( 49 ) 



divisions rented below jC^, and of these a very large 

 number were under £3 and £2. By the same steady 

 system of consolidation in favour of the most indus- 

 trious crofters as that followed in Tyree, all this has 

 been completely changed. There are still many 

 crofts which I should like to see consolidated and en- 

 larged. But I have been most unwilling to hasten 

 the process by dispossessing any crofter who could 

 pay his way at all. Progress has consequently been 

 slow. There are, however, now only twenty crofts 

 under £^ value, whilst there are nineteen between 

 £$ and ;^io. Between ;^io and ;^2o there are 

 twenty-seven crofts, whilst the number of crofts and 

 small farms of the more comfortable class between ;^20 

 and ;^5o has been raised from three to eight. Sums 

 even much larger than those spent on Tyree were spent 

 by me for many years in agricultural improvements on 

 the Eoss of Mull, all of which afforded employment to 

 the people — to such of them at least as were dis- 

 posed to work. The combined ejffect of all these Visible improve- 

 ,. IT .i**ii' J. ment in aspect of 



operations has been a great and visible improvement ^^^^i^ ^s well as ' 



in the whole aspect of the people as well as of the country, 

 country. There is no better test than the test of 

 pauperism, or the relation of the poors rate to 

 the wealth of the community on which it is 

 assessed. The poor's rate, which at one time was the Test of this im- 

 heaviest in the Highlands — about 7s. in the pound — decrea^rof^po^or^ 

 has been reduced to proportions less oppressive to the rate, 

 industry of the ratepayers. It is now only 2S. Well- 

 drained fields, substantially enclosed by some of the 

 finest " Galloway dikes " in Scotland, have replaced 

 spongy mosses and neglected pastures. Wire-fencing 

 on an extensive scale has been erected, and substantial 



