Chap'ier v. 



WORKMEN'S DWP:LLINGS AND TENURE 

 OF HOLDINGS. 



Amount of Employment and Existing Labour Supply. 



In considering the labour question, the Forest Authority 

 would consider, Hrst of all, the amount of employment that 

 could be given to the existing population, and secondly, how the 

 labour supply could be increased. 



It is very difficult to estimate the amount of employment 

 which the resident population would absorb. 



In Glen Mor it is generally true to say that west of Fort 

 Augustus very few horses can be obtained at any season, and 

 labour is available during the winter months only. In the 

 Eastern district the labour market is not so restricted, the glen 

 is wider, the crofts are larger, and probably the horses now 

 in the district would meet a considerable proportion of the 

 forest demands. 



In certain portions of the Fort Augustus Block very little 

 able-bodied labour will be found ; the hunger for employment 

 has been more acute than the hunger for land. Year after 

 year, with little or no work to be found in winter, the more 

 progressive of the inhabitants have left their crofts and found 

 their way to the towns. Many crofts, including some round 

 Fort Augustus, have passed out of cultivation, the land being 

 poor and the cost of hired labour excessive. 



It is highly probable that the certainty of steady employment 

 during the winter months would bring some of the able-bodied 

 back to their old homes. The small five-acre croft, which of 

 itself cannot possibly maintain a family, constitutes an attractive 

 home if outside labour is assured in the neighbourhood. The 

 crofter is essentially a "worker" (with land) and not an 

 agriculturist ; and the means thus afforded of making use of 

 otherwise uneconomic holdings, constitutes one of the strongest 

 arguments for the development of forestry in the glens where 

 arable land occurs in sinall and widely-separated patches. 



It is important to note that in the Glen Mor area, containing 



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