SCOTLAND'S LIFE BLOOD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 376, 8 July 1911, Page 5

SCOTLAND'S LIFE BLOOD.

A sad story of the depopulation of Scotland's hills and glens ia told by a representative of the London "Daily Chronicle" in the course of a series of articles. A typical example of the movement that has taken place is provided by Glen Urquhart, close to Loch Ness, where an American millionaire has built a mansion and rented a great expanse of deer forest. The village of Milton, containing some fifty cottageß, remains in the heart of the glen, protection having been provided for it by the Crofters Act, but the villagers are hard pressed to make a living on their tiny holdings. All around them stretch the deer lands, comprising tens of thousands of acres suitable for cultivation and grazing, but given over to the interests of "sport." The children of the villagers must leave the glen when they want homes of their own. Across the divding range at the head of Glen Urquhart is the valley of Strathglass, and there the removal of the inhabitants has been completed. The work was begun early in the last century, when some hundreds of coffers were driven out in order that room might be made for sheep. Most of the fami lies made their way to Canada. Later the land-owners discovered that the letting of the shooting rights was more profitable than the raising of sheep, and additional evictions took place. To day Strathglass has a mere handful of residents. "Fifty years ago the Strath was the best in the north of Scotland for making a living and rearing fine men," said an old crofter to the pressman. The gentry who have ruined our country come in summer and employ a few men. That is all. Farmers used to run stock all the year round on land now given to deer. Farmsteads are tenanted by men employed to look after the game." It is small wonder that the Scottish people are crying out for land reform.