An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Deo-gréine > Volume 17, October 1921 to September 1922

138
AN DEO-GREINE.
SECRETARY’S PAGE.
Tha a’ chuairteachadh air tighinn gu crich
airson bliadhna eile, agus bidh mi nis aim
am shuidhe san ionad so gu am a’ Mhoid, a
mach o sgriob no dha do’n Ghearasdan.
Bidh mi ann air a’ cheud la de’n mhios so.
Tha gach fiughar again gum bi Mod a’
Ghearasdain cho taitneach ris gach Mod eile
agus tha a’ Chomhairle lonadail ag
oibreachadh gu laidir a chum na criche sin.
The Provincial Mod, to be held at Loch¬
gilphead, on the 27th of this month, promises
well. Mr. Hugh MacLean has well attended
senior and junior classes at Lochgilphead,
Ardrishaig, and Tayvallich. A number of
choirs and individual competitors will be
forward from the various branches in the
province.
The influence of Mr. MacLean’s teaching is
still felt in Skye, and the President and
myself were delighted to hear so many appre¬
ciative remarks about himself and his work.
Mr. Colin MacLeod is teaching at Ullapool
just now and doing good work. His class at
Lochcarron was very successful.
* * *
The Glasgow Mull and Iona Association
have again renewed their prizes for the best
rendering of a Mull or Iona song, the words
of which must be unpublished. If any person
interested in these islands and knowing of
unpublished words will kindly send them on
to me, I shall be very grateful. Intending
competitors invariably appeal to me for
authentic and singable words.
* * *
Many will regret the death of Mr. Eneas
MacKay, Stirling, which took place at his
house there on 13th May. Mr. MacKay was
a native of Inverness, where his father was
a well-known bookseller, and had been in
business in Stirling for many years. He
published many books, some of them on Celtic
history and folk-lore, while he was also an
extensive publisher of Gaelic text books and
literature. The first two volumes of An Deo
Greine were published by Mr. MacKay, and
his connection with An Comunn as a member
extended over a period of about 20 years.
* * *
At the annual meeting of the Highland
Settlement Association, held in Glasgow, on
22nd May, Mr. Angus Robertson, Pollok-
shields, was appointed President and Chair¬
man of Council, while Mr. MacDonald
Drummond was appointed Hon. Secretary
and Treasurer. Mr. Drummond is to open
an office in Glasgow to push the cause of
ex-service men.
* * «
In connection with the proposed High¬
landers’ Institute and Grand Concert, to be
arranged by Miss Phemie Marquis, the date
agreed upon is 10th October, and not the 30th
as stated on this page last month.
* * *
The general reports for the year 1921 by
H.M. Chief Inspectors of Schools have just
been issued by the Scottish Education
Department. One turned expectantly to the
reports of the Western and Northern
Divisions for information regarding the
teaching of Gaelic, and to ascertain
what the Inspectors’ views were as
to the provision and progress that
had been made. To one’s intense
disappointment, however, one finds that the
word Gaelic is not mentioned from beginning
to end, and for anything these reports
indicate, the language as a school subject
might be non-existent. There is hardly a
subject of the school curriculum which is not
commented upon, but one searches the reports
in vain for any reference to Gaelic. One
does not wish to place an unfair construction
on this silence—brevity and severe compres¬
sion are still the rule in these reports—and
certainly the last thing one wants to believe
is that it is due to contemptuous indifference.
But we would have expected that in regard
to a subject which so recently roused so much
public interest, and which the Act of 1918
specially prescribes and makes compulsory
in Gaelic-speaking areas, some information
would now be forthcoming in the official blue
books as to the manner in which this
particular provision of the Act was being
applied. Of course, the information can be
got otherwise, but it creates anything but a
favourable impression to find the subject so
completely ignored in these reports.
* * *
I have pleasure in intimating to members
that a fresh stock of enamel badges has been
secured. These badges are very artistic, giv¬
ing the well-known Comunn crest in various
colours. Every member of An Comunn
should possess one and wear it on every
possible occasion. The badges are supplied
from this office, at the foiuner price of 2s 6d
each, postage 2d extra.
Null.