1 62 
NATURE NOTES. 
it has “ repeatedly explained that these unequalled Falls are as 
good as destroyed. The County Council of Inverness-shire is 
apparently agreeing to everything the Aluminium Compan}- 
desires ; the foolish countryfolk of the neighbourhood believe 
that the Company will bring them all prosperity ; and the well- 
to-do residents in the district are seeking to dispose of their 
property, as it will no longer be habitable with comfort. For 
months past, by argument, by appeal, by illustration, by insult, 
the Daily Chronicle, single-handed among the newspapers of 
Great Britain, has sought to awaken the Scottish people to their 
imminent disgrace.’’ 
The subject was discussed at length in the Scottish news- 
papers in February and March, as well as by the local authori- 
ties ; but it must be confessed that the business instinct which 
traditionally .attached to Scotchmen has been painfully manifest 
in the attitude adopted by the various editors. But the repre- 
sentations of Miss Hill Burton, a lady resident in the district, 
urging that at least guarantees should be exacted of the solvency 
of the Company which has undertaken this exploitation, and that 
local workmen should be employed at fair wages, received only 
one supporter, and — we quote the Northern Chronicle was 
barely tolerated by the meeting.” This shows a want of 
courtesy of which we should not have expected a meeting of 
Scotchmen to have been guilty, as well as an absence of con- 
sideration for those whose benefit is made one pretext for the 
spoliation. 
The British Aluminium Company thus receives the support 
of the press and of the local proprietors, and the beginning of 
its operations was hailed with carefully prepared enthusiasm. 
Since the time when Artemus Ward arranged, for a stipulated 
sum, to be “ overwhelmed with an unexpected honour” in the 
shape of a serenade from the Baldinsville Brass Band, there has 
been no more fictitious enthusiasm than that which, says “ An 
Eye Witness,” was manufactured by a party of lawyers’ clerks 
..and a cart-load of rum barrels to signalize the taking possession 
of the Foyers estate. ■“ All the neighbourhood saw the bonfire, 
.and many newspapers, nota.bly the Scotsman, testified to the 
.enthusiasm of the Stratherrick crofters. There really was a 
certain enthusiasm while bonfires blazed and whisky flowed, but 
since the people find promises disappointing, the local inns 
ruined, the steamboat traffic damaged, and the prosperous 
residents preparing to depart, they are coming to their senses.” 
The hollowness of the justifications given for the establish- 
ment of the works is already manifest. The Glasgow Herald, the 
Northern Chronicle, and other papers put forward the advantages 
that would arise to the neighbourhood. “ The extensive pre- 
paratory works will provide temporary work and wages for a 
large number of men. Afterwards, a nice village, possessing 
crofts — combining wage-earning with rural amenities — will spring 
up near the side of the loch, which will not be a mining village. 
