54 



supply women workers, with the result that the young married 

 men, who were probably the more efficient, were forced to seek 

 employment elsewhere." 



(2) A want of cottage accommodation on some farms. 



(3) The use of improved machinery. 



(4) Higher wages in towns and facilities for railway travel- 

 ling. Mr. Smith says : " The attraction of the big wages given 

 in the woollen mills at Ha wick and Galashiels drew whole 

 families to these towns. This movement was maintained so 

 long as the prosperity of the woollen factories lasted. Of late 

 years there has been dulness in this branch of manufacturing 

 and the influx from the country has fallen off very much." 

 Men are finding themselves better off in the country with 

 14s. or 15s 1 . a week, cow's keep, 1,600 yards of potatoes, free 

 house and garden, than with 26s. a week in the town. 



(5) Unsuitable and unduly prolonged education. 



SELKIRK. The principal cause assigned is the decrease in 

 land under crops, brought about by the low prices of produce 

 and high wages of farm servants. Another cause, in Mr. 

 Linton's opinion, is the decrease of cottars, principally women, 

 who used to work for very small wages. Owing to competition 

 in towns and the rise in wages, and also to the fact that married 

 women seldom work in the fields now, this class has almost 

 disappeared, their place being taken by Irish workers, who do 

 not figure in the Census returns. The decrease in shepherds 

 is attributed to high wages and smaller returns from sheep 

 farming, there having been cases of putting two men's 

 "hirsels" or charges into one. 



Mr. Linton states that there are holdings of all sizes in the 

 district, but the buildings are now mostly of old date, having 

 been put up when prices were higher, and in cases where 

 natural decay sets in new dwellings are not erected. 



DIVISION VII. 



Counties of Argyll, Ayr, Bute, Caithness, Dumbarton, Dumfries, 

 Inverness, Kirkcudbright, Lanark, Orkney, Renfrew, Ross 

 and Cromarty, Shetland, Stirling, Sutherland and Wigtown. 



ARGYLL. The fall in prices occasioned by the competition 

 of foreign produce, coupled with a rise in wages, has caused 

 large tracts of land to be thrown out of cultivation. Drainage 

 and reclamation have practically ceased. Landlords have con- 

 solidated holdings, and some farms have been converted into 

 deer forests. Many small farmers have emigrated to Canada, 

 attracted by the prospects there. Improved machinery allows 

 of farm work being done with less labour. Mr. Hunter 

 alleges excessive rents and a want of labourers' cottages as 

 further causes of the decline. Mr. McDiarmid says : " With 

 education the young people naturally reaH, think, and act for 



