INTRODUCTION. XIX 



crofters, and 1 7 cottars have been congested to make room 

 for sheep. There has been no resident proprietor on this 

 estate since 1832." Hugh Macpherson, Haripool, said, 

 " That removals have been common there in his time, among 

 whom were several widows ". 



The Rev. Donald Mackinnon, Minister of Strath, was 

 questioned as follows by Lord Napier : " We have heard a 

 great deal said of the eviction of the people in former 

 times, of their land being taken from them, especially the 

 hill pasture given to tacksmen, and of the people being 

 crowded into inferior lands. Do you think that the system 

 of creating large farms, and adding to them, and crowding 

 the people into smaller holdings was in past times carried 

 too far for the welfare and the happiness of the people ? " 

 Mr. Mackinnon replied, " Most undoubtedly ; I think 

 these immense sheep farms are great evils in the country. I 

 have no hesitation in saying so, while I think a moderate 

 sprinkling of comfortable tacksmen among the crofters is 

 very much to their advantage " ; and he added " that he 

 thought it a certainty that the proprietors would not now be 

 able to re-let the large holdings, except at a great reduction 

 of rent ". Mr. Mackinnon is himself a farmer as well as a min- 

 ister, and is therefore well qualified to express an opinion on 

 this question. " I should like," the reverend gentleman con- 

 tinued, " to see a tax imposed upon non-resident farmers 

 and proprietors. It is one of the greatest disadvantages to 

 our country that the landlords are non-resident, and 1 have 

 no doubt that in some cases the people had been incon- 

 siderately and selfishly used by the landlords for the purposes 

 of increased rent." 



Finlay Maclnnes, Waterloo, produced the following letter, 

 affecting 149 souls in his township, every crofter there 

 having received a similar notice : 



