seemed to lead to no good results, an attempt was made to improve the
condition of the people by increasing the size of their farms, which
in the best seasons sufficed to keep them in provisions for only six
months. The following is the account of the experiment given by Mr
Macdonald, the resident factor:--“At Whitsunday 1848 forty crofters
were removed from the island of Bernera, then occupied by eighty-one;
and the lands thus vacated were divided among the forty-one who
remained. Those who were removed, with two or three exceptions, were
placed in crofts upon lands previously occupied by tacksmen. Six of
the number who, with one exception, had occupied crofts of about
five acres in Bernera, were settled in the Borves on crofts of ten
acres of arable, and hill-grazing for four cows, and their followers
till two years old, with forty sheep and a horse,--about double the
amount of stock which, with one exception, they had in Bernera. The
exceptional case referred to was that of a man who had a ten-acre
croft in Bernera, with an amount of black cattle stock equal to that
for which he got grazing in the Borves, but who had no sheep. They
are all in arrear of rent, and, on an average, for upwards of two
years. These six tenants were selected as the best in Bernera, in
respect to their circumstances. I attribute their want of success
to the depreciation in the price of black cattle, and to their not
having sufficient capital to put upon their lands a full stock when
they entered. Their stipulated rent in the Borves was, on an average,
£12. Of the forty-one who remained, with enlarged crofts, in Bernera,
the whole are now largely in arrear, and have increased their arrears
since their holdings were enlarged. I attribute their want of success
to the same causes as that of the people in the Borves. The result of
his attempt to improve the condition of these crofters, by enlarging
their crofts, while it has failed to accomplish that object, has
at the same time entailed a considerable pecuniary loss upon the
proprietor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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