cuss the policy of recent legislation on this subject,-it is sufficient that it exists, and must be borne in mind in any discussion of the question. It is obvious, then, from what has been said above, that the present croft could only maintain the occupant and his family for a small portion of the year, even if he enjoyed the whole return and were freed from the obligation to pay rent; but, as a matter of fact, the cases are rare, in the islands at least, in which the produce of the croft is not shared between two or more families, and the obligation to pay rent-such a rent as has been fixed as fair-is enforced by the penalty of ejectment on failure. It would thus seem to be absolutely necessary, in order that the crofter may enjoy a reasonable chance of retaining his holding, to free him from the incubus of the subdivider or squatter, and to restore to him the whole area which stands in his name in the books of the estate. It is a singular circumstance that no provision has been made to this end. There is ample power for the prevention of future subdivision, but none for remedying the mistakes of landlord or tenant in the past, -none for the removal of a swarm of squatters numbering thousands. It may be well to cast a glance backward, and before we proceed, to understand how subdivision arose. Here we quote from the report of 1851 :— As originally allotted, in the islands at least, the crofts seem to have been quite sufficient to afford the maintenance of a family and the means of paying the established rent; but when kelp was largely and profitably manufactured, when potatoes were extensively and successfully cultivated, when fishings were good and the prices of cattle high, the crofter found his croft more than sufficient for his wants; and when a son or a daughter married, he divided it with the young couple, who built lived on the produce, and paid a part themselves another house upon it, of the rent. Thus, many crofts which still stand in the rent-roll in the name of one occupant, who is held responsible for the whole rent, are, in fact, occupied by two, three, or even, in some cases, four families. On some properties an effort was made to pre vent this subdivision. The erection of an additional house on any croft was prohibited, and the prohibition was enforced; but the evil was not thereby arrested. The married son or daughter was received into the house of the original occupant; and, if the land was not actually divided, it was not the less required to support two or more families. Attempts were, in some cases, made to put an end to this practice, but it was found to involve so much apparent cruelty and injustice, and it was so revolting to the feelings of all concerned, that houses of their parents, that the evil children should be expelled from the was submitted to and still continues to exist." The evil which existed in 1851 has not been mitigated-nay, has become grievously augmented-by the lapse of time; for now, not only are the crofts required to furnish partial support for an increased population, but, through the rise in the scale of living and deterioration of the soil, are less fitted to support them. We propose in succeeding pages to consider the question of providing for the subdividers and squatters, as well as for the extension of the holdings of those to whom the Crofters Act applies. But before entering on this portion of the subject, it may be well to point out that the herring-fishery is the main source of wages open habitants of Skye and the Long to the great majority of the inIsland. Some few of the people find employment in the service of, proprietors, farmers, and sportsmen-and there are, besides, local fisheries of lobsters, cod and ling, and coal-fish; but these industries, useful as they are, cannot for one moment be compared with the great herring-fishery, which, attracting thousands of boats, provides wages for every man and woman not otherwise engaged, and has been the principal factor in determining the increase of the population. It may be said with truth that a successful herringfishing on both coasts places the West Highland population in a position of comparative comfort for the remainder of the year, while an adverse season lands them in poverty, often in absolute destitution. In short, it does not admit of doubt or question that the exhaustion of the herringshoals would reduce some 50,000 or 60,000 persons, within a, very brief period, to a condition of utter pauperism-to a condition, not only of inability to pay any rent whatsoever, but of actual want. The herring has hitherto been popularly regarded as a migratory - We 1 Upon this point Mr Anderson Smith of Ledaig, a member of the Scottish Board of Fisheries, supplies important evidence. Mr Smith writes on the 29th July::- "Without looking back too far over my published statements, I extract from an address to the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, delivered by me 13th December 1886: For fully twenty years we have sought to spread the knowledge of their, to a large extent, local character, and to show that they may be had at all seasons of the year on our own shores. There is no month in which they are not captured, and no month, we believe, in which they do not spawn. Indeed, herring in all stages of ripeness and conditions of development are constantly taken in the same shoal. They are always with us if we only knew where, and what they feed upon is an important question in arriving at a knowledge of their whereabouts. They approach the shore for two purposes-to feed and to spawn. In the former case they are poor, in the latter in prime condition.' "This question of food is at the bottom of their differentiation, no doubt. A really skilled herring-dealer can tell the herring from every loch in Scotland, so distinct is their difference. The fish of Loch Fyne and Loch Hourn are the best on the west coast, but they are not feeding when captured, and consequently their peculiar character must have been acquired by a continued residence in the locality It is unnecessary to give a list of instances of lochs becoming deserted after severe fishing over a term of years. Not that the herring are fished out, but only down so low that they are unable to combat their natural enemies. 'The chances are that the local supply had, through fortunate con II. THE SUBDIVIDER AND SQUATTER. The crofter, as we have seen, is seriously handicapped by the subdivision of his holding,-whether recent or remote, whether due to his own action or that of his landlord, and, as if this were not enough, the squatter also has thrust himself into the township, either reclaiming a patch from the common pasture whereon also he feeds such stock as he can gather, or begging or renting a potato-ground from some crofter or subdivider, in any case adding to the excess of numbers which the area at command is required to feed. The first step, therefore, towards helping the crofter to a position of independence, is to rid him of this burden; and here we may remark that subdivision of holdings, though often the work of the crofter himself, was by no means always so. It is an unquestioned fact that townships were sometimes removed and added to others by the managers of estates; but though this proceeding now bears the aspect of tyranny and oppression, it was so far from being regarded in this light by the "sufferers," that there actually exists a letter written to the author of a celebrated eviction, by the clergyman of the parish on But to return to our subject. The problem before us is to provide for the subdividers and squatters such advantages elsewhere as shall induce them voluntarily to relieve the crofters of their presence, we say "voluntarily," for, in the existing state of public opinion, it must be assumed that the idea of compulsion is inadmissible, and, to secure this object, migration either to adjacent lands. or to other parts of the Highlands has been proposed. Let us examine shortly this rather attractive project. Two difficulties meet us at the outset-viz., (1) The strong indisposition of the people to remove at all; and (2) their want of the ditions, increased sufficiently to attract attention, and that it was virtually fished out, the residue being unable to regain ascendancy until similar exceptional conditions recur.' This is my view as expressed in my list of Hebridean fishes. Mr John Murray supports this view: 'He believes the herring of Loch Fyne never migrate beyond the entrance of the sea-loch-if they even go so far-but only from the shallows to the deeps of Inverary.' Bertram too, in his last edition of 'The Harvest of the Sea,' seems to accept this opinion: The herring, it is asserted, never ventures far from the spot where it is taken, and its condition, when it is caught, is just an index of the feeding it has enjoyed in its particular locality.' "The evidence is steadily'accumulating in favour of this theory; and although it may be overdone and narrowed down to limits against which our judgment rebels, yet the rough principle I believe to be incontrovertible, that the locality on the west coast relying upon its neighbouring herring-fishery, may any day awake and find its occupation gone-fished-out as thoroughly as a salmon-river ! " capital necessary to occupy holdings of adequate size (for it would clearly be contrary to sound policy to provide them with holdings of the old inadequate area). It has been the fashion among some writers and speakers to lay much stress, in laudatory terms, on the affection of West Highlanders for their native townships; but is this sentiment, in sober truth, a subject for special mention, or worthy of special praise Is it not rather a feeling which exists in the mind of every human being, and, to a remarkable extent, in many animals,—akin, in fact, to the instinct which attaches a horse to his stable, or a cat to his native collar? We apprehend that the question does not admit of serious discussion; and however worthy of pity we may think the man, horse, or cat whose feelings are lacerated by the loss of a familiar home, we nevertheless ruthlessly insist on severing such ties, both in our own families and among our four-footed friends. But the difficulty does not consist in showing that no particular credit is due to the West Highlander for the feeling which prompts him to stay at home,—it is rather in offering him inducements sufficiently strong to lead him to conquer it. His new holding, according to the best authority, must not be of less rent than £25-i.e., it must carry a stock of 8 or 10 cows with their followers, and from 100 to 150 sheep. And this is not all, for it is estimated by a trustworthy agriculturist that, to reclaim promising moorland into good arable land, involves an expenditure of from £15 to £25 an acre;1 and as 10 or 12 acres of arable ground must form part of such a holding as we have described (it would be better with twice as much), in order that winter fodder may be raised and a due rotation maintained, we must add £250 or £300 to the cost of stock before our migrant can be said to be fairly started. Then, also, cropping in rotation involves fencing, the presence of a family involves a dwelling, and the possession of stock demands outhouses. On the whole, it is plain that a new holding of suitable character cannot be created, sufficiently stocked, and placed in a position to succeed, under a minimum expenditure of from £400 to £500, even if the occupant is required to repay no part of the cost of the land on which he is placed; and there is the further consideration that, during the earlier years of his occupancy, the croft would not produce, or would produce only in part, sufficient subsistence for his family, while ho would be precluded by his arduous labours at home from adding tɔ the household income by seeking engagements elsewhere. It is impossible to contemplate the position of a migrant, under the circumstances which we have described, without a feeling of dismay: earth-hunger is a profound sentiment in the Hebrides, but would any sane man, with, due knowledge of the prospect before him, embark on the enterprise of establishing himself thus? Are there capitalists in Great Britain who would provide him with the necessary means? Would any Government be rash enough. to offer him what he requires from the public purse? Migration may be dismissed as a possible means of attracting the subdividers and squatters, except, perhaps, in & 1 The above estimate applies to operations conducted on a large scale, in the most favourable situations, and under skilled supervision.- L few isolated cases, and under circumstances exceptionally favourable. Another proposal has been to offer the redundant population the means of emigrating to the colonies on what is known as the "Tuke system." Under this system the passage of the emigrant is paid, some little necessary outfit is provided, a situation is secured for him, and he is left to shift for himself. To this plan there are two obvious objections-it is not likely to prove acceptable to any considerable numbers, and it is more than doubtful whether the emigrants would prove desirable servants to those who engaged them. We have already pointed out that the effect of recent legislation has been to impress the crofter class, to which both subdividers and squatters belong, with the conviction that its members are farmers, not labourers; and probably few would care to exchange their life of intermittent labour at home for the continuous toil which they know would await them as mere farm-servants in the colonies. As to their fitness for colonial employment, they are destitute of the training which would make them valuable-they are neither navvies, ploughmen, lumberers, nor accustomed to the care of valuable cattle. Their lives indeed have been passed in labour, but it has been, in the main, labour as fishermen, with occasional intervals of primitive agriculture. How little they are fitted by training or habits sud We Some other means must be devised, if the crofter is to be relieved of his parasites, to induce an exodus of the surplus population; it has been thought by some that the creation of a class of fishing-lots is practicable-that is to say, of holdings comprising merely a site for a dwelling, a potato-ground, and a right of grazing for one cow. fear it is too late to hope that holdings of this kind would prove an attraction, as their acceptance would mean, in the eyes of the people, the final abandonment of their aspirations to the possession of the coveted land. They fish, and, for a short "spurt," they fish fairly well; but their hearts are not in it any more than in the labourer's daily toil. What they desire is the sense of proprietorship, if possible; if not, then that of tenancy at an easy rent. The prospect of ownership seems to stimulate them to persistent effort. III.-EXTENSION OF HOLDINGS. It is positively denied, in answer to an official inquiry, that the crofters on one of the largest properties desire any extension of their holdings, or could cultivate a larger area if they possessed it; what they are alleged to desire is, the removal of the squatters. |