rent	£1/1/0
	By Arrear		£1/0/0
		£3/0/0	£3/0/0
	To Arrear	£1/0/0
25 Nov 1878	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
21 Dec 1878	By Cash		£2/0/0
26 May 1879	Half year's rent	£1/0/0
	By Arrear		£1/0/0
		£3/0/0	£3/0/0
	To Arrear	£1/0/0

II.—Copy of Widow M'LEOD's LETTER to Scotsman of 18th May 1883,
and of FACTOR'S LETTER therein referred to.
27 GARDNER'S CRESCENT, EDINBURGH,
18th July 1883.
SIR,—In his evidence before the Royal Commission at Isle Ornsay, Donald Beaton states that he had to pay £16 of arrears of rent due by the former tenant. As I preceded him, I may mention that there is not a word of truth in that statement, as the enclosed letter from the factor will prove. I not only paid my rent in full, but also got a sum of money from Tormore which I had expended in building a march-dyke, etc. Tormore took over my effects when I left Carradale, for which he allowed me full value.—I am, etc.,
(Signed) MARGARET M'LEOD.

(Copy of Factors Letter.)
TORMORE, BY BROADFORD, SKYE,
11th September 1875.
To Mrs. M'Leod (late of Carradale), Edinburgh.
DEAR MADAM,—I have looked over the rental of the Macdonald estates, and find that you were clear of arrears of rent when you left Carradale; and if you should at any time wish to get back possession of the lot you had there, I will arrange to let you have it.—Yours, etc.,
(Signed) D. MACDONALD.

III.—COPY from ESTATE LEDGER of the RENT ACCOUNT of J. & J. M'SWEEN
for No. 7 RAMASAIG.
Copy from Ledger Account of Lot No. 7 Ramasaig.—1860.
Ledger kept by Mr. Harry Macdonald from 1860 to 1863.

JOHN M'SWEEN, sen., and JOHN M'SWEEN, jun., 7 Ramasaig

	To Arrears from rental no 2	£20/7/10½
25 Nov 1860	To Half year's rent	£5/5/0
	To Poor rates to Mart.	£0/4/4½
	To Public burdens 1/0; peat money 2/6	£0/4/3
11 Dec 1860	By Cash from John McSween senior, to account of arrears		£6/0/0
	By Cash from John McSween junior, to account of arrears		£5/0/0
26 May 1861	To Half year's rent	£5/5/0
	To Poor rates to Whitsunday	£0/5/3
	By Balance		£20/11/9
		£31/11/9	£31/11/9
	To Balance	£20/11/9
25 Nov 1861	To Half year's rent	£5/5/0
	To Poor rates to Mart.	£0/4/4½
	To Public burdens 1/9; peat money 2/6	£0/4/3
5 Dec 1861	By Cash to account of arrears		£7/0/0
	By Cash to account of arrears		£4/0/0
26 May 1862	To half year's rent	£5/5/0
	To Poor rates	£0/5/3
	By Balance		£20/15/7½
		£31/15/7½	£31/15/7½
	To Balance	£20/15/7½
25 Nov 1862	To Half year's rent	£5/5/0
	To Poor rates	£0/5/3
	To Public burdens 1/9; peat money 2/6	£0/4/3
10 Dec 1862	By Cash, p John McSween jun to account of arrears		£4/0/0
26 May 1863	To Half year's rent	£5/5/0
	To Poor rates	£0/7/10½
9 Jun 1863	By Cash from John McSween jun to account of arrears of rent		£1/13/0
	By Cash from John McSween sen to account of arrears of rent		£2/13/0
	Balance		£23/17/0
		£32/3/0	£32/3/0
	To Balance	£23/17/0
19 Aug 1863	By Cash from John McSween sen to account of arrears of rent		£2/0/0
22 Sep 1863	By Cash from John McSween jun to account of arrears of rent		£4/0/0
25 Nov 1863	To Half year's rent	£5/5/0
	To Poor rates	£0/4/4½
	To Public burdens 1/9; peat money 2/6	£0/4/3
	By Balance		£23/10/7½
		£29/10/7½	£29/10/7½
	To Balance	£23/10/7½
Copy from Mr D Macdonald's Ledger
26 May 1864	To Half year's rent	£2/12/6
	To Poor rates	£0/2/7½
9 Jun 1864	By Cash		£1/0/0
	By Balance		£25/5/9
		£26/5/9	£26/5/9
9 Jun 1864	To Balance	£25/5/9
25 Nov 1864	To Half year's rent	£2/12/6
	To Poor rates	£0/2/2½
15 Dec 1864	By Cash		£2/0/0
26 May 1865	To Half year's rent	£2/12/6
	To Poor rates	£0/2/7½
	By Balance		£28/15/7
		£30/15/7	£30/15/7
	To Balance	£28/15/7
	To Peat money &c not charged 1864/65	£0/3/4
25 Nov 1865	Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	Poor rates	£0/2/3½
1 Dec 1865	By Cash		£4/0/0
26 May 1866	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/8½
	By Balance		£30/12/5
		£34/12/5	£34/12/5
	To Balance	£30/12/5
25 Nov 1866	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/3½
26 May 1867	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/3½
5 Jun 1867	By Cash		£7/0/0
	By Balance		£29/5/6
		£36/5/6	£36/5/6
	To Balance	£29/5/6
25 Nov 1867	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/3½
15 Dec 1867	By Cash		£3/10/0
	Carry forward	£32/2/0½	£3/10/0
1868	Brought forward	£32/2/0½	£3/10/0
26 May 1868	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/3½
	By Balance		£31/8/7
		£34/18/7	£34/18/7
	To Balance	£31/8/7
25 Nov 1868	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/9
26 May 1869	Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/8
	By Balance		£37/2/6
		£37/2/6	£37/2/6
	To Balance	£37/2/6
3 Jun 1869	By Cash		£3/0/0
25 Nov 1869	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/8
16 Mar 1870	By Cash		£3/0/0
26 May 1870	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/8
	By Balance		£36/16/4
		£42/16/4	£42/16/4
	To Balance	£36/16/4
25 Nov 1870	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/9
30 Nov 1870	By Cash		£4/0/0
11 Mar 1871	By Cash		£1/0/0
26 May 1871	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/9
	By Balance		£37/10/4
		£42/10/4	£42/10/4
	To Arrears	£37/10/4
25 Nov 1871	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/9
19 Mar 1872	By Cash		£5/0/0
26 May 1872	To Half year's rent	£2/14/3
	To Poor rates	£0/2/9
14 June 1872	By Cash		£2/0/0
	Balance		£36/4/4
		£43/4/4	£43/4/4
17 Dec 1872	By Cash for work per self		£0/6/0
	By Cash p A. Maclean miller		£5/0/0
	Value of house at Ramasaig		£1/17/0
	By Arrears struck off as irrecoverable		£29/1/4
		£36/4/4	£36/4/4

IV. COPY OF SETTLED ACCOUNT WITH NEIL SHAW, LOWERGILL

May 1877	To Rent due at this date	£6/4/7
	By Cattle bought from Shaw		£13/0/6
	By work on house		£1/10/0
June 1877	To Paid John Morrison, Eyre, on your account and by your order	£50/0/0
Nov 1877	By Value of sheepstock		£34/5/8
	By Value of houses per valuation		£4/18/0
	By Value of corn crops		£32/15/0
	By Value of potato crops		£8/10/0
	To Paid Charles Mackinnon, Lower Milivaig, his fee for valuing for you, per order	£0/7/0
Dec 1877	To Paid John Morrison further by your order	£40/0/0
	By Balance		£1/13/7
		£96/11/7	£96/11/7
	To Balance due me, and which allowed out of my own personal purse, to help Shaw in flitting	£1/13/7

V.—Copy LETTER to FACTOR, from SIR JOHN MACLEOD regarding Ramasaig,

1 STANHOPE ST., 15th May 1879.

My DEAR TORMORE,—I received your letter of the 10th May yesterday. As you are of opinion that the vacant holdings in Ramasaig afford openings for some of the people on other parte of the property, and that the change to these would be gladly accepted, and be advantageous both to them and the proprietor, without hurting anybody, I authorize you to carry this measure into effect.—
Yours, etc.
(Signed) J. M. MACLEOD.

VI.—Copy of FACTOR'S LETTER to JoHN McPHERSON, Milovaig, Glendale
and of M'PHERSON's reply.
Mr. John M'Pherson, Lower Milivaig, Glendale,
Torrnore, by Broadford, Isle of Skye.
1st October 1883.
DEAR SIR,—My attention has been directed to the report of a speech recently delivered by you at Fraserburgh and published in the Inverness Courier. The following is an extract from that speech as reported, viz. : " He expressed his pleasure in being present and being permitted to speak about Highland grievances, for he had seen houses burned down and their occupants turned out. In one case he went on to say where an old sick woman was being carried out before her house was set on fire, the factor had the inhumanity to say, ' Let her alone, she has lived long enough already, let her burn.'"
As you have all your life lived on the estate of Glendale, and as I acted as factor thereon for many years, I have to ask you, in the event of your admitting the correctness of the report—
I. Whether it was of Glendale and of me you spoke; and
II. If so, when and at what township the occurrence referred to by you took place.—Yours faithfully,
(Signed) D. MACDONALD.
(COPY REPLY.)
Milovaig, 9th October 1883
Mr. Macdonald.
DEAR SIR,—I have received your letter last Saturday night, asking a few questions which I shall answer willingly before going any further about thinking or speaking about yourself in Fraserburgh. I will challenge any man that I have never said worse than your name about you in Fraserburgh or elsewhere, unless I said a little to yourself, and I could not have said it unless I would tell a lie, about the houses being burned and the woman inside. I had read it in Donald Macleod's book named the Highland Clearances, who was an eye-witness on the savage work in Sutherlandshire, and Peter Sellar was the factor, who is in eternity long ago, and I see it daily now in Mackenzie's Highland Clearances and indeed any person that shall read the history of the Highlands since eighty years back, must confess that it was not much behind Africa and Asia. No more to say.—Believe me to be your well wisher.
(Signed) JOHN M'PHERSON.

Appendix XXIII

2010-09-18T15:30:00.001+01:00

1.—NUMBER of DECREES of REMOVING from Agricultural Small Holdings obtained against Crofters on the various Estates in the Isle of Skye in each year from 1840 to 1883 inclusive, ascertained from the Records Decrees of of the Sheriff Court at Portree.

Columns:
1 - Lord Macdonald's Estate
2 - Macleod's Estate
3 - Glendale & Husabost
4 - Waternish, Stein and Lochbay
5 - Greshornish
6 - Coishletter
7 - Edinbane, Skeabost and Bernisdale
8 - Skeabost and Bernisdale
9 - Lynedale
10 - Triaslan, Clachanish
11 - Kilmuir
12 - Strathaird
13 - Raasay & Rona
14 - Yearly totals

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1840	36	6	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	49
1841	46	7	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	7	0	54
1842	33	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	41
1843	40	10	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	6	11	72
1844	40	15	0	1	0	0	9	0	2	0	0	1	0	68
1845	26	6	2	0	0	0	9	0	0	0	0	3	11	57
1846	41	4	6	0	0	0	6	0	1	5	0	0	23	86
1847	52	2	4	4	2	0	8	0	0	4	0	0	8	83
1848	30	13	0	1	1	0	8	0	1	8	0	5	8	75
1849	53	0	2	0	0	2	7	0	7	2	0	0	4	77
1850	73	22	5	8	0	0	12	0	1	0	0	7	4	132
1851	10	2	1	5	0	0	9	0	0	1	0	5	6	39
1852	47	11	0	2	0	2	7	0	0	1	0	6	8	84
1853	38	9	1	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	0	4	4	62
1854	12	13	3	0	0	0	11	0	0	1	0	4	6	50
1855	9	14	3	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	5	1	41
1856	17	5	3	1	0	0	7	0	0	0	3	1	0	38
1857	17	5	1	1	0	0	4	0	2	1	10	1	2	44
1858	6	10	0	1	0	0	5	0	0	0	6	0	2	30
1859	4	6	2	2	1	0	4	0	1	1	1	0	2	24
1860	9	0	7	1	0	0	12	0	0	1	5	1	1	37
1861	16	2	5	2	0	0	16	0	2	1	1	0	1	40
1862	6	2	3	4	0	0	6	0	0	0	11	0	0	32
1863	11	8	9	1	0	0	2	0	0	2	7	2	2	44
1864	13	2	4	0	0	0	3	0	4	2	24	1	3	56
1865	13	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	32	0	0	52
1866	8	5	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	3	23
1867	5	2	7	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	2	0	21
1868	3	7	3	2	0	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	24
1869	2	3	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	5	25
1870	11	2	5	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	1	23
1871	10	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	2	1	0	1	19
1872	3	1	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	16
1873	3	2	3	0	0	0	0	8	1	1	2	0	0	20
1874	5	2	1	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	14
1875	5	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	14
1876	4	3	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	13
1877	2	1	2	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	3	0	0	11
1878	6	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	12
1879	4	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	12
1880	3	1	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	10
1881	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1882	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1883	0	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6
Total	776	223	112	55	5	4	165	18	27	38	124	67	126	1740

The above Decrees have proceeded on Summonses containing on an average 4 sets of Defenders each. The above total therefore multiplied by 4 gives the number of Heads of families warned to remove as 6960. And taking 5 as the average number of individuals in each family, gives £34,800.
As the number of individuals of the Crofter Class in the Isle of Skye, who between the years 1840 and 1883 have had the fact of the insecurity of their tenure impressed upon by process of Law directly affecting them, and at an expense to the 6960 Heads of families of an average at 10s. each = £3480, stg. DUGALD MACLACHLAN

2.—REPLY by ALEXANDER MACDONALD, Esq. of Treaslane, Skye.

PORTREE, November 9, 1883.

My attention has recently been drawn to the alleged statistics of summonses of removal, issued at the instance of proprietors in the island of Skye, against tenants and crofters during a considerable number of years past. While calling in question the accuracy of these reports or statistics, and drawing attention to the absence of all detailed information respecting them, I beg leave to make the following general remarks on the subject for the information of the Commission, viz., 1st, the number of summonses issued does not of course show that all the persons summoned to remove were actually removed, and it cannot safely be inferred from the fact of the summonses being issued that even a very small proportion of the persons warned were actually removed under them.
Before a person can be ejected under a summons of removal, the following steps of procedure are necessary, viz., (1) a decree of removing must be pronounced, (2) the decree of removing must be extracted, (3) there must be a charge of removing following upon the decree, (4) this is followed by an ejectment or eviction.
It must therefore be manifest that if it be intended to show that all the persons said to have been summoned to remove in consequence of the summonses were actually evicted or ejected, the statistics given should have been not the number of summonses of removal issued, but the number of decrees of removal extracted and followed by eviction. If even the number of decrees of removal extracted were given, the proportion which they would have to the decrees of removal pronounced, but not extracted, would be found to be extremely small. Besides this it is the fact that many extracted decrees of removal are never followed up by eviction. It therefore follows that even the numbers of extracted decrees of removal, and far more so the number of summonses issued, would be utterly misleading and valueless as affording any index to, or evidence of, the number of ejections or evictions. The truth is that summonses of removal have, in by far the greater number of cases in Skye, been used for one or other of the following purposes :—viz., (1) For the enforcement of payment of arrears of rent It would be found, and could be proved on investigation, that non-payment of rent accounts for fully nine-tenths or more of the whole summonses of removal issued. That this is the case is perfectly notorious among the crofters themselves, and they perfectly well knew that if they paid their rents they had nothing to fear from the summonses. The inference accordingly to be drawn from the large number of summonses of removal said to have been issued is, that there was a very large number of tenants who required to be summoned to remove in order to enforce payment of arrears of rent. It may be explained that the reasons for raising summonses of removal in order to procure payment of arrears of rent rather than the common method of recovering by raising ordinary summonses for debt, were and are the practical difficulty of identifying the stock and effects of crofters, such being very frequently alleged, when legal diligence was used, to belong to persons other than the crofters or tenants, as, for example, to their fathers, brothers, or sisters, &c. In short, the true deduction to be drawn from the existence of a large number of summonses of removal is that it would, in justice to the proprietor, to be most unsafe and inexpedient to give anything like the desired fixity of tenure to tenants or crofters against whom it was necessary to issue so many summonses of removal for non-payment of rent.
(2) The next most usual cause for issuing summonses of removal (after that of non-payment of rent) was and is for the maintenance of order and justice among the tenants or crofters themselves. It frequently happened that on account of disputes between neighbouring townships about marches and various other matters of contention, it became necessary to warn the whole of the tenants or crofters of a township. Every factor who has any experience in dealing with large bodies of small tenants must be able to recall many instances of the absolute necessity of using summonses of removal in cases of the kind just mentioned in order to bring about a settlement. Besides disputes between townships of crofters, a great many summonses of removal are also to be accounted for by the necessity of using them in order to settle disputes between individual crofters or several crofters in the same or different townships, as, for example, in cases of tenants being very quarrelsome and abusive to their neighbours, or keeping a large overstock of sheep, cattle, horses, to the prejudice of their neighbours, &c. In fine, the instances in which summonses of removal had to be used for the purpose of preserving order and discipline among the crofters themselves are far too numerous to mention in detail. As showing the small number of instances in which summonses of removing in Skye have been extracted and followed by enforced eviction or ejection, I may mention that although I have myself been acting as factor, assistant factor, and law agent on most of the Skye estates for the last twenty years or thereby, I can remember only four or five enforced evictions of crofters at the hands of the officers of the law, and these were, with, I believe, one exception only, on account of misbehaviour or misconduct on the part of the crofters, and complaints by their neighbours in consequence.
Finally, I may be allowed to point out that changes rendering summonses of removal necessary might frequently be required for the public benefit on improving estates. Such summonses or changes would not be required on estates where there was little going on. I shall feel much obliged by your acknowledging receipt of this communication, which I trust you will be good enough to engross in the records of the Commission as a reply to statements on the other side made with the intention of showing that there have of late years been as many evictions in Skye as there were summonses of removal.

ALEX. MACDONALD, Factor, & c

Appendix XXII

2010-09-18T14:51:00.002+01:00

STATEMENT of Major WILLIAM FRASER of Kilmuir and Newton.

NEWTON, NAIRN, 16th October 1883
I observe in the Inverness Courier of to-day, that on Saturday it was mentioned to effect, by the Chairman of the Commission, that if any gentleman wished to send a written statement with reference to the proceedings there, that he could do so. I also observe that at your sitting of yesterday at Kingussie, I am referred to, both as to my family and my small tenants in Strathglass of days gone by, and also as to my distinctive Gaelic name ‘Mac Uistean'; on these grounds I venture to again address you. In doing so, however, I pass from what may seem of more or less a personal character, and, taking broader grounds, it appears to me that the crofter question has, on the whole, been perhaps too much scanned from extreme points of view. One deprecates the crofter system in toto, another lauds it to the skies—perhaps we should look more to the happy medium; for my own part, I place my faith in a mixed system of large farms, medium farms, small farms, and a sufficient but not excessive number of crofter allotments. It is an old saying that enough is as good as a feast, and more makes a surfeit,—so with crofters, where congested (as the term now is), they do not thrive, and as a class do not present that happy and contented frame of mind pertaining to those who, in smaller bodies elsewhere, find sufficient employment for their labour. Besides, as the arm which is scarcely used loses its muscle, so with labour that is seldom exacted, its motive power degenerates, and thus, in places where there are large populations, with little or no public industries to support them, indolence becomes a second nature, and provides a subject fit for the manipulation of those who, in agitation and discontent, see the summum bonum of a crofter's paradise. In illustration of this, let us see where there are strife and discontent, and, on the other hand, where there appear to be peace and prosperity. Skye and Lewis are said to be pretty well peopled. What is the result of an over-crofted system there ? The crofters give us their tale, and what is the deduction ? Too many mouths and not enough to fill them. Then take the mainland opposite. Shall we say that they are contented there? The same complaint I fear prevails, only limited by the mouths being fewer in proportion to the number of fillers. We then step inland : it's all still, little is to be heard beyond the wind sighing through the forest heaths, and the sound of running waters. We inquire, and find we have left the crofters and are amongst the deer and ptarmigan. Few Highlanders here, unless four-footed, and apparently little material for royal inquiry. Having crossed the heights of the country, we now fall into the straths and opens of the eastern watershed. Here we find estates well laid out, mansions in fair abundance, nice farms, and good farm-houses, with a suitable sprinkling of crofters here and there, fit for their work, and which almost at their doors they get. And what is the result ?—peace and contentment And so it is then, I think, that a fair and moderate number of crofters on his estate, in suitable proportions to its value, and with ample occupation for them, is what any reasonable landlord would be glad to have. But is it desirable that large numbers of people, even though of good ancestry, and naturally of themselves of well disposed, should be encouraged to remain at home in a state of inactivity as regards physical employment, to be the tools of agitators and the victims of political enthusiasts, when, for all that may choose to improve their condition, there are fertile lands in the further West only awaiting to be tilled, and to return in many-fold the results of labour spent thereon ? With my own experience of the Far West, the South, and the East, I can only feel it as a deplorable fact that so many should in ignorance, and perhaps for the benefit of other interests, be induced to remain in their undrained and sunless wastes, when happy lands elsewhere are ready to welcome them. Whilst, then, I think a certain number would be immensely benefited by emigration from congested districts, I think likewise those remaining would also be improved in condition by finding more work and occupation; for, of course, if the demand for labour should come to equal the supply, so in proportion would be the benefit to those remaining in their native homes. Hoping that the present agitation, and its companion—Poverty, may now receive a check by a return to peace and ordinary industrial pursuits.
WM FRASER.

Appendix XXI

2010-09-18T14:46:00.003+01:00

NOTES on Kilmuir, Isle of Syke, Property of Major WILLIAM FRASER.

May 1883.
As showing how little the parish of Kilmuir has progressed in point of rental from early times to this date, as compared with the county of Inverness at large, and thus indicating what scope there may be yet in store for its future development, the following comparison is given. It appears that the valuation roll of the whole county in the year 1644, exclusive of the burgh of Inverness, amounted in pounds Scots to £132,225 :17 : 8, the rental in 1881, in pounds sterling, and exclusive of railways and canals, amounting to £322,873 :17 : 9; increase from pounds Scots to pounds sterling from 1644 to 1881 being about 144 per cent. Now in 1644 the valuation roll of the parish of Kilmuir amounted in pounds Scots to just £3866 :13 : 4, whilst in 1881 it amounts in pounds sterling to £5827 :10 : 6, being an increase from pounds Scots to pounds sterling of only 50 per cent, as against 144 on the part of the whole county, [For further information on the subject, wife an interesting little work on the Land Statistics of Inverness, Ross, and Cromarty, by Hugh C. Fraser, Inverness, from which the above information as to the valuation of 1644 is taken.] whilst in such respect Kilmuir will also bear comparison with other districts similarly placed. Of late years, say from 1854, it would appear that the rate of increase on Kilmuir is about the same as the average rate of the whole county, during that time the parish having increased much in value through improved means of communication, local outlays, and other sources, not omitting the increased value of stock.
It may be mentioned that Skye, until railway communication was opened up a few years ago to Strome Ferry, was, as compared with many parts of Invernessshire, very remote, whilst farm husbandry in the island has to a great extent gone on much in the old way, which applies very much to Kilmuir, that parish having only recently been opened up by good roads. It may be also added that in the olden time Kilmuir parish formed a much more important district than of late. Duntulm Castle, known as the ancient seat of the Lords of the Isles, occupied its position in the northern extremity of the parish, whilst a noted monastery, dedicated to St Columba, stood on an island on Loch Columkill, not far from the present residence of Monkstadt, which became the mansion of the Macdonald estates on Duntulm Castle being disused. These great places naturally had their smaller surroundings, and it was probably in part owing to all such, in conjunction with the fact of there being such a great extent of good land throughout the parish, that much attention was at one time drawn to it, whilst the decrease of the importance of the neighbourhood has for a time, perhaps, caused the district to be now comparatively less known and enquired after, unless by those interested in the noted sheep and cattle of the district, and by travellers visiting Quiraing and other spots of interest in that picturesque neighbourhood. It was thus that, owing to its early fame, an attempt was made in 1598 to improve the lands of Kilmuir by letting such to an influential Lowland company, and which transaction might have been attended with good results, were it not that succeeding feuds betwixt the clans of Macdonald and Macleod desolated the district, and in time put an end to the arrangement. Such, indeed, was the character of Kilmuir as an arable district, that it was formerly known as the ' Granary of Skye.' It is so referred to by Pennant, who travelled through it in the year 1772, and it was on his way there that, passing through Uig, he noticed the heavy crops waving with the breeze, and thus described that place as ' laughing with com.' As to Loch Columkill, it is now drained, its former bed forming an expanse of rich alluvial soil, annually yielding great crops of hay. The lake extended to nearly 300 acres; the work of draining it became a heavy one during the years it occupied, the outlet from what was lake to the sea being nearly a mile in length, whilst part of it is 35 feet deep, and 114 feet wide at the top, gradually sloping in to 9 feet wide at the bottom.
Dean Munro, in his work of 1594, refers to the ' fertill land in Skye excelling aney uther ground for grassing and pastoures;' whilst Martin, who writes in 1716, in remarking on the arable land in parts of Skye, speaks of the soil 'as ' very grateful to the husbandman,' and mentions the great returns of oats and barley that he heard of in certain places. He also speaks of ' Lochuge as a proper place for settling a magazine or colony,' being one of the places most abounding with fish. MacCulloch, in his instructive work of 1824, also refers to the ' Plain of Kilmuir, emphatically called the Granary of Skye.' Perhaps the most exhaustive work on the agriculture of the Hebrides yet published is that drawn up under the direction of the Board of Agriculture in the year 1811. The following is an extract from it:—
' In parish of Kilmuir, in the fine district of Trottemish, there are 4000 acres of as fine loam and clay upon a gravelly bottom as are to be found in Scotland. With good management, that land would, in Skye, be worth three guineas per acre, in East Lothian five. Some fields have been under crops of barley and oats without any rest for twenty years, and with scarcely any manure. The whole district is admirably calculated for turnip husbandry, and for the established rotations of crops on the best of soils.' It may be added that the system of farming generally pursued continues much the same as it was in 1811, and consequently portions of the lands have since been almost continuously kept under grain crops, still producing very much better returns than could possibly be expected under such a mode of agriculture. Also, owing to circumstances, the lands generally are not at present laid out to best advantage, but when this is remedied, and a general system of improvement is entered upon, much may be hoped for under it, and the present revenues of the district will then prove no criterion of what they may be brought to, whilst the agriculture and fishing populations may expect to reap as much benefit from the works to be carried out, as may accrue to the employers from their labour. Should any of the minerals prove workable, or should any works be started,—such as the manufacture of Roman cement, as has been already proposed, or of porcelain,—such of course would form invaluable sources of industry in the district. As to harbours, that of Uig, by the erection of suitable quays, might be converted into an excellent one for general purposes; that of Duntulm, overlooked by the ruins of the old castle, is also available, as well as that of Cuidrach, the present residence being on its north side; whilst Castle Uistean lies to the south of it, not far from the ruin of Peinduin, also on the same farm, and once the residence of ' Flora Macdonald.'

The following is a state of the acreage of the farms and townships and average rents per acre, payable by the tenants 'in cumulo' on the estate of Kilmuir, which includes the parish of Kilmuir and a division of the parish of Snizort, also the average rents per acre of the large tenants, or tenants of farms and the average rente per acre of the small tenants, or tenants of townships:—
A. R. P.
Farms Arable, & c , . . . 4,561 – 2 - 33
Farms Pasture, &c., . . . 17,882 - 2 - 26
22,444 - 1 - 19
Townships Arable, &c., . 4,149 - 1 - 0
Townships Pasture, &c, . 18,402 - 3 - 11
22,552 - 0 - 11
44,996 - 1 - 30
Practically, then, the estate consists of say 45,000 acres, of which say one-half, or 22,500 acres, are possessed as farms, and other 22,500 acres as townships. The rental of 22,500 acres of farms as from
Whitsunday 1881 to Whitsunday 1882 is £4071/15/0
And rental of 22,500 acres of townships is £3000/6/6, totalling £7072/1/6
Thus the whole estate pays per acre rather under £0/3/1¾
The farms pay rather under £0/3/7½
The townships pay exactly £0/2/8
About one-fifth of the land of the farms is arable, whilst the proportion of the arable land of the townships is rather less, being betwixt a fifth and a sixth; but nevertheless much more land is tilled by the small tenants than by the large ones, so much of the arable land on the large farms being kept under grass.
For past two years a temporary abatement of twenty-five per cent has been taken off the townships, so that for that period the townships have paid only 2s. per acre over arable and pasture lands, and that notwithstanding the nature of the soil, and the unusually large proportion of arable land to pasture land for a Highland estate.

Appendix XX

2010-09-17T18:34:00.000+01:00

STATEMENTS concerning Properties in Skye.

(1) From ALEXANDER MACDONALD, Esq., of Treaslane, Factor for Lord Macdonald, Macleod of Macleod, Major Fraser of Kilmuir, &c. -—
Alexander

NATIONAL BANK, PORTREE,
ISLE OF SKYE, 27 May 1883.
At the request of Major Fraser of Kilmuir, Isle of Skye, I now send enclosed a letter from him addressed to the Commissioners, which please have put up with the records of the Commission. The letter, which is dated the 25th current, specially contradicts statements made by Mr D. Maclachlan at Portree to the effect that the present action is not due to Irish agitators. I may mention that I am able to corroborate what Major Fraser says in his letter.
While writing about Kilmuir, I am too add that in giving my own evidence, I was uncertain whether certain crofters removed from Glenuig had got new lands, or had got merely portions of lands held by other tenants. I have since ascertained that some of them got entirely new lands not previously under crofters, while others emigrated. I have also to add that at the time when the rents of the Macdonald estate were lowered about 25 per cent, in 1830, the estate of Kilmuir was then a part of it, and participated in the reduction, which of course shows that it could well bear a rise of rent in modern times. I have also to add that in 1870 Major Fraser supplied his crofters with corn and potatoes to the value of about £700, and in 1877 he supplied oats to them to the value of £850, of which £250 remains still unpaid.

Macleod of Macleod supplied his crofters with oats and potatoes this year. Lord Macdonald supplied them with potatoes, and Mr M'Alister of Strathaird and I supplied our crofters with oats and potatoes; all to relieve the destitution of the present year. These supplies have been made on the understanding that repayment is to be made, but the purchase and supplying were effected at no small inconvenience to the proprietors named, and will no doubt be attended with loss. In addition to former supplies mentioned, Major Fraser of Kilmuir this year supplied his crofters with com and potatoes on the same terms as the proprietors first mentioned.
With reference to Major Fraser's letter enclosed, I send enclosed copy of a memorial addressed to him on 17th April last, signed by his tenantry, large and small, clergy, schoolmasters, & c , which could hardly have been signed if the sentiments of the people were at the time those indicated by Mr Maclauchlan in his evidence.Trusting that you will be good enough to publish this letter along with the rest of the evidence given, and statements handed in, as it is important that both sides of matters should appear before the public.
ALEX. MACDONALD.

(2) From Major WILLIAM FRASER of Kilmuir and Newton.
NEWTON MAIRNS, 25 May 1883.

I observe in to-day's Scotsman, that at yesterday's sitting of the Commission Mr D. M'Lachlan stated that the present agitation is not due to Irish agitators, but that it began more than twenty years ago on my property, and that it broke out again at Valtos three years ago; further, that the discontent had been mainly nourished on Major Fraser's property. Now, I am quite aware that there are parties who have been endeavouring to promote discontent on my property, sometimes one, and then another. For instance, in 1878, I had occasion to raise an action against the Highlander newspaper, which had made certain statements with reference to myself and my secretary, and under which that paper was fined £50. The interlocutor in my favour states :— What then has the pursuer to fear from the mendex infamia which coins false facts and false motives, from all that falsehood and malice can invent, or the credulity of a deluded populace can swallow.' No disturbance, however, was raised at the time on the property, and it was not until 1881, the year of Irish legislation, that an attempt (if it could be called such) at disturbance took place at Valtos. Now I quite admit that Mr M'Lachlan may know more of any ramifications of discontent on my property than I do, yet I cannot admit the accuracy of his statements, made, I suppose, in reply to my statement read on Wednesday last, which stated that in my opinion the present disturbed state of things in Skye is very much due to agitation in consequence of late events in Ireland, non-vindication of the law in certain parts of Skye, and bad seasons, whilst likely their hopes have been much raised by expectations of certain changes. Now, if there had been the discontent which Mr M'Lachlan says, I ask, is it likely that, with what went on at the Braes and Glendale, that I or my factor could have been able to keep my people quiet or orderly as they have been. Not wishing to take up your time too much in the midst of so much work, I just enclose copy of a memorial sent to me last month, before the general agitation of this month was got up; it is extracted from the Inverness Courier of 17th ult., and I beg to submit that the sentiments my tenantry express therein are incompatible with what Mr M'Lachlan states. I may add that, if desired, I can produce the original document, which is signed by the tenantry large and small, clergy, professional men, schoolmasters, and others throughout the district. I do not suppose that Mr M'Lachlan will venture to gainsay the truth of the statements as expressed in it.

Memorial for a Quay at Uig
The following memorial has been signed by upwards of a thousand tenants and fishermen on the Kilmuir estate, and is in a few days to be sent to Major Fraser. A largely attended meeting was held in Uig Inn on Monday last—Mr Urquhart, farmer, Glenconnon, in the chair. It was unanimously resolved to make every effort to bring the views which are embodied in the memorial before the Government.

The memorial is as follows :—
We , the undersigned, tenants and others on the Kilmuir estate, Skye, desire to convey to our esteemed proprietor, Major Fraser, our best thanks for the kindly interest he has always taken in everything calculated to promote our welfare, and at the same time to lay before him the views of a meeting recently held by a number of us. It was the unanimous opinion of the meeting that concerning nothing would so much promote the interests of residents on the Kilmuir estate as the erection of a quay at Uig, for the following reasons :—

1st The fishing fleet of Uig being the largest and most valuable in Skye it is of the utmost importance that it should have harbour accommodation which would prevent the recurrence of such a disaster to boats and fishing gear as that of November 1881.

2nd People travelling ten or twelve miles to send and receive goods by steamer, often have to return without having effected their purpose, and goods left for several days in winter in an open boat in the loch are often damaged, and sometimes totally destroyed. All this would be obviated by the erection
of a quay.

3rd. To vessels of large tonnage running in for shelter, as they often do, and vessels coming with cargoes, a quay would be a great boon. It would increase the safety of both, and enable the latter to discharge cargoes at any time—a thing which can be done at present only during favourable conjunctions of wind and tide. We are the more encouraged to lay this before our respected proprietor, as he has given ample evidence of a sincere desire to improve our condition in every practical way, and by giving this matter the attention which we think its importance demands, he will add to the many benefits he has already conferred on us, and command our lasting gratitude. We are aware the construction of such a quay as we propose will cost a large sum of money, but Uig being a place of importance, a good natural harbour, already supplied with roads, and being a telegraph terminus, no doubt, in a very short time, it would become one of the best fishing stations on the West Coast; so that we hope you may think proper to bring the matter before the Government, and that they may take a favourable view of our application.

May I request that if Mr M'Lachlan's remarks are entered against me in evidence, that this letter and memorial may also be so entered; and further, may I respectfully ask acknowledgement of this communication.

WM . FRASER.

26th October 1881.
We also wish to express our regrets that you are prevented from visiting your estate of Kilmuir oftener, and to assure you that none of your tenants would be more glad to see you coming and going among them, and that from none would you receive a more loyal welcome than from your Valtos tenants. We hope you will soon find it convenient to visit Kilmuir again. We remain, sir, your grateful tenants.

Appendix XIX

2010-09-17T18:24:00.002+01:00

STATEMENT by ALEX. MACDONALD, Esq. of Treaslane, Skye, and Factor to Lord Macdonald.

PORTREE, 16th August 1883.
I was duly favoured with your letter of 2nd June last, wishing me if possible to give an abstract of prices of Highland stock for the years 1852, 1862, and 1872. It would have given me much pleasure indeed to have replied before now, but it took me some time to obtain the necessary information, and I regret to say that even now the information which I have been able to obtain is somewhat imperfect The following information, however, may be found useful. The price of blackfaced sheep for the years mentioned will be found to be as follows, viz.:-

The prices of wool for the same years were as follows, viz.:—

In 1852, blackfaced wedders were from 23/0 to 27/0
Blackfaced ewes were from 14/6 to 16/6
Blackfaced lambs were from 8/0 to 11/6

In 1862 blackfaced wedders were from 17/0 to 27/0
Blackfaced ewes were from 12/0 to 18/8
Blackfaced lambs were from 6/0 to 12/0

In 1872 blackfaced wedders were from 31/6 to 45/0
Blackfaced ewes were from 18/0 to 32/0
Blackfaced lambs were from 12/6 to 18/0

In 1852, Cheviot wedders were from 21/0 to 32/0
Cheviot ewes were from 15/6 to 23/0
Cheviot lambs were from 8/0 to 14/0

In 1862 Cheviot wedders were from 27/0 to 37/6
Cheviot ewes were from 17/6 to 28/0
Cheviot lambs were from 10/0 to 16/0

In 1872 Cheviot wedders were from 45/0 to 56/0
Cheviot ewes were from 32/0 to 42/0
Cheviot lambs were from 16/0 to 22/0

In 1852, the price of laid Cheviot wool was from 13s. to 15s. per stone, and of laid blackfaced wool from 8s. to 9s. per stone.

In 1862, Cheviot wool averaged from 18s. 6d. to 26s. per stone, white Cheviot from 30s. to 37s. per stone, and laid Blackfaced from lis. 6d. to 16s. per stone.

In 1872, laid Cheviot wool was from 26s. to 37s. 6d., white Cheviot from 40s. to 48s., and laid Blackfaced from 18s. to 21s. per stone.

I have had considerable difficulty in obtaining information about the price of cattle for the same periods, but you can readily obtain it, I think, by referring to the files of some of the current newspapers at the time. I have been able only to obtain the following information:—

In 1873, Highland stirksmade from £ 6 , 10s. to £ 8 , two-year-olds from £10 to £14, and three and four-year-olds from £15 to £19, and some choice animals as far as £21 and £22. Before the extraordinary rise in the price of cattle, from £10 to £12 was thought a high figure for the choice descriptions.
ALEX. MACDONALD.

Appendix XVIII

2010-09-17T18:17:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. A GALBRAITH, Free Church Minister, Raasay, Island of Skye.

FREE CHURCH MANSE, RAASAY,
June 1883.
Having been from home when the Royal Commission visited this island, I was unable to appear to give evidence along with the other delegates chosen by the crofters. Personally, I had no wish to act as one of their representatives; but as they have chosen to elect me, and have since urged me to send in a written statement of their chief grievances, I cannot, consistently with my relation to them, refuse to comply with their wish. I am persuaded that such an inquiry into their circumstances as is now being made was greatly needed, and if, as the result of this inquiry, justice should be done to the poor, without injury to the landowners, I would feel satisfied that the Commission shall have done good service. I am now Free Church minister of Raasay for nearly sixteen years. During that time I have seen many changes in the island. It has been my lot to live under four proprietors—viz., Mr George H Rainy, Mr George G. M'Kay, Mr Armitage, and the present proprietor, who is now in possession of the island over seven years. So far as I could learn from the public prints and otherwise, I agree generally with the statements made by the other delegates so far as they went. The crofts in general are too small, and the quality of their land very inferior. The greater part of the land held by them is scarcely fit for cultivation, or for sheep either. During the time of Mr Rainy, senior, the best part of the island—where the people should still be—was cleared of tenants to make room for a large sheep farm. I am told that between the years 1852 and 1854, the following twelve townships were completely desolated—viz., Suishnish, Eyre, Upper Fearns, Lower Feams, Leac, Upper Hallaig, North Screpadale, South Screpadale, Castle, Manish, Doiredomhain, and Lower Hallaig. The number of families removed from these townships is said to have been about 97. By far the greater number of these were sent away against their will, while a few left of their own accord. A few families, about nine or ten of that number, were allowed to remain on the estate, and were settled among the other townships, whose land was not thought sufficiently good to be added to the sheep farm. The crofters who remained were not therefore benefited by these extensive clearances. Instead of being increased, their holdings were in some cases diminished, to make room for those families settled among them. Mr Rainy, junior, succeeded his father. He removed none, and was not at all disposed to do so, and during the short time he possessed the property, did everything in his power for the comfort of the people. His early lamented death led to changes far from favourable. The property was sold in 1872. The purchaser was Mr G. G. M'Kay, whose chief aim appears to have been to make pecuniary gain by the purchase. Accordingly he set immediately about increasing the rents. Rents were imposed on a number who paid none, and the rents which were before, and which were considered high enough, were in some cases nearly doubled. Taking an average of the whole, the rise was nearly 50 per cent. The people at the time remonstrated, and were almost driven to open resistance. Whether rightly or wrongly, I did my best, in the interest of peace, to influence the people to agree to M M'Kay’s terms, though I considered them very hard. The people were quite willing to take their lands at valuation; but the proprietor, perhaps thinking such a course might in some cases rather diminish than increase the rents, told them they must either agree to his terms, or leave the island. The poor people were unable, and probably unwilling to leave, and so they were compelled to submit. Since then the people believe—and I think justly—that they are far too highly rented; and it is not true, so far as I know, that in appearing before the Commission, they were influenced by any parties whatsoever, but by a sense of injustice which they think was done to them, in imposing a rent far beyond the value of their holdings. Looking at the extent and quality of their lands, the inconvenience resulting from their insular and outlandish position, the want of roads, and several other disadvantages, I have, after careful comparison with other places, come to the conclusion that their rents are among the highest, if
not the highest, in the West Highlands. Mr M'Kay's reign was short. In about three years the property was again in the market, and Mr Armitage, a kind, gentlemanly man, was the purchaser. He only kept the place about eighteen months, and having spent but one summer in it, he did little in the way of giving employment to the people, and left things pretty much as he found them. He spoke repeatedly to me of the injustice of having all the good land devoted to sheep, and all the worthless land given to the poor people. That is a grievance which still exists. The place was again bought in 1876, at a fancy price, by the present proprietor. Were I speaking for myself only, I would feel it just to say that I have always found Mr Wood kind and considerate; and I have precisely the same to say of all his predecessors, in my time, without exception. I think it due to him also to add, that in cases of sickness, and to widows, orphans, and other helpless persons, Mr Wood has been very kind and very generous. But notwithstanding all this, the crofter population have real grievances, and I am not going to say who is to blame for this, although I cannot help having my own opinion on the subject. The high rents I consider a real grievance. I take as an example the township of Osgaig, one formed by Mr Wood himself. The tenants here are crofters on a small scale, the most of the men being employed by himself. The whole arable land here is not quite six acres, and the rent charged is, I believe, £18. That is more than £3 per acre, and the quality of the land is not good. Each tenant is supposed to keep a cow, and if he occupies a whole house of two rooms and a closet (not too much for an ordinary family), he pays a rent of £13. That is £10 for his house, and £3 for the bit of land connected therewith. If he must be content with half a house, then his rent is £8—being £5 for the one end of the house, and £3 for his land. This land I consider more than double its value. As to the houses, after careful comparison with such houses elsewhere, I consider the Osgaig houses are at present double rented. They are plainly built, and should not have been costly houses. But I know not, and care not to ask, how much they cost; but simply as a question of value between man and man, I think they would be fully rented at from £5 to £6 each house. The people in this township are very poor, and becoming poorer every year. They are getting into debt, and by this time they have learned by experience that they cannot with their earnings pay their present rents and support their families. It must be admitted that the works hitherto carried on have been very helpful to the people. Still the sums said to have been expended on the place do not benefit the crofters to the extent that might be supposed. The works hitherto mainly carried on, from their nature, could not be permanent, and, besides, the larger portion of the money must have passed into the hands of various tradesmen and strangers from without. This must be from the nature of the works. The factor in his statement says that over £3000 have been, on an average, spent yearly in works to the inhabitants, and divides this over so many crofter families and individuals. I have no doubt as to the amount expended; I only wonder it is not greater, although it is small compared with the sum expended yearly in the time of Mr Rainy, senior. But it would be interesting to know how much of these thousands was actually paid to the crofters for work done. It is well known that large sums of money are yearly expended on the raising of game, and the payment of gamekeepers, as well as on the importation of feeding stuffs for cattle—a thing not formerly required when rabbits were fewer. It is very difficult to understand how money spent on these objects could benefit the crofters.
Then it is further stated that the number of people permanently employed in the place is about 94. I have taken some trouble to ascertain accurately who compose this permanent staff. I find that a goodly number are mansion-house servants, yachtsmen, gamekeepers, gardeners, shepherds, tradesmen of various kinds, salmon-fishers, farm-servants, &c. I find, further, that only about one-half of this permanent staff are natives, and fewer still—I would say not more than one-fourth—are in any way connected with the crofters. I do not say these things in the way of undervaluing the employment hitherto given by the proprietor, but simply to show that only a small portion of the sums expended really benefit the crofter population. Then as to the circumstances of the people, they are very poor, and worse off this year than I have seen them during my time. I cannot personally compare their state now with what they were in the time of the M'Leods. But I know the present, and I have tried every means in my power to discover what their circumstances were when the population was large—at or above a thousand—and the people were in possession of the most of the land. Some of the oldest inhabitants now alive—and I consider them trustworthy—have told me that in M'Leod's time the people were more comfortable than they are now. The able-bodied men now, as a rule, go to the East Coast and other fishings, and on these earnings they mainly depend for the payment of their rents, and the support of their families. In M'Leod's time no one, as a rule, left the island for work. The population then was much larger than now, but they had plenty of land, and between their crofts and the herring fishing about the island, they managed generally to pay their rents, and to live comfortably. Doubtless the failure of the potato crop had a good deal to do with the poverty of succeeding years. But now that the potato crop is again doing better, if they had more land of better quality than they have, I believe their circumstances would be considerably improved. As to those generally employed on day's pay about the farm, I do not think there is any improvement. In Mr Rainy's time the wages were, as a rule, 12s. per week. With this they had as much potato land as they wished to plant, got their coals landed and carted by the proprietor's horses free of charge, and had their houses rentfree. Now they receive, as a rule, 13s. per week for six full days' work. Some have little or no potato land; they pay for the landing and carting of their coals, and pay full rent for their
houses besides. In face of these facts, I regret I cannot say with the factor, in his statement, that 'the position of the people now, as compared with their state in 1876, is one of great improvement.' Again, as to the general health the people, I regret to say that sickness is on the increase. Two young men who were last year at the fishing, died this summer of consumption—a disease which is on the increase, and which, I believe, in most cases is traceable to cold and poor feeding, when the men are from home at the East Coast and elsewhere. In order to save as much as possible, they live too cheaply for their comfort and health. I have no doubt that poverty has a good deal to do with most of the cases of sickness. A medical man of considerable experience, who spent a couple of years in the island lately, on being asked what the prevailing disease in the island was, replied—' The prevailing disease is poverty, and the chief remedy is food.' But in my opinion the greatest grievance in this island now is the loss by game. I do not profess to be able to state this fully, nor can it be understood by any who are not eye-witnesses. Mr Wood's representatives admitted, I believe, before the Commission, that 'he bought Raasay as a sporting estate more than anything else.' The manner in which the estate affairs are managed, shows that this statement is strictly true. Game is the first and principal consideration, and everything else appears very secondary as compared with this. This being the case, however kindly Mr Wood is disposed to be—and he is kindly disposed—yet the crofters must suffer serious loss. The Rona people have no ground of complaint on this score, as there are no rabbits there, and winged game are comparatively few. But the Raasay crofters suffer very serious loss. I am aware that three parties received compensation at Martinmas last. Probably the rest did not apply, partly because they did not wish to be troublesome to their proprietor, and partly because they might fear that if the complaint became as general as the loss, they might expose themselves to serious consequences. They are tenants-at-will, and such a state of things is not fitted to cherish a spirit of independence. I believe the island of Raasay is at present fully stocked with rabbits, although all the sheep and cattle were at once cleared off. This is becoming more apparent every day. The large sheep farm in Mr Wood's own hands formerly carried over three thousand sheep. Now the stock is about the half of that number, and the reduction is mainly through the want of grass. The losses during the past year have been so great, that now, I understand, it is proposed to send off the remainder of the sheep, rather than leave them here to starve. One thing is plain, the island cannot support a full stock of sheep and a full stock of rabbits. Meanwhile the rabbits have practically cleared the ground for themselves, or will speedily do so, unless they receive a very effectual check. I have been told by the keepers that so many as fourteen thousand rabbits have been killed in a season. The number that die of starvation and other causes is very great. If we suppose (and it is no extreme supposition to make) that as many live as are killed, that would make a total of thirty thousand. And if we allow that seven rabbits eat as much grass as one sheep, then we have a stock equal to more than four thousand sheep, which would be enough for the whole island of Raasay to support, even if the place was completely cleared for themselves. The crops and grazings of the tenants in the north end of the island are entirely unprotected from the ravages of these vermin, and the loss, as I can testify from observation, is very great. Except for a few months in summer, they have little or no grass for their cattle, and, in several instances, the few sheep they have remaining are scarcely worth mentioning. How can it be otherwise, when so many of these destructive 'creatures' come in for their share of the little grass they have! The people have been feeling it a sore grievance, that they should have to cultivate the most inferior land, and pay such high rent for it, while the best part of the island was under sheep. But instead of diminishing, it will, only increase the grievance manifold, if, as is now supposed, the best land in the island is to be practically, if not wholly, converted into a rabbit warren. I admit that proprietors who have the means and inclination are entitled to a reasonable amount of sport; but I do not think it a kind treatment of his tenants, on the part of any proprietor, that he should reserve the best of his lands exclusively for sporting purposes, and leave the people to continue delving miserable patches, that can never repay the labour bestowed upon them. If this system is to become general, it will be fraught with serious evils to the country, as well as hardships to the crofter population. The people do not think they have liberty to kill rabbits, and if they had permission, they have not the means wherewith to kill them. I believe dogs are not allowed, except in a few instances; and if a cat should venture outside a door, a gamekeeper is watching with poison, traps, or gun to destroy it. Besides, over two thousand pheasants are reared annually, and these are to be found over all parts of the island. The factor is reported to have said that these are amply fed in the preserves, and consequently have no inducement to wander into the crofters' crops. The fact is, they wander wherever they can get food. He lives in Inverness, and does not see the crofters, or their crops, but seldom. He generally sees the crofters at' rent time "; but as for their crops, I question if he sees them at all. I live, however, in Raasay, and see for myself— hence the difference of our observations and experience. I feel strongly tempted to notice several other matters referred to in the factor's statement, but I fear I have already taken up too much space and time, and so I must be done. The foregoing I believe to be a /atr representation of the views of the people, as well as of my own, on the subject of their grievances. I now come to state, in a few words, some of the remedies which appear to me required to meet the case.

(1.) I should like, if possible, to see the crofters with more land, provided it was land worth having, and that they had it at its value. In my opinion, the people here would not be much the better of getting more of such land as they have at present. If they had more good land, and were protected from vermin, I believe they would prosper bettor, and be in a better position to get through, when a hard year, such as the past, came upon them. I know there may be difficulties in the way, but if it could be done, I do not think the proprietors would suffer any loss, and I believe the people would be benehted. I cannot conceive how proprietors would be losers, if it be the case, as I think it is, that crofters pay more per acre for their lands than the tacksman does.

(2.) I believe proprietors and people alike would be benefited, if the power of factors was more limited. In many cases, I believe, the grievances are largely due to them.

(3.) I would desiderate for the crofters better security for their holdings than at present. Tenancy-at-will involves uncertainty, which not only prevents the improvement of their houses and lands, but is unfavourable to a reasonable measure of independence, to which every man is entitled who conducts himself properly, and pays his way.

(4.) In every case of dispute about the value of a crofter's lands, it would be a fair thing, for proprietor and tenant alike, that the question be settled by competent valuators. This would greatly do away with anything which looks like oppression, and causes in many cases a feeling of dissatisfaction.

(5.) That all damage to crops and grazings by game, and especially by rabbits, should be estimated by valuators, and not by proprietors or their factors. For the present, at least (though I trust not permanently), this island is quite spoiled with rabbits. It could scarcely be expected that any parties who prefer rabbits not only to sheep, but to people, could be impartial judges as to the amount of damage done. I am thoroughly satisfied that if the crofter population generally are to receive justice—and we ask no more for them—this must be secured to them by the law of the land. I trust the Report of the Commission will be followed up by practical legislation, and I do not know any places that more urgently require this than properties 'bought as sporting estates more than anything else.'

A. GALBRAITH

Appendix XVII

2010-09-17T17:57:00.000+01:00

STATEMENTS by JOHN ROBERTSON, Esq, Greshornish, Isle of Skye, and Factor for the Macleod Trustees in Glendale.

GRESHORNISH, SKYE,
24th May 1883.
I wish to make a short statement as to my connection with the Glendale property:—
Mr Macdonald, Tormore, I understand, has explained the state of matters there up to June 1882, when I was first consulted and asked to take charge of the farms in possession of the trustees—Mr Macdonald, Tormore, having given them up. Immediately after visiting Glendale, I advised that a portion of Waterstein should be given to the Milovaig crofters, but the trustees and their advisers were of opinion that the crofters must first remove their stock from the grounds they had taken forcible possession of; and, as proceedings had been taken in the Court of Session for this purpose, they were served with an interdict early in July by Mr Mactavish, the sheriff officer, and at the same time he had, with the assistance of the shepherds, their stock removed from the grounds of Waterstein, and they were kept off by the trustees' shepherds till the fishermen returned in September. In August, however, there was a complaint made to me by John Morrison, Milovaig, of the Borrodale sheep trespassing on the Milovaig hill grazings. I went with Morrison and the shepherd to Borrodale, and told the crofters of this township that they must either sell off their overstock of sheep or pay the Milovaig crofters for the grazing, which they agreed to do at the rate of 1s. for each sheep, and which was accepted by the Milovaig people. I may here state that I have always thought that the Borrodale overstock was the cause of great confusion, and a great deal of the trouble from first to last.

On the return of the Milovaig fishermen, they told the shepherds in charge of Waterstein that they must not interfere with their stock, or put them off Waterstein. Soon after this, or about the beginning of October, I was appointed factor, and on my first visit to Glendale I met one of the Milovaig tenants, and had a conversation with him as to whether the Milovaig tenants could stock Waterstein. He admitted that they could not; but he said that eight of their number would take the farm if the trustees would give it to them. I could not see that such an arrangement could benefit the other Milovaig crofters, and so did not recommend it to the trustees; but at a subsequent meeting that day of all the Milovaig crofters I agreed to give them a portion of Waterstein, on condition that they would pay the arrears, and remove their stock from the grounds. The following day I pointed out the extent of ground, and where I should propose making the march fence. It was on an average about 360 yards broad and two miles long. This offer they declined to accept, and in a few days after went in a body to the shepherds, and after abusing one (Macdonald) they turned him off the property, and threatened the others if they again interfered with the Milovaig sheep or cattle. The proceedings aftenvards against the Milovaig crofters for taking forcible possession were carried on by the agents of the trustees, the result of which ended in the Court of Session, and the imprisonment of the three crofters. I have no recollection of having a conversation with John Macpherson about imprisonment, so could not have stated that, but for me, he would have been put in prison long before; the fact is, I had no power one way or another. I do not think he was worse than the others; but he took a prominent part at the different meetings, and was, in consequence, one of those summoned for breach of interdict. The tenants since on the property have mostly combined to pay no rents till the Milovaig people get Waterstein and other supposed grievances removed. I should however state that a small number have paid unknown to the others, asking me when doing so not to make it known, in case of their being punished by the other crofters. The trustees would be glad if the Commissioners could make any suggestions as to what should be done under the circumstances.

I wish further to add, that since I took charge of Glendale the shepherds have been thrashed, and reported to have been stoned and driven from their duties. I have also been informed that the same thing has happened to the messenger-at-arms and his assistants, and to policemen, and, so far as I have heard, no criminal proceedings have followed in consequence.
JOHN ROBERTSON.

Greshornish, Skye, 16 October 1883
Murdo M'Lcan, one of the delegates from Edinbane, stated at Dunvegan as a complaint against my management of their club-farm, that I allowed the tenants no interest on sums realised for sales of the stock in September and October though the settlement did not take place till Martinmas (Q. 3687-3694). I was so surprised and taken aback at the complaints this man made, complaints which I never heard a word of till that day, that when explaining to the Commissioners in Portree that there was no interest due to the tenants, I forgot to state that the Whitsunday rent was payable at the previous Whitsunday, and had I been strict with them, I might have claimed six months' interest on the half-year's rent not paid till Martinmas.
I also wish to refer to the letter of Dr Fraser, of the Gesto Hospital, Edinbane, which the Commissioners asked to be allowed to take as evidence of the destitution (Q. 3832-4). In this letter Dr Fraser states that the wife and child of a Donald M'Innes had died of starvation some two years ago at Edinbane. There was at the time an investigation of this case by the Board of Supervision, and Dr Fraser gave a certificate that both died from the effects of drinking impure water.

JOHN ROBERTSON.

Appendix XVI

2010-09-17T17:48:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. JAMES Ross, Free Church Minister, Bracadale, Skye.

FREE CHURCH MANSE, BRACADALE, DUNVEGAN, SKYE,
2nd June 1883.
I received by the last post your letter of the 26th ult. I cordially thank the Royal Commission for the privilege of being permitted to make a written statement, as I was unavoidably absent when the Royal Commission met here. I have nothing particular to say; I am comparatively a stranger in this place. I was ordained in this parish by the Free Kirk Presbytery of Skye and Uist in August 1877. Since then I found the people very quiet and agreeable, and on the whole well behaved. The crofters are in general very poor and in straightened circumstances compared to what their forefathers were. How this state of matters was brought about has been well stated by the delegates chosen to represent the parish before the Royal Commission, and I need not therefore refer to it again. But notwithstanding the reduced circumstances of the people they are in their own way very industrious, striving to make an honest livelihood in trying times. The children show great attachment to their parents, using all means in their power to supply their wants and to make them happy. The people are very fond of their native land. I believe they would not exchange their native hills and glens for any other place on the face of the habitable globe if they could remain at home. And when compelled to leave home, and when they And themselves home-sick in far off lands, the words of the Hebrew captives who said—
"By Babel's streams we sat and wept, When Zion we thought on," are still descriptive of their feelings. I trust, therefore, the Royal Commission will not countenance emigration, but that they will be the means of securing better and larger holdings for the poor crofters; for it is written, " In the multitude of people is the king's honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince" (Prov. XIV. 28). Trusting that the mission of the Royal Commission to the Highlands and Islands will be productive of much good.

JAMES ROSS

Appendix XV

2010-09-17T17:45:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. FINLAY GRAHAM, Free Church Minister

F. C. MANSE, SLEAT, SKYE,
22nd May 1883.
I think that you will gather, generally, that the crofters are as a rule cooped up and crowded together in the most barren comers; that they have been deprived from time to time of their hill pasture, and that their hill pasture has been added to sheep farms, already large enough; that it is dangerous to have a large population of this kind, little removed from want and deeply sunk in debt to the merchants, while in many places in each parish, and all over the island, there is abundance of land formerly in the possession of tenants, who were evicted thirty years ago. This land should be restored at fair rents. It is also evident that the present holders will not long give the present rents, as the pasture is running to by. I would be sorry to see the landlord suffer in any way unnecessarily, but the Government will have to devise some wise means of breaking up, say, one large farm in each parish, or cut off parts of the large, farms adjoining the townships of the crofters to widen their bounds. Some might emigrate voluntarily, but a general emigration would be unwise, as they would be in poverty in those new lands, if they have no money in hand when leaving their native land. It would be better to assist them at home. Two or more farms in the possession of one farmer is a great evil, and especially when the farmers are non-resident, and take little or no interest in the people in giving work. The tenants should be encouraged to improve their holdings and their houses, and some guarantee that they would not be removed or their rents increase: after effecting improvements. The present agitation may have been to some extent assisted by outsiders, but I have no hesitation in saying that they have serious grievances. I earnestly trust that this inquiry by the Royal Commissioners will issue in much good to the people, and that the landlords will not suffer by giving them back the land cultivated by their forefathers. I may be wrong, but I was of the opinion that crofters paid as high a rent in proportion to the large farmers, and it takes more than I have heard yet to convince me that they do not do so. I never met any of the crofters but are willing to pay any fair rent for good land.

FINLAY GRAHAM.

Appendix XIV

2010-09-17T17:29:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. ALEXANDER CAMERON, Minister of Sleat,

June 1883.
IT is right to state at the outset that as I have only been about eighteen months in the parish of Sleat, I do not wish to be understood as writing with the same authority as would belong to one having a longer acquaintance with the district and people. At the same time, certain general, and to me very patent, facts have pressed themselves on my notice. It is to a short statement of those facts, together with a few remarks thereon which have suggested themselves to my mind, that I desire as much as possible to confine myself. It will be convenient to arrange what I wish to say under one or two separate headings.

I. As to the Actual Circumstances of the People in the Parish

It is not always an easy matter to discover with certainty what these circumstances are. The people are generally reticent regarding them, and when statements are made, they must often be received with important qualifications. Nevertheless, I have little hesitation in saying that the most of the crofters are poor—many of them very poor. I am quite aware that many persons who know the country well, and to whose opinions the greatest respect and weight are due, firmly maintain that the people of this and other parishes in Skye are (as I have heard it put) " infinitely better off in all respects " than they were fifty, sixty, or seventy years ago. Various considerations are urged in support of this : e.g., the price of cattle is much higher than formerly; a large amount of merchandise is brought into the country, affording traffic to a large number of powerful steamers, as compared with one steamer trading to the west coast within the memory of not very old men; that people wear better clothes, and use many articles of food not thought of before, and so on. I think that all this may be perfectly true, while at the same time the material prosperity of the general body of the people may not even yet have greatly increased. Among the considerations which lead towards this opinion are such as these :—

1. The mere change of articles of food is not necessarily a sign of increased comfort. The change from living for a great part of the year on shell-fish (as is said used to be the case) to living the whole year on such articles of diet as bad tea (often without milk), oat bread, sometimes potatoes, and perhaps eggs and herrings, though undoubtedly an advance, is yet not a prodigious one.

2. Comparing the people here with the same class on different parts of the mainland, the difference between them as to apparent comfort is remarkable. Neither the houses of the people here, nor their appearance and mode of living generally, as to food, clothing, and so on, present at all the same aspect of comfort as is common among the same class elsewhere. It is very probable that in some measure the people themselves are to be blamed for this, but that cannot be held to be the cause generally.

3. The people here, again, seem to be forced from one cause or another to live in a more from-hand-to-mouth sort of way than the same class apparently do elsewhere. The most of them seem to be never very far removed from a state of actual want. The test of a bad year brings this out clearly. Crofters, as well as most people in ordinary circumstances in other parts of the country, generally manage tolerably well to weather through the bad years by the help of the good years. Here, on the contrary, not only are many in straitened circumstances as a general rule in all years, but if any unusual unpropitiousness of weather, or other interference with the ordinary run of matters occurs, it seems to tell on the people with a severity which is unaccountable, except on the supposition that from one cause or another they are not so able to stand it as their brethren in more favoured localities. This last winter of 1882-83 was of course severely felt everywhere, but its effects were undoubtedly more disastrous in Skye and the Western Isles than in any other parts.

4. Want of proper clothes, more especially in the case of women and children, but also frequently in the case of men, is one of the commonest excuses for non-attendance at church and school. And, certainly, if the clothing one constantly sees on children, and too often on women, in their own homes be taken as any indication of the general condition of their wardrobe, it must be set down as very scanty. Want of wool is often alleged as the cause. I am also informed that many who may be seen at kirk or market with fairly good, sometimes even with showy articles of outward dress, are very frequently obliged to neighbours for the loan of these, their own stock of upper and under clothing being of the smallest.

5. Most of the people are very deeply in debt to the local merchants, some I am given to understand to an amount scarcely credible. It is hardly to be supposed that a people who are regarded as honestly inclined, would choose t lie under this burden of debt could it be avoided.

II. Causes of the Present Condition of the People

In regard to this there is one feature easily discernible, which ought to be always borne in mind, viz., that just as it is quite impossible to say that any fine person in particular is to blame for the present condition of the people, so is it impossible to single out any one cause, or even set of causes, as as the cause in particular of the present aspect of affairs. The present condition of the crofter population here, however it may be viewed, is the outcome of a great many causes, and of the conditions in general under which they have for many generations lived and moved and had their being. Into those conditions and causes it is unnecessary, even were it possible, at present to enter very minutelv; but without pretending to any very exhaustive statement, two general classes of causes may be noted :—

I. Causes of an external nature, and beyond the control of the people themselves.

1. It is undoubtedly the case that the crofter population of the country has been dispossessed of much land. It is simply matter of fact that whole tracts of country once held by this class are now no longer held by them.

2. It is also matter of obvious fact that if the majority of those people are to be supported by the produce of the soil, the portions of land now held by them are far from sufficient to maintain them comfortably.

3. Unproductiveness of the soil is complained of, and it is no doubt the case.
Among other causes (beyond the control of the people themselves) of this may be assigned—
(1) Too frequent cropping, owing to small amount held.
(2) Want of any supervision, or instruction in, or incentive to the acquiring of improved methods of cultivation.
(3) The climate has undoubtedly changed, so as to be now very much less favourable to the operations of husbandry and the growing of crops than formerly. One proof of this seems to be that land in this district, even when in best condition and held by those who highly cultivate it, actually cannot, in many instances, be made to give the same returns or to pay as before.

4. Want of regular employment at public works, roads, or otherwise. Little or nothing in the way of regular work is to be had throughout the parish, and the want of it is much felt. That such employment would be beneficial is proved by the circumstance that a few families, the heads of which are in regular day's pay, are among the best off in the parish. It must, however, in strict truth be added that, when labour or any similar employment does chance to turn up, people are not always very easily satisfied as to wages.

II. Causes, more or less, within the control of the people themselves.
1. The unproductiveness of the soil so much complained of arises partly no doubt from—

(1) Bad farming. There is unquestionably an undue clinging to primitive and inefficient methods of husbandry, both as regards implements, tillage, manuring, time of sowing, management and cleaning of crops when growing, and so on, which acts hurtfully in the general result of the produce of the land.

(2) Over-cropping, consequent on the continued subdivision of the land, which in turn is the result of over-crowding. This over-crowding is no doubt owing partly to causes beyond the control of the people; but it is also in no small measure the result of what has been called "limpetism" on the part of the people themselves— a feeling, natural enough and so far commendable, of clinging to home and friends and country to their own loss, instead of, as they ought, "seeking fresh fields and pastures new." They have themselves (in spite of estate regulations to the contrary) subdivided their lots to such an extent that they now willingly, though when too late, acknowledge the folly of the custom. The fact is that, were not the land held by crofters in this parish more than usually fertile naturally, it would give no crops at all considering the usage it gets.

2. Want of greater energy (or perhaps of knowledge) in utilising those means of improving their condition which lie nearest at hand. Instances which more readily occur to one are such as—

(1) Improvement of their houses, both outside and inside. The houses of most are in much the same condition as, by all accounts, they were in a hundred or more years ago. Whitewash is all but unknown. In not many cases indeed are the cattle housed under the same roof as the human beings; but then the manure-heap is suffered to lie so near the door in most cases as to make it a matter of the utmost discomfort and difficulty, and of no small generalship to approach the house in wet weather. Inside, the floor is always earthen, and in most cases very far from being even. The furnitnre and domestic appointments generally are not only of a very primitive kind (which indeed would not in itself be a very serious objection), but they often want that appearance of order and cleanliness which is usually associated with ideas of comfort Houses, not very much better than many here, are to be met with in other parts of the country, but yet with an air of order, cleanliness, and comfort far superior.

(2) The advantages of keeping a small garden seem to be quite unknown. I cannot remember a single instance of a crofter cultivating a garden

(3) One cannot help thinking that the fishing round the coast (white fish) is not prosecuted so vigorously as it might be by the natives. Want of proper appliances, piers, and so on, is pled as the excuse; but that want might probably be overcome, to some extent at all events, if there was a will. East country boats carry away many pounds worth of white fish from the coasts here every season.

3. Improvident marriages are undoubtedly another cause of poverty. It is common enough (though I understand it is less so than formerly) for a young couple to get married with but little or no provision made for their future subsistence beyond a bothy hastily knocked up at the end of the father's house, and the liberty of planting a few potatoes in his already divided lot. There is besides not unfrequently more or less of debt hanging over either or both of the young couple.

4. With all this it is, however, but fair to add that in many instances women try to turn an honest penny by such expedients as sending away to the south, eggs, stockings, dairy produce, and so on.

III. As to Remedies.

It is a wide subject, and opinions on it differ even more widely than on the state of things to be remedied. A few of the more obvious suggestions only can be mentioned.

1. There does not seem to be any valid reason why such as wish to get, and can pay for, and have any reasonable prospect of profiting by more land should not have an opportunity of getting it, provided always, of course, that suitable arrangements could be made with proprietors. There is abundance of land for both large and small farmers, and the country would be all the better of having both; nor is it desirable, or even necessary, that the large should suffer at all, or proprietors incur any loss by the creation of smaller farms. I am aware that calculations are often made which are said to lead to a different conclusion, but taking an " unprofessional" and an entirely disinterested view of the whole matter, there really does seem to be plenty of room and of good land for all, provided only the thing were gone about with moderation, and with a sincere desire to do the best for all concerned. The system of club farms, which works very well in other parts, would no doubt do well here also if properly set agoing and managed with the help of some person possessed of greater knowledge and experience in the management and sale of stock than the people themselves generally possess.

2. There is undoubtedly much room for the encouragement and development of the local fishing industry—meaning thereby not merely the herring fishing, but the white fishing oft the coasts on all sides all the year round. When Buckie men find it worth their while to come and remain for many
weeks and send away hundreds of pounds worth of cod and other fish from our coasts, surely some means might be found of enabling the natives—most of — who m are good sailors—to profit by the same industry. The system of attempting to combine crofter and fisherman in the same individual, however, militates against this.

3. The setting agoing of employment of some permanent kind is much needed in many ways. Chiefly, perhaps,—
(1) By the making of roads to and through more distant and inaccessible parts of the parish. There are two districts in particular—Aird and Tarskavaig—which are really very badly off in this respect

(2) By the formation of piers at certain points along the coast. Except at Portree and Dunvegan there is no pier in the whole island of Skye alongside of which the trading and passenger steamers can be brought. The want of such a pier in this district is very greatly felt. With all the care that experienced and careful boatmen can exercise, the injury to and destruction of goods at the landing place at Armadale is very great. The shore is of the very roughest description, and the landing of goods is almost always attended with damage of some kind. The construction of smaller piers at some of the larger townships along the coast would be a great boon. There are four points specially where these piers would be of much use for such purposes as the protection and safe landing of boats and other gear, the landing of sea-ware, the prosecution of local fishings, and so on, all of which as at present carried on involve greater or less risk to limb or property.

4. While not an advocate for emigration on any large scale, yet I cannot help seeing that it would be the best thing in many cases for the poor people to do. Too many young men and women are content to remain here in a state, I shall not say of idleness, but often of something approaching to semi-idleness, and consequently of poverty, who, if they went to other countries, would undoubtedly very soon attain to comfort and independence. The same remark applies to young married couples without serious encumbrance.

5. Heavy school and poor and other rates are felt to be a serious burden. If a grant in aid from Government, or some other means of relief could be devised, it would unquestionably be well bestowed, and received most thankfully.

6. I do not know if matters pertaining to postal and telegraphic communication come within the scope of the inquiry by the Commission, but assuredly there is very much room for improvement in that respect in this district. The whole of this district, south from Broadford, has a mail only three times a week. It takes a week to get an answer to a letter from London, Edinburgh, or Glasgow; and if a letter for Portree or Inverness be posted at Ardvasar on Saturday, it is the following Thursday before an answer can arrive. The Edinburgh and Glasgow newspapers of Friday and Saturday are not to hand till Tuesday following. A daily post from Broadford to Armadale is all that is asked in the meantime. An extension of the telegraph from Isleomsay for seven or eight miles to Armadale would be a very small matter to the Post Office, but would be an immense convenience to the parish in very many ways.

7. Besides what is actually done (and something is done) in the way of showing an active interest in the moral and material improvement of the people, and in their affairs generally, there is still room for more continued had personal effort in this direction. There are, of course, numerous lines which such interest might take. The people, for instance, might be helped and encouraged to better their condition by such means as prizes, awarded at an annual competition, for best kept houses, for samples of agriculture produce (oats, potatoes, &c), for dairy produce, home-spun cloth, stockings, and so on. A yearly show of cattle and ponies, with prizes offered for the best, would, without a doubt, be not only popular, but could not fail to be both interesting and useful.

In closing, I would remark, that in all such matters as the attempted improvement of the crofter, or of any class of people, there is one principle which it seems to me ought to be acted upon, and that is the principle “festina lente”. It must be a slow growth, and not a mere spasmodic spurt. Not by his and starts, not by trying to do great things all at once, and then as suddenly getting discouraged and stopping short, is the desired amelioration to be brought about; but by the continued and patient use of those means of improvement, of those levers which have been elsewhere most successfully employed for the elevating of other classes of society. Some words written not long ago by Earl Cowper are well worthy of attention in connection with this matter :—" A great deal," says his Lordship, " may with advantage be done gradually, which, if attempted suddenly, would be disastrous. If you wish to fill a basin with water, you must pour slowly, for if you empty your jug straight in, you will make a great splash and a great mess, and your basin will only be half full after all."
Alex . CAMERON.

Appendix XIII

2010-09-17T16:03:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. DONALD MACKINNON, M.A., Minister of Strath, Skye

STRATH, BROADFORD, ISLE OF SKYE,
29th October 1883.
In compliance with the request of the Royal Commissioners, conveyed to me by a letter from their Secretary, that I should furnish them with a written statement, I now proceed to do so, by way of supplementing my oral statement before them at Broadford; and though my remarks will bear chiefly on this end of the island, with which I am best acquainted, they may, I think, from my knowledge of the country, be held as generally applicable to the whole island. That there may be no misunderstanding as to my views, let me state, in the outset, that I am strongly opposed to clearances, and have been so all my life,—for I hold that no man should have the power either of clearing townships bodily, or of weeding them out year by year, until he effects his purpose equally in a way that does not attract public attention. In 1854, when, unfortunately for the country, Lord Macdonald's estate was under trust, clearances were carried out by the trustees, attended with circumstances of heartless cruelty, not only without Lord Macdonald's consent, but against his strongly expressed wishes. In the course of these clearances, paupers were ejected by the inspector of poor, who was a sheriff-officer, and also groundofficer on the estate. Clearances and maladministration of the Poor Law thus came to be mixed up together. I denounced both these abuses in the public papers. The evictions having been carried out, my letters were too late to benefit the crofters, but the exposure secured important advantages to paupers throughout the country. Some of my letters were printed by order of the House of Commons, with the result that several gentlemen of good standing were appointed under the Board of Supervision to superintend the doings of parochial boards and of poor inspectors, and that it was made illegal for a sheriff-officer, ground-officer, or landlord's servant for the future to be an inspector of poor. But while I thus thought it my duty to denounce the ejection of these people. I believed then, and do still, that a certain amount of judiciously conducted emigration would be for the benefit not only of those who would thus escape from poverty, but also for the benefit of those who would remain behind. In the face of the fact that almost without exception the crofters who have emigrated have been successful, and that a good many of them have become very wealthy men, I cannot see what claim these people have to be considered friends of the crofters, who, while they maintain that their condition is so low, yet advise them to continue in that position, from which there seems so little hope of escape, thus doing all they can to suppress the natural aspirations of men to better their position in life. Why, because a man has been born a crofter, whose lot in life is at best a poor one, induce him, by bad advice, to remain hopelessly with all his offspring crofters to the end ? It appears to me that both the public and the crofters themselves have formed an erroneous idea about their true position. Crofters, even with the best holdings they possess in this country, were not intended or expected to be self-supporting farmers but working men with allotments [When crofting began to be extended on the Macdonald estates, and up to about 1830, Lord Macdonald had an average income of .620,000 a year from kelp, as may be seen in the Parliamentary Blue Book, in the evidence of Mr Robert Brown, who at the time spoken of was commissioner for Lord Macdonald, and who at the time he gave his evidence before a Parliamentary Committee subsequent to the abolition of the duty on Spanish barilla, which destroyed the kelp trade, was commissioner to His Grace the Duchy of Hamilton. It is hardly necessary to remark, that such a large revenue from kelp and it was some years £25,000—implied the expenditure of very large sums among the crofters for the manufacture. All sea-board proprietors on the West Coast suffered in proportion by the destruction of the kelp trade. Macdonald of Clanronald lost an income of £18,000 a year; and all this loss came on in one year upon all the sufferers, so that their consequent financial difficulties were forced upon them, and were not so much of their own making as is commonly supposed.]. When, as in their case, what was merely intended to be subsidiary to the main purpose of living by labour, has come to engross their whole time and attention, to the exclusion of that labour to which it was intended to be subsidiary to the main purpose of living by labour, has come to engross their whole time and attention, to the exclusion of that labour to which it was intended chiefly to the supplementary, it is no cause of wonder that poverty has come in the wake of so unwise a transposition. The result is even in the deplorable fact, that a very large majority of our male adult population spend from eight to nine months of the year in absolute idleness and consequently in poverty, for the relief of which appeals have had from time to time to be made to public charity. There is here, therefore, manifestly a state of matters requiring rectification, and the only apparent remedy is a certain amount of emigration, combined with crofts of such extent as will give full employment to such families as wish to follow farming exclusively, and another class of crofts for those who wish to be fishermen, of such extent as will enable each family to keep a cow, with as much land as will not interfere with their vocation as fishermen. Without either migration to some place where land is more abundant, or emigration, this last remedy is not practicable; for there is not in this country anything like the quantity of land that would be necessary to make crofts of a proper size, and to give besides crofts of proper extent to those who now hold only fractions of crofts, and to those who have no crofts at all. A good many could be accommodated by reducing the size of the excessively large farms, and laying the lands thus taken out in crofts of proper size, the money could be found to stock the lands—of which, I believe, there is little probability. Of the finding of money for this purpose by Government, as has been suggested—and as the crofters, I think, unfortunately, expect—I do not entertain any hope, for I do not see what claim crofters can set up to Government aid any more than men who are in poor circumstances in any other locality, and following any other vocation. I certainly would not advise the increase of crofts of such limited extent as even the best of the existing ones. If any change takes place, I would suggest that, in the first place, attention should be given, as the readiest practicable remedy, to restoring all divided crofts to their original extent, and where possible, to extending them, and that steps should be taken to prevent the possibility of subdivision in the future; for should the present generation be received as proposed, unless subdivision is made impossible, the same state of things which now exists will soon come round again. I can look back to more than one occasion on which landlords, recognising the evils of subdivision, attempted to put a stop to it; but it was looked upon by the people as oppreession, and created such discontent, that though the rule was in existence, it was abandoned to a great extent in practice,—so that the subdivision which has been so disastrous, which has caused so much poverty, which has led to improvident marriages, and to the consequent heavily burdening of the poor-rates with the support of widows with families of young children, has been in reality the work of crofters themselves.

The only instances of subdivision by the landlord which I can recall, are poorer, a few cases in which the holders of crofts, cither from age, poverty, or ill health, could not manage a whole croft. In this connection it falls to be stated that the cottars, or squatters, who the delegates complained were a burden upon the crofters, are, without exception, either the sons and daughters of crofters who have been born on the lands, or people who have been permitted by the crofters themselves to settle down upon their holdings, who, without the landlord's consent asked or given, have often come from other estates, and become connected by marriage with some of the crofters on the farms on which they squatted. I have never known even one instance in which a landlord or factor gave an order, or even permission, to a cottar to settle on lands held by crofters, unless at the request of the crofters themselves; on the contrary, landlords and factors uniformly discountenanced the system, but in vain, just as they have in vain discountenanced subdivision. This was as well known to the delegates who stated it as a grievance against their landlords that cottars were settled upon their lands, as it was to me, and I was sorry to hear this and other evidence given here, and to see that such was given elsewhere which was notoriously untrue, much of it mere hearsay, referring to matters which took place fifty or sixty years ago, of which the delegates knew nothing, casting reflections on people long dead for matters which, had they been in life, they could have explained in a way that would give them a very different complexion to that put upon them by the delegates. For instance, Donald Mackinnon, delegate from Elgol, stated that within his time eight farms had been depopulated on the estate of Strathaird. Now, it is a certain fact that, for more than a hundred years, there have been only two farms on the estate occupied by crofters, and one of these is so occupied still. From the other, the people were removed because they had fallen into arrears for several years' rent; such of them as were solvent got crofts as they became vacant, in the tenant farm which still exists. In addition to the two said farms, there were two detached crofts worth about £12 or £14 a year each, held rent free by two old servants of the proprietor during their lives, Though holding those crofts free, these men were just as poor as their neighbours, and left nothing at their death to their families to enable them to hold the lands; still they were left in possession for several years, and they fell so deeply in arrears that they had to abandon their holdings. These two crofts the fertile imagination of the not over-scrupulous delegate has magnified into depopulated farms, which help to make up three of the eight farms said to have been cleared within his recollection. It will be in the recollection of the Commissioners that tins delegate stated in his evidence at Broadford, that the School Board had deprived the people of his township of the ground on which they used to haul their boats. I think it right to contradict now, as I did at the time, this knowingly untruthful statement, as I am not sure that I made the state of the case sufficiently clear in my oral evidence. The place was never used for the purpose alleged, and no tide ever known prior to that of November 1881 made it necessary to make the people think of using it. It had been a schoolmaster's croft, and was enclosed as such for many years. Prior to the passing of the Education Act, the place was for some time without a schoolmaster. I was petitioned by the people to procure a schoolmaster for them, which I did, and I built with their full concurrence on this very ground, at my own expense, the walls for a schoolhouse and teacher's dwelling—the contractors being some of the people of the place. After I had spent so much money, I asked themselves to fetch the materials for the roofing of the buildings, which were provided by me, and to cost them nothing but their own labour, and the use of their boats for one day; yet they would not take the trouble, wrangling among themselves, aw proftera uniformly do, as to which of them should do the work— those who had no children refusing to assist, and those who had, refusing to take the sole trouble of what they said was to be for the good of the township at large. Finding themselves so indifferent and ungrateful, and seeing that an Education Act was in prospect, I ceased to take any further action in the matter, and my outlay was entirely lost, When the Education Act passed, I, as chairman of the School Board, was deputed along with the factor on the estate, who was also an elected member of the School Board, to select a site at Elgol. From some cause the factor was not able to meet me on the appointed day; but as I had received intimation that he, on the part of tire proprietor, would agree to any site selected by me, I proceeded with the work on hand. From tire first, I had the site ultimately selected in view, as the most advisable, both because it did not interfere with any of the crofts, and also because it obviated the great expense of carrying building material to the higher ground, which is so difficult of access from below. I took all the inhabitants of the place into my counsel, assembled them on the ground, and without one dissenting voice they agreed that the site which I recommended was the best. As a consequence of the agitation, and unreasonable expectations of a crofter's millennium raised by well-meaning but injudicious counsellors, who wish them well on the one hand, and by disloyal socialistic demagogues on the other, a tendency to exaggeration and misrepresentation has seized the minds of the people, who are evidently under the impression that the worse the case they make out, irrespective of its truth, the more are they likely to get as the result of their complaints, so that men have come forward to complain who really have no cause or right to do so. For instance, Malcolm MacInnes, delegate, Heast, complained that his holding was too small, and too highly rented. Now in that farm on which he lives the lands are well known to be very reasonably rented; they have a club stock of sheep, the proceeds of which usually pay the whole rent of the farm, so that the holder of each whole croft has from seven to nine acres of fairly good land, house and fuel—grass for six cows and two horses virtually free. This delegate is one of two brothers who are known to have from £2000 to £3000 left to them by a relative who emigrated to Australia, and, to my certain knowledge, they were offered, some months before this man gave his evidence, a holding suited to their means, and that they declined to take it. Neil Nicolson, Torrin delegate, holds about eight acres of the best land in the parish—every inch of it arable—with grazing for six cows, two horses, sixty sheep, at a rent of £13, and is in as good circumstances as a man with a holding of this extent can be; the return from his sheep pays his rent, so that he has his house, fuel, land, and the grazing of his cows and his horses free. John Macdonald, delegate, Harrepool, occupies two crofts in a farm which is reasonably rented, and he has been able to raise his sons above the position of crofters. Finlay Maclnnes again complained of being over-rented. He holds a small croft, rented at 30s., and he sits better than rent free, for the Parochial Board pays him for a spare house upon his croft a rent of £4, while he only pays 30s. to the landlord. These are all decent, well-conducted men in their station of life, and I mention the above facts to how, by the unreasonable nature of their complaints, the erroneous notions with which the people have become imbued. Much of the poverty of which they complain is undoubtedly of their own making, for they too commonly spend in entire idleness time during which they might earn money enough to improve their circumstances very materially; and as illustrative of this, it is right that I should state that many strong able-bodied me n are now returning home to live in entire idleness until next summer, from the fishing in Banff mid Aberdeenshire, who from the failure of the fishing there hardly earned as much money as would pay their way home, while there is abundance of railway work where they could have got employment, going on in the district which they have left; and when one or two, perhaps three men, come home in such circumstances to one family, the result may easily be seen; and even when men return after a short time of absence, who have been fairly fortunate, their earnings as a rule simply go to pay debts due from the previous year, so that they are for about nine months running into debt for the expenses of the current year. I am inclined to think that the facilities now afforded our people by banks and business me n to settle their debts by bills, has a good deal to do with the reckless disregard of industry just described. The crofters are as apt at discounting and renewing bills as me n in the great centres of business, and the Commissioners are already aware of the ruinous rate they usually pay for this very doubtful benefit. Another active factor in this life of indolence is the facility with which large sums of money have been raised for Highland destitution. I have always strongly felt that eleemosynary relief was attended with bad effects in their ways besides encouraging idleness, though, when surrounded by people in want, I have felt obliged to surrender my own opinions in order to avert destitution; but the experience I have had of its humiliating effects for the last two years, in administering the boat and destitution funds, has satisfied
too that the effects are more lowering to the character of the people than I conceived possible. At various periods from 1782 to the present date, the government and the public have been appealed to for the relief of Highland destitution, and I trust the Commissioners will in their wisdom devise some scheme which will render this humiliating state of matters no longer necessary; for as long as people continue to look to external sources for relief, they shall not, I fear, exert themselves steadily to live by their own industry. Though a considerable amount of poverty does exist, I am quite satisfied that the evidence the Commissioners have heard, alleging that the circumstances of the people in bygone years were better than they are now, is a pure myth, as the following statistics will show:—
(1.) About fifty years ago there was a large amount of arrears due by crofters, which was cancelled as irrecoverable. Again, in 1850, Lord Macdonald cancelled about £10,000 of arrears due by crofters, while for the last five-and-twenty years the rents have been regularly paid, without any appreciable arrear; and they pay besides poor rates, school rates, and doctor's salary, which amount to about 3s. per £1 on their rental.
(2.) Fifty years ago all the import trade, which was chiefly in food, was carried on by a small steamer of about 80 tons burthen, plying weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter; at a later date, a steamer of 110 tons was for many years sufficient for the trade, also running weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter; whereas now we have two to three thousand tons of steamships engaged weekly all the year round, and the railway besides in supplying the wants of the island.
(3.) Five-and-twenty years ago, when people were out of meal, a large number of those now in good credit could not, on their own responsibility, get meal from the dealers without security from me and other responsible parties. For a good many years I had to become security for sums varying from £100 to £200 to meal dealers, but for some years I have rarely been asked for such security. They are able either to pay money, or their credit is good enough to obtain meal on their own account. At that time the people were clothed in home-made stuffs, and most of them shod with leather of their own making, both usually of poor quality. Now they are clothed in tweeds or west of England cloths, and the women too often dress beyond their station in life, and the people altogether indulge in luxuries unknown to them in ' the good olden time,' which accounts to a great extent for their poverty; for though they earn so very much more than they did in the old times, these luxuries are incompatible with the amount of time they spend in idleness, and in consequence, as the Commissioners have repeatedly heard from themselves, the crofters are as a rule heavily in debt. The taste for an improved style of living I am very glad to see, for I am satisfied that it has been an influential factor in the greater exertion and industry which have been developed in recent years, and I am not without hope that when they see they cannot continue to enjoy these luxuries while they lead lives of idleness, they will be stimulated to more permanent exertion.
(4.) Much has been said of the abundance of home-grown food in former years. Potatoes certainly were then wonderfully abundant, but nothing else in the way of food was. That home-grown meal was abundant is a mere fallacy, which is clearly shown, as far as this locality is concerned, by the value of the multures paid at the only mill in the the parish. I have reason to be acquainted with the fact, that in the best years, including the grain of the tacksmen, which would at least be one-half of the grain ground, forty bolls of meal was the largest amount made by the miller by these multures, and as the multures were a twelfth part of the grain ground, the total amount of home-made meal would allow less than a boll for each family in the parish, while now the usual consumption of a crofter's family is, as the Commissioners have repeatedly heard from themselves, from ten to eighteen bolls. The value of the multures is also shown by the fact that the miller's rent, including a croft rented at £5 10s., was only £16 sterling. I am satisfied that other localities, tried by the same test, would give a similar result
(5.) So recently as 25 years ago many of the crofters were so scarce of stock that in every township numbers of cattle belonging to dealers and other parties were taken in to graze during the whole year, but now the crofters generally, though not invariably, have stock of their own upon their pasture, so that they do not require to take in grazing cattle, and when they do, they belong to other crofters as a rule. In old times very few men left the country to work, therefore money was scarce. The price of cattle and sheep was less considerably than half the price they now realise. The case being so, how is it possible that the people could have been in better circumstances then than now, for they paid practically the same rents as they do now (the recent increase being only five per cent.), with far smaller means of doing so than they possess, now that the value of their stock and of everything they have for sale is more than double what it was then, and when their own labour is so much enhanced in value that they can earn considerable sums in a very short time, though unfortunately they devote much less time to steady labour than their circumstances require ? Taking this improvement in their circumstances into consideration, the question naturally arises, what is the reason of the agitation and discontent which have been prevalent ? I am quite aware that there have been reasons of complaint in certain localities, but these have not been so general as to account for the universality of the complaints. Not a few have been unwillingly concussed by threats of personal violence to join in the agitation who had no sympathy with its promoters. Many joined, not because they felt they had unbearable grievances, but on account of the Utopian and communistic ideas instilled into their minds by professional and unprincipled agitators on the one hand, and by the unreasonable expectations raised in their minds on the other by well-meaning but injudicious friends; and further, by the way in which the disaffected and turbulent were permitted so long with impunity to go on setting the law at defiance. To people not in very nourishing circumstances, and so foolish as to believe in the teaching referred to, the prospects held out were of course very captivating; but leading the people to look for unattainable objects was only part of the teaching of these demagogues. The pamphlets and cartoons herewith sent [The titles of the pamphlets referred to here are as follows:-The Land for othe People; as Appeal. The Irish Land Question; an Appeal to the Land Leagues. A Plea for the Nationalisation of the Land; Letter from Dr Nulty, Bishop of Meath to Joseph Cowen MP; printed and published for the National Land League of Great Britain 1882. Several objectionable cartoons from the Weekly Freeman] show that the teaching was not only foolish but criminal, and that it is only owing to the inherent good character of our people that they were not incited to violence and bloodshed. These pamphlets and cartoons, and others more objectionable still, which I have not been able to get, were freely circulated by an agent of the Land League among our people, and they show one of the sources from which emanated much of the bad feeling in existence, which led the crofters to take a position antagonistic alike to kind and considerate as well as to inconsiderate landlords. Though I am satisfied that the position of the crofters is much improved and capable of further improvement, I cannot look upon it as calculated to admit of their rising much in the social scale; but I recognise it as an existing institution which cannot be done away with (even though wrong-headed and influential parties should advocate such a course), and which, therefore, every well wisher of his country must wish to see put upon the best possible footing, that it may make the people as prosperous and happy as their position will admit. I have no doubt that the inquiry by the Royal Commissioners, while in the meantime it had done mischief by unsettling the minds of the people and raising expectations so extravagant that they must to a great extent be doomed to disappointment, will have the effect of drawing the attention of landlords to the faulty points in their management of their crofters, and that more real good can be done in this way than by any possible legislation. And where landlords do not themselves recognise the duty of kind and liberal treatment of their crofters, the 'fierce light' which is said to beat upon a throne will shed on ungenerous landlords, and bring them to a sense of their duty by the voice of public opinion. The country, whatever party is in power, must now be governed by public opinion, and if the Government of the country must yield to its authority, is it not manifest that landlords in a matter like this of public policy must yield to its voice, even if they wished to deal harshly with their people, which I believe few indeed have any desire to do—but it must not be supposed that the fault is always unfailingly with the landlord, and that the crofter is an infallible being. Crofters have many excellent traits of character. They are usually a good, God-fearing, moral, and hitherto orderly people; but they have their faults, though they have been recently lauded as immaculate. From my knowledge of the country, I am satisfied that the influence which landlords and factors as a rule exercise over crofters is salutary—say, is absolutely necessary to prevent the injustice with which crofters, when they have the power, treat each other. It is only one who has lived amongst them, and has a practical knowledge of their ways who can understand the difficulty of keeping them in order. As families they are kind to each other beyond anything known out of the Highlands, but as crofting communities they are quite the reverse. In every farm the inhabitants are divided into cliques, each working in its own interest, so that they are rarely harmonious, and the more the crofts are subdivided so much the more intense is the feeling of rivalry, the explanation of which is this:—Various matters affecting the common interest in the management of their farms are decided by vote. The holder of one-fourth of a croft or one-third of a croft, as the case may be, has a vote as well as a man who has a whole croft; and those holding subdivisions being commonly more numerous than those who hold a whole croft, and being more needy, will, when they require money -—where they have a common stock—in selling the annual cast off the farms, outvote the holders of a full share, and sell, to raise money, young sheep which ought to he left for keeping up the stock, thus ultimately not only increasing their own poverty, but helping to impoverish the well-to-do tenants. Another mode by which they injure each other is, that by the vote of the holders of subdivisions, who rarely have enough winter provender for their cattle, a portion of the common pasture set apart for the grazing of their cows is almost every year broken up for cultivation, so that the cattle are scrimp of food, and that on an average not more than half of them have calves. The man who has a full croft thus suffers much more loss than the holder of a subdivision, for the man with a whole croft suffers by the injury done to from four to six cows; the other suffers only by injury done to one or two. Again, when they have hill pasture without a common stock, there are always some who have a great many more sheep than the fair share they are entitled to keep, and yet, though they have thus the use of grazing for which their less fortunate neighbours pay, they uniformly refuse to make any compensation to those who pay the same share of the rent which they do, though they have frequently little or no stock upon the land. They quarrel constantly among themselves about various other matters, such as sea-weed, peat mosses, keeping up dykes, herding cattle, and finally, when there is an improving tenant who lays his land out in grass, or grows a patch of turnip,—when he attempts to keep his neighbour's cattle off his grass in spring, or off his turnips in autumn, instead of preventing the trespass, they make his endeavours to protect his property a cause of quarrel and abuse. Crofter communities, like a family, require a head to rule them; some members are kind and considerate to their neighbours, while others are quarrelsome and selfish. Taking them all in all, they are inclined to be overbearing and inconsiderate to each other when they have the opportunity, and it is only the landlord or factor having the power of using summary measures against parties doing injury or injustice to their neighbours who can settle disputes, prevent injustice and enforce order in crofter townships; and, as a rule a factor over crofters has to adjust perhaps as many disputes as the Judge Ordinary of the country, and cases, too, which no one but a factor can understand or decide on their merits. The present factor is the eighth I have seen on the Macdonald estates, and I have never known abuse of power by any one of them, excepting by the factor appointed by the trustees while they held the estates. Two cases of seeming hardship were brought under the notice of the Commissioners at Broadford. I knew perfectly the nature of the case of Widow Matheson. I knew that she was heavily in arrears, which she could not hope to pay, and that she was at once transferred from the landlord's rent roll to the poor's roll, and that she and her family were kept upon the roll until they were able to support themselves. I did not at the time so readily recall to recollection the case of Widow Macdonald, though I knew the case well enough. She had a grown up family, who did not assist her; the croft was too large for her destitute circumstances, a croft rented at £9 which she never could pay; she was not herself one calculated to cope with difficulties, and she was ere long put into a small holding suited to her circumstances, where she has been for nearly twenty years. A good deal has been said about the paying by an incoming tenant of the outgoing tenant's arrears; but to this question, as well as to most others, there are two sides—it has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. The custom originated in a wish to deal gently with the outgoing tenant, as much as in a desire to secure the landlord's rent. The outgoing tenant is usually in reduced circumstances, and by this arrangement he leaves without any claim being made by the landlord upon either the way-going crop, the cattle, or other property he may be possessed of. Thus there is no such thing known on this estate as sequestrating a crofter who runs into arrears. The incoming tenant is usually one who is in fair circumstances, able and willing to pay the arrears, which is the game in principle as the common custom of paying for the goodwill of a business. Clearances, as they have been carried out in other places, have not been the custom here, excepting those carried out by the trustees. These were not carried out because the people were in arrears, but because their lands were wanted as a farm for a connection of the factor for the trustees. I stated this in the Inverness Courier at the time, and it was not denied, I had my information from the party who valued the lands for the said purpose, by authority of the then factor. In, I think, two instances, nearly sixty years ago, and only in one case since—a few crofters were removed in consequence of changes that were thought advisable, but they were all provided with places as good, and some of them with better places than those they had left. The tendency here has been quite in the opposite direction to depopulation. Nearly all the land now under crofters was held by tacksmen up to the beginning of tbe century, and even within my own recollection four farms now under crofters were in the occupation of tacksmen. More recently, Mr Macdonald, Tormore, when factor, took land off the sheep farms of Knock and Corry, which he let to crofters, and off the farm of Kinloch, which he gave to the Breakish crofters; and to the people of these farms he offered to let the valuable Island of Pabba, in their immediate vicinity, which they refused to take, as they thought they had not the necessary capital. I had ample opportunities of observing how matters were conducted, and I can with confidence say that Mr Macdonald, during his term of office here, was kind and considerate to the crofters, [A notice was produced by a delegate at Broadford, which had been sent to himself during the currency of the year, for which the rise of rent was laid on, intimating that the rise on the rent took effect from the Whitsunday preceding the date of the notice, which the delegate wished to imply, if indeed he did not say, was the first notice he had received of the proposed rise; whereas it was a matter known to everyone in the district that the valuators had, months before the date of the circular, inspected and valued the croft, and that at the rent audit at the previous Martinmas notice of the intended rise from the next Whitsunday was publicly given, and the explanation of the notice which seemed so ill-timed and arbitrary given by Mr Macdonald, is, that the irregularity arose from the negligence of his clerk, who omitted to issue it at the proper time.] never pushing them when in difficulty. but, on the contrary, treating them leniently, and generally taking a kindly interest in their affairs, and giving them time to pay, when he fairly might have taken stringent measures for the recovery of arrears. The small rise of rent (about 5 per cent.) which was made by him on the crofters' rental, and which brought so much unpopularity upon him, was a measure which he took in hand to save the crofters from what would certainly have been a much greater rise. On the coming of age of the late Lord Macdonald a revaluation of the estate was resolved upon by Lord Macdonald's Edinburgh agents, during the factorship of M r Macdonald's predecessor in office. A professional valuator appointed by them, in the first place, valued the sheep farms, which were out of lease, and at a rate far above the old rents. Mr Macdonald, seeing this, and anticipating that the professional valuator would rack-rent the crofters, told his lordship what was likely to be the result, and asked and obtained his sanction to have a valuation by local parties, so as to make it as easy as possible for the crofters. The crofters were told six months before the term from which the rise was to take place, how the matter stood, and they acquiesced without a dissenting voice in the valuation at sight of Mr Macdonald; yet when it became an accomplished fact, his attempt to save them came (from the time of the first payment of the increased rent) to be construed into an act of oppression. I state the above facts as having been within my own knowledge at the time. I do not think that, even including the rise, the rents are high. There are few if any crofts which, if properly cultivated, and energetically worked, would not pay the rent and afford fair remuneration for labour—in point of fact, a good many of the poorer crofters do pay their rents from the produce of the croft, and have nothing to pay it with but the corn, hay, and pasture which they sell. Living thus from hand to mouth, as these and even the crofters in rather better circumstances than these do, is it wise to ask for fixity of tenure as a panacea for evils with which the nature of the tenure under which they occupy has really little to do ? I am satisfied that no greater injury could be done to crofters under the present system than granting them fixity of tenure as commonly understood, and thus binding them more tightly to their poverty—no more effectual barrier could be opposed to their advance in the social scale—nothing would more effectually perpetuate indolence, helplessness, and dependence upon external aid, instead of relying upon their own exertions, and taking an honest pride in making themselves independent of elcemosynary relief. There must be a more healthy industrial condition before fixity of tenure can with advantage bo given. In this quarter they have as much as they can well desire, for the crofts, with few exceptions, are occupied by the descendants of the original occupants, and have been so for three or four generations without a break in the succession. I hold the opinion very strongly, that crofters should be protected against forcible eviction, as long as they are not troublesome to their neighbours, as long as they obey the law, pay their rents, and follow the rules of good husbandry, the entire neglect of which, adds much to the poverty of the country at large, but I am as decidedly of opinion that they are not yet so alive to their own interest as to make a good use of leases. I have not a doubt that leases would be antagonistic to their progress, would make them more difficult to deal with, and render hopelessly permanent the various causes which concur in bringing about the state of matters for which it was intended that the Royal Commissioners should find some permanent remedy, though until the habits and ideas of the people are materially changed, it is difficult to judge in what direction an efficient remedy is, to be found, but while in present circumstances I do not think leases would be advisable in the interests of the crofters themselves, I would in order to stimulate them to industry and to proper cultivation, advise the giving of leases to all holders of undivided crofts, as soon as they make their houses decently comfortable—as a good many have already done—and adopt a proper rotation of cropping; to give leases to holders of subdivisions would only be perpetuating poverty and making consolidation of subdivisions impracticable. In the event of the Commissioners coming to the conclusion that the solution of the difficulty is to be found in an extension of the crofting system, I would respectfully suggest that any new crofts which may be laid out, should not be of less value than £25 to £30 rent, including hill-pasture. With our poor soil and bad climate, nothing less will enable a family to live by the land. That extent of land would be something to look forward to by the smaller crofters, and would act as a stimulus to industry and thrift, and from that position when attained, an industrious crofter could in due time hope to rise to the position of a farmer, for now it is becoming evident that landlords are willing to break down their large farms into moderately sized holdings. How much can be done in this way to raise the status of the crofters, has been clearly illustrated by His Grace the Duke of Argyll, in Tyree, where we see not only that a good many of the crofters have by the good management of their landlords, and by their own thrift and industry, been raised to the position of farmers, but that a steady improvement is visible among the smaller tenants, so that they are decidedly superior to others of their class in the West Highlands, and that while general progress is visible in everything, their houses are unique in comfort among the other cottages of the Highlands, than which there can be no better test of a rise in the social scale. All this has been accomplished since 1853, and be it observed, that during the transition period, there has not been a single clearance or eviction in the island.
DONALD MACKINNON.

Appendix XII

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STATEMENT by Mr JOHN T. MACKENZIE, Dunvegan, Skye (Factor for St Kilda).

I, JOHN T. MACKENZIE, having been called upon to give evidence before the Commissioners at Portree on the 23rd May, now beg leave to submit my written statement.
I am 54 years of age. I am well acquainted with Skye, having lived there the greater part of my life. I hold various public offices of trust. I am also factor for St Hilda. I observe that the Commissioners visited that island on the 1st of June. I read the evidence given before them on that occasion. I have no comments to offer thereon; suffice it to say that Mr M'Kay omitted to mention that a medicine chest is kept on the island under his own charge, and that he himself is possessed of some skill in the proper dispensing of those medicines.
Angus Gillies, in his evidence, when he said the factor sent a vessel with meal on 3rd May, omitted to mention than in addition to meal, there was also sent flour, seed oats, and potatoes. The potatoes were, by Miss M'Leod's special orders, given at half price, viz., 5s. a barrel, she undertaking to pay the other half out of her own private means. The natural products of the island, such as feathers and oil, are falling out of view, other industries taking precedence. Prosperity lies before the St Kildeans in the fishing occupation, which made a start a few years ago. Unfortunately certain circumstances have hitherto retarded its progress. I am glad, however, to say, that a fresh start has again been made with every appearance of success, if encouraged in the right direction and in the proper way.

The agitation in Skye and the " land question " throughout the rest of Scotland may to a certain extent be associated, the difference being that the " land question" to a great extent is in the hands of educated people, who know the danger of breaking the law, and who are responsible for their own actions. The crofter grievance is the " land question " in another form, but in the hands of a class who, fancying they have some hardships, know not what to do, but who are under the guidance and advice of irresponsible and, I am afraid in many cases, of thoughtless leaders, eager to gain notoriety through the simplicity and credulity of their followers.
It may be gathered from the evidence given generally, that the stock necessary to maintain an ordinary crofter family is one horse, four cows, and forty sheep, that the rental of such a holding may be fairly valued at £10. If we suppose a township of forty of those lots, returning a gross rental of £400, to be advertised as one farm, capable of carrying a stock of 40 horses, 160 cows, and 1600 sheep, and if compared with other holdings of the same sort, I should say it would bring £ 600, if not more.
It is said that the people generally are now worse fed and worse clothed than they used to be. On this point I am rather inclined to say that they live more extravagantly now than they did in bygone days. The nutritious diet of porridge and milk, so largely used of old, and which nourished such strong and healthy men and children, is not now, according to the evidence of one delegate, considered good enough; it has to be supplemented by delicacies and costly foreign imports, often beyond the legitimate reach of an ordinary crofter. Again, home-spun tweeds and wincey are not now sufficient for dress as of old; they must have fine cloth and gaudy millinery taking the place of more substantial requirements, so that a great part of the money that should be used judiciously is foolishly spent in this way.
From the evidence given before the Commissioners, the grievance appears to be the same in every district they visited,—the cry being confined holdings, rack renting, and fear of capricious evictions; the redress sought being more lands, low rents, and fixity of tenure. The question now is to what extent can those remedies be obtained.
As I understand the matter, what I am expected to say now is to offer my opinion as to what gave rise to what is now termed grievances; what causes the unproductiveness of the soil at the present day compared with what it was in the past; and under present circumstances what is the best remedy for the state of disorder now prevailing. The discontent throughout this part of the Highlands may have arisen from various causes, and from a combination of events, some of which, strange as it may appear, have been partly brought about by the prosperity of the country at large, simply because labour employed elsewhere paid better than by putting it into Skye land, as I shall endeavour briefly to show. The potato failure made the land less profitable and less productive to the crofter than it was in times preceding the date at which that failure occurred. This calamity was quickly followed by a new era in the prosperity of the country, when labour began to be in demand, and good wages obtained, which in 1849 went up with a bound. At this the working classes in the country got so elated that the benefit from land was then looked upon as a small matter. The potatoes having at that time almost become extinct, the people had no inducement to cultivate the ground, and consequently they allowed the land to slip out of their hands of their own accord without regret or grumble; all they wanted in the Highlands being simply a home for their families, as being less expensive, and accompanied with greater privileges than a labourer's home in the lowlands. The people soon found that it was more profitable to be employed at railways and other works than by cultivating land at home. It can therefore be easily conceived thai the crofters became indifferent about their holdings, so far as the extent of them was concerned, and in any case, after the rise in wages, agriculture in the Highlands, as a rule, was found not to pay; but grazing did, and consequently the land, looked upon by the crofters with indifference, was eagerly sought after by the graziers. Of late years, however, the price of Highland cattle and mutton has gone up so much, and this being the particular kind of stock crofters keep, they are now beginning to have a craving after hill pasture, for which they had no value in former days, but now seek after at such a rapid pace that the circumstances of the country are not able to meet the demand so quickly as the craving has come on. This craving, it is to be feared
has been injudiciously indulged, if not stimulated, by the doings of a certain class of public agitators, of whose patriotic and philanthropic motives many people feel somewhat sceptical.
Most of the delegates before the Commissioners have spoken of the unproductiveness of the soil compared with what it was fifty years ago; the cause stated being the constant tilling of the same soil year after year. No doubt this is a cause in its own way, but there is a great deal more than that to be explained. The true cause is want of manuring. Prior to the date of the first appearance of the potato blight, the manufacturing of manure was looked upon as a very important branch of business in the country, requiring constant attention and skill, and the result was that a large quantity was put into the ground every year. This, coupled with proper attention to the soil and otherwise good husbandry, yielded corn tall in stalk and heavy in grain, but such attention to the land as this is now unknown to the crofter population. Corn is not now grown in the Highlands on account of its grain, it is grown simply for the straw for the purpose of feeding cattle,—the finer the stalk, and the more mixed with grass, the better for that purpose— hence bad farming.
The evidence given before the Commissioners clearly shows that the value put on land by the crofters is measured by their own agricultural experience, which is certainly less than half market value, which anyone can calculate who reads the evidence now in print. I was present myself where one delegate said, that in his township ‘the grass of a cow was valued at 5s.,' that ' a cow represented six sheep’ and that ‘a horse represented two cows.' If a cow at 5s. represents six sheep, that means 10d. a sheep. I have no doubt this delegate not only expects to keep what he has at 10d. a sheep, but expects more land at reduced rents, while yet the neighbour he marches with is a tacksman, paying a rent of 4s. 6d. a sheep. The difficulty is to suggest a speedy remedy for the present state of things, and I am afraid what I would be inclined to propose is not suitable, as it might by many be considered too slow in its results. I would suggest—

1st. That compensation be given for unexhausted manures, for permanent improvements, and for loss by game.

2nd. That leases be given to the crofters, and when a new lease is to be entered into, if on the old terms, so be it; but if the landlord asks for an increase of rent under the new lease, or the tenant wants a reduction, that the whole question of value be referred to valuators,—thus making the party disturbing existing arrangements to take into consideration before doing so the possibility of a valuation instead of bettering, leaving him worse than he was.

3rd. That there should be prevented the subdividing of crofts under £ 10, the squatting of people on any part of crofters' farms, except in cases where it cannot be judiciously prevented, such as in the neighbourhood of fishing stations and villages to which people generally gravitate on account of the labour that is always to be obtained at these centres.

4th That every proprietor should have at his disposal a tract of improvable moss land, where young married men, who would not be allowed to subdivide a parent's lot, who would be prevented from squatting, and who would refuse to emigrate, might get ten acre or so to build and improve upon, with the privilege of cutting sea-ware free where such is available. The land to be given at current value for a certain number of years, and at the expiry of that period, the tenant to be paid the difference between the market value of the land when he entered, and the market value when the lease expired, provided always that the rent had been paid regularly during the currency of the lease. The value to be ascertained, not by a process of valuation, but to be guided by the increase in the rent obtained in the public market, through the improvements made by the tenant during his occupancy. The interest of the money thus paid to be chargeable to the new lease in addition to the original rent, unless the landlord and the tenant (if the old tenant) mutually agree to defer payment. Landlords would also do well to create on every estate a sprinkling of small farms, say of £ 50 and upwards, in order to afford an opportunity to deserving and well-to-do persons from the crofter class to rise in the social scale when they could.

5th. That the Government organise an equitable scheme of free or assisted emigration to the colonies, in order to afford the crofters an opportunity of emigrating at any time they felt so inclined.

JOHN T. MACKENZIE.

Appendix XI

2010-09-15T13:32:00.002+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. D. M'CALLUM, M.A., Duirinish, Isle of Skye.

MANSE OF DUIRINISH, BY DUNVEGAN, SKYE, June 1883.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of a note, informing me that the Royal Commission will be glad to receive any written statement which I may be disposed to offer. Considering that Glendale is in the parish of Duirinish, this invitation is perhaps what might be reasonably expected. Although, however, that once peaceful Glen is one of the districts of the parish, yet, nearly the whole of its population was never brought within the reach of my instructions or spiritual superintendence. For me, therefore, to attempt to do anything in the way of advice or remonstrance during that commotion in Glendale which has attracted so much public notice in the three kingdoms, would, without the co-operation of their own minister, be apt to aggravate the evils which I earnestly wished to alleviate. During my long ministry in this parish, I have been frequently in the Glen, and been able, I hope, to be of some little benefit to the people in various ways, both there and in some of the surrounding districts. Their circumstances are well known to me. It is with painful interest that I viewed the unexpected and extraordinary measures which they had been led to adopt, in order to obtain a remedy for what they considered a grievance. Scores of men were one day seen to pass the manse, armed with sticks and clubs, on their way to the Dunvegan Hotel, with the intention of driving beyond the boundaries of the parish some of the police and other officers who, they heard, had been ordered to go to Glendale in order to take some legal steps against certain men there, accused of having broken the law. A middle-aged man who formed one of the rear of this strange procession I happened to overtake; he said he had come from a remote part of the Glen and felt tired. I asked him if he did not think that in this kind of work he was doing what was sinful, and that in resisting the law of the land he was acting contrary to the example left us by our blessed Saviour, and to the express command of his Apostles, who say—"Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake," "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers," "Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." After a short pause, the man replied—" Well, I sometimes think that what we are doing is not quite right." The brief conversation that I had with this man confirmed me in the belief that if, at the beginning of the disturbance in Glendale, the people had been more distinctly told that their projects were unscriptural and sinful, and inconsistent with their character as professing Christians, the confederation into which they had entered for resisting the law of the land would not have become so formidable as it has done. They have been always a peaceful and law-abiding people, and a people who could very likely be influenced by religious considerations. Emissaries from other places, however, and sentiments expressed regarding their doings by me n of influence in large cities, have led them to believe that resisting the law in the circumstances in which they are placed, and for the gobjects which they have in view, is meritorious and highly honourable. All the grievances of the Crofters in Skye, and in some other places, are found under the three heads—Evictions, Unjustifiable Raising of Rents, and Insufficient Extent of Land for their Crofts. On each of these three subjects I now proceed to offer a few observations.

1. -Evictions.—Removing crofters from holdings long in the possession of themselves and of their ancestors, in order to suit an arrangement which the proprietor may think it advisable to make, and settling them on another part of his estate, where there is reason to believe that they will be fully as comfortable as they were before their removal, is an eviction which no person, having a regard to the rights of property, can make any objections. But to evict whole townships of fellow subjects, and fellow Christians, from holdings where they lived in comparative comfort, and to crowd them in a comer of the estate, to treat them like sweepings to be gathered out of the way, and to consign them to a place where they must be reduced to a state of extreme poverty and wretchedness, as has often been done in many parts of the Highlands, is a proceeding which cannot be contemplated without a feeling of righteous indignation. Evictions of this description, however, are happily of rather an old date, and the force of public opinion will, it is hoped, prevent their repetition. The appointment of a Royal Commission, and the information which their inquiries have elicited will, it appears to me, have in this respect a very salutary effect. Should no other good result from it, it may be regarded as having accomplished a very important and desirable object.

2. An unjust rise on the rents.—The Commission, in course of their inquiries, have already ascertained that in Skye there is an extensive estate on which there have been no less than three rises on the rent, on three different occasions. A clergyman, dead some years ago, within whose parish this estate is situated, told me that in a conversation which he had with a crofter, who was complaining of the first rise as a grievance, he said to him : " I suppose your new proprietor has found reason to suspect, that you have been till now, not only living pretty comfortably, but that you have saved a little money, and that he thinks that a rise on your rents will be the most effectual way of getting it out of you." The crofter's reply was to the effect, " If we have done so, I for one am determined that it is not to him that I will give the fruits of my economy and industry." In accordance with this resolution, he and a few others, I believe, emigrated, and thus escaped the grievance of being subjected to the second rise. Before the third rise, it is to be hoped, that he, and those who accompanied him, found themselves in a state of comfortable independence. In the parish of Duirinish there have been considerable rises on the rents of the large farmers, but none on those of the crofters. Complaints of dear crofts are never heard among them, nor do I believe that there are any grounds whatever for such complaints, particularly on the estate of MacLeod of MacLeod. The general complaint here, and indeed throughout the greater part of Skye, is not too high-rented crofts, but the email extent of ground given to them

3. Insufficient extent of land— Neither a rise on the rents, nor insecurity of tenure, is what the crofters of Skye generally complain of. The more general complaint is that their crofts are too small to enable them to live. Indeed the cry everywhere seems to be for more land. How this grievance can be remedied without interfering with the legal rights of proprietors is a problem very difficult to solve. Still it is a grievance which proprietors, if disposed, have it in their power to alleviate in some considerable measure. It may be remedied so far, by taking slices from very large farms, and laying them out as suitable crofts. I may give one instance out of many which might be mentioned in which this may be done without any loss to the proprietor. The large farm of Feorlick in this parish is now, and has been for a period of about thirty years, held by a non-resident farmer. Bordering on this farm of Feorlick is the small farm of Vatten, the rent of which I do not know for certain, but is, so far as I have been able to ascertain, about £120. Vatten is now added to Feorlick, the farm of the non-resident tenant. In a conversation which I lately had with an intelligent and industrious crofter, I asked him, how much land would he like to have as a crofter ? His answer was—land to such an extent, as would require him to pay a rent of £12. He further stated, that if ten of the smaller crofters were to get crofts, as they earnestly wished on the farm of Vatten, they would willingly pay the full amount of rent what is now paid for it. Proprietors, however, are impressed with the idea that the payment of rents by crofters cannot be depended upon with certainty. If Government were to offer to become security to the proprietors for the payment of the rents of the crofters on their estates, the offer in many cases would be readily accepted. To such an arrangement as this there are, no doubt, serious objections. It is perfectly evident, however, that if the state of crofters throughout many parts of the Highlands is to be improved, a sacrifice must be made in some quarters, and it appears more equitable that that sacrifice should be shared in by the whole nation, than that it should be made entirely by the land proprietors, or any one particular class.

In conclusion, I beg leave to refer to a statement made regarding one of the districts of the extensive parish of Portree, and a district in which I have reason to feel a special interest. At the first meeting of the Royal Commission, which took place at the Braes, a locality which has of late obtained so much notoriety, it was, it would appear, suggested to one of the delegates appointed to enumerate the various grievances to which crofters have been subjected, to tell the Commission that at the Disruption two families at Sconcer were ejected from their holdings because they entertained two Free Church elders. Sconcer is separated from the Braes by Loch Sligachan, across which the ferry is only about two hundred yards broad. The former place and its surroundings formed a part of my first ministerial charge. I was its ordained missionary minister before and after the Disruption, and resided at a distance of a little more than two miles from the scene of my labours. The Free Church minister of Portree, who came to Skye some time afterwards, was present at the first meeting of the Commission, and made a few remarks which went to show that the extraordinary statement of the delegate was quite credible. As what has some bearing on that statement, I may mention that on the Sconcer side of Loch Sligachan there is an upland called Moll, stretching down to the sea, which had
been added to the deer forest. Not far from its base some crofters were removed because their crofts were considered too near to that part of the forest. There is nothing, however, of which I am more certain than that no family was ever removed on account of their showing Christian hospitality to members of the Free Church, or for any reason of a similar character. If a persecution on the MacDonald estates had been instituted against the Free Church so severe as the extraordinary statement referred to would lead many to suppose, I would like to ask, how did it happen that in the Braes, a district under the management of the same factor, the great bulk of the population were at the Disruption easily induced to join the Free Church, and how it does happen that since then the Free crofters there have been enjoying the counsels and ministrations of their minister without its being possible to give a single instance of a crofter being evicted, or subjected to any disadvantage whatever, on account of his connection with the Free Church. All the crofters at Sconser remained steadfast in their attachment to the Established Church at the Disruption, and they continue so to this day. This is probably what cannot be said of any other township in Skye. In this respect Sconser is quite unique; this state of things is probably to some parties disappointing and unaccountable, but surely a better and more charitable explanation of the fact might be given than by telling a Royal Commission, and through the Commission the Christian public, that at the Disruption two of the Skye crofters were evicted because they entertained two elders of the Free Church.
DUN. M'CALLUM.

Appendix X

2010-09-15T13:21:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. ARCHIBALD CLERK, LL.D., Minister of the Parish of Kilmallie, Inverness-shire

KlLMALLIE MANSE, FORT WlLLIAM, N.B., 24th October 1883.

In answering the queries which you have sent me, allow me to say that I was minister of the parish of Duirinish in the years 1840, 1841, 1842, and that I then wrote an account of the parish, which was published in the Statistical Account of Scotland, 1841. Thus I have beside me the statements made regarding matters which were before my eyes at the time, and do not depend on memory alone for what I am about to submit to you.
In regard to the general condition of the crofter population in Duirinish, it was poor and distressing beyond anything which I had previously seen. The dwelling-houses were dark, damp, and very hithy. The main door led into the byre, where the cattle—some of them tied in a very primitive manner, others running at large— were kept There was no drain to carry off the liquid. All the manure was allowed to accumulate for four or five months, until it was carried out to be laid on the land. It sometimes rose to a height of two feet above the level of the next apartment, the kitchen, which often formed the only one for the family. On descending to this apartment very little furniture was to be seen. The seats generally consisted of two or three stools made of wood; round stones, and pieces of dried turf. There were two openings in the wall. In these I have occasionally seen panes of glass. Generally, however, one of them was stuffed with straw or ferns, while the other was kept free for the admission of air and light, this being regulated by the direction in which the wind blew. The rafters forming the roof were always laid on the inner, instead of the outer edge of the wall; consequently, the rain, entering the top of the wall, was continually oozing through, keeping the house in constant damp.

The food of the crofters was scant and poor. Some of them had a small supply of oatmeal, and their cattle gave them milk; but their chief dependence was on potatoes and fish,—often on potatoes and salt Their clothing was very coarse, and personal ablution was not much practised by them. Their mode of tillage was most unprofitable. I have often seen oats sown for three, sometimes for four, successive years in the same spot, during the last two of which there was scarce any return except a small quantity of straw; and the land was thus rendered utterly unproductive for years afterwards. At the same time potatoes were planted in the same patches year after year. It would be easy to follow at least a two years' shift, but this was rarely done. I have seen in Glendale the furrows drawn right across the face of sloping ground, and thus, by preventing the downward flow of the water, turning good land into a puddle. The agricultural implements, if they deserve such a name, were most unsuited to their purpose. The cas-chrom, unwieldy in itself, and merely scarifying the ground, was preferred to plough or spade. The ground was harrowed often by a hand-rake, and sometimes by a larger harrow with wooden teeth. Hay was gathered with a forked stick, or with the hands alone. It is
needless to state that land thus treated did not yield a sixth of the produce which it would return under good culture. These remarks apply to the crofters who held their lands from the proprietor, paying from £ 2 to £8 or £9 annual rent. But there was a very numerous class known in Skye as 'lottars,' elsewhere as 'cottars,' who held a house and a very small patch of land from a farmer or a crofter. These paid no money rent, but were bound to give labour to those who allowed them a house stance. Their condition was far beneath that of the crofters, and the great heaps of shells constantly to be seen before their doors gave painful evidence of the abject poverty in which they were sunk. The daily wages given to labourers were 1s. 6d. in summer, 9d. or 10d. In winter. Female servants got from 10s. to £2 in the half-year; and, as a proof of the barbarous manner in which both servants and labourers were sometimes treated, I may mention what was no uncommon practice for a farmer in dining those who were engaged in his harvest work. A huge quantity of boiled potatoes were put into a cart with a proportionate supply of salt herrings thrown on the top of the potatoes. These were driven to the held, and shot out on the grass in piles here and there according to the number of the reapers. It is right also to mention an extraordinary waste of time and labour which I have seen in the cutting of peats. In other places a man cuts the peat, and lays it off his spade on a barrow placed conveniently to him on the bank. Two ' spreaders' carry this away, and ' spread' the peats on the drying ground. In Duirinish three men were employed at each spade, and gave occupation only to one party of 'spreaders.' One cut the peat, another lifted it up on the bank, while a third reposed himself on the ground, ready to relieve either of
his companions when exhausted with the hard toil! It may be asked whether anything was done to improve the wretched condition above described. I am sorry to say that I never heard of anything being attempted beyond relieving cases of individual want. In this both landlords and tacksmen were very liberal, and the crofters were ever ready to help one another according to their power. In 1837 such scarcity occurred, owing to failure of crops, that public aid was sought and found. Thousands of pounds were distributed in meal, & c, & c , throughout the islands, and portions of the mainland; but this aid was most injudiciously given without exacting labour in return, consequently its ultimate effect was to lower instead of raising the character of the people, producing a spirit of dependence and beggary among them. In case you may think my statements in any degree exaggerated, I beg leave to refer you to the accounts given of the other parishes in Skye, in the Statistical Account already referred to. The Rev. Roderick Macleod, a man revered—I might almost say worshipped—by the islanders, says of the parish of Bracadale, in which he was minister:—' As to the food of the people, they are generally considered not ill provided for who can feed on potatoes and salt, and during the last season even that would have been a luxury to many of them.' Again, as to their clothing,—'There were found in the parish 140 families who had no change of night or day clothes.' Mr MacGregor, well known for accurate statistical knowledge, writes of Kilmuir, which used to be called ' the granary of Skye,' and gives a woeful picture of its condition. He says, ' the lotting system has ruined the country;' and so it is in every parish throughout the island. The same sad tale is told—an overcrowded population steeped in poverty; no public employment; the land miserably mismanaged; education in a backward state; fears of famine entertained; and emigration recommended as affording the only prospect of relief. As to the present condition of Skye, I have always understood that the extensive emigration which followed, when the great famine of 1846-47 actually came, did much to relieve the pressure on the means of subsistence; and that the island has to a considerable extent shared in the general progress of the country, so that the state of the people is now by many degrees superior to what it was in 1840. But not having visited Skye for many years back. I cannot speak from personal knowledge; nor is this of any consequence, as the Commissioners have so recently seen the state of matters for themselves.

I am asked in the second place to describe the condition of families who have emigrated. In doing so I confine myself to those who have gone from the parish of Kilmallie, as it is of these alone I can speak with certainty. In 1844, when I became minister of the parish, the population was very numerous, upwards of 5000; and many of them were very poor. The potato failure in 1846 brought matters to a crisis. The proprietors and tacksmen gave liberal aid, but it was the public relief fund which really saved the people from starvation here as elsewhere. In Kilmallie there were 800 people who received of this fund, which, fortunately, was given only in exchange for labour. At this time the gold-fields of Australia opened a door of relief; and in the course of a few years more than a thousand persons from this parish went to Australia. Several of these have maintained a correspondence with me, and I am well acquainted with their circumstances. I specially mention one man, who died two years ago, and concerning whoma long laudatory article, published in one of the Sydney newspapers, was sent me. John Cameron was a crofter in Trieslaig, paying £7 of rent. He had a family of seven children, all grown up, and all, like himself, of the highest character. He took about £50 of capital with him. He and his family kept close together, and at the time of his death possessed among them land and capital more than double the value of the estate on which he had been a crofter; and, let me add, in striking contrast to this, that two of his neighbours, me n of as good character as he, who stuck to their crofts, both died paupers.

I remember another man on the Lochiel estate, who, owing to various losses, became absolutely poor. He had a numerous and very good-looking young family. He emigrated in 1850. He died last year, leaving 800 acres of good land to his family. His daughters have made good marriages. One of them drives her carriage, and all of them, sons and daughters, are comparatively wealthy. These are, undoubtedly, exceptional cases, but I pledge myself to the accuracy of the following statement. Every one who has devoted himself to land work, whether agricultural or pastoral, and conducted himself with ordinary propriety, is in highly prosperous circumstances, or has left his family in possession of free land and stock. I have known of several going to the 'diggings' and to public-houses. Few, if any, of these have done well, but those who stuck to land have thriven most remarkably. In regard to emigration, I hope you will allow me to state that it has conferred very great benefits on those who remained at home, as well as on those who have gone away. The successful emigrants were wonderfully kind to the friends left behind. I had it from the late bank agents in Fort-William—Mr Thomas MacDonald and M r James MacGregor—that for some years, when the Australian goldmines were in full operation,a sum exceeding £3000 was annually sent through their hands from Australia, not for Kilmallie alone, but for the district of which Fort William is the centre; and while I am sorry that this rich stream has greatly diminished in flow, there are still regular remittances coming from Australia to Lochaber. Let it be stated, to the credit of the emigrants, that many who left home deep in debt sent full payment of all their obligations shortly after being settled in Australia.

2. The lessening of the supply of labour naturally increased its value, and day's wages have risen from Is. 6d. to 3s. a day.

3. Further, the landowners have adopted strict and proper measures for preventing an undue increase of population, measures which unfortunately seem to have been utterly neglected in Skye and in Lewis. Sub-letting or ' lotting' has been absolutely prohibited, and vacant crofts have been added to the neighbouring ones. It has been a special advantage to Kilmallie that the late Lochiel wiped off all the crofter arrears— £1300—which had accumulated during the years of destitution, and also reduced the rents by 20 per cent.—a reduction which his successor has not disturbed; and it is proper to state that the above extensive emigration was voluntary. There were no evictions. I do not mean to represent Kilmallie parish as in all respects a model one. There are still poor houses, poor crofts, poor men and women to be seen, or I might substitute ' bad' for ' poor.' But I do say that a great and most beneficial change has taken place in the condition of the people since 1844, and while a great many causes have concurred in producing this change that it began in the emigration of one-fifth, or actually nearly one-fourth of the crofter population. I am glad to state that the improvement in the moral conduct of the people has kept pace steadily with that in their economic condition, that drunkenness, fighting, and petty thieving have been on the decrease for the last thirty years.

I trust you will bear with me for a moment, though it is going beyond my proper province, when I say that, seeing emigration and consolidation of crofts have produced such benefits in this parish, it is deeply to be regretted that these measures are not resorted to in other places. Every right-thinking person would wish that the Highlanders should be maintained in their native land, if this could be done consistently with their own comfort, and the general interests of all classes of the community. The plan of giving small farms, or large crofts to such as have capital to stock them—granting them leases, as all the large farmers have—promises much good. The fishing in the western seas also affords scope for the employment of many men. But after all, there are many thousands absolutely destitute of means for stocking or cultivating land, or for procuring boats and nets for themselves; and I need not say that the mere occupancy 6f land is of no conceivable profit to a man who has not the means of utilising its productiveness. In the parish of Duirinish, where the entire rental as it stood in 1840 would not give £1 a head to each of the inhabitants, the surrender of the whole land to them free of rent, would not give them food for half the year. It is to me a very deplorable thing that people, seeing such easy means of reaching comfort, and even affluence, should continue in a state of dire poverty, ignorance, and utter discomfort; and it is very marvellous to see those who call themselves the ' crofters' friends' encouraging them in this most unwise resolve, debarring them from a course which would infallibly raise them to high prosperity, and also greatly benefit those who remained at home, chaining them down to a state of debasing and painful poverty. I trust judicious measures may be devised for relieving the present distress of the Highland crofters. I cannot conclude, however, without stating my firm conviction that in a good education is to be found the only permanent and effective safeguard against those sad visitations of famine which have periodically invaded the Highlands for a long time back. If the young acquired an intelligent mastery of the English language, which must be learned through Gaelic—the unknown through the known, as in learning all other new languages—one generation would wipe away this oft-recurring reproach of begging aid from others, and make the Highlander as independent as the Lowlander. I stated this opinion in the Statistical Account so often mentioned, and after forty-two years' additional experience of Highlands and Lowlands, I beg leave to repeat it with much deepened conviction, and with increased earnestness for its being acted on.
ARCHD. CLERK, LL.D.

Appendix IX

2010-09-15T13:19:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by MACLEOD OF MACLEOD, Skye.

DUNVEGAN CASTLE, 9th July 1883.

Having purposely avoided appearing before the Commission, in order that the crofters on my property might feel quite free to say what they pleased, I should now be glad to offer a few observations for the consideration of the Commissioners. They will, I hope, attach some weight to my views, when I mention that from 1835 till 1848 I resided almost continuously in Skye. I was my own factor for some part of the time, and was always in very intimate and friendly communication with the people, both crofters and cottars. With the result of the inquiry in Skye I think the proprietors have no reason to be dissatisfied. For some considerable time there have been agitators in every corner of the island, circulating the most communistic doctrines, and endeavouring to set tenants against their landlords. Wherever the Commissioners have held meetings, they have been preceded by me n who have not only sought to influence the peoples' minds, but have put the very words into their mouths which they were to say. They have told them carefully to avoid mentioning any kindness they may have received at the hands of their proprietors, and to make out their condition as one of the greatest misery and hardship. Under such guidance, which I think it was very unfair to exercise, and in great contrast with the conduct of the proprietors, who wished the crofters to speak openly and freely, it was natural to expect a very dark picture. It is not indeed in the nature of mortals to be satisfied with their lot, if they are told by men of a class above them that they have been unjustly treated, and I do not blame in the least our people for listening to advice which promised an amendment in their condition. When people are invited to relate their grievances they are sure to have some to relate; for there is no class of men obliged to work for their living, or indeed any class of men, who have not grievances of some sort. It appears to me therefore eminently satisfactory to find that the delegates have been mostly obliged to search for grievances in times long gone by, and have misrepresented these, as they were pretty sure to do, when in ignorance of all the circumstances attending them. As to the present time, which is really the important question for inquiry, there seems to exist no substantial cause of complaint of ill treatment on the part of the crofters. They have just had indeed an exceptionally bad year, and every one has been glad to help them. If in a good year they were to complain, it would in my opinion be because they have no means of comparing their lot with that of others of the same class in England or in foreign lands. They have, however, now had the opportunity of stating their case, and it will be for the Commissioners to judge whether the grievances they complain of are greater or less than those which exist among all similar classes elsewhere, either in agricultural districts or in large towns. Their case, as stated by themselves, appears in substance to be, that the crofts are too small, and that there are many large farms in the island held by tacksmen, which they would wish to occupy. The wish thus expressed is very natural, but I draw an inference from it, to which I should be glad to direct the attention of the Commissioners. One witness at Edinbain, when asked where lands could be got, replied that there was plenty of land in Minginish and Bracadale, showing that the people have no objection to remove from one place to another, and that the hard word " eviction" has often been improperly used, to describe what was not eviction at all. If removal from one place to another can be properly called eviction, I myself may be charged with eviction under the following circumstances :—In the year 1843, the fine farm of Glendale, which then belonged to me, but was afterwards sold by my creditors, fell out of lease; and as Poltiel was one of the best fishing stations in Skye, and much of the land very good, being considered the granary of Durinish, I determined to place crofters in it, there being at that time none except at Holmsdale. I had the land carefully valued by competent persons, who fixed the rent according to the number of cows each township was estimated to keep. The scheme was hailed with great satisfaction by crofters, and with special approval by an advocate of theirs, the Rev. Roderick MacLeod, at that time Free Church minister of Snizort. I received a great number of applications, each applicant stating at my request how much rent he could afford to pay. One of my objects was to make some of the crofts, which were far from the fishing station, large enough for families to live comfortably on without going elsewhere for work. Accordingly in Lavricle. which has 96 Scotch acres of arable land and 1666 of pasture with a bold and rocky shore, I placed ten families at rents of £12 each. In Ramisaig, which has 128 Scotch acres of arable and 1055 acres of pasture, I placed twelve families at rents of £10, 10s. each. In the case of these two glens it was difficult to find tenants who had the means to stock the ground. Ultimately, however, I obtained the required number, of whom some came from Bracadale and some from other places. With the two Milovaigs I dealt differently, being of opinion that the holdings should not be so large as to make the occupants independent of fishing, the crofts being near the landing place at Poltiel. Accordingly fourteen crofters were placed in Outer Milovaig at rents of £ 4 , 4s. each, with 132 Scotch acres of arable and 386 of pasture; and sixteen in Inner Milovaig, fourteen at rents of £ 4 each and two at £6, with 115 Scotch acres of arable and 461 of pasture. Of these many belonged already to Holmisdale in Glendale, and some came from other parts. I have been particular in describing this experiment of mine, because I understand I am blamed for it now. I cannot, however, see that I deserve to be blamed from the crofter's point of view, and I never heard a complaint from any of them. Changes no doubt have taken place since, and the population has probably increased, as it always does unless sternly checked. Of this, however, I cannot speak personally, as Glendale is no longer mine. I cannot tell what importance the Commissioners attach to the statements of the delegates from townships on my property. I must therefore trouble them by referring to the evidence of one of the Kilmuir delegates. He says his father was evicted four times 48 years ago to make room for sheep and ' deer.' I understand he was removed in my father's time, but not evicted; and as to deer, the word could only have been used as part of what he was advised to say, as I have no forest. This delegate also said that ‘the people of Kilmuir would starve if they did not go elsewhere for work.' It so happens that scarcely any Kilmuir man goes away in search of work. Many of them are tradesmen earning good wages, and I give continuous work at 12s. a week to a number of labouring men. It is quite true, however, as the witness says, that Kilmuir is very crowded. The place is much sought after, and the difficulty is to refuse admission to the many applicants. Reference is made by him to a particular case in which one of the crofters agreed to give to another a small part of his croft. The land was worth five shillings a
year, but the new settler was afterwards allowed to erect a good house upon it, and was therefore required to pay the usual price of a stance. With respect to the general question of crowding, the fact is that when any place becomes too crowded, the fault rests with the people themselves. The children remain at home, the boys pressing for a portion of the croft, and the girls marrying men who are sometimes admitted likewise. I do not observe that any complaint has been made by the crofters on my property that rents are too high. That they are very low indeed will be seen from the fact, that while crofters' rents are either lower, or about the same as they were fifty years ago, tacksmen's rents have risen with the advance in the prices of cattle and sheep. The following list gives the rents of crofters and tacksmen at the different periods, the boundaries being the same:—
Crofters (1833 / 1853 / 1883)
Herrebost - £50 / £49 / £44
Gorip – £50 / £50 / £47
Roag - £100 / £98 / £93
Kilmuir - £100 / £90 / £97
Harlosh - £139 / £137 / £108

Tacksmen (1833 / 1853 / 1883)
Rhundunan - £1000 / £1300 / £1800
Talisker - £520 / £1020 / £1800 (an old lease fell in in 1847)
Drynoch - £610 / £835 / £1260
Totharder - £90 / £116 / £140
Feorlick - £260 / £320 / £465
Claigain - £480 / £514 / £700
Uiginish - £149 / £153 /£225

I should also like to call the Commissioners’ attention to the fact, that not only are the crofts lower rented in proportion than the farms, but in the same interval the crofters have been relieved of burdens on their labour. Since I inherited the estate they are no longer required to give six days' work annually, or 4s. in substitution for it in road-making. They are also no longer bound to give four days' work for cutting and stacking my peats. They have indeed two new charges, which they were not burdened with in my early days, but these are the result of legislation. In 1847 the Poor Law was introduced, and the crofters now pay Is. in the pound of rent. In 1872 the Education Act passed into law, and the crofters have to pay Is. also. I may perhaps say incidentally that both these laws have worked badly in the Highlands. The poor law has introduced generally a very heartless feeling among the young towards the old and helpless. The conduct of the people towards their relatives was formerly kindhearted in the extreme. Since then many try to get rid of burdensome relations, and the kindly feelings that should bind families together are not what they once were. The Education Act caused a number of new schoolhouses to be built in central situations, and displaced the small but well managed schools which had been established in each village. The result is, that whereas the crofters paid next to nothing for the schooling of their children, and left them at school till they were 17 or 18, they now withdraw them as soon as the law allows in order to save the fees, and their children soon forget what they had learnt. But there is another evil in the present arrangement. Many of the children have a great distance to walk from their homes to the nearest school, and it would be hard to force them to go during our frequent storms of wind and rain, for they would have to sit in wet clothes and shoes. Hence a very bad average attendance, insufficient grant, and increased school-rate. The people complain much and justly of these changes. I should wish now to lay before the Commissioners my own opinions on the present condition of the crofters, and I at once state most unhesitatingly and emphatically that they are much better off now than when I first knew them. They live better, that is, they live more expensively; and if the captains of steamers who bring the goods, and the merchants who sell them are asked, they will tell you that the people now use bread of fine flour, and prefer it to oatmeal; in place of molasses, they buy the whitest of sugar, while tea of the best is so largely consumed as to have become indispensable to them. Tobacco was always a coveted article, but in my early days it was beyond the means of many. It is now used to a far greater extent. The people are also much more expensively clothed than formerly. They buy a superior description of cloth, and they are all provided with good boots. I remember in old times asking why three brothers did not all come to work together, and the answer was there was only one pair of brogues in the family. I am sure it will not be denied that the women spend a great deal on dress, which they could not do in former days. These great changes for the better in the condition of the people are most satisfactory, but can only be accounted for by their possessing more money, and the question is how they get it! The answer is, first, that their labour is worth double what it was 40 years ago; and, secondly, that the facilities of going where remunerative work is to be had are very much increased. Some go to the East coast for the herring fishing, others to the South. They return home again having usually earned money enough to keep them without work through the winter. It is certainly to be regretted that there is no continuous employment for them at home, but even if they possessed much larger crofts they would not be able to live so well from them as they do now partly from land and partly from labour. No crofter can possibly in this climate live as well as he now does from the proceeds of his croft alone, however large. When I lived at Dunvegan I farmed largely and experimentally. I tried wheat, barley, and many varieties of oats. Wheat never ripened at all, the returns from the best oats was never large, and always inferior in quality. I have often seen the stooks out in December saturated with wet and almost worthless. My experience is that the people should grow oats chiefly for the straw, as they can buy oatmeal cheaper than they can grow it. In my opinion no extent of arable ground will ever pay a crofter in the climate of Skye under grain; and to keep horses to plough it, as I see many wish to do, would be very unwise, as the horse is an expensive animal. In place of the cas-chrome they should use the spade. I am quite satisfied that in our wet climate the cultivation of the soil should be restricted to potatoes and oats, the latter sown sparingly; and the evidence of all the crofters as to the small quantity of meal they get, is the best proof that I am right They might indeed have better crops, if they would imitate their ancestors in the manufacture of a midden. This they utterly neglect, and the soil for want of manure becomes impoverished, which is a pity, although I am convinced, however well manured the land might be, it would cost them more to grow a boll of meal than to buy it. The result, therefore, at which I arrive is that the only increase of land that would be of use to the crofters would be to add to their hill pasture, so that they might keep more cattle and some sheep. The difficulties, however, in the way are very great, I should say insuperable. In the first place, where are the crofters as a body to find the capital by means of which to put stock on the ground and to build houses ? No sane man would advise a crofter to commence farming on borrowed money. Here and there, no doubt, some crofter may have saved a hundred pound or two, but if he possesses means I think he would surely rather take a farm alone, than weight himself with other men in the township whose possessions in cattle were either small or nothing. A second difficulty that presents itself is that crofters with many mouths to feed cannot collectively or individually pay so high a rent for hill pasture, as the farmer, who, setting aside the question of capital, has the skill of a life's profession, and the freedom of action as to buying and selling, which does not exist among the many. The Highlanders have plenty of cleverness, and they would, I am certain, faithfully endeavour to fulfil with integrity and honour any obligation they had undertaken, but I do not believe they could pay the rent for grazing which a fanner can and does pay. Nor could they produce as much beef and mutton either in quantity or quality. The ground is already fully stocked; it can hold no more; and the crofters would, as I have already jhown, labour under much disadvantage in comparison with the tacksmen. It will therefore be seen that to enlarge the crofters' holdings would certainly reduce the value of the land, besides which I do not think the change would be of general advantage to the crofters themselves; for if universally adopted, it would assuredly in a great measure put an end to the fishing industry. It would encourage small droving, which has ruined many a middle-class man in Skye, and it would increase subdivision, which has caused so large an increase of population in tlie island. I happen to have seen in Austria the. unfortunate result of peasant proprietorships producing, in the short period of 35 years, extreme poverty through the subdivision of lands, and usurious loans which are always pressed on those who have security to give, and that in a climate and soil far superior to those of the Isle of Skye. I am confident that, if the Commissioners could see the state of those poor peasants, they would concur with me in thinking that the Highland crofters' condition is far to be preferred. In concluding this paper, I think it is only fair to myself (for every man values the good opinion of others) to notice the taunt which I understand has been freely used against me by some of the agitators, that I am a non-resident proprietor. That I have been so, except for the six weeks of my summer holiday, is indeed true, but the cause is well known, though perhaps not to the Chairman of the Commissioners. The famine years of 1847 and 1848 found me at Dunvegan. Every morning, when food became scarce, hundreds of people awaited my appearance at the Castle door. I had at the time large supplies of meal for my workpeople, but these were soon exhausted, and I went to Aberdeen for more. I only did what every other man similarly circumstanced would have done; but the strain was too great, and although largely aided at first by many friends and afterwards by the Government, I was myself utterly ruined, and forced to get work in London, and to live there.

MACLEOD OF MACLEOD

Appendix VIII

2010-09-15T13:17:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. D. JOHNSTONE regarding the Parish of Waternish, Isle of Skye.
WATERNISH, SKYE, 1883.

I have been now eleven years minister of this parish and so am well acquainted with the condition of the people. That condition is most deplorable and calls loudly for redress. As to the people themselves, they are not in the least lazy, but most industrious, hard-working people, and with a little fair-play would make the finest peasantry in the world. It is needless to inquire how they came to their present state, the remedy for the present state of matters is what the Commission have to deal with.

1. The first remedy I would propose is to give the small tenants, i.e., all paying under £20 of rent, fixity of tenure at a fair rent fixed by a practical man on the side of the landlord and another on the side of the tenants, with, if desired, an oversman in the case of disagreement.
The advantages of fixity of tenure would be :

(1) The crofter would build a better house—the houses of the people here are perfectly disgraceful. When remonstrated with, as I have often done, that they don't build better houses, their answer is that they can't tell how soou they may be removed from their present holdings and sent elsewhere, and so their labour would be in vain.
(2) The crofter would drain and improve his land if he knew that he was not to be disturbed till he reaped some benefit from his work.
(3) It would give the people a spirit of independence they never can have under the present system, which is a relic of feudalism, and when the landlord is as the old chief, when there was " no oath but by the Chaplain's hand, no law but Roderick Dhu's command." The landlord of this parish, who is not more guilty than others of evicting, deprived one of the very best me n in the neighbourhood of his lands because he would not go to hear the lay preacher approved of by the landlord.
(4) It would relieve the crofter of the work asked to be done for nothing if there was fixity of tenure.
From my window I can see a lot divided into two parts, and the crop off this said lot is only two small streaks of com, when the landlord asks and gets 28 day's work from these two individuals over and above their rent and taxes. That I consider complete injustice.
(5) It would relieve the crofter of being bound to sell his beasts to the landlord at the price he thinks fit to give, not the market value of the animal. I was present at the meeting of the Commission here on the 14th May last, and was surprised that the people said the ground-officer gave the market value for what he bought—I knew it to be incorrect and given so through fear, as said ground-officer was present all the time taking notes of what was said. The delegates got a sound scolding from their neighbours when they went out for not speaking the whole truth.

2. Another remedy is to give the small tenants an extension of their lots. This can so easily be done that it only requires the landlord and ground-officer to spend two or three days at the work and it is done. Every crofter ought to have as much land as to keep three cows, and a horse between two of them. A horse each is not in the least necessary. Any man of skill could easily tell what land would be necessary for his stock. A stock of three cows and a horse between two of them, with fixity of tenure, I am certain would make the Highlanders as happy as the day is long. In some cases sheep could be kept, but it is not practicable in every instance. Now I may be permitted to say here, that these reforms are urgently needed—the murmurings of the people are loud and deep, and they have great cause of complaint. I could give pages to show this, but it is not necessary.

3. Another remedy is to give the people the sea-ware to help to manure the land. I have been in four or five different parts of the Highlands, and never heard till I came here of the people paying for the seaware. I would ask who gave this stuff to the landlords ? It must have been given them by some musty Act of Parliament. Now it is this sort of legislation that gives the handle to the agitator. Away with such an Act of Parliament! Let an Act be passed that the sea-ware and the shell-fish belong to the people, and not be sent to jail for gathering a few whelks. If I was a Highland landlord I would blush to let it be known that I exacted 9d. or Is. or Is 6d. from a poor man for what was never sown or planted by me. The people complain very much of the taxes, the school-rate is 2s. in the pound. If the Board did its duty, it would be less than the half of that. The compulsory claim is a dead letter. My opinion is that the people injure themselves by their giving to the Free Church collectors—this too very much helps to impoverish them. Some of them are so much attached to the F. C. that they deny themselves and their families the necessaries of life to give to the F. C. minister. The fishing could be very much more vigorously prosecuted here if there was a breakwater or some shelter for their boats against the storms of winter—that too ought at once to be put right.

Appendix VII

2010-09-15T13:16:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by Captain ALLAN MACDONALD of Waternish, Isle of Skye.

WATERNISH, October 1883.
In submitting the following statement to the Royal Commissioners I must first take exception to the evidence given before them by the several delegates put forward in this district. Donald MacKinnon, crofter and fisherman, Halistra, stated that he himself and those he represented 'wanted more land' (Q. 2965), while last Martinmas he expressed a wish to give up part of his land, as having too much, and the 200 barrels of gunpowder which he considered necessary to demolish the stones on his croft (Q. 2989) is too absurd to notice, only to show how little regard he had to facts, considering that the whole of his croft has been under cultivation and turned by the plough.

Angus M'Lean, from the same township, stated that he and those he represented wanted more pasture (Q. 3056), and that they had not so much grazing behind their fence as would feed a hen. Yet at the time he was giving this evidence, and for weeks before, he had three or four cattle behind the fence referred to grazing in my pasture, and had them there for weeks after, without any charge made by me or equivalent received by me in any manner or way —and not even an expression of gratitude on his part; and I have acted in the same way towards scores of the crofters, though little was said about it.

Charles MacKinnon, crofter and fisherman, Lochbay, complained that the land in his township ' was too dear and too little of it' (Q. 3184). This man, having come from Duirinish, is not likely to know much about Watemish, but being of a discontented spirit is sure to be put forward as a delegate. If he does know anything of the township in which he resides, he has concealed the fact from the Commissioners that the rental is now very much less than it was many years ago, that the hill grazing has within the last fifteen years been considerably increased, and that he and the other thirty-seven crofters have in their occupancy 305 acres arable, 57 acres green pasture, and 1801 acres hill pasture,—in all 3166 acres, for which they pay me £220. This man never leaves home and is employed all the year round on his croft or fishing; yet, notwithstanding his “dear land and too little of it” he pays his rent regularly and is not in arrear, and I am sure would not accept of more land if it were offered him, which I am at any time ready to do, on condition that he does not subdivide his croft. This is the first and only man in Skye who I have known to sell ling fish at two shillings each to his neighbours, which in my younger days was sold at sixpence, and now regularly sold throughout the country from ninepence to one shilling. One thing I am glad of is that I am not a crofter under him, as I have not the slightest doubt but land would then, more than now, be ' too dear and too little of it.' I remember when this township consisted of fourteen families, while there are now thirty-eight, caused by marriages and subdivision of crofts.

Neil MacDiarrnid, crofter, Gearey, complained of the smallness of their crofts —* (Q. 3364) at which I am not astonished, considering that he remembers when there were but twelve families in this township, and there are now thirty-three, caused by the natural increase of the population and the subdivision of their crofts, though he was not honest enough to state so. This delegate, in answer to a question put to him by Mr Fraser-Mackintosh as to the number of families that occupied the lands now held by me and when these clearances were made (Q. 3399-3401), stated what was not true (though I cannot think that he did so intentionally), to the effect that my father had cleared the farm of Unish of eighteen families and Scorr of eighteen more. Now the fact is, that the farm of Unish was always let to one tenant farmer, and had not been, within the memory of man, in the occupancy of small tenants until my father let it to some crofters who had left or had been removed from the parish of Bracadale, giving it to them till such time as they could provide themselves elsewhere, which some of them did in about twelve months, while some went to America, and as their numbers were reduced the remainder were removed to Scorr, part of the lands in my father's occupancy; and Scorr was not cleared by him as stated by MacDiarmid, for it was a considerable time after my father's death, and I had been for some years in possession, that some of the crofters at Scorr expressed a wish to remove from there to Gillin, part of the lands in my occupancy, alleging that there was a mortality among their younger children at Scorr, and it was only then that they changed from the lands of Scorr to those of Gillin, receiving the latter at the rent they themselves offered. Yet this is erroneously represented to the Commissioners as ' clearances' made by my father, whereas he actually conferred a great favour on these Bracadale people in giving them the farm of Unish when they had no place to go to, until they could provide themselves elsewhere, as they had no claim whatever upon him for lands, being from another parish, while the statement that he cleared Scorr of eighteen families is entirely without foundation, as they were there eight or nine years after my father's death.

I may add that the crofters hold from me at this moment a much greater extent of land not before in the occupancy of crofters, than I hold which was formerly in the occupancy of crofters. The delegates M'Leod (p. 179) and M'Nabb (p. 181), from the township of Gillin, complained that they and those they represented were very poor, and that the land does not yield them a living, and that they are now poorer than when they came there. If such be the case, I can only say that it is no fault of mine, for the crofters in this township before entering into possession, had several consultations, after which they deliberately came forward and made me an offer for it, and I said not a word pro or con, in the matter but accepted their own offer.

Alexander Morrison, who appeared as one of the delegates for the crofters of Forsaviehuv (though I am told by the crofters themselves that he was not put forward by them), stated that it was not for men that this township was created at all, and that he had a very bad bargain of the land' (Q. 3542). There are six crofters at Forsaviehuv, and they pay a rent of £9, 3s. 4d. each. I had occasion a short time ago, at the request of the other crofters in the township, to procure a salesman for them at Inverness in order to dispose of their regular cast of sheep, which consisted of forty-eight wedders and eight ewes. I did so, and the account of sales was sent to me, which realised £65, 17s. 6d Morrison's share of this sum would be Morrison sold three stirks, the proceeds of his black cattle stock, for which he got his share of 37 stones blackfaced wool, at 8s. 6d. per st., his crop say £36/2/0. Add to this the average wage which they make when absent at the east coast fishing, or trenching at home, at the rate of 3s. per day, £18/ 0/ 0 - total £54/ 2/ 0

From this falls to be deducted—
Rent, £ 9, 3s.4d.; rates, 16s.9d, . .£10/0/1
Share of herdboy's wages, . . . 2/10/0
Share of smearing,. . . . 2/0/0
Total £14/ 10/ 1
Leaving a balance in his favour of . . . £39 11 8

They besides sell horses, and it appears to me that the township was 'created' for bipeds as well as quadrupeds, and I hope Morrison may never have a worse 'bargain.'

Murdo McLean, who appeared as another delegate (but who the crofters say they never put forward), made a statement which was untrue throughout. I did a good deal for the crofters in this township. I gave them when they entered into possession 169 blackfaced ewes, 50 ewe hoggs, 69 wedder lambs, and 64 ewe lambs, for which they have not yet paid me. I voluntarily gave them from one shilling to one shilling and twopence per rood of six yards for trenching their own land, without charging them any interest or increasing their rent in any way, and they acknowledge that they could earn three shillings a day when so employed. I also gave them two years' rent in order that they should build good houses for themselves. Yet nothing that I have done appears to have been appreciated.
I must here refer to a statement made before the Royal Commissioners at Glendale by John Macpherson, who said that my father had 'evicted ten or twelve families from Waternish, and that the land in this case was let under ‘deer' (Q. 6506, line 13). I must give my unqualified denial to this statement, there being not a word of truth in it. In order to try and develop the ling and cod fishing, my father offered to let the island of Isay to ten or twelve fishermen at an annual rent of so many tons of fish, the required number offered themselves (I think from the lands of Glendale), and occupied the island for a few years, but not succeeding with the
fishing, and having no peat or fuel on the island, they returned to the district they had come from, and my father stocked the island as formerly with sheep and cattle. This occurred nearly forty years ago, and the island continues to be so stocked. A few years ago I put eleven fallow deer there along with the cattle, and this M'Pherson now represents to the Commissioners as an eviction of tenants by my father and the land being let under deer. All I hope is, that the rest of M'Pherson's evidence is more reliable than thia statement, which is but an ingenious perversion of facts. I deny that either my father or myself at any time evicted tenants from Waternish, except a few individual cases now and again for misdemeanour. Crofters have occasionally been removed from one township to another, and to their advantage, for they themselves have frequently stated it as a grievance before the Commissioners that they have been so long in the same township that the land has become exhausted and yields them no return for their labour. Yet, if they are removed to any other township, where the land is more productive, they too often give that even as a grievance and a case of eviction. I regret to observe that they have stated before the Commissioners that they are not now so well off as they were, which I am satisfied is not correct, as I myself remember the time when they were not in a position to buy even a bag of oatmeal, and when south country meal was not known in the district, and when they and their families subsisted for the greater part of the summer on shellfish, which they never use now, but require a steamer to call in here once a week with their supplies of oatmeal, Flour, loaf-bread, tea, and sugar. Besides, many of them have money in the Portree bank, as I myself have been the medium through whom it has been lodged there. Such a thing was unknown thirty or forty years ago; and when the Scotch banks became Limited Companies, the number of circulars to depositors in the district was far in excess of what I could have imagined, and even astonished the letter-carrier. Many circumstances favour them now—prices of stock have improved, and stirks or young cattle, which I have seen them sell at £1 and 30s., they now sell for £4 and £5; they get double the price for their fish that they used to do, and four times the price for their eggs, while the crofter who has got no sheep can buy wool at less than half the price it sold at in 1818 when the Inverness Wool Market was first established. Still the crofter who has got sheep suffers no loss, because of the increased value of the carcass. With this rise in prices the rents here remain the same that they were forty years ago, so that if they managed to live then, they can surely manage to live better now; but as they have stated to the Commissioners that they are not so well off now as they were, I am quite ready to restore them to the same lands at the same rent and the exact position in which I found them, and that at Whitsunday first.
No doubt there is still room for improvement, and the small crofter with his lot and cow (the result of the subdivision of land) should be abolished, for he is at best but a pauper, and lives a life such as no other class of labourer does; he is idle for six months in the year—from the time he returns from the east coast fishing until he commences the cultivation of his croft in spring—and no other labourer could exist under similar circumstances, while it is impossible on a small estate with thousands of poor people to give them employment. So that the fishing is the only industry open to them, which they cannot prosecute successfully with their small boats, and even if they had larger ones, they have no piers or boat-harbours where to keep them. All crofters should have hill ground, and should depend upon the produce of their stock and not on that of their croft, for this is essentially a grazing country and in no way suited for cropping. Each crofter should have from £20 to £30 worth of land, and those who could not enter on such a holding should be assisted to emigrate, for those who cannot produce more than they consume are a burden to the state, while those who can produce more than they consume benefit the state.
The crofters, in response to paid agitators, have, to a man, asked for ' more land’ yet they all say that it is too dear, and people don't generally press for what they consider too dear. The crofters here have about 5000 acres of land, for which they are supposed to pay me an annual rent of about £500, exclusive of rates; but, on the other hand, I am called upon to pay annually on my whole income from £202 to £220 of poor and school rates alone, besides other assessments applicable to crofters, reducing the rent they pay me nearly one-half; while, if the crofters in the parish were in such a position as I have suggested, having from £20 to £30 worth of land, there would be no such assessments, and the proprietor would get a fair rent, which he does not now, the crofters themselves would have few or no rates to pay, and the country would be benefited to the extent of what they would produce over and above their own consumption; then leases might be granted with advantage where crofters were comfortably situated and fairly distributed, but would be worse than useless in overcrowded districts where indulgent landlords have allowed them to subdivide and cut up their crofts into small patches. No doubt, all this land cry has been got up by outside agitators and by paid agents, who have little or no interest in the crofters, for the crofters as a class were never so well off as they are at this moment; but there are amongst themselves designing men, who encourage this agitation for their own selfish ends, and so it goes on—men who have a little money, and by agitating and getting more land, put more stock upon it than they are entitled to, at the expense of their poorer neighbours who cannot stock it, and by this means reap the profit of the land for which their poorer neighbours pay. To prevent this, club farms should be established in all townships, and would tend to stop this agitation, as by that means the whole stock would be under the control of three managers chosen by the crofters themselves out of their number. And then no man could have more than his neighbour.

I must here take notice of a statement made by the Rev. Mr Johnstone (Appendix A. VIII. [3]), which surprised me, to the effect, that I had ' deprived one of the very best men in the neighbourhood of his lands, because he would not go to hear the lay preacher approved of by me’. This is absurd, as it was no business of mine where the man went to, and I must distinctly state that I never did anything of the sort, and to be plain, that the statement is nothing short of a pure fabrication. When Mr Johnstone will be candid enough to state the name of ' one of the very best men in the neighbourhood’ and the particular case which he refers to, I shall be obliged to him. I think it is to be regretted that the evidence taken before the Commissioners was not taken on oath, as all parties would then be more likely to adhere to facts, for in this district alone, where the delegates were not so extreme in their demands as in other places, and where, perhaps, they were more oderate in framing and relating grievances, yet those of them who descended to particulars made such erroneous statements, that if they will before a magistrate prove them on oath to be true, or that my statements in reply are untrue, I shall bind myself to pay each of them a year's rent.

ALLAN MACDONALD.
WATERNISH, PORTREE, SKYE,
4fh February 1884.

Appendix VI

2010-09-15T13:13:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by JAMES URQUHART of Conan and ALEXANDER MCLEOD of Scuddaburgh, Tenants on the Estate of Kilmuir, in the Isle of Skye.

We , the undersigned, having been cited to appear before the Commission at their sittings at Portree on the 23rd and 24th days of May last, and not having been heard, but having then been informed that our course was to send in a written statement as to the matters at issue, now beg leave respectfully to state our views as follows, viz. :—
1. We wish to point out that an organised agitation was got up and prepared for the advent of the Commission, which therefore did not find the district in its usual peaceable state, but apparently rather in a state of discontent—that is, judging from the statements then made, but which we the undersigned do not consider truly represent the feelings of the community at large. Previous then to the arrival of the Commission, certain parties organised meetings of the tenantry, with a view to agitation and the allegation of grievances before the Commission. It is known that the more moderate and peaceably inclined men of the district declined taking part in these proceedings, whilst various of those who were appointed delegates did not act. It may also be noticed that many well-inclined townships sent no delegates, although every effort was used to induce them to do so. It cannot, of course, be expected that in so large and populous a district of country as Kilmuir that there should be no discontented characters; and this considering the pressure brought to bear upon them by outside and other agitators, and what these people were made to expect would be got by spinning woeful tales before the Commissioners. It appears to us that the wonder is, not that they should have stated things as they have done, but that they have been kept within any ordinary bounds at all. As is known, at the Uig and Staffin sittings as elsewhere, the evidence was given in a somewhat easy way, no parties being placed on oath, the witnesses also being allowed to appear in court before giving their evidence, thus each one hearing what the previous one had said; all which, together with previous promptings, would more or less account for the generally similar character of the evidence given. Then it must also be borne in mind that at Uig and Staffin there was no one present on the part of the proprietor or loyal tenantry to contradict anything said by any of the disaffected, or of those influenced to speak as they did. Then, again, it may be imagined what was the effect produced on the minds of an impulsive people at an excitable time by the advent of one of Her Majesty's ships with flags flying, a Royal Commission on board, and understood to be freighted with all sorts of boons for all who could call themselves crofters. This no doubt helped to act at the time on the general feeling then current, that all was going in favour of the so-called crofters (hitherto known as tenants), and that it was almost hopeless at the time for proprietors or loyal tenants to express themselves, popular feeling, under the prevailing influences, being apparently all for revolutionary ideas. And may it not be asked, was some ground for such a supposition, for who were the leaders who organised these preparatory meetings ? Who were they in communication with ? Who spoke at the meetings, and what was the general tendency of the subjects discussed? Were not the proposals that large farms should be cut up and divided amongst crofters, that Government should supply funds, and that grievances should be alleged, amongst the chief topics discussed ? Then, again, on arrival of the Commission were not these sittings apportioned to hearing the crofters or receiving their statements at different places in Skye, whilst only two days were apportioned at Portree to hearing the side of the landlords and their loyal tenantry, when, after all, out of said two days, a large part of one of them was devoted to hearing crofters or their delegates again; so much so, that though various parties had gone all the way from Kilmuir to Portree to make contradictions to statements made at Uig and Staffin, none but one was heard. There was no time left to hear the others. Whilst then we, the undersigned, wish most respectfully to address the Commission, we feel we cannot properly state our case without mentioning that we think much more time was devoted to hearing arguments in the shape of alleged grievances than to hearing all that might have been said on the other side.

2. As to the cause of the agitation, we believe that it was, in the first instance, due to the course of events in Ireland. So much has been done for the Irish in consequence of agitation there, that on its being pointed out by agitators to people in Skye that they had only to agitate and make disaffected statements in order to get what they might want, that surely, with such an example before them, it is no wonder if a certain number of the disaffected jumped at the bait, and went in for all sorts of wild dreams. It has been said at Portree that the agitation was not got up by Irish agitators; but it is well known that an Irish agitator was in Skye for most of last season, as well as various others of similar type. Indeed, it would be no compliment to Skye and the Highlands if the agitation can be put down wholly to Scottish sources. Can the sending of coffins and murderous letters, and the publication of such a work as that of “St Michael and the Preacher” by the Rev. Donald MacLillen, minister of the new gospel, Portree/ be accepted as the work of good Highlanders ? It is surely to be hoped not. Whilst, however, that may be, at all events we, the undersigned, repudiate all sympathy with all those who have fermented the present agitation on such lines. As to Major Fraser, the proprietor of our own district, that it is only about three weeks before the sittings at Uig and Staffin a memorial was sent to him signed by practically all the tenantry and others on the estate at the time. It was in reference to a proposal to erect a new pier at Uig, and the following are extracts from it, showing at the time the feelings of the tenantry towards him :—
' We, the undersigned tenants and others on the Kilmuir estate, Skye, desire to convey to our esteemed proprietor, Major Fraser, our best thanks for the kindly interest he has always taken in everything calculated to promote our welfare, and at the same time to lay before him the views of a meeting recently held by a number of us. It was the unanimous opinion of the meeting that nothing would so much promote the interests of residents on the Kilmuir estate as the erection of a quay at Uig, for the following reasons, &C, &C, &C. We are the more encouraged to lay this before our respected proprietor as he has given ample evidence of a sincere desire to improve our position in every practical way; and by giving this matter the attention which we think its importance demands, he will add to the many benefits he has and already conferred upon us, and command our lasting gratitude. Now we submit that the tenor of such a memorial, signed by almost all the male inhabitants on the estate above a certain age, cannot but singularly affect such statements as those made before the Commission—statements in which every possible or impossible grievance was brought forward, and not a word said in favour of what the proprietor had done for the good of his estate and the people in it, such as the construction of roads, the erection of various useful public buildings, his assistance towards the improvement of postal communication, the part the proprietor had taken in the construction of a railway to the west coast; which also, when on the subject of rents, nothing was said on the subject of practical men having been employed to value the lands, nor was any mention made of the rise in the value of stock of late years, which, it is believed, is quite equal to any increase of rent on the small tenants' holdings. One would indeed be led to suppose that something must have occurred, as betwixt the date of the memorial about the l7th of April and the sittings of the Commission on the 10th and 11th May, to account for the difference of feeling shown by the people in their memorial, and by and by the evidence of those who spoke before the Commission or handed in statements. On inquiring, then, into what has passed during this interval as between proprietor and tenantry, it is found that the only thing worthy of special notice that has occurred during it is, that the proprietor within that time sent a cargo of potatoes and another of seed oats to be distributed amongst his tenantry at cost price, and to be repaid at Martinmas next, and on which, no doubt, he will sustain a considerable loss, as even at present we have heard that about £250 is due to him on account of about £800 worth of oats so supplied to the tenantry about five years ago. Further, if it should be said by any agitating parties that such statements were made in the memorial merely in order to get a quay, then may it not be said with even greater force that the strong statements made before the Commission are not of great value—that is, if the ground is taken that anything may be said or done for an object to be gained thereby.

3. As to destitution, whilst aware that two or three bad seasons have had their effect, yet we think that the state of poverty necessarily accompanying the presence of a large proportion without sufficient means of employment has to a great extent been made the most of, though, no doubt, in cases here and there the pinch of poverty has been felt. But had scarcity of seed been as general as represented, the people could not, we think, be as well off as they now are, nor could the lands have been sown as they were, notwithstanding the aid given in the shape of seed com and potatoes.

4. As to the rents of the small tenants on the Kilmuir estate, we believe they were fixed by competent persons. It is easy to conceive, no doubt, that many tenants might think them high—not an unusual thing on the part of those who have to pay; but at all events it is well known that until the late agitations were on foot, and the laws allowed to remain unvindicated in certain parts of Skye, that they were remarkably well paid. After what has been said in the Lewis, surely the argument cannot be held up that small tenants' rents are the cause of poverty; for where can greater poverty be alleged than in the Lewis, and where are rents lower.

5. As to general improvements and alterations of boundaries, and increase value of the lands thereby affected, no doubt when an estate is left at a complete standstill there may be less to complain about; but does it follow that ultimately better for the country and people than a course of suitable improvement, even though such should necessarily involve certain changes from time to time ?

6. As to population, it is no doubt the case that Skye is rather limited in extent for the number in it, and there is also a want of sufficient occupation within its bounds to give work to such a population; that may to a certain extent account for so little work being done each season (except on the large farms) from November to April. Should any new works be prosecuted, such would, of course, be much to the advantage of the population.

7. As to certain replies in reference to questions put as to what the crofters have and have not, and what they would like to have, and so on, what we ask would be like replies to similar questions put by, say, a Commission appointed to inquire into the state of the working-classes and the poor in our larger towns.

8. We conclude by saying that we think more good can be done by granting assistance for emigration and useful works within the island of Skye, and by promoting good feeling and industrial occupations, than by attending to the wishes of a few agitators and discontented persons at the expense of the general good.

JAMES URQUHART.
ALEXANDER MACLEOD.

Appendix V

2010-09-15T13:11:00.002+01:00

From the Rev. JOHN S. M'PHAIL, Free Church Minister, Kilmuir and Stenscholl, Isle of Skye.

I have been a minister in Skye for thirty years—twenty years in Sleat, and ten in Kilmuir—and though I do not profess a knowledge of agriculture or of the value of land, I am acquainted with the circumstances of the people temporally as well as spiritually. As a rule, the people are moral, quiet, respectful to superiors, and lawabiding. Yet I have been of late led to think that there may not be many steps between such a desirable condition and one of disorder and lawlessness. Not only the cases of Braes and Glendale, but what I have seen on this same estate, has led me to this belief. There have been combinations among the people against payment of rent, and there have been threats posted up at the road side to deter men from settling with the factor on rent day. This course was followed from the idea that they had serious grievances for which there was no remedy, but by placing themselves in an attitude of opposition to those in authority. In the present circumstances and mood of our island population I feel sure that a little more strain and a little more agitation would soon fan them into a state of wild confusion This is a matter requiring the serious consideration of those who have the responsibility of governing our country. There have been no clearances in Kilmuir during my stay in it. But before then there was very much land cleared. Men residing in the parish have named to me eleven townships that they saw occupied by crofters in most comfortable circumstances, all of which townships have been cleared, the inhabitants scattered hither and thither, and the land added to the large farms. It is the universal testimony that when the people occupied these townships, there was not only abundance of food to supply the parish, but that much produce was sold to other places.

There have been no evictions that I can remember except one at Totescore which has had sufficient prominence given to it already. There have been many changes, however, during the ten years of my residence. Several families, finding themselves going back in their circumstances, voluntarily gave up their lands and moved away to the south. Others have been brought to hll up their places, as, for instance, from a cleared part of Uig Bay, to Borneskitag, which was already overcrowded.

On the Kilmuir estate there are none of the petty annoyances that we hear of elsewhere,—such as exacting days of work from the people, compelling them to sell their fish or cattle to proprietor or factor under market value, interfering with them in cutting sea-weed and peats, &c. The people have perfect liberty to make the best for themselves of their produce and of their time. The proprietor has done much since he bought the estate, in making bridges and improving roads—all of which has been beneficial to the inhabitants. As a Free Churchman, I feel it dutiful to say that the Free Church community have enjoyed far more freedom than existed before Major Fraser bought the estate. Sites were readily granted by him, and aid was kindly given in the building of churches. This ought not to be forgotten by us. And personally, I can say that I have met with invariable courtesy and kindness from Major Fraser. As to the prevailing destitution and distress, there have been many causes that have combined to make this year exceptional. But I have observed a gradual sinking of the people into deeper poverty during the ten years I have been among them. They have been becoming yearly less able to pay their way, and yearly more depressed in their circumstances. The causes of this are not to be found in any theory as to the indolence and intemperance of the people. I do not believe in any such theories, for they are as temperate in their habits js any people in Scotland, and as active too when they have any work to do. And they show this when employed as labourers in the south, as fishermen, and as tillers of their own lands. The people naturally think that the increased rent accounts for their impoverished condition, it being, as a rule, about double what it was thirty years ago; and, no doubt, £4 or £6 of additional rent is a serious burden upon a poor family. I did, and do, regard the last rise of rent as a most unfortunate occurrence. It was untimely,—out of season. The people had been suffering from bad years, and were in very distressed circumstances, and this increase of rent coming at such a time was most crushing. It ought to be known, however, that the rent still stands at the last increase; a fourth part has been remitted for the last two years. They pay rates according to the increased rent, whilst a fourth part of the rent has been returned. As to other causes of depression. There can be no doubt that the land from constant tillage does not yield anything like what it once did. The returns even in favourable years are very low, only two or three returns instead of eight or nine. So long as the people are confined within such narrow bounds, this of necessity must continue. Perhaps, too, in the circumstances, the people look less to the land and more to money earned elsewhere for the support of their families, and that, in consequence of this, there is not so much attention paid to cultivation as formerly. The work is hurriedly done to enable the men to get away to the south to earn money there. Then the taking away of hill pasture from those who formerly had it has greatly added to the discomfort of the people. It has deprived them of the means of furnishing themselves with clothing for day and night. This is a very painful feature in the condition of the people with which one going among them comes into constant contact. This has also deprived them of an important part of food. When they had sheep they used animal food, t.e., meat once common among them, but now exceedingly rare. And it has deprived them of the use of ponies in cultivation and in carrying burdens. The poor women have, in consequence of this loss, to do much of the work that ponies did formerly, such as carrying peats and sea-weedi and harrowing the fields. Then a great change has come over the habits of the people, and far more money is needed to support a family now thad formerly. Far more money is earned now, still the people are far poorer. From the poor returns of the land much of the earning goes to purchase the necessaries of life—meal chiefly. It is no unusual thing to pay a meal account of £8, £10, £12 in the year, and this in a district where, thirty years ago, it was customary to sell meal. Then there is the universal tea account and the very general tobacco account, both innovations, and both very serious items in the family expenditure. There is clothing again. Very much of the earning goes to procure clothing. The home-mades are rare now where the hill pasture has been lost The warm, cheap, enduring cloth has been exchanged for the expensive and unsubstantial clothing purchased in shops. In my view, the distressed state of our people arises as much from what I have now stated as from any other cause that can be named. Is there any remedy for this gradual sinking of the people ? There seems to be none, if matters are just to continue as they are—no remedy, but by the people dying out—their being first reduced to a state of pauperism, and then by a slow process passing away.

Emigration is proposed as a remedy, and it must come to this if there be no other; for better far the people anywhere than starving on our own shores. No one can wish to see their present state perpetuated. But, though this remedy might ultimately be beneficial to them and their offspring, I look upon it as an injurious proposal for our country. For it deprives the country of a God-fearing, loyal people, who supply our industries with so much valuable bone and sinew, our fishing fleets with able men, our Naval Reserve with competent hands, and innumerable families with valuable servants. It is said that the land is overcrowded with people—that there are too many of them. That was said forty years ago, when the population of the parish was upwards of 4000. The only remedy proposed then was to thin the people by emigration, and that is still said to be the only remedy after 1500 of the population have been removed, and it may possibly be said to be the only remedy as long as any are left. But I have no faith in that remedy, as one tending to improve the circumstances of those who remain. I have never seen that emigration gave more room to people, though it did to sheep. The tendency has been to add more families to places already overcrowded. The remedy I would propose is to open up the land to the people who have from time immemorial lived upon it, and who have been deprived of it. Give them larger crofts, which will keep them in constant employment. Give them hill pasture to enable them to keep sheep and horses. Give them some security against eviction and arbitrary increase of rent. Encourage them to build better houses, to reclaim the land now uncultivated, and let the system of overcrowding be put an end to. Let it be shown that a real interest is taken in them. When a croft becomes vacant, by any cause, let it be added to another croft, instead of a tenant being removed from elsewhere to occupy it. In my own neighbourhood, a year or two ago, land became vacant that was most suitable for crofters. Eight or ten families could be easily accommodated there, and they might live in comfort. Why, instead of its being added to a farm already too large, should it not be given to families in the overcrowded hamlet in the vicinity? In such ways much might be done to improve the condition of the people. However indulgent some proprietors may be, I feel convinced that our land laws ought to be altered so as to give more security and protection to the people. The necessity of this was burnt into my soul many years ago, when I was a witness of scenes of cruel eviction in North Uist and in the south end of this island. The laws of our country ought to be such that no such scenes could ever take place, and I sincerely hope that the result of this Royal Commission will be to provide us with something similar to what has been already done for another part of the kingdom, where the people have security and much encouragement to better their circumstances by their own exertions

JOHN S. M'PHAIL.

Appendix IV

2010-09-15T13:10:00.002+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. JAMES M. DAVIDSON, Minister of Stenscholl, Isle of Skye.
THE MANSE, STENSCHOLL, June 12, 1883.

I now take the liberty of submitting my statement. I may mention at the outset that the Royal Commission, over which you so ably preside, gave great satisfaction to the crofter population in this part of the island. The patient manner in which you listened to all grievances, the impartial and searching examination to which each delegate had been subjected, produced a very favourable impression here, as I have reason to believe, it has done elsewhere.

The tendency has developed from time to time, to a far greater extent than is at all desirable, to increase the large holdings and crowd the crofters upon inferior soil, which has contributed considerably to the present distress. Again, the crofter has no protection from the large tacksman; if he makes a complaint he can get no redress. " There is no law in Skye." Might is the only right, and that too in the last decade of the 19th century. One great evil that sadly needs reform, is the state of terrorism under which the small tenantry live, through the insolent threats of subordinate officials, whose impudence increases in proportion to the smallness of their authority. This vicious system has been found by selfish and unscrupulous individuals to work well for their own aggrandisement in the past, but is such as no right-minded man can justify, nor spirited people tolerate. Against that dread terrorism some remedial measures are absolutely necessary, as I have reason to believe that this feeling of insecurity prevents, in many instances, considerable improvements upon the holdings. The nature or extent of these measures is not for me to say, only the painful fact is too glaring to ignore it.
One thing greatly to be desiderated in the West Highlands, which is well worth the special attention of landed proprietors, is the formation of a third class tenantry, paying rent varying from £20, £30, £50, £70, or £100. These are always the backbone of a country, and help more than any other class to develop its agricultural resources. If these were once in a thriving condition, they would, to a considerable extent, be a safeguard against the periodical destitution from which so many in the West and North Highlands suffer at present. This is the class from which so many have risen and distinguished themselves, both in civil and military life. More of them go abroad, and, as a rule, succeed well in the colonies. I have observed that the more reduced in circumstances among the crofters are more averse to emigration than any others. It is surprising the tenacity with which they cling to their native soil, notwithstanding its barrenness and poverty. This may be traced to the backward state of education, a state of matters which the powers that be seem to foster, as if they found it to be their interest to keep the people in ignorance.

There can be no great reform nor radical improvement in the condition of the people so long as education is so much neglected. Previous to last election of the School Board, there was only one resident member in this parish. The majority of the board are still non-resident, a result which is fraught with much evil to the efficient management of the schools. If one dares raise his voice against abuses, he is accused of wanting in courtesy to officials. The law is not acted on, but is made to suit the convenience of officials. Even the default officer is non-resident, and though holding said office since the passing of the Education Act, he is still unable to tell the children in. the parish between 14 and 15 years of age who were never at school. As the default officer is one of the big tacksmen, his convenience receives more consideration than the interests of the schools. I have observed that there was a universal cry for more land. This may be partly remedied by and by, though not at once. Nor do I see how more land could benefit many of them at present, as they are unable to utilise it. But there are some among them who m it would benefit at once, if they could only get it.

One thing that would be an immense benefit to the whole of this parish, is the erection of a harbour and pier in Staffin Bay. I am informed that such could be made at no great expense. I am led to understand that Major Fraser has devoted a good deal of attention to this scheme some time ago, although it was never carried out One great boon is that it would help to develop the fishing of the district, which is said to be second to none in the West Highlands. The steamers pass close to Staffin Bay four times a week, coming and going from Glasgow. These could then be taken advantage of, in conveying the fish to the market. Many would find then that their present crofts were large enough for the time they could afford for their cultivation, as the fishing would prove more remunerative than tending their crofts. Second, the carriage of goods at present is very expensive, so much so that it depreciates the value of the land in this district, through its inconvenience to the market. It is often the cause of great hardships, as meal and potatoes have to be carried, often on the back, 12, 13, and 14 miles. Compensation for improvements is a subject which has received much attention, both in the press and on the platform. In this I would consider it just and reasonable that the proprietor should have a share, but would ask the law of the land to define that share. Where practicable I would give larger holdings to those who were capable of taking them. This would have a good effect upon others, in stimulating them to make an effort to raise themselves in the social scale, if they had the prospect of getting more land when they were able to take it.

I have heard several complaints with regard to the summing of townships. This is generally believed to be far in excess of what the pasture is able to maintain. There are some who have more than is allotted them, but many have none. If all had the number allowed to each in the summing, the ground they say would not maintain the half of it. This seems to have been the false basis upon which the rents were raised, and which proved so disastrous in its results.

With regard to the evidence on the other side, I must say that I was much pleased with that of Skeabost and Mr Baird of Knoydart. As to the defence set up generally, it seemed to me so complete as to defeat its own object, so that it failed either to convince or impress. .
JAMES M. DAVIDSON.

Appendix III

2010-09-15T13:09:00.000+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. JAMES GRANT, Minister of Kilmuir, Isle of Skye.

MANSE OF KILMUIR, 22nd May 1883.
I have had a twelve years' acquaintance with the North-West Highlands, and have been five years in this parish. I have had free, friendly, and agreeable intercourse with my parishioners of all classes, and of both religious denominations, and have heard their minds frequently expressed on the subject of the land, and have seen much of the poverty of which they complain with my own eyes. They say that in the good old days, they had, though they were more in number, greater comforts than they now have; that they had mutton, and occasionally beef, more meal, and more fish. They admit that there were often hard times then, and some say that meal in summer was then often unknown, that they were more indebted to the sea-shore than they now are. I can easily understand that butcher meat which is now unknown in many townships I may say, and wool for day clothes and night clothes, which is scant enough when there is little money to buy it, were plentiful then, when markets were not so near hand, and the prices low, and the ground now occupied by sheep stock, worth, I should say, between £20,000 and £25,000, then occupied by crofters either as arable land or as common pasture. I can easily understand that milk was more plentiful, for two reasons: (1) There was not the same temptation to bring good stirks to the market, and (2) the cows were likely not so high bred or so pure as they now are. The cry now is for hair and horns, and such is the demand for them that the dam suckles the calf, allowing but a small pittance of milk for the children, or if the calf gets less milk than he would require, it often gets the children's meal, and £4, £5 , or £6, is the year's outcome of a cow, after robbing the children of their meal and milk perhaps. When the calf is weaned, the cow refuses as a rule to give the milk, and so, after three or four months, there is no milk, nor butter or cheese, in store for the winter. Cattle must be reared, but the system of rearing them, while best for the calves, and to be adopted where there is a number of cows, is not the one best calculated to give the poor man the benefit of his one or two cows. Even cottars, who manage to keep one cow, will not break through the custom of the country. It is a beautiful picture to see the humblest cottar possessing a cow, but the picture on closer inspection becomes a caricature. Let the cottar sell his cow's calf and feed his children and provide some butter for the winter months. The tacksmen complain that the crofters' cattle and horses trespass on their grass. The crofters complain that the tacksmen's sheep destroy their corn. The shepherds hunt the cattle with their dogs, or poind them, but the crofters complain that they can neither poind the tacksmen's sheep, nor keep dogs to hunt them away. The Glebe marches with the tack of Duntulm, and while many of my cattle and horses have occasionaUy strayed on to the Duntulm grass, the Duntulm sheep have often injured the Glebe com and turnips. Mr Stewart kept a herd for the Marches, and when he was faithful, which was the exception and not the rule, my crops escaped injury, and when my cowherd was careless his grass suffered. The remedy is stone or iron fencing, fail dykes being of no use. Major Fraser, the proprietor, is said to be preparing to fence the tack of Monkstadt. My neighbours and myself hope the Duntulm tack will follow suit.
The crofters, who as a class are undoubtedly poor, and, they say, much in debt, allege that the loss of the hill for sheep and horses, and the raising of the rents, have been the causes of their present growing difficulties. When the east coast fishing is fairly successful, families who can send sons there may be able to meet their obligations, and when they are able they make a point, as a rule, of clearing off what they can. A great many young women go south, some to hold work in the Lothians, but the greater number to domestic service. There is not an unemployed young man left at home during the summer, and many of them go away in winter.
There is no "cairbhist” or personal service to the landlord that I have heard of, nor is there any peat-moss or sea-ware grievances worth speaking of. I have heard it said that Mr MacLeod, the tacksman of Monkstat, allows a man what sea-ware he requires for one day's work in harvest. The frequent thatching of the exposed houses of the people, and the necessity for heather ropes to secure the thatch, throw the crofters into the arms of the tacksmen for heather and sometimes for rushes. The people feel sore in being debarred, as they say, from the free use of what was their fathers' privilege. As both heather and rushes have a grazing value, I cannot see what is possible for legislation to do in that case. Only, when the heather ground is held by a limited class, the people may feel that they require to be on more than their good behaviour, in order to have the ropes they require for the season. The crofters cry for more land, and the cottars for some land. Some of the crofters have apparently more than enough, as there is a great deal of tillage sold every year to the crofters who can manage more than they have. But, clamorous as the crofters are for more room, I do not believe that they wish the abolition of large farms, for they are not insensible of the advantages they have had of getting bulls on hire from the famous Duntulm and Monkstadt herds. They see very well, that were there no gentlemen farmers able to breed high-class cattle, that the market value of their own would soon go
down. Much is made of the want of security of tenure. It is the excuse they offer for not improving their crofts, and for their fear, real or imaginary, of eviction or the raising of their rents. The security of tenure they cry for I fail to understand. It is either a catchword which they do not understand themselves, or it is some kind of proprietary right to the soil I was astonished to hear, at Uig and Stenscholl, me n of more than ordinary shrewdness and intelligence declare that they did not want leases. It is reported that they were advised to do so by an agitator, but of this I am not certain. I think it desirable that tenancies at the will of the landlord should cease, and that improving leases should be offered for such a term of years as might be agreed upon by landlord and tenant, and at such a rent as might be agreed upon, the fair rent in the event of disagreement to be settled, not by a Government court or by any outside parties, but by arbiters chosen by the landlord and the tenant. Much as it may be objected to, to bring any compulsion to bear upon landlords, I fail to see how the problem can be solved except by granting improving leases. Compensation for disturbance would be demanded by tenants at will, as well as compensation for improvements, a kind of thing for which there should be no room in this country. In the event of the crofters declining to accept leases on fair and equitable terms, their mouths would be stopped. As opportunity arises, I would thin the townships by other means than by eviction, and where, and as soon as possible, create new farms of different sizes, give leases on liberal conditions, and invite offers for rent, giving a preference “coeteris paribus” to such as were anxious to leave their smaller holdings for larger. The crofts as they became vacant, to be given for such rent as might be agreed on, let either as a separate holding, or, if a small one adjoining a small, they might be united, and the future subdividing of crofts should be absolutely prohibited. A simultaneous rearrangement of the crofts, such as the special legislation for the crofters would necessitate, which many seem to desire, I would not approve of. There would be a disagreeable and dangerous scramble for land. The weak and even the worthless would be clamorous for an equal share with the active and industrious, and the condition of things might be worse than the present system, where the similarity in size of the crofts is a marked weakness. I disapprove of the passing of an Agricultural Holdings Act for Scotland, until such time as the results of the present searching and open inquiry are submitted to Parliament, and laid before the country for consideration, as nothing would, in my opinion, be more undesirable than one land law for the Lowlands, and another for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Dreamers there are in the Highlands, as in other places, who fancy the Royal Commission and Government can, as if with a magician's wand, make every crofter and cottar the happy possessor of horses, cattle, sheep, and fish, if they only put on the wishing cap. These fancies have been encouraged by outsiders, and they may have given to the present demands the colour of unreasonableness which many have. For all that, such is the deep-seated, innate respect of the Highlanders for landlords and for the powers that be, that I feel confident, that any mutual concessions, a solution of the vexed question is possible, which will be both conservative and liberal, and more satisfactory in the long run to both landlords and tenants. Highlanders would like their children to be better scholars than themselves, to be able to read the Scriptures in Gaelic, but to be also able to speak English and carve their way through the world. And as one who knows the Highlands and Lowlands quite as well as the strange teacher at Stein, I must differ from him in his opinion of the incapacity of Highland children. When they have competent teachers they can leam as well as Lowland children, were their comforts at home the same, which I am sorry to say they are not.

Appendix I

2010-09-15T13:07:00.004+01:00

STATEMENT by the Rev. JOSEPH LAMONT, Free Church Minister, Snizort, Isle of Skye.

Snizort, Skye
In giving my humble evidence before the Commission, I take this opportunity of bearing testimony, as a Free Church minister, and in behalf of a Free Church community, to the kindness shown us by the three proprietors in the parish upon whose lands our ecclesiastical buildings are situated. There is first Major Fraser of Kilmuir. It is owing to him that we have our present church at Uig. Until he came in possession of the estate our people were refused a site, and many a Sabbath has my venerable predecessor, the Rev. Roderick M'Leod, preached in the open air with the hailstones dancing on his forehead, the people wiping away the snow before they could sit down, and when the shower was past not distinguished from the ground except by their faces. When Major Fraser bought the estate there was not only liberty heartily granted to erect a church upon the most eligible spot, but he largely helped from his own resources and with the aid of his friends to raise the necessary funds, kept it in neat repair while he resided at Uig, and hitherto has not demanded a single farthing for the 6ite. For these generous and noble acts, whatever views may be entertained as to the lands, the heart of the Free Church community will ever beat with kindly feeling and gratitude towards Major Fraser. We have to thank Lachlan MacDonald, Esq. of Skeabost, for permission to hold our summer communions upon his grounds, and for liberty to those who take horses to graze them upon his lands during the days of that solemnity.

We are deeply grateful to Alexander M'Donald, Esq. of Lyndale, for handing over to us a small mission church not required by the Established Church: but from which they excluded us at the Disruption. I wish to make another preliminary observation regarding the part we acted as Free Church ministers in connection with the visit of the Royal Commission. We have been accused of being the leaders in the crusade. In common with our brethren in the Establishment we received notices, and apart altogether from our relationship with our people, and our duty towards them, we considered it respectful to the representatives of royalty to give due publicity to the notices. I myself presided at the meeting at Skeabost to appoint delegates, but did not propose a single name. I was sent for to Uig after the delegates had been chosen, and the only name I suggested there was one also suggested by Major Fraser.

I have to corroborate in the main the evidence given by the delegates from the parish of Snizort, and also to certify as to their moral character. Some of them are among the most exemplary within the bounds of the parish, and foremost in every good work. The grievances complained of were quite farniliar to me before any agitation came into the island. The people in general are as responsible for the statements made during this inquiry as the delegates whom they have appointed. If few or many have been led to give expression to different sentiments in any public testimonials, no clearer proof could be shown for the necessity of the inquiry, or that the fear of man bringeth a snare. The poverty so frequently referred to has been going on for years, though the past two adverse seasons have occasioned its outcome, as the last straw breaking the camel's back. I am familiarly acquainted with the West Coast as far as Cape Wrath, and know the habits and customs of the people, and never met a class more reluctant to trouble a clergyman for temporal relief or ventilate their griefs than the Skyemen. But necessity has no law. Our parish is twenty miles in extent, with a population exceeding 2000. I visited every family within its bounds over and over again. The clergymen do not visit our people merely in summer, when others come with the return of the cuckoo and see Skye in its glory; but our hardest work is in the dead of winter, and we are therefore entitled to tell what we see and hear—but the whole shall never be told. Last year has undoubtedly been an exceptional one; but one bad year might not throw the people into their present state of helplessness if this state of matters had not been previously going on. It is owing to the generosity of meal dealers, in whose books the people are sunk to an incredible extent, and the liberality of friends in the south, that we have not starvation by scores. When a township of eight or nine tenants is £50 in debt for meal, another of seven, £54, another of about thirty £152, another of thirty-four £300 or £400; when one man having two cows is £18, another having one and a stirk, £20, there is room for inquiry.

There has been reference made to the number of mills standing still. Next to the mill the most serious question in my humble opinion is how many looms are standing still or converted into roosts. The loss or want of the hill pasture for sheep is one of the saddest. Families accustomed to spin their own wool for blankets and warm clothing will see a hundred family requirements before they would purchase a pair of Scotch or English blankets from Mr John Robertson, merchant. Hence the frequency with which the melancholy fact came out that bags are used instead of blankets in many instances. I can testify to the correctness of that statement, and have even been informed that some sleep in their day-clothing. The young people, male and female, as a rule go south, and will endeavour, if they do not lapse altogether, to appear like their neighbours in respectable clothing. If in that decent attire they appear in public at home—at church or at market—it can scarely be called extravagance in dress. Let it be remembered that towards that so-called extravagant dress their native hills may not have contributed one single thread of the outer or under clothing. Reference has been made to extravagance in tea, and I must admit it; and to those who have no milk I recommend gruel to help down their dry morsel. But where there is the necessary supply of milk that extravagance does not exist. My own position is happily better than that of the people in general; but for the feeding of three of my bairns I have been more indebted to the hills of Switzerland than to the land of my adoption. What substitute, therefore can be suggested for tea, in the case of the poor, when milk is wanting! To this poverty I partly attribute much of the immorality which is still prevalent. There being so few separate sleeping apartments—though the sin is on the decrease through the influence of the Gospel. I do not believe there would be such a temptation to resort to the public-house it home were made more attractive by greater comfort. The relief given to paupers is not half what it ought to be, and they would literally starve if their neighbours did not help them out of their own too scanty store. The tenants have thus the double burden of paying heavy poor rates and otherwise assisting the poor. They are groaning under school-rates and fees, more regularly charged under a compulsory enactment. They are paying heavy interest for school buildings to the Public Loan Commissioners a subject which should receive the serious attention of Government, especially in the case of the West Highlands. The tenants are insulted, as well as burdened, by a recent importation of hefty additional policemen. Apart from the skirmishes at Braes and Glendale, there could not be a more peaceable community; and if an outbreak did occur, the former complement were as efficient to quell it as the present unnecessary staff. There is a general distribution of relief throughout the island; and unless some means are devised to give more lands to the people at reasonable rents, we have not seen the end of that destitution. Some of my cloth recommend emigration as a solution of the dimculty. I admit that, as a rule, those who have gone to America are more comfortable than those they left behind; but surely the whole truth regarding them does not come out when the clergy themselves are so keen to come back, even though their relatives may be left in Canada. If a scheme of emigration is planned, aid for that purpose must be forthcoming from some source or other. Surely it is more reasonable that such aid should be granted for improving the condition of the people at home than improving them abroad. We are sometimes accused as a Church of burdening the people by exacting too much for' the support of the ministry. We do not exact, my lord; we receive the voluntary contributions of the people. It should not be a heavy burden for a population of 2500 to support one man. My parish only pays the half, and will bear favourable comparison with most West Highland parishes. That amount never kept a shilling from the rent at Martinmas, or the same amount from the merchant's rendered account at Whitsunday. This poverty is one of the greatest trials we have to contend with. Pastoral visits cannot be so acceptable to a family in need; and when the cases are numerous, the clergyman, with a small stipend, cannot do much. The house of God is not so regularly attended, for want of warm and decent clothing; and scores in Skye choose, like Nicodemus, to come at night that their scanty clothing may not be seen. Whoever of our Highland proprietors will first come forward to set an example—restoring what he can to the people of the lands his forefathers cultivated—will be the first to bring the blessing of Him that was ready to perish " upon his own head and that of his descendants after him.

Appendix II

2010-09-15T13:07:00.003+01:00

STATEMENT BY FIVE TENANTS of Bernisdale, Isle of Skye

We, the undersigned tenants of Glen Bernisdale, on the estate of Lauchlin Maedonald, Esq. of Skeabost, do hereby certify that we are exceedingly sorry to hear of the incredible evidence Mr William Maclure, our representative, stated before the Royal Commission. In the first place, the tenants when removed from Skeabost to Bernisdale, &c , were provided with new houses at the cost of £15 sterling; he gave them those houses gratis, without interest or any charge; moreover, he gave them half share of the Bemisdale joint stock of sheep, to the amount of £6, 10s., gratis, without any charge; likewise, he gave them compensation for improvements made on land in the year 1873; likewise, he gave us potatoes and seed oats this year; moreover, he gave us as much hay as we could manage, which saved us from selling our cattle last winter; moreover, he made roads for the convenience of the people to carry home their peats.

FINLAY MACINNES.
ALEX. MACKINNON.
PETER STEWART.
DONALD McINNES
JOHN McINNES

Portree, Skye, 24 May 1883 - Hugh Macrae

2010-09-12T16:58:00.002+01:00

HUGH MACRAE, Farmer, Lettermore (33)—examined.

10175. The Chairman.
—Where is your residence?
—Principally in Portree.

10176. Do you wish to make a statement to the Commission?
—Yes. I am not going to enter into the several grievances of the crofters, the Commission having had ample evidence of that from themselves, but I wish to state before the Commission, though it may not exactly come within their province, but which affects the prosperity of this romantic village, that with one or two exceptions house property here is only held on a ninetynine yearslease, and at the expiry of each lease the property becomes the absolute property of the landlord and his heirs. Is not this confiscation of property? What encouragement is there for improvements under such conditions? I concur generally with the evidence adduced before you with regard to the oppression and chronic poverty of a great portion of the people. I am in a position to know a great deal of the circumstances of the people, my late father having been for upwards of forty years an extensive meal dealer and general merchant here, my brother and I having succeeded him. I have no doubt whatever in stating that the condition of the people generally is gradually getting worse, and that they are now in a much worse position than they were thirty or forty years ago. In fact, a large proportion of them are practically bankrupt; and if some measures are not adopted to ameliorate their condition, a number of them will soon be chargeable to the parish ; indeed, if it were not for remittances from relations outside Skye, a proportion of them would have succumbed ere now. This was far from being the case forty years ago, the people then being in comparatively easy circumstances, owing little or nothing, but are now deeply in debt. Their present condition is due to the insecurity and insufficiency of their holdings, and the deprivation of their hill pasture, and the huddling together of large numbers of them on unproductive land, to make room for sheep and deer. The chronic poverty prevalent in the land is mostly if not wholly due to the unequal distribution of the land, the most and the best of which is in the hands of a few. There is sufficient land in Skye to support in comparative comfort the present population; it supported a much larger one before, and not a tithe of the food now imported was required to be imported then. The land then was under cultivation, it is not so now. All that is necessary to remedy this sad state of matters is a redistribution of the land, giving each family as much arable and pasture land as will keep it in comparative comfort, and then to apply the principles of the Irish Land Act by fixing fair rents and giving security of tenure. Nothing short of this will allay agitation, restore contentment, and satisfy the just demands of the people. What need I speak of emigration as a cure for the present condition of the people, when the Highlands have been all but depopulated, and when the condition of those left behind has not improved in consequence, as is apparent in presence of tho condition of many parts of the country, when the cry of hunger and of deep and wide-spread distress is heard in various parts of the land, and but for the contributions of charity and public alms many of the people would have perished from want. It is not true that, in the Highlands at least, the people have pressed on the limits of subsistence, and that the only remedy is emigration. There are thousands of acres in Skye, fit for cultivation, growing little else than fog and brakens. What is wanted is migration. The time is gone bye when the welfare and natural rights of the people can be sacrificed to any parchment rights the landlords may possess. I for one have no fear of the issue, once their political power is conceded, to which the present Government is pledged, that the people will work out their own salvation. Put the people in possession of the land from which they and their forefathers were removed, and ways and means will hot be wanting to stock the land. I hold that land, being limited in extent, should not be dealt with on commercial principles. This is not a question of mere rent; it is one involving the well-being of the people, even of their very existence. Among all the Acts passed by the lords of the soil, I am not aware of one to preserve the people, but there are many on the statute book to preserve game and deer. I hear a great deal of the evils of absenteeism; what will it benefit the crofters on Lord Macdonald's estate by his Lordship residing on his property? Simply nothing. Major Fraser, who got a comfortable and fairly prosperous tenantry, resided a great deal on his estate; has that benefited his tenantry. I appeal from their former to their present condition. I am satisfied that, as regards Skye at least, where the proprietor is resident the people are in greater subjection and bondage. Let the people ask for no more charity, but let them demand their rights. If the money spent by the late Government in fixing a scientific frontier had been applied instead in bettering the condition of the people, matters would not now be as they are. Let the Liberal Government, who has shown so much solicitude concerning the Egyptians, grapple with this question and restore their rights to a noble, loyal, patriotic, law-abiding, but down-trodden people. I think it a mistake, however, to consider the crofter question as a mere local question affecting only the crofter population, and that can be settled by remedies that have only a surface and local application. It involves the great social problem of modern civilisation, viz., the institution of private property in land, the ownership by some of the people of the land, on which and from which the whole must live. It is this system that produces the destitution in the Highlands and the hideous squalor of our city slums; it involves the problem of the distribution of wealth. Is not labour the source of all wealth? without it you have no wealth How comes it then that the creators of this wealth get but the barest living of it? Manifestly owing to the ownership in the natural agent laud. Is not rent the devourer of wages, or in other words the earnings of labour. This is the system that keeps the masses of mankind mere hewers of wood and drawers of water for the benefit of a fortunate few, who reap where they do not sow, and appropriate to themselves wealth which they had no share in producing. This is the question worth fighting for, and not any mere local one, which is only iu the interests of a class; it is universal in its application, benefiting equally every man, woman, and child within the realm.

10177. Have you any further statement to make?
—I have not.

Portree, Skye, 24 May 1883 - John Mcleod

2010-09-12T16:57:00.002+01:00

JOHN M'LEOD, Tacksman of Monkstadt (60)—examined.

10124. The Chairman.
—Have you any statement to make ?
—No.

10125. Did you come here by invitation of the Commissioners?
—Yes.

10126. Sir Kenneth Mackenzie.
—Are you a native of Kilmuir?
—Yes.

10127. Have you lived all your life in Kilmuir ?
—Yes.

10128. Do you see much difference in the condition of the people since you were a young man ?
—No.

10129. What part of the parish were you born in ?
—Kilmaluag.

10130. And you have now gone to take up your residence next door to Kilmaluag again ?
—Yes.

10131. Do you think the Kilmaluag people are in as good circumstances as they were when you first remember ?
—Fully.

10132. Do you think the land returns as much crop as it used to do ?
—I think not; but I think there is more money in the place than there was when I was young.

10133. You have occasion to know that?
—Yes.

10134. Do you deal in meal at all?
—Not just now.

10135. What reason have you for thinking there is more money in the place than there used to be ?
—They are getting better prices for stock.

10136. But, on the other hand, they must spend more money than they used to do ?
—Yes, in dress, and so on.

10137. Then, though they get more money, if they spend more money, perhaps there is not more money left in the place after all ?
—As to that I cannot say.

10138. You cannot say whether they are more in debt to the meal merchant than they were ?
—I don't think they are.

10139. We were told that the people were in debt for meal to the extent of £700. Do you think that is a true statement ?
—I don't think it is true at all.

10140. Sheriff Nicolson.
—Something like that was also told us about Glenhinisdale. They were said to be in debt £600, chiefly for meal. Do you think that is an exaggeration ?
—I think so.

10141. I suppose you heard most of what was said at Uig and Stenscholl?
—No.

10142. Did you see it in the newspapers?
—A little of it.

10143. Was there anything which you thought decidedly incorrect?
—About that debt, I think it was not right.

10144. Do you think the rents are too high ?
—Well, when they get better prices for the stock, I think the rise in rent is nothing in comparison with the rise in prices.

10145. I suppose your own rents have been raised a good deal also?
—No; of course there were additions.

10146. We were told about grass that was taken from the people to be added to your farm?
—I never removed a tenant since I was born.

10147. But did Captain Fraser did?
—He gave them as good places as they had in compensation for that.

10148. But since you got Monkstadt a good many of them were shifted to other places ?
—No, not in Kilmuir.

10149. But I suppose you remember that a good many were removed?
—Yes ; but they got as good places as they had in payment for that.

10150. They say themselves that the places are not so good?
—I think they are.

10151. Do you think the amount of their pasture is the same as it was?
—I think so. They went to the two best places I knew of on the estate—Kilmaluag and Balmaquien.

10152. Were there no crofters on these two places before ?
—Yes, in Kilmaluag; but some of them went of their own accord to America about that time.

10153. Were there crofters at Balmaquien before?
—Yes.

10154. Was it new crofts or old ones that these crofters got?
—Old ones.

10155. Professor Mackinnon.
—Do you remember the last forty years back?
—Not exactly.

10156. We have been told there were a large number of people removed and a considerable number of crofting townships cleared in Kilmuir during that time. I suppose there are a considerable number of townships that were peopled then which are not peopled now?
—That was forty-three years ago. It was in Sulister and Erisker.

10157. You don't remember a single township of crofters cleared on Kilmuir at all?
—No, except Graulin.

10158. Do you remember hill pasture being taken from townships that are not cleared yet?
—Yes.

10159. So that the amount of land occupied by crofters now in Kilmuir is very much less than it was when you first remember?
—No, except a wee bit hilly ground.

10160. It is less by the two cleared townships and the amount of hill pasture that was taken away?
—They got the offer of a hill, I am told, but they would not pay the rent.

10161. Has the population of Kilmuir increased or diminished within that time?
—I am not sure. I think it is fully as large as it was.

10162. Sheriff Nicolson.
—Did you ever advise Major Fraser to raise or to lower the rents?
—Never.

10163. Did you not advise him to lower them?
—No, I had no business to speak to the major about a matter of that sort.

10164. Did he not sometimes get advice from you?
—No.

10165. I have been told that he himself said you had advised him to lower the rents : perhaps you forget it. I suppose you can truly say that you never gave him any bad advice?
—I believe he would not take it well if I would do so.

10166. Did you ever give him any advice against the people?
—Never.

10167. Mr Fraser-Mackintosh.
—Have you been all your days in Skye?
—Yes, I may say so.

10168. What rent was your father paying for his place in Kilmaluig?
— I cannot say, but the first rent I paid was £34.

10169. What have you been paying of late for Monkstadt?
—About £1005.

10170. You are not in arrears?
—Not a penny, except what is due since Martinmas last.

10171. Then you are one of the few men in Skye whose circumstances are better now than they were forty years ago?
—I know small tenants who pay only £12, and who have £800 lying in the bank in Portree.

10172. Do you find sheep-farming now as profitable as it has been in past years?
— Yes, except the wool.

10173. Then you do not quite agree with your neighbour Duntulm, who said he was going back a good deal upon sheep?
—Well, cattle would pay fully as well as sheep—good Highland cattle.

10174. Have you a good number of cattle yourself?
—I have over three hundred head of black cattle. I wish to state in regard to Donald Nicolson, that when he got the place he evicted a poor man named M'Innes, who had a delicate consumptive son. This young man was sent off to a barn, and he lived only three days. Then Nicolson allowed his horse to stray with my milk cows. He came and offered me 7s. 6d. He left his horse six weeks there with the milk cows, and when he came and took it away he never gave me a penny.

Portree, Skye, 24 May 1883 - Rev Finlay Graham

2010-09-12T16:34:00.000+01:00

Rev. FINLAY GRAHAM, Free Church Minister, Sleat (42)—re-examined.

10119. The Chairman.
—You desire to make an explanation ?
—Yes. It is about such a small matter that I am almost ashamed to speak of it, but still Tormore left the impression that I went about canvassing for votes, and not relying upon his word. He said quite truly that he informed me that there would be no poll, and I relied on his word, and let the time pass when I might have enlightened my people in the method and rules of the election. He said that I went about canvassing amongst the people, but I did no such thing. However, his officers were round the parish canvassing for the votes of the people. He was, as I thoroughly believe, misinformed on this point; and, to say the least, it was rather strong to use the machinery of the estate against the only Free Churchman who wanted a place on the school board.

10120. Your impression is that you did not get quite fair play on the part of the authorities on the estate in connection with the election for the school board ?
—Yes.

10121. And you believe you would have been elected if there had been a poll ?
—There was a poll.

10122. But you had not sufficient time to prepare?
—Tormore told me there would be no poll, and I relied upon his word; and some people informed
him that I went canvassing after that, which I did not do. His officers went and canvassed while I was at ease.

10123. And if you had had time to prepare the constituency, and recommend yourself to them, you believe you would have been elected 1
—I don't know about that.

Portree, Skye, 24 May 1883 - Dugald Maclachlan

2010-09-12T16:31:00.000+01:00

DUGALD MACLACHLAN, Bank Agent and Clerk of Court at Portree (41)—examined.

9935. Professor Mackinnon.
—How long have you been in Skye?
—I came to Skye in 1856, and since then I have been resident in Skye, except for about six years, when I was abroad.

9936. So you have known Skye almost all your life?
—I may say I have.

9937. And of late years you have known the whole island?
—Yes, pretty much.

9938. And the condition of the people?
—Yes, generally.

9939. Especially those of the crofting class?
—Yes, I may say I know a good deal of their condition.

9940. I need not ask you if you have read the evidence, for you heard it all. Do you agree in the main with the description which the delegates of the crofters throughout Skye have given of their own condition?
—Yes, I do, most certainly.

9941. You believe it is a fair statement of their condition?
—I believe that their condition is very poor as a rule —that they live from hand to mouth.

9942. And even putting last year out of question, that it is getting poorer?
—I must say that is my impression. They cannot stand a bad year. When a bad year comes they go to the wall at once.

9943. The main cause which they themselves give as accounting for that state of matters is the small holdings?
—Yes.

9944. Do you agree with that?
—Yes, I do, so far as my knowledge enables me to judge.

9945. You believe that is the main cause of it all?
—Yes, I do.

9946. And almost the sole remedy that they themselves suggested was to increase these holdings?
—To increase these holdings. I may say that I am an emigration agent, and I have the honour of representing the colony of Queensland in this country as emigration agent. I have heard the opinions of the crofters on the subject of emigration, and, of course, there is but very little inclination that way.

9947. You have heard them express their opinions among themselves for a number of years past?
—I have.

9948. Putting it broadly, were the opinions which they have expressed in this inquiry much to the same effect as those you have heard for some years back?
—Very much, except as to some of their petty grievances which have come out here.

9949. But the great cause of the distress, and the great remedy for it, which they expressed here, they have been in the habit of expressing pretty generally from year to year?
—Yes, for a long time past.

9950. Do you yourself agree that if it was practicable to increase these holdings such a scheme would reasonably be expected to remove at least a part of the present distress?
—I think so, certainly.

9951. Of course, we all know there is plenty of land in Skye to give the people enlarged holdings; but have you considered the question of framing a practicable scheme, supposing it were agreed upon?
—Well, it is a subject upon which all of us have been thinking for these last years —we who live by dealing with the producers of wealth in the country —and it is a very serious problem.

9952. What solution of the problem would you be prepared to recommend, to make it practicable for them to acquire larger holdings?
—Generally speaking, the crofters themselves—a very large number, at all events— would not be able to stock these holdings, but there are many of them no doubt who would be able to stock very considerable holdings. But the difficulty would remain, what to do with those who are not able. In the course of applying the remedy of increased holdings, there is no doubt the landlord's interest would have to be taken into account, and conserved out of some fund or other, and also that the tenant should be helped to stock these larger holdings. So far as I personally am concerned, my opinion is that there is a fund just now in existence which is of very little service in many parts of the Highlands, and which could profitably be applied in that way, both to enable the tenant to stock his holding and to compensate the proprietor for any loss.

9953. Have you any objection to name that fund?
—I may as well come out with it; it is the funds of the Established Church. I think it would be very much better to apply them to that purpose than to keep them as they are. I think it would be a very great privilege that Christians should be enabled to pay for their own religion.

9954. It would be a natural question to ask, whether those who have undertaken to pay for their own religion in this part of the country are able to pay for it, but we had better not pursue that?
—Yes, they do that, because those who pay for religion here are mostly of the class to which our Saviour called attention when he saw the widow casting her mites into the treasury. They are those who would share their last mite for the cause of Christ.

9955. I suppose you would not think of taking the funds belonging to the Church itself. That would be reserved for the State to put it on the proper footing?
—Well, though I have come out here in that way, I have not fully considered the scheme. The fund is there —the money is there —and what we say in the Highlands generally is that it might be much better applied.

9956. Have you considered to what extent that remedy would be sufficient for Skye?
—No, but I know it would be sufficient to a very considerable extent.

9957. In the first place, there are a good number of crofters who would be able themselves to stock crofts?
—Yes.

9958. In the second place, there are some who would require a good deal of assistance?
—Yes.

9959. Now, supposing you capitalised the whole ecclesiastical revenue of Skye, would you exhaust it all?
—I cannot say; that is a matter of calculation.

9960. The Chairman.
—Then would you make a rapid calculation?
—Perhaps the funds of the Established Church in Skye may be worth some £3000 a year.
—[Rev. Mr Darroch. Not half of it ]That is between the value of the glebes and the stipends.

9961. Professor Mackinnon.
—What is the average value of the livings of the Established Church in this island—£350 a year?
—No, I would not say that.

9962. £300?
—Perhaps £250 or £300.

9963. With the glebe?
—With the glebe it might be £350.

9964. How many livings are there?
—Nine.

9965. That is £3150. Multiplying that by 25, it brings out £78,750. So far as that goes, there would be no interest to be paid back upon it?
—No.

9966. How would you distribute it? Would not those who are decently well off require their share of it as well as those who are not?
—Possibly.

9967. It would be a capitation grant ?
—It would be very difficult to judge who was able and who was not, because you could scarcely pry into the private affairs of each crofter.

9968. Would you not compel any one, before you gave him assistance, to make some statement of his affairs?
—I would not be prepared all at once to go into the details of the method of applying the scheme, but I only state broadly that that appears to me to be a fund which ought to be made available for some useful public purpose, and let the good people of the Established Church, who compose, generally speaking, in this country the wealthiest portion of the community, have the privilege of paying for their own Church.

9969. There was a great deal said about the conditions on which these enlarged holdings should be given to the people. Have you formed an idea in your own mind what reasonable conditions should be imposed?
—Of course, we repeat the parrot cry of fixity of tenure.

9970. What is meant by that?
—Just that the tenant should not be removed at the will of the landlord, so long as he paid his rent, and a fair rent.

9971. How would the rent be determined?
—By some neutral party.

9972. And revalued how often?
—Very much on the lines of the Irish Land Bill, namely, once in every fifteen years. There is practically such a valuation periodically now in the country. We know it by the name of summing. That amounts to the same thing.

9973. And so long as the tenant pays his rent, he is not to be removed?
—Yes.

9974. I asked a question of a gentleman before about the right of succession to such a croft. Have you anything to say upon that subject? Would you allow the croft to descend from father to son?
—Yes, I should certainly think so.

9975. Would the one who was allowed to succeed be obliged to buy out the rest of the family?
—Yes, I should think so.

9976. You would on no account subdivide the croft?
—No; I would certainly be against subdivision.

9977. And if he was unable to buy out the rest, what then?
—It would be subject to the rules of the market.

9978. Would it become the proprietor's?
—I suppose then it would come into public competition. Some other crofter might be got to take it.

9979. Would you say that the tenant might then be entitled to sell it to the highest bidder?
—I would rather be afraid to adopt such a plan, because it might end in the same state of matters of which we are now complaining. It might end in such high rents being exacted as would induce the distress of which we are now complaining.

9980. What is the minimum croft you would make under this scheme?
—These are really matters which are pretty much outside my business.

9981. You have given a good deal of attention to the matter?
—I could not help doing that, because I come so much in contact with the people who are principally interested.

9982. What would be the amount of stock you would have upon the lowest sized croft?
—I would not believe much in crofts which were not of sufficient size to enable a family to live in comfort, and I would say that such a croft would be one upon which a tenant could keep six cows, thirty to forty or fifty sheep, and a horse, with perhaps twenty to thirty acres of arable land. I have been considering the matter, and of course I speak very much from hearsay, but I have had the opinion of a very considerable number of crofters as to the kind of croft they would consider a comfortable croft, and though my figures are at second hand, I may say that just about an hour ago I took the figures which I have now given from a crofter of very great experience and knowledge. His idea of a good croft, as I have said, is twenty acres arable, with a stock of six cows, one horse, and fifty sheep.

9983. And the rent would be fixed by a valuator?
—The rent would be fixed by a valuator, and would amount to a certain proportion of the profits of the croft.

9981. Then you would have the arable ground fenced off, I presume, in a croft of that size?
—I should think so.

9985. And the hill pasture might be worked upon the club system?
—I think so.

9986. These figures would be the minimum croft, but you would have a gradation right up?
—I would have a gradation right up to the peasant proprietor. I would like to see the path opened up to the Highlander not only to work a comfortably sized croft with profit and comfort to himself, but to work himself into the proprietorship of it.

9987. I understand your claim to fixity of tenure practically meant that?
—Practically it does.

9988. But you would not confine all the crofts to much the same size?
—Would you not allow a gradation among them, so that a man might be able to get one, two, or three times as big a croft as you have mentioned?
—I think so.

9989. And still leave large farms in the country?
—Oh, there ought to be plenty of room in Skye for sufficiently large farms as well as for the accommodation and comfortable living of a very great number of small farmers, and that is what we desiderate in the country.

9990. Do you think there is a sufficient amount of available land in Skye at the present moment to make such a scheme as that feasible with its present population?
—That is a question of statistics and calculation into which I have not gone, but there is no doubt that any one who goes along the roads in Skye and looks right and left must see immense tracts of country which are suitable for the occupancy of small farmers. You see them uninhabited by human beings.

9991. Don't you think that for such a scheme as that the present population is too large?
—Possibly it may be.

9992. What would you do with the overplus?
—I have heard of a scheme of emigration. I would certainly encourage those who are willing to emigrate, but I would be very sorry indeed to see the people emigrate.

9993. Even although you are an emigration agent?
—Yes, I think it would be a loss to the kingdom, for a more loyal set of subjects could not be found.

9994. At the same time, of course, you know perfectly well that, under any conditions whatsoever, in a place like this there must always be an overflow of people?
—I would like to see the country so comfortable as that there would be just a natural outflow of people to the waste places of the world, to accomplish what Providence seems to be in course of
Accomplishing —giving the government of the world to this nation, to the English-speaking people.

9995. But don't you think there is room at this moment for several Skye men to go and occupy waste places elsewhere?
—Yes, there is plenty of room in foreign countries.

9996. So, even if your scheme were practicable at home, it would be necessary to carry on the other scheme along with it from the present time?
—Yes, I would certainly agree to the promotion of a scheme of emigration, which would enable those who are so minded, and who consider it better for them to leave the country, to do so, but hand in hand with that I should like to see an effort made by the legislature to provide comfortable livings, and to see to it that the people in the country have elbow room at home.

9997. You spoke of those who were so minded, but would it not require to be compulsory?
—Oh, dear no; don't speak of compulsion.

9998. On your scheme of the future, where would you put the people if the crofts were not subdivided?
—If they saw there was no room at home, they would fast enough go abroad.

9999. It does not look like it just now?
—We have had several reasons for that. The people are so poor that they must go to Glasgow and the south, or to the fishing, to earn money for their families. They cannot go far; they must always remain, as it were, in sight of home.

10000. Has it not been the case that hitherto poverty at home was the great motive power for emigration over the world, and that people emigrated more largely when ill off than when wealthy?
—Yes, certainly.

10001. How can you expect then that in the future people will voluntarily go away when they are comfortable, and will not allow the crofts to be subdivided?
—My idea is that if the sons of the family were so numerous that they could afford an overplus when they saw their people comfortable at home, they could, without any reluctance or compunction, leave the old folks, and go and cut out a living for themselves elsewhere.

10002. Just as you see in Skye and elsewhere at present, in the case of people who are comfortably off, that the families scatter easily?
—Yes.

10003. Do you think that the sole cause of the objection to emigrate on the part of those who are not so well off is that they wish to remain at home in order to attend to their parents?
—I don't say that is the sole reason, but it is a very powerful reason.

10004. Do you think it is the chief reason?
—I might almost say it is. The ties of affection are very strong amongst Highland families, and they
especially love their native soil.

10005. Is that not the case when they are well off just as when they are badly off?
—Yes, but when they picture the old people in misery lying on the straw at night, and covered with meal bags instead of blankets, they cannot have the heart to go very far from home.

10006. Don't you think there ought to be some among them that would say, Rather than lie along with them in that way, I would emigrate and 1 send home to them the price of a blanket?'
—Well, they ought certainly.

10007. But you suggest that if they were becoming more comfortable the people themselves would work out the problem by going away?
—Yes, I say so. When I speak about meal bags, I don't mean every case, but I speak of instances of which I have had believable testimony on one or two properties in Skye. Certainly it is not the case on other properties that I know.

10008. Have you paid much attention to the education of the district under the administration of the Act of 1872?
—No, not very much.

10009. We all understand that the education of the island has not been taken advantage of so much as one would wish, but is it your belief that there are a greater number of children receiving elementary education here than was the case thirteen or fourteen years ago?
—I believe so, but there are people who are better able to judge of that than I am. I know that within my short memory in Portree, say fifteen or twenty years ago, the number of children attending school in Portree was very much smaller than it is now.

10010. But it is admitted that the compulsory clause of the Education Act has not been worked so successfully in Skye as we might reasonably expect ?
—No.

10011. Are you able to suggest any remedy by which matters might be improved in that respect?
—I hear people who ought to know complaining of the action of some school boards —that they are too stingy with their salaries, and don't encourage a proper class of teachers.

10012. The buildings are excellent at any rate?
—The buildings are excellent, but you will never get a proper teacher without offering an inducing salary.

10013. There was a statement made to-day upon which I should like to ask your opinion as a banker, but I am not very sure whether you feel yourself entitled to speak about it. From your knowledge as a banker, are you able to give us the benefit of that knowledge as to the circumstances of the people ?
—To a certain extent I am.

10014. Mr Macdonald, Tormore, in part of his evidence, without making a specific statement, so far as I understood him, left upon us the impression—and I thought it was meant we should have the impression —that a large number of deposits in the banks in Portree, amounting, as he supposed, to something like £200,000, must be in the name of the crofter class, because he supposed the proprietors would not, or could not, deposit there, and that the large tacksmen did not, and therefore it was left to be inferred that the great proportion belonged to the crofter class. Can you confirm that statement?
—I cannot by any means; he is under a very great mistake.

10015. Of course, if I found any reason to believe it was the case, I could almost see my way to your scheme being worked out without trenching on the funds of the Established Church?
—Oh no, I don't see it.

10016. You don't see how you could do without the funds of the church ?
—I don't see it.

10017. So far as the means of the crofters, to the best of your knowledge, are concerned ?
—No, I don't think it. There may be a good proportion of the crofters who might be able to provide stock.

10018. You believe there are a considerable number who would be able to take a croft if they got it, and others who would require more or less assistance ?
—Quite so.

10019. But still a large margin who simply could not?
—Who simply could not.

10020. Who have nothing?
—And worse than nothing, as we have heard.

10021. In that respect you generally concur with and back up the statements that were made by the delegates of the crofters themselves ?
—Yes, upon the whole. The crofters on the north end of the island are worse off, I believe, than the crofters anywhere else on the island,

10022. That was attributed to the system of bills that was carried on. Did you observe in one of the papers that the banks were said to charge 10 to 15 per cent. ?
—Yes, and that is a complete mistake.

10023. The ordinary rate is charged, and that is all ?
—The ordinary rate, as fixed by the Council of Bankers in Edinburgh.

10024. And the difference between that and 10 or 15 per cent, is charged by another person?
—10 or 15 per cent, is never charged. As I understand the evidence of the delegate referred to —when he spoke of 2s., 2s. 6d., and 3s. being charged for accommodation bills, that referred entirely to what the securities charged, which was beyond the knowledge of the bank agent, though he might by a round-about way come to know that there was something charged. There was another delegate of whom the question was asked, in that end of the courtly, what interest was generally paid to the banks, and he said about 5 percent., or Is. in the £.

10025. The interest to the bank is the ordinary discount rate?
—Yes.

10026. And this 10 to 15 per cent, if it exists at all, is paid to quite different parties?
—Yes, it is an outside transaction between themselves, with which the bank agent has nothing to do at all.

10027. Mr Cameron.
—Do you consider that the actual rents paid by the crofters in Skye are high, or the reverse?
—I judge very much by hearsay, and we have heard a good number of them say they would rather pay
three times what they pay for a croft three times the present size than be on the present croft, though they should get it for nothing.

10028. That is hardly an answer to my inquiry, because nobody could have a croft for nothing. Taking the value of the land and the produce got out of it, do you consider that the present rents are too high, taking them all over?
—I think that the rent which the proprietor might, under present circumstances, reasonably expect would be too high to charge a crofter, and I think for the difference there ought to be some way of compensating him. Although in Skye here we may be credited with advanced ideas on the land question, we never would dream of advocating a policy of spoliation of the landlords. We wish to repudiate that most sincerely.

10029. Then you would not be apprehensive that, under a system of valuation by a neutral person, the rents might be raised beyond what they are now?
—No, I would not. I see that the same system is adopted under the Irish Land Bill, and I don't see why it should not work successfully in this country,

10030. That, of course, would depend upon the rents not being too high?
—Yes.

10031. Supposing that the rents were not too high in this country, but very moderate, would you feel any apprehension that under the system you propose, instead of being decreased, they might be increased?
—I don't think they would be increased.
—[Mr Alexander Macdonald. I just wish to say one word about the banks and deposits—namely, that no person in Skye, I believe, can tell the amount of deposits in the banks. I don't know myself, though I am agent for one of them. Mr Maclachlan is agent for another, and he does not know; and Mr Skene is agent for another, and he does not know. We all keep our own secrets, and no one in Skye has the slightest idea of the amount of deposits in the three banks].

10032. Sir Kenneth Mackenzie.
—You propose to adopt fixity of tenure. Do you mean to adopt it before the crofts are enlarged, or to confirm the present state of things?
—The present state of things, with enlarged holdings.

10033. But with the holdings as they are, do you wish to establish fixity of tenure?
—I would wish that it should not be in the power of the laird or factor arbitrarily to evict any man so long as he paid his rent.

10034. Even with the present small holdings?
—Yes, most certainly, even with the present small holdings. If an eviction took place, I should like to see it carried out in the same way in which I saw it carried out in the property of Mr Macdonald at Skeabost, which was done in a proper spirit and in a proper form. There was a tenant in the township who made himself very disagreeable to the rest of them, and the whole of the township joined in a petition to the landlord to have him removed, and the landlord gave effect to their desire.

10035. If you had fixity of tenure, of course you could not have removals?
—No.

10036. In regard to the school salaries, you said that the salaries in Skye are very low?
—Yes, I hear the complaint general.

10037. Do you think that tends towards making the education given here inefficient in character?
—Well, it tends in many instances to keep schools vacant for months in the year.

10038. And not to procure the best class of teacher to fill them?
—Yes, certainly.

10039. And probably the children don't make make same progress under these second-class teachers?
—I believe it would be the cheapest way to employ a good teacher at first, and so earn a larger amount of grant.

10040. Mr Fraser-Mackintosh.
—You have the records of the sheriff court under your charge, I believe?
—Yes.

10041. Have you prepared a list of the decrees of the court for some time back?
—I attempted to do it, but it involved so much work that I have not been able to complete it.

10042. Will you make up and hand in a correct statement?
—I will. I should like to verify it before giving it in. I have made up a list of decrees of removal from agricultural small holdings since 1810.

10043. You will hand it in to the Commission by-and-by?
—Yes, when I have verified it to the best of my knowledge.

10044. Mr Cameron.
—Will the date of each be mentioned?
—Each year.

10045. Mr Fraser-Mackintosh.
—What number do they amount to?
—Roughly, they amount to 2046 decrees of removal proceeding upon summonses of removal.

10046. Are these extracted?
—They are extractable decrees. They may not have been extracted. It cannot be known to what extent these decrees were acted on.

10047. Professor Mackinnon.
—Is that what we popularly call a warning?
—Yes, a warning against the tenant, and the decree is the sheriff's authority granted upon it.

10048. Do you add to that the number that were enforced?
—I cannot. I have been asked simply to give this information —the number of decrees of removal since 1840.

10049. Mr Fraser-Mackintosh.
—You have walked and driven about the island, and seen a good deal of Skye?
—Yes.

10050. Can you confirm what many delegates have stated, that the pasture is deteriorating in many places?
—Yes, both from my own judgment, so far as it goes, and from the opinion of men of practical experience.

10051. When you were going about the island you have seen what enables you to corroborate what has been stated here —that there are hundreds of ruined houses?
—Yes.

10052. You can also confirm this, that the people have been crowded into confined areas?
—Yes.

10053. And that in consequence subdivision has occurred?
—Yes.

10054. Suppose the crofts were enlarged as you propose, would there not be a much larger trade carried on in the island?
—Very much larger; that is what we desire.

10055. And lawyers and bankers and everybody else would be benefited ?
—Yes, every class of people who thrive by dealing with the wealth-producers of the country.

10056. Were you present when Mr Baird of Knoydart was examined?
—No.

10057. Because he stated that he would not take any farmers for his big farms who were non-resident. I suppose that some of the Skye proprietors are finding it to be well to take that step in advance and to have resident farmers as much as possible?
—There are just three that are non-resident.

10058. But these are pretty large?
—Yes.

10059. We have heard of the large farm of Scorrybreck. Have there been a great number of people removed from that farm at times?
—Yes.

10060. The tenant himself stated that the extent of that farm was eleven miles, but does he not rather minimise the extent of it?
—I hear it spoken of as fifteen miles in extent.

10061. You think eleven is rather under the mark?
—I think so. I have always heard it spoken of as having fourteen miles of sea coast

10062. And that includes bays?
—If you followed it out and in you might make it almost as long as from here to Stornoway.

10063. Then you mean in a straight line?
—Generally.

10064. Are you aware of any inconvenience that occurs to the people of Skye from there being only two practising agents in the court?
—I really cannot say there is.

10005. Have people complained to you as an official of the court and asked your advice, or anything of that kind?
—I cannot say.

10066. Then it is not a grievance?
—I cannot really say it is. The court business has diminished very much of late. People are getting to be more sensible and less litigious. There used to be a time when there was an immense amount of business done in the court here. Now that is not the case. The introduction of the Debts Recovery Act and of the Small Debts Act has tended very much to decrease litigation.

10067. We find in many cases a repugnance on the part of the people to take leases. Can you explain that?
—The impression they gave me is that they don't want leases to give them connection with the soil. They consider that necessary with strangers, to give them an introduction to the land, but they say, 'We are here already, and we don't want that.'

10068. Is that the only account you can give of that repugnance?
—I think so ; at least except in so far as regards agreements that might be entered into as to the mode of cultivating the soil.

10069. Would you give us your opinion as to the general conduct and behaviour of the people and their character? They are accused of being indolent and lazy, and of not working sufficiently?
—I daresay that the Highlanders, as agriculturists, may with a considerable amount of truth be charged with laziness, but I believe it is not their fault. It is the fault of the conditions that have been imposed upon them by the legislature, for their condition seems to be such that there appears to be a premium upon laziness, because they see instances, such as that of Donald Nicolson, Totescore, who was arbitrarily cleared out of his possession, and although there should be only one such case occurring in a decade, it gets wind all round, and every person feels that he may be treated in the same way if a neighbouring sheep farmer should happen to offer a pound of rent more than he is able to pay, and his sense of insecurity is such that his energies are depressed.

10070. If they had proper inducements, do you think they would work as well in Skye as they work in the south?
—Most decidedly.

10071. In speaking of the enlarged crofts for crofters, the only question always comes up as a difficulty, but don't you think that a young, strong man, willing to work, really has his capital in his two hands?
—That is his capital; his bodily health is his capital.

10072. Is that not a very good capital?
—That is a most important capital.

10073. Might it not really be of more importance to a man to be strong and healthy than to be somewhat weakly and in possession of £100 or £150?
—There is no use of a crofter undertaking the cultivation of a croft even if he had the money, if he has not physical health to work it, because he simply hands over the profit of the croft to another man.

10074. Considering the hard times which the people in Skye have generally passed through, what do you say as to their behaviour?
—It has been most exemplary. Such a thing as agrarian outrage is utterly unknown.

10075. It was mentioned to-day by Tormore that the agitation only began recently. How long is it since this agitation and movement of discontent began?
—In my experience, the first active expression of discontent and rebellion against the rents in Skye took place on Captain Fraser's property very early after he got the property.

10076. Even so far back?
—Yes, very shortly after he got the property.

10077. And that is some twenty years ago?
—Yes, fully that.

10078. Do you think that the successive increases of rent which he put upon his estate still kept up agitation?
—Yes.

10079. Then it cannot be considered a thing of to-day?
—No, and it is certainly not attributable to Irish agitators. The next active rebellion was when Mr G. G. Mackay of Raasay took to improving his estate, and carried out some removals. He sent an officer with summonses of removal, and I believe the officer crossed the ferry, but he had some difficulty in returning, for his boat was not to be found. Then came the agitation on Captain Fraser's property, in the case of Valtos, about three years ago. He came to see that he was in the wrong and that he had been overcharging them for a number of years; but the discontent has been fomented on Captain Fraser's estate in Skye—no doubt about that.

10080. Then there are some parts of Skye better off than others?
—Yes.

10081. The district of Sleat?
—I would rather not particularise. As to the character of the people, I was asked to give some statistics of the emigration which took place some years ago, but I have not been able to get these with any degree of accuracy ; but in hunting up the matter I came upon an appeal to the public by a Skye Emigration Committee in 1852, in which this passage occurs :
—In considering the appeal now made on behalf of the people of Skye, it will be borne in mind that periods of suffering are often periods of turbulence and disregard of the rights of property; that there was much in the social arrangements of Skye, and not a little even in the system on which the relief fund was administered, to excite bitterness, irritation, and discontent; yet during five years of suffering, no single case of violence, tumult, or outrage of any kind has occurred; and though the principal movable property in the island—its sheep flocks—is peculiarly exposed to depredation, and detection extremely difficult, yet sheep-stealing, or theft of any kind, has been comparatively unknown. It may indeed, be said, that in no district of Britain of equal population, and however prosperous, has crime been more rare than it has been in Skye, during years of misery, danger, and want.

10082. Sheriff Nicolson.
—Was Sheriff Fraser the chairman of that committee?
—Yes. That is the character of the people to the present day.

10083. Sir Kenneth Mackenzie.
—Are these decrees of removing often made use of by the landlords to recover their rent in preference to taking out small debt summonses?
—I don't know, because you have no power to recover under them, but it is a means of frightening them.

10084. And they pay?
—I suppose they do.

10085. Have you any means of making up a complete return which will show the cases in which the decrees were acted upon?
—I have no means of showing to what extent they were acted upon. The records of the court do not show it. Of course ; all these decrees could not have been acted upon, for if they had, there would have been no population in Skye today.

10086. The Chairman,
—You have stated your desire that larger crofts should be formed out of lands now occupied by proprietors or by tacksmen ?
—I cannot see how they could be formed without so encroaching.

10087. Do you contemplate compelling the proprietor to surrender the land when it is in his own hands, for the formation of such crofts ?
—If he has an undue proportion of it in his own hands.

10088. How would you settle the question whether he has an undue proportion or not ?
—That is a question of detail into which I would not be prepared strictly to go; but there is the parish of Bracadale, which is almost absolutely a waste, that is a very undue proportion of the land devoted to the maintenance of a very few.

10089. I want to get at your idea of the principle upon which you would contemplate compelling the proprietor to surrender lands in his own hands to form crofts ?
—I don't know that any proprietor in Skye has such an undue proportion of land in his own hands, unless in the island of Raasay.

10090. But still, if you have matured an opinion upon the subject, I should like to have an unqualified expression of it. Are there circumstances in which you think it desirable that the proprietor should be obliged to surrender ?
—By all means.

10091. Suppose the other case, that the land is not in the possession of the proprietor, but in the possession of a tenant holding under lease, do you contemplate cases in which it would be desirable that the law should oblige the lease to be cancelled, and the land surrendered for the formation of the crofts?
—Well, the leases are not so long. There are generally breaks in them, and I don't know that the exigencies of the case are such as would demand such a compulsitor to be immediately acted upon.

10092. Then you contemplate rather that at the termination of existing covenants the claim of the crofters to an augmentation of land should then be admitted?
—Yes.

10093. At the end of existing contracts?
—Yes. I would like, of course, that any change in that way should be made with as little inconvenience as possible all round, and with no loss either to the holder of the lease or
to the proprietor.

10094. Well, but the rights of property are not dear to people only on account of their pecuniary value. They are dear for many other considerations,—considerations of pleasure, ornament, indulgence, pride, and so on. I wish to understand whether you think the principle of compulsion ought in extreme cases to be applied or not ?
—Certainly.

10095. You have also stated that you desire that the crofters, or persons in a humble condition, should have the means of becoming actual proprietors of their own holdings ?
—Yes.

10096. Then you would give the crofter or small tenant the power of claiming to purchase his holding, irrespective of the consent of the proprietor?
—Well, I have a great admiration for the provisions of the Irish Land Bill, and I consider that any measure for the amelioration of the condition of the Highland crofters would be incomplete or superficial without provision for the purchase by the crofters—crofters who are able and willing—of their own holdings.

10097. But does the Irish Land Bill contain any provision enabling the small tenant to purchase the property of his holding without the consent of his landlord ?
—-I believe it does not.

10098. Then do you desire the principle of compulsion, or would you admit that the right of purchase should only be exercised with the consent of the landlord?
—Well, I would not be prepared to give a definite answer right off; it involves very grave considerations.

10099. Speaking of the crofts in general that you desire to see formed, I understand that having selected the proper type of croft sufficient to support a single family, you think that croft ought to remain an undivisible quantity?
—I do think so. '

10100. Looking at the smaller class of crofts that exist now, do you desire that the holders of those crofts should have fixity of tenure?
—Yes.

10101. In the event of small crofts —smaller in value and dimensions than your typical crofts
—becoming naturally vacant, do you think that these small crofts ought to be relet or regranted in their present dimensions, or ought they to be added to other crofts?
—Added to other crofts.

10102. Where would you fix the limit? Would you say that a croft below £5 in value should be added to another, or where would you fix the limit?
—I would try to bring up the average crofts of the country to a size which would support a family in comfort.

10103. But in endeavouring to attain that ideal, which may be a very good one, how would you provide for that class of persons who desire to gain their living by fishing or other form of industry, but who don't want to be left without land altogether?
—The Highlander is a born land animal. He is not a fisherman. He is quite a different being altogether from the east coast fisherman. The east coaster is a fisherman ; the Highlander is a born soldier.

10104. But how could they be provided with those typical crofts sufficient to maintain a family ? Some must be fishermen; how would you provide them with cowsgrass and small holdings?
—I don't see how it could be done without encroaching upon large farms.

10105. You would provide for them by grants of land on the large farms and on the lands in the hands of the proprietors?
—So far as in the hands of proprietors to an undue extent.

10106. To what rule would you subject that class of small tenants? Would you give them also fixity of tenure?
—Yes, I cannot see it would be wise to make exceptions.

10107. Then you would give everybody who has a house and a small portion of land attached to it fixity of tenure so long as he pays his rent?
—Yes.

10108. What would you do with people who live in houses in the village of Portree?
—That is a different thing. These have no land, and we in Portree would give our eyes for it.

10109. They were asking for it to-day?
—Yes, and I hope they may get it. Before I retire I may be allowed to make an explanation which I consider necessary in regard to the case of Donald Nicolson, Totescore. I don't know but perhaps there has an impression gone abroad that there was some discrepancy between Mr Macdonald's statement of the case and what I stated in explanation at Uig, when appealed to by Donald Nicolson. There may be some outsiders who don't understand it.

10110. I don't quite understand it myself. I shall be very happy to hear your explanation?
—The explanation I wish recorded is that the £35, 11s. 8d. was paid by me—passed out of my hands
—and no portion of that remained in my hands. The proprietor kept in his own hands £15, 17s. 6d. as the value of the man's house.

10111. The original sum mentioned before was not £35, but £55?
—With that, so far as I was concerned, I had nothing to do. I had only to do with the account of expenses which was rendered to me by Mr Macdonald, acting for Captain Fraser. My sole object is to make it clear that I passed the whole of the money that came into my hands on account of Donald Nicolson to the proprietor or his agent. I have here a note of expenses, due by Donald Nicolson to Captain Fraser of Kilmuir, as follows :
—Rent and violent profits, £16; expenses decerned for, £4, 18s. 8d.; do., further, £3, 4s.; extract decree and charges, 10s. 6d.; ground officer ejecting, and party, £ 2, 18s.; expenses for breach of interdict, £ £8, 0s. 6d.; total, £35, 11s. 8d. ; to value of houses, £15, 17s. 6d. ; leaving a balance of £ 19, 14s 2d, which was paid by me to the factor on 5th December 1877, and for which his stamped receipt is produced.
[Mr Macdonald]
—It is quite correct.

10112. The question that interested us most was to know what the proprietor actually got ; whether the proprietor got any more than the amount of the simple rent due to him at the term ?
—Not one single farthing but the rent. The incoming tenant got the difference. Anything we got for
violent profit went to the incoming tenant, to pay the damage which he alleged he suffered from not getting possession at Whitsunday.

10113. Then did the incoming tenant pay the proprietor any rent for the period during which he was not in the farm?
—No; we just got the rent, and nothing but the rent. I will show my books to the Commissioners,
showing that we did not get a farthing but the rent, and that the incoming tenant got the rest.

10114. Have you any other statement in connection with this eviction? So far as I remember, it was stated by Nicolson that his rent had been doubled, and that he was willing to submit to his rent being doubled, but then that they charged him £ 1 more, which really was the straw which broke the camel's back, and that he would not stand it?
—That was his statement, but we deny that. The £ 1 had nothing to do with his eviction; it was his misconduct.

10115. Was his rent doubled ?
—Yes, it was; but that had nothing to do with the eviction. He was quite agreeable to the rent.

10116. Why was his rent doubled?
—Like all the rest. It was according to the valuation of Mr Malcolm, like all the rest of the tenants on the estate. That had nothing to do with his eviction.

10117. There was a case cited by Mr Maclachlan of a model eviction, in which all the tenants in the township petitioned the landlord to get rid of an inconvenient member. Was the case of this poor man as bad as that ? Do you think that his fellow-crofters would have petitioned for his removal?
—I think it was a worse case, or fully as bad. The tenant who suffered from Nicolson's carelessness about his stock is here, I believe; and another tenant, whose sheep got killed by Nicolson's dog, is here. I have no personal ill-will to Nicolson, not the slightest.
[Mr Maclachlan]. I have no doubt it would involve going into a long proof to prove his misconduct, but there is no doubt that the circumstances at the time produced an impression on my mind which I have not forgotten yet, as being an exercise of the utmost high-handedness on the part of the landlord.
[Mr Macdonald]
—That is your impression.
[Mr Maclachlan]
—I only speak of my own impression.

10118. We will stop this discussion, because it is impossible to go into the question. There is no doubt that in this matter Mr Maclachlan acted a most honourable and humane part, according to his view of the case.