85 



ensue." Mr. Speir (Newton) writes: " Allotments are not in 

 request in this district, but for farms giving employment for 

 one pair of horses there are 10 or 20 applicants for every one 

 which is vacant. At one time the merging of such farms into 

 larger ones contributed towards the depopulation of the rural 

 districts, but that was anterior to the period under review." 



ORKNEY. Mr. McLennan writes : " There are a very large 

 number of small holdings in this county, and a very consider- 

 able number of them are owned by the occupiers. While there 

 is no difficulty in obtaining waste land for small holdings or 

 allotments, there is a difficulty, as a matter of course, in getting 

 good arable land for that purpose, there not being any con- 

 siderable proportion of the land occupied by tenants paying 

 over 100 of rent in this county. The difficulty of obtaining 

 small holdings no doubt contributed to a small extent to the 

 decline in the agricultural population, but I will give the fol- 

 lowing statistics to compare one parish (Harray), where almost 

 the whole land is in the occupation of small owners, with 

 another parish (St. Andrews), where the occupiers are all 

 tenants, the holdings in both being pretty much of the same 

 size : 



Small 

 Holdings 



and 

 Allotments. 



Mr. Watt states that there have been no applications for small 

 holdings on his side of the county, though land might be 

 obtained. 



RENFREW. Mr. Pollock writes : " There is no evident desire 

 for small holdings in this industrial county." 



Ross AND CROMARTY. Mr. Mackenzie states that on a 

 neighbouring estate a number of the crofters are emigrating 

 to Canada, and there is no demand for the vacated crofts. 

 Mr. Reid writes : " The demand for small holdings has passed 

 away very much in the ]N"orth of Scotland. Some small hold- 

 ings in the west are vacant, this being the case where 100 

 or 200 is required to take over the sheep-stock." 



Mr. Fletcher also states that no great difficulty is experi- 

 enced in obtaining land. 



