KEEPING CANADA BRITISH

Hokitika Guardian, 10 January 1927, Page 4

KEEPING CANADA BRITISH

CROFTERS FROM THE HEBRIDES. (By SIR PE.RCIVAL PHILLIPS in the London “ Daily Mail ’ •) EDMONTON (Alberta), Oct. 29. One of the most successful experiments in British immigration has been the settlement of erolters from the Hebrides in Northern Alberta. No class of settlers ever proved more unwilling at first to absorb new nays of living and working. V ith traditional restraint they merely say that “things are not so had. ’ But bathci B. A. Al< Donnell, the untiring priest who shepherded them to their new home, knows that they are prosperous, grateful and content. The men of the Western I'.yles who now own farms ol their own fonn a colony near the town of Vermilion, in Northern Alberta. Their settlement is the permanent phase of Father AffDonnell’s immigration scheme, which began with the removal of a few distressed families from the Hebrides. 30,000 ACHES OF LAND. These crofters were followed lay others. In the spring of 1923 an abandoned Indian reservation and school at Bed Deer, Central Alberta, was converted into a clearing house for Hebrideans and a similar type ol farm settler from Northern Ireland. The men were found work with neighbouring farmers, so that they could learn Canadian methods of crop raising. and cottages were built for their families.

The arrangement was not populai. What the man from the Hebrides wanted was a farm of his own and his own dwelling. This was made possible by it he joint action of the Scottish Immigration Aid Society and th. Overseas Settlement Board in buying 30,000 acres of virgin prairie north of Vermilion from a Belgian syndicate. The colonists selected for installation were sold their iarms at Cl an acre and advanced C2OO for the pur-

chase of machinery and live stock. They have 35 years in which to pay for the land, while the instalments covering equipment arc spread over 15 years. Forty Scottish and Irish families which had been living in cottages on Bed Deer reservation moved to farms last spring, and thus began the permanent colony of Clan Donald. Now all the farms arc occupied and Clan Donald is a going concern. They work together in amity. 'Hie men help each other in fencing and breaking new land. They are shipping milk and cream in largo quantities to the Vermilion eo-oycrative creamery. Above all, they arc happy and cheerful, apd the young people already show marked improvement in education and general adaptability.

THRIFTY SCOTS. The thrifty Scots character is asserting itself. Already the crofters realise that their farms have risen in value, for the mere luct that a community has been established lias enhanced the value of all other land in the region. The second colony of Hebrideans and Northern Irish will come into existence next spring at Saddle Lake, near St. Ban I da -Metis, in Northern Alberta. Buildings are now being erected on 50 farms. “ I want the people of Great Britain to know what a light we are putting up here to keep Canada British, Father .McDonnell said to me to-day. “Many Continental countries arc pouring immigrants into these Western Provinces, and we must see that a fair share of them conic from England, Scotland and Lister. 1 am going over later in the winter to make arrangements for the next party of settlers, and 1 hope to be able to secure financial assistance for extending the scope of our colonisation scheme.