Lord Napier At Kinlochbervie

On Thursday July 26 1883, Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Inquiry into the Conditions of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland visited Kinlochbervie. The meeting was chaired by Baron Francis Napier, a former acting viceroy of India. Also present were Sir Kenneth S Mackenzie Bart, Donald Cameron Esq of Locheil, C Fraser-Mackintosh Esq, Sheriff Nicolson and Professor Mackinnon MA. Here we present the evidence of Angus MacAskill of Tarbet, Scourie.

- Angus Macaskill

Professor Mackinnon.—Have you been elected a delegate? — Yes, by the people of Tarbert and Eddrachillis. Have-you got a written statement? — I did commit a little of what I have to say before the commissioners to writing in my own broken English, and with your permission I shall read it :— That the crofters of this parish had been evicted by their proprietor from their comfortable dwellings to the most barren spots of the parish, that the small quantity of that same is quite inadequate to support the life of those who does labour it. The smallness of it leaves no room for rotation, so that constant cultivation of it weakens the soil, that it cannot yield crop to the advantage of the crofter. Therefore, year by year, their condition is getting more deplorable. There are plenty of good land in this parish under sheep, which if properly divided Audi cultivated, would give the crofters ample room for to live comfortable by their own industry.