An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Gaidheal > Volumes 44--45, January 1949--December 1950

Knoyilarl
MR. J. A. CAMERON’S REPORT
Following upon the “land
raid” in Knoydart in November
last and the attention thus
focussed on the situation there, the
Secretary of State for Scotland
invited Mr. John A. Cameron, a
former member of the Scottish
Land Court, to investigate the
position and advise on the best
means of securing the full develop¬
ment of the resources of the area,
taking into account the social,
economic, and financial issues
involved.
Having visited Knoydart, held
a public meeting at Mallaig, and
received representations from
interested parties, Mr. Cameron
has now issued his report, the
terms of which have brought
disappointment to those who
believe that “the new Highlands’’
should be based on agricultural
family holdings rather than on
factories and power stations
(although there is a place for
these), and have been hailed with
delight by those whose chief
interest in the Highlands is in the
beef-steaks and mutton-chops and
electric power it can produce for
the country generally rather than
in human communities.
Some of the Knoydart people,
with Father Colin MacPherson as
their spokesman, have urged the
establishment of forty small¬
holdings in Knoydart. The
Department of Agriculture has
envisaged the establishment of
nineteen holdings. Mr. Cameron
advises against both schemes. He
recommends “development as a
single unit under one direction,’’
that is, that the proprietor’s
development scheme be allowed
to hold the field to the exclusion
of all else. This scheme involves
expenditure of £45,000 (half of
which will be paid by the State
under the Hill Farming Act, 1946)
and the building up of a stock of
10,000 sheep in the next five years,
with a very limited scheme of
afforestation.
MR CAMERON’S reasons for
advising against small¬
holdings are: (1) despite its
size (Knoydart estate runs to over
50,000 acres), the proportion of
suitable arable and pastoral land
is relatively small; (2) the cost of
providing houses and steadings for
holders, roads, fencing, and other
facilities; (3) the difficulty of
building up suitable sheep-stocks
hefted to the ground; (4) the
insecurity and lack of comfort
which the holders would experience,
because of the nature of the district.
These “insuperable difficulties,”
as Mr. Cameron calls them, rule out
the “full-time” or family holding.
The small ‘ ‘part-time ’ ’ holding is
also ruled out by the lack of
suitable subsidiary employment.
Such subsidiary employment could
be provided by a large scheme of
afforestation, but the extent of
afforestation must be strictly
limited (to some 500 acres as
against a possible 8000 acres), partly
in the interests of the 10,000 sheep
stock which the proprietor is
advised to build up, and partly
because the Forestry Commission
would meet with great difficulties
due to inaccessibility and lack of
transport facilities.
The report significantly recom¬
mends that, if at the end of ten
years the estate does not show the
development envisaged and pro¬
mised, the position should be
reviewed particularly with a view
to the Forestry Commission acquir¬
ing the property.
NO one questions Mr. Cameron’s
knowledge and experience in
agricultural matters, but one
may venture the opinion that, if
his remit had been otherwise
framed, he would have made
recommendations more to the liking
THE FOLKLORE INSTITUTE
Mr. J . L. Campbell of Canna,
President of the Folklore Institute
of Scotland, has returned from a
trip abroad during which he visited
the library of Congress at Washing¬
ton, U.S.A., and the International
Commission on Folk Arts and
Folklore at Paris, at both of which
institutions he deposited copies of
recordings of authentic orain mhora
(old narrative songs) and of old
waulking songs, the first Gaelic
folksong recordings from Scotland
to be presented to either of them.
Great interest is taken in inter¬
national folkmusic circles in these
records, which are unique, and
strong support is forthcoming for
the Folklore Institute of Scotland's
efforts to extend qnd carry on the
work. In this way the voices of
some of the best Barra folksingers
such as the late Ruairi Iain Bhain
and the late Anna Raghnaill
Eachainn (Mrs. MacDougall) have
been preserved for posterity.
The Viking Fund in New York
has very generously presented the
of those of us who are concerned
about the rapid depopulation of
Knoydart and other areas on the
west mainland. The question is,
surely, not the best method of
rearing the maximum number of
sheep and cattle on the 50,000 acres
comprising the Knoydart estate,
but rather the best method of
maintaining in Knoydart a reason¬
able level of population on a
reasonable standard of living.
The principle that an area like
Knoydart can best be developed
as one large unit rather than as
several smaller ones is, if applied
generally, a dangerous one. It is
suspiciously like the arguments
used to justify the notorious
“clearances” of last century. It
would justify the removal of the
existing crofter-population from
many other areas and the con¬
solidating of their holdings into
large farms and estates, in the
interest of food production, maxi¬
mum results and all the rest of it.
Mr Cameron's report raises issues
that reach far beyond the confines
of Knoydart. The future of one-
half the land area of Scotland is
in the balance, and with it the fate
of the language and culture native
to the Highlands and Islands.
Folklore Institute of Scotland with
one of the new type magnetic wire
recording machines, and the
Library of Congress has also
generously helped with recording
material.
THE LATE MRS. CAMERON
IT is with very great regret that
many will have heard, or will
now learn, of the death of Mrs.
Cameron, wife of Dr. John Cameron,
LL.B., President of An Comunn
Gaidhealach. She passed away on
21st March after a very brief
illness.
Mrs. Cameron was well known
and highly esteemed in the many
spheres in which her husband
has played a prominent part, and
by his side she graced many great
occasions and gave her support
to many good causes.
We express our deep sympathy
with Dr. Cameron and his daughter
in their great loss and sorrow.