An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Sruth > Volume 2 > No. 74, 22 January 1970

til-UNGUAL NEWSPAPER OF CURRENT EVENTS IN THE HIGHLANDS AND THE ISLANDS AND IN SCOTLAND
Leanaibh
gu dluth
ri cliu bhur
sinnsir
Follow in the footsteps of your forebears
NATIONAL SAVINGS
National Savings Certificates
Post Office Savings Bank
Trustee Savings Banks
Looking towards Portree, Isle of Skye, from the Storr Cliffs.
Crofter Ownership" Not Of
Real Benefit”
jyjR Alasdair Mackenzie, M.P. for Ross and Cromarty
^ and a former member of the Crofters Commission,
criticised the commission’s proposals for making crofters
owners of their holdings, in an address to the Aberdeen
University Celtic Society on Tuesday 13th January.
They had failed to produce
sufficient proof that these
would be of real benefit to
the Highlands or that a legal
change could bring about a
noticeable improvement in
the crofting economy.
The commission’s recom¬
mendations, said Mr Mac-
Kenzie, had been given very
wide publicity and had been
presented in a manner that
would give the impression
they were universally wel¬
comed by the crofters.
In fact, it was because a
large proportion of their
most progressive crofters dis¬
agreed with this view that he
had decided to make his
opinions public.
“The commission has pre¬
sented one side of the picture
and I want to present the
other. The commission claim
this to be the most important
chang in crofting tenure since
1886. I would agree that it
would be the biggest change
but, speaking with respect, 1
would say that it would be
showing a lamentable dis¬
respect to the memory of the
great men of 1886 if we were
to put the 1886 Act and the
commission’s 1968 proposals
on a par,” he said.
Outlining the background
to present crofting legislation,
Mr Mackenzie said that to¬
wards the end of the 18th
century and the beginning of
the 19th century there had
been an increased demand
for meat and meat products
from the south because of the
industrial revolution. Some of
the Highland lairds dis¬
covered that they could get
much higher rents from Low¬
land farmers who were par¬
ticularly interested in sheep
breeding, than the native
crofters could afford to pay.
But in order to pay those
rents the Lowland farmers
had demanded a written lease
and vacant possession of the
grazing. This meant that the
crofters; had had to go to the
rocky coast-lands, the barren
uplands, the cities of the
south or the wastes of
Canada.
This was “the Clearances”
of which so much has been
written and which were so
inhuman that no Highlander
could even think about them
without a sense of shame.
On some estates no crofter
had any security if his land
would yield a higher rent than
he could afford to pay. Low¬
land farmers had come up
with their flocks chiefly from
the Borders, and these flocks
did extremely well on the
green pastures 'which had
been reclaimed from the
rough state by the crofters
(Continued on page 4)
Wester Ross Mod
Cancelled
At the A.G.M. of the Wester
Ross Provincial Mod held in
Poolewe last Monday it was
unanimously decided that a
Mod could not be held in the
area in 1970.
“ This is a direct result of
the registration of qualified
teachers with the G.T.C.”, said
the chairman of the committee,
Mr Duncan MacLeod, Auchter-
caim School. “ In spite of re¬
presentations to the County
Education Authority and An
Comunn Gaidhealach it has
not been possible to resolve the
situation. Apparently qualified
music teachers are not interested
in coming to Wester Ross.”
Expressed concern
Miss Kay Matheson, Inver-
asdale who is secretary of the
committee expressea coaccrh
with a side effect of the forma¬
tion of the General Teaching
Council that would militate
against Gaelic. “ This is pos¬
sibly the result of a lack of
understanding of the precarious
position of Gaelic in certain
areas. I feel that special con¬
sideration should be given to
the appointment of instructors
in this case,” she said.
Major items
The W’ester Ross Mod has
become recognised as one of the
major items in “ Gairloch
Week ” promoted at the end of
May each year, mainly for the
entertainment of tourists in the
area.
This is not the only area that
will be deprived of the services
of a music teacher as a con¬
sequence of the G.T.C. Both
Skye and Lewis are affected
it is po-sible thst the pro-
f iiicia^Mods in these areas may
suffer also. The long term
effect could be reflected in a
reduction in entries in the
National Mod.