( 21 ) 



to the people in draining, in the making of roads, and Measures taken to 



.-, • 1. 1 • i_ A .1 aid emigration and 



in various other agriculturai improvements. As the ^^ ^^^^ ^^y^^^ ^^^^ 



rents of the crofters could not be generally collected, employment to 

 these outlays had to be provided for out of other 

 resources ; in fact, I was myself compelled to borrow 

 a large sum ; and it is needless to point out that this 

 outlay could not have been provided for at all had 

 the Island belonged to a proprietor depending wholly 

 on its own rental, and still less had it been divided 

 into smaller estates. 



Nor did this condition of affairs pass off immediately, 

 or even soon. During the four years from 1846 to 

 1 850 the sum spent on improvements in Tyree and the Expenditure of 

 Ross of Mull was ;^79i9, or, including incidental ex- provrme''nts,"iir" 

 jDenses, upwards of ^8000, of which the greater part addition to sums 



1 . rx- • 1 • 1 mi • • spent to aid emi- 



■ — about £62,73 — was in drainage alone. Ihis was in o-,ation &c. 

 addition to the sums spent in emigration and in the 

 distribution of meal, which could not be repaid either Sir John M'Neill's 

 in money or money's worth. In the report of Sir John '^^""'^ ^" ^^'"^^'^ ^^ 



J J i bupervision m 



M'Neill to the Board of Supervision on the Condition 185 1. 

 of the Highlands and Islands in 185 1, he states, from 

 documents then before him, that during the previous 

 four years there had been expended on wages and 

 gratuities to the inhabitants a sum exceeding the 

 whole revenue derived from the property by ;^468o, 

 which amount, as well as the cost of management, 

 must have been derived from other sources. This is 

 quite true, and is, indeed, a good deal understated. 

 During those years no part of the income derivable 

 from the Island was spent out of it, and the outlays 

 it needed constituted a heavy drain on other re- 

 sources. 



in the year 1851 the reduction of the population 



