486 
Sutherland Reclamation. 
of the past winter, when in several instances the newly reclaimed 
land proved to be the salvation of the flocks ; and in other cases 
the want of food-producing arable land has been the cause of 
very heavy losses during the long-continued storms. 
The question of cost is of primary importance to the tenant. 
The present rate of 2\ per cent, for 10 vears and 5 per cent, 
after that time, charged upon the outlay, must be considered very 
low when it is recollected that 6^ per cent, is the normal rate 
prescribed by the Land Improvement Companies for the re- 
demption in 28 or 30 years of the capital expended upon the 
improvement of land. Yet even at these low rates an outlay of 
30Z. per acre will make the rent of the land 15s. per acre for the 
first 10 years, and 30s. per acre subsequently. 
Since every increase of outlay must involve an increase of 
rent, it is of the highest importance to reduce it to a minimum. 
If it had not been possible in subsequent undertakings to effect 
a very great reduction on the enormous outlay incurred in the 
first reclamations by steam-power at Shinness, such work could 
then have been undertaken only by those who are content 
to give up the hope of a direct pecuniary return, and to look for 
their sole reward to the good accomplished for others, and the 
indirect advantages of their public spirit. 
It is difficult to estimate the full extent of the benefit conferred 
upon the county by what has been done. The distribution of 
large sums in wages has added greatly to the material comfort 
of the labourers. At the same time, habits of steady industry are 
gradually being acquired by a population described of old as 
" hardy but not industrious " ; while the example of these recla- 
mations and the experience gained upon them is also stimulating 
the crofters to bring into cultivation numberless small patches 
of eligible ground close to their own homes. In considering the 
benefit conferred upon the labourers the question may naturally 
be asked, Would it not have been better for them if a still greater 
proportion of the expenditure had been spent in wages, and 
manual labour alone had been employed as it is on the reclama- 
tions in Galway, described last year in this Journal ? There 
hand labour was employed as much as possible, and compara- 
tively little was left to be accomplished by the horse and ox ; 
here we find steam the chief power employed. In each case the 
agency adopted is that best suited to the locality. In Conne- 
mara, the presence of a large population eager to work at wages 
far below the average paid elsewhere in the British Isles makes 
manual labour best, both on economical and social grounds. . In 
the almost uninhabited glens and moors of Sutherland, steam is 
the only power that could have changed the surface of the land 
to an appreciable extent in so short a time. Even with its aid 
