An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Sruth > Volume 2 > No. 48, 23 January 1969

Eight
Sruth, Di-ardaoin, 23 latha de’n Fhaoilteach
Highland Development
We continue the theme of Highland Development by
extracting from a long article contributed to the Alaska
Review by Dr George W. Rogers, who is research Pro¬
fessor of Economics, University of Alaska. He is the
author of ‘ The Future of Alaska ’ (1962). It is interesting
to compare the philosophy of development in other coun¬
tries with the philosophy (such as it is) of the developing
agency which a remote Government has given the people of
the Highlands as the last word in salvation.
Avenues to Development
by George
The idea of “avenues” gets
some very basic matters out
into the open at the outset.
Development must take place in
a context of the possible. Some
things that are possible must
wait for their time to come. We
must arrive at some concensus
as to what we want, perhaps
not in specific terms, but in
broad enough objectives to avoid
major contradiction. "Avenues
to development” is an apt de¬
scription of what we should be
considering when we look to
the future. These are not fixed
openings, but grow in size and
number and diminish or dis¬
appear in response to dynamic
factors of knowledge, technol¬
ogy, markets, etc. Some of the
avenues lead only a short dis¬
tance to the objective, while
others stretch out to an uncer¬
tain and distant objective. We
have little or no control over
the creation or behaviocr of
major avenues, but as respon¬
sible Alaskans we should keep
ourselves informed and ready to
move when appropriate.
Moving from “avenues” to a
consideration of “development,”
I will define this in terms of
four objectives.
Economic expansion is a
generally accepted objective of
development effort. It is under¬
stood as the expansion of pro¬
duction of material things and
services, increase in gross in¬
come, and expansion of total
W. Rogers
employment. It requires the
utilisation and organisation of
the classic elements of economic
activity: natural resources (or
land), labour, capital, and a
bundle of difficult-to-classify
items such as technical know¬
ledge, organisation, entrepre¬
neurship.
A somewhat old-fashioned
objective of development effort
is the increased settlement of
the land. This embraces political
Forestry — an important factor
in the present and future economy
of the North of Scotland, where
the Forestry Commission plant an
average of 12 million trees each
year.
and social objectives as well as
(or instead of) economic. I say
land settlement is old-fashioned
in view of the contemporary
trend in the reverse direction to-
E1SDIBH
Eisdibh ! Eisdibh ! Sud am piobair,
Is a roghadh sgaradh m’inntinn,
Tha namhaid tighinn ’s bochd ri innseadh,
Mar thonnan mara’s stoirm gan cireadih,
A tighinn gu h-acrach a ghlanadh tire,
Le fiaclan geura ’s iad tha millteach.
Greasaibh ! greasaibh ! Tha ’n sleaghan dearrsach,
Dearg le fuil, is iad tha paiteach,
Acraoh, sanntach, feargach, craiteach,
Is iad cuir teine ris gach fardach
Sean no 6g oha bhi iad sabhailt
Ach mo dhaoine! Chi mi air faire,
Tighean ura’s gleanntan fasmhor,
Crodh is caoraieh air na raointean
Tighean obrach, Alcan is smuirean
lasgach, feamanadh, bulbs is craobhan,
Nach bi ar duthaich rithist aghmhor. ,
Eisdibh ! Eisdibh ! Thar nam beanntan,
Ceol is milse bhi ga chluinntinn,
Ar n-oigeirean le’m pioban greadhnaoh,
Theid sinn dhachaidh ’s bi sinn beo ann.
. MARION HERDMAN
ward increased concentration of
population in urban centres.
During the last century and the
centuries preceding this, how¬
ever, man had a drive to get at
the land wherever feasible. This
was based upon economic fac¬
tors in dominantly agricultural
societies and upon military or
policital factors during the
periods in which the emerging
nation states were jockeying for
position to control the earth’s
surface
A third common objective of
development effort is the im¬
provement of the human condi¬
tion. In addition to attempts to
raise material standards of liv¬
ing, it embraces the evolution of
a satisfactory and satisfying
social and political environment
for the realisation of the maxi¬
mum potential of the human
animal.
A corollary of these objec¬
tives is the objective of joining
economic and social develop¬
ment. We should not be inter¬
ested simply in raising the gross
level of income of a region, or a
nation, or a state, or locality,
but we should be interested in
raising the per capita income.
We are concerned that not only
the per capita income levels be
improved, but that income dis¬
tribution between individuals
be on a more satisfactory basis.
This is the fundamental concern
of our present “war on poverty.”
In an age of affluence on a
grand scale, a scale never before
experienced in the history of
the human race, we still have a
malfunction in our distribution
system. As a result, we still have
very serious pockets of. poverty.
The objective of joining econo¬
mic and social development
generally requires the achieve¬
ment of a favourable balance
between population, in and out
migration, and employment op¬
portunities.
To turn to the Highlands,
APRES-SKI — BEFORE EASE
Dress
3
practical need
3
into immediate colour.
Mountain after city
In town : a wildwood man.
Here : smoother.
*(Like Gaelic straight to English ;
and now, land from farming to
tourism. The present: experi¬
mental).
Keith Murdoch.
the fart that we are concerned
about the area’s further develop¬
ment implies that we consider
it as an under-developed or an
undeveloped region. Its past
development and its present de¬
velopment have been narrow,
unstable, and highly specialised.
They have been based largely
upon a very selective natural
resource exploitation.
In terms of the optimum
utilisation of natural resources
which are currently exploited
and in terms of realisation of
the maximum potential of all
our natural resources, the High¬
lands are undeveloped. In terms
of the levels of living enjoyed
by many Highlanders outside
the limited economically fav¬
oured areas of our State, too
many of our citizens are living
at levels which are not far
above any arbitrary “poveny
line” we would care to draw.
In terms of knowledge of our
region and what it has, we are
also merely on the threshold.
We know our natural resource
endowment only in a very
reconnaissance manner, except
in those areas adjacent to the
coastal regions, transportation
networks and centres of already
expanding development.
{To be continued)
Bulb-Growing
Gives Boom To
Economy Of North
Uist
A bulb-growing scheme intro¬
duced to North Uist less than
18 months ago is expanding 30
rapidly that it may soon be a
major factor in the island’s
economy.
Confirming this yesterday, a
spokesman for the Highlands
and Islands Development
Board, who sponsored the
scheme, said they were very
encouraged by results. The
scheme was started in the
autumn of 1967 when six acres
of bulbs were planted.
About 20 acres were planted
towards the end of last year—
for harvesting in July—and a
further ten acres would prob¬
ably be planted in the spring,
making a total of about 30 acres
for this season. He hoped that
by the end of November they
would have planted not less
than 50 acres for next season.
The bulbs under cultivation
include daffodils, tulips, narcissi,
crocuses and snowdrops. At
present, said the spokesman,
they had only one full-time
employee tending the bulbs but
later, when they were in full
production, there would prob¬
ably be one full-time worker f—
every five acres of bulbs.
Assured Outlet
A considerable amount of
part-time labour would be
needed in the summer for har¬
vesting.
Last summer all bulbs har-
(Continued on next column)'
Beagan Solids
Trath! [B.S.T.]
’S mor an fuaim a thatar a
deanamh mu’n Uair Thrath,
agus mu’n Uair Mheadhonnaich
(G.M.T.). Tha sinn uile seachd
bochd sgith don dorchadas
Eiphiteach seo agus tuigidh
sinn nas fior fhearr brigh an
t-seannfhacail, “Trathan Dubha
na Nollaige.” Dh’fhardadh
cuisean a bhi moran na bu
mhiosa, nuair a bheachdaicheas
sinn nacheil ach ceithir aman-
nan de’n bhliadhna aig am
bheil a ghrian agus an t-uirea-
dair a cordadh (chaneil iad a
cordadh uair sam bith arms na
h-Eileanan!).Sin is coireach
gum bheil na feasgair is giorra
againn roimh mheadhoinn na
Dudhlachd, ged nacheil na
maduinnean a sineadh gu
beagan an deigh na Bliadhn’
Uire! Chaneil an Talamh a
gluasad daonnan aig an aon
~sdar air a thurus mu’n cuairt
na Greine.
Ma leanas sinn seo gu cridhe
na cuise tha mearachd mor eile
ri ainmeachadh. Tha sinn am
bitheantas cearr aim an cumail
Bliadhn’ Ur, Sabaidean. Feil-
Itean ’s gach cruinneachadh eile
tha air a riaghladh leis an
uaireadair. Tha tri bliadhna
aims a h-uile ceithir air seach-
aran an cunntas tim. Ceart gu
leor, thoisich a bhliadhna seo
(1969) mu mheadhoinn oidh-
che, ach le ceartas cha toisich an
ath te (1970) gu sia uairean sa
mhaduinn, 1971 aig mead-
hoinn latha, agus 1972 aig sia
uairean feasgar. Bi 1973 air
tighinn mu bi sirm a feitheamh
toiseach na bliadhna aig
meadhoin oidhche a rithist co
dhiu a reir fad na bliadhna agus
co-sheasamh na Talmhainn ris
a ghrein. ’S docha gu bheil e
na’s fhearr mar a tha e,.
Bha na Russianaich a cumail
Latha na Bliadhn’ Uire gus o
chionn ghoirid, air an 13mh de’n
Fhaoilteach, agus tha aitean aims
an eilean seo fhein aims a bheil
corra bhodach a failteachadh
na Bliadhna tri tursan. Leths-
geul math ann an laithean
dorcha!
Ann an tim, mar iomadh ni
eile, tha a choir mar a chumar
i. Shoiribh dhuinn air ais na
i. Ghoiribh dhuinn air ais na
bliadhnaichean a dh’ith am
Probhaist!
vested were needed for planting
again later that year, but this
year they hoped to have some to
sell to the English markets.
“There is an assured outlet,” he
said. In fact, by meeting some
of the demand at present sup¬
plied by the Dutch growers
North Uist will help the bal-
ance-of-payments situation.”
The biggest obstacle to ex¬
pansion was the high quality of
ground needed. It was not yet
possible to estimate how much
land on the island would be
suitable for bulb-growing.
The scheme was started after
the board carried out a survey
which showed that the soil and
climate in the area were suitable
for growing certain varieties of
bulbs. Land involved is leased
by the board as subtenant from
several crofters.