|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 57
The crofters are, however, strongly attached to their native hills and
glens, and they claim that such laws can and ought to be enacted as will
enable them to live in comfort where they are. The present, it is urged,
is a particularly favorable time to establish prosperous small farmers
in many parts of the Highlands where sheep-farming has proved a failure.
The inhabitants of the coasts and islands are largely a seafaring
people. There is quite as much Norse as Celtic blood in the veins of
many of them, and the Norseman's love of the sea leads them naturally to
fishing or navigation. The herring-fisheries, with liberal encouragement
on the part of the government, might be made far more profitable to the
fishermen and to the nation. Besides, the seafaring people of the
Highlands and islands "constitute a natural basis for the naval defence
of the country, a sort of defence which cannot be extemporized, and
which in possible emergencies can hardly be overrated." At the present
time they "contribute four thousand four hundred and thirty-one men to
the Royal Naval Reserve,--a number equivalent to the crews of seven
armored war-steamers of the first class." It is surely desirable to
foster a population which has been a "nursery of good citizens and good
workers for the whole empire," and of the best sailors and soldiers for
the British navy and army. Public policy demands that every legitimate
means be used to better the condition of the crofters and cottars, and
to encourage them to remain in and develop the industries of their own
country, instead of abandoning it to sheep and deer. Private interests
must be made subordinate to the public good. Parliament may therefore
interfere with the rights of landed property when the interests of the
people and of the nation demand it, as they do in this case.
It was on some such grounds that the Royal Commissioners recommended
that restrictions be placed upon the further extension of deer-forests,
that the fishing interests should be aided by the government, that the
proprietors should be required to restore to the crofters lands formerly
used as common pastures, and to give them, under certain restrictions,
the use of more land, enlarging their holdings, and that in certain
cases they should be compelled to grant leases at rents fixed by
arbitration, and to give compensation for improvements. The government
is already helping the fishermen by constructing a new harbor and by
improving means of communication and transportation, and proposes to
greatly lighten taxation in the near future.
The bill which the late government introduced into Parliament does not
undertake to provide for aid to those who may wish to emigrate, or for
the compulsory restoration of common pasture, or for the enlargement of
the holdings. It does, however, propose to lend money on favorable terms
for stocking and improving enlarged or new holdings. As a convention of
landlords which was held at Aberdeen last January, and which represented
a large amount of land, resolved to increase the size of crofters'
holdings as suitable opportunities offered and when the tenants could
profitably occupy and stock the same, the demand for more land seems
likely to be conceded in many cases without compulsory legislation. The
bill defines a crofter to be a tenant from year to year of a holding of
which the rent is less than fifty pounds a year, and which is situated
in a crofting-parish. Every such crofter is to have security of tenure
so long as he pays his rent and complies with certain other conditions;
his rent is to be fixed by an official valuer or by arbitration, if he
and his landlord cannot agree in regard to it; he is to have
compensation, on quitting his holding, for all his improvements which
are suitable for the holding; and his heirs may inherit his interests,
although he may not sell or assign them. Such propositions seem radical
and calculated to interfere greatly with proprietary rights and the
freedom of contract. They are, however, but little more than statements
of the customs that already exist on some of the best estates. Just as
the government by the Irish Land Law Act (1881) took up the Ulster
tenant-right customs, gave them the force of law, and extended them to
all Ireland, it is proposed by this bill to give the sanction of law to
those customary rights which the crofters claim to have inherited from
former generations, and which have long been conceded by some of the
landlords.
Such a measure of relief will not make all the crofters contented and
prosperous. It will, however, give them security against being turned
out of their homes and against excessively high rents, and will
encourage them to spend their labor and money in improving their
holdings. If some assistance could be given to those who may wish to
emigrate from overcrowded districts, and if the government would make
liberal advances of money to promote the fishing industry, the prospect
that the discontent and destitution would disappear would be much
better. The relief proposed will, however, be thankfully received by
many of the crofters and their friends.
DAVID BENNETT KING.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|