Scotland in War Time

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 October 1915, Page 3

Scotland in War Time

ii survey of Scotland in war biuio shells some valuable liglit on social, political, and industrial problems; Scotlaud is bearing her share, and more than her 6hare, of the bufden of .Empire. In blood and treasure bhe r.a* paid and will pay heavily. The stupendous Avar bill will render more urgent than ever a. readjustment of the iinaucal relations between Mutflaud and Scotland IVi* it not Dr Jchnson wl.v sai '. on one occasion to n. Irish Irie-nl •'Hi; not unite with U6. sir. We should ■Mute with you only to rob you. We .should liave robbed Scots long ago il they had had anything of which one could have robbed them." Long before the big gunpowder account has been paid, .Scotsmen will realise nore clearly the significance of Dr Johnson s remark. We have seen, too, that the present system of land-ownership in Scotland leaves the people a prey to the landlords on the one hand and bho speculators in wheat and grain and cattle on the other. In the autumn num- ] ber of the Scottish Review I had the privilege of elucidating a 6clieme of land reform, based oiSPfche principle that the land of Scotland ought to belong to the people of Scotland. Jtiad that Celtic system of land tenure been in operation today, we would have been spared the shame of 6eeing a Highland potentate _ and his agent fighting in the Land Court for a sanctuary for grouse, while the men from the same Western Isles were guarding our shores from hostile attack, or facing a tornado of shot and shell in the trenches in Flanders. Nay, ' more, it would also have been possible to a very great extent to free the food supply of the people froni the clutches of the speculators, and prevent tlio farmers —and ultimately the landowners—from exploiting the public in a time of national emergency, by means ot exorbitant war prices.

Our soldiers are facing perils m France and Flanders today undreamed of on any other battlefield in history. "I have seen more of the horrors of war in one hour in Flanders than I saw during the whole of the South Afrienn Campaign," said a Scottish soldier to me the other day—'and that i 6 the testimony of every seasoned campaigner. We owe it to these men—Scotland owes it to them—to make the land of their birth a free land, a-land better worth lighting for, and better worth dying for.--William Diack in The Scottish Review.