( 55 ) 



and industry of the people have led them to under- 

 stand that coal is really cheaper. Yet I think it very 

 probable that the delegate who made the complaint 

 had it in his head to revert to this old ruinous 

 and abandoned mode of procuring fuel. In this, 

 as in all other matters, the instinct and desire is 

 to go back from every step of advance in civilisation 

 and economy which has been taken for the last fifty 

 years. 



But another case is even more remarkable. The Complaint of 

 delegate who appeared on behalf of three farms, or crofters, 

 townships, called respectively Caolis, Solum, and 

 Ruaig, is reported to have dwelt on the still more 

 stereotyped grievance of *' eviction" — of crofters sacri- 

 ficed to " large sheep-farmers," and, of course, also, of 

 excessive rents. Now, it so happens that these three "^^^ ^^\^^ i^^vm^ 



^ ^ , referred to still 



farms are at this moment as exclusively and wholly exclusively 



occupied by crofters as they have ever been — thafr not ^^^J^P^®^ ^y 

 ^ •' •' crofters. 



one single acre has ever been taken from them to 

 aggrandise any ]arge farm — that not one single evic- 

 tion unless for insolvency has ever taken place upon 

 them, and that upon the most assured data of valua- 

 tion their rents are very far below the rate at which 

 other parts of the Island, not superior in quality, 

 have been let, and have been eagerly taken. 



This case of a regular formula of grievances " got 

 up" outside the Island, and put into the hands and 

 mouths of a simple-minded people, is really so curious 

 that I must lay it, in some detail, before the Com- 

 mission. 



The three farms of Caolis, Salum, and Euaig 

 occupy the whole north and north-eastern end of the 

 Island of Tyree. They are entirely surrounded by the 



