PROFESSOR BLACKIE ON HIGHLAND DEPOPULATION.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1668, 15 March 1883, Page 4

PROFESSOR BLACKIE ON HIGHLAND DEPOPULATION.

Professor Blackie has a long lottcv in the Times on Highland depopulation. Dealih'g'wicha letter from the Duke of Argyll,' in answer 1 to Mr. Macfarlane, on October 21st, Professor Blackie says :— As ntepects the main propositions of Ins Grace's letter,' I have simply to remark that ■ ' no well-informed person ever doubted the fact that from various caused, 1 ' not least from the carelcssi ness, ' inconsiderate kindness, and general maladministration of the old landlords, the population of the Highlands had seriously encroached on the limits of subsistence, and was, in fact, labouring under a disease for which emigration was the natural remedy. But what we, the advocates of the crofters, said, was, that the process of extirpation or violent transplantation hv which this disease was treated in not a few notorious cases was both inhuman and impolitic ; and that the laws which permitted snch wholesale violation of what history shows to have been the hereditary rights ol the peasantry were unjust and cried loudly for reform. We said, and we say, that while it is a beneficial thing to thin the forest, it is a bad thing to fell all the trees. We deny that that proper mixture of small, large, andmeidum farms which his Grace holds up as an ideal, was ever contemplated by the perpetrators of these clearances, and we assert roundly that, whether from ignorance or carelessness, or a desire to disburden themselves of their social duties, or from sheer selfish greed of immediate gain, or from a devotion to pleasures inconsistent with the maintenance of an industrious population, not a few Highland proprietors did, without any adequate cause and to the plain detriment of the Republic, empty whole districts of their natural population— a population equal, in all the qualities that make a healthy peasantry, to the best types of the class in Europe, and from which Great Britain, in her hour of need, had drawn a great proportion of the men who have made her power feared and her influence lespected trom the rising to the setting sun. We concede further most u illin^ly to his Grace that in all countries, specially in all manufacturing countries, there will be a natural flow of the surplus population of the country into the towns ; but we deny that this natural swarming-ofl of the surplus of the peasantry should be artificially stimulated by the harsh treatment and heavy discouragement which the honest tillers of the soil receive so often in this country, from land laws made by the strong to make the strong stronger, from Titanic sheep speculator eager to be rich, and irom gigantic Nimrods who have a direct interest in driving out of the glens any remnant of a biped population that may by any possibility disturb the free range of their four-footed clansmen. We deny that enormous farms and depopulated glens arc at all necessary for the breeding of sheep or the paying of lents ; they are necessary only to save a perfunctory factor a little trouble, and to enable a few pampered strangers to make themselves rich at the expense of the industrious natives. In short, we bring a charge against all proprietois in the Highlands who have been instrumental in 1 educing the population of the glens to a minimum, that they have not done their duty to the people over whom God has made them overseers, nor to the State that has a direct interest in the maintenance of a sturdy peasantry as asoit of ainniutnum rnpiibhcm, from which the beat recruits can be drawn for all branches of tlie State seivice ; and we, in the interest of the aristociacy, lament that they should by such conduct have lowered themselves from the high platform of social nobility on which they stood, and instead of the fathers of tlieir people, shown themselves content to be ranked under the vulgar category of rent-gatherers and game preservers. What his Gi ace says about the island of Mull, with which I happen to be paiticularly well acquainted, is perfectly true, and requires no confirmation from me. I would only lcmaik that one obvious clement in the prosperity of that beautiful island is that it has had the good foitune to be possessed by about a dozen and a half or a scoic of independent piopiiotois, each forming a centre of social influence and local cultuic ; but let it be at the same tune distinctly noted that, if it should be bought npby any gigantic American or JLoudon millionaire, there is nothing in the British law or practice to prevent him from turning the whole island into one huge deer forest, as, in fact, in Koss-shirc, whole districts from sea to •sea have been denuded, and are even now being denuded, of all human population, to giatify the unsocial lust of a few foicign Nimrods among the Scottish glens. Is this a consummation devoutly to be wished ? I trow not. We have made laws enough to preserve the landlords and the game, and it might seem wise now to consider our position, and endeavour to restore the balance by making a few laws to preserve the people.

MobT animals cat in proportion to their weight, under average conditions of age, teinperdtme and fatness. A Buffalo gill never haa her wedding deo'-s made in that city for fear taht somobody will say sho was married in a buffalo robe. The girl who lost her hair in tho ballroom has been distanced by the man who lost his he.id in the bur -room . A married coquette, whoso husband has stopped her frivolous ways, says she is check-mated for life. The Agricultuial College at Montpellier, Fiance, has. so far outgrown its limits that the Ministry of Agriculture are about to expend £ 10,000 on tho purchase of the adjoining estate of Gaillarde, and a further bum of £8000 in the construction and enlargement of the college premises. A young man suffering from hereditary gout, said he didn't mind the pain of it so much as the thought of some old ancestor, who had all the fun of acquiring this precious heirloom, while he had to suffer without the previous pleasure. An advertisement in the London Era runs thus : "Died. Kate (the beloved wife of Professor Van Hare), formerly a famous equestrian, after a long but painiul illness, took her last and final leap, without fear or exitement, on the 21st ultimo, we hope to a better world, where envy and ambition are unknown. Interred (27th at the Brompton Cemetery." — World, A gentleman in company, who had the day previous, conversed with Mrs Langtry, on being asked if lie thought she was the handsomest woman of her time, gallantly replied of his lady questioner, "Madam, I thought so yesterday." Among the Professional reminiscences of Daniel O'Connell when at the Irish Bar, was the following unique instance of a client's gratitude. He hail obtained au I acquittal, and tho fellow, in the ecstasy of his joy, exclaimed : "Oeh, Counsellior, I've no way here to show your Honor my gratitude, but I wisht I saw you knocked down in my own parish, and maybe I wouldn't bring a faction to the rescue." Some of the newspapers (say 3 tho San JFraiwi&co News Letter), refer to Gambetta as the James G. Blame of France. In some ways they were totally unlike. For example, Gambetta was not able to accumulate a fortune of §10,000,000 in fifteen years on a salary of $5,000. You will do well to furnish your house from Garlick and Cranwell's. They have now the most complete Furnishing AVarehouse in Auckland, furnituie to suit all classes, good, strong, and cheap. They have Tapestry Carpets irom 2s 3d per yard, Brussels from 3s lid per yard. Linoleum from 3s Od to ss, Oil Cloths from Is Od to 4s Od per yard, good 12 feet wide Oil Cloths at 3s Cd per yard. Immense assortment of Iron Bedsteads from Infants' Cots to 5 leet wide half-tester Bedsteads. Double iron Bedftcads from 255. 480 Bedsteads in stock to selsct from. Beddings of all kinds and sizes kept in readiness. Dining, Sitting, Drawing-room Furniture, and and a large assortment of Manchester and Furnishing Goods, including' a lot of Cretonnes. Book. Catalogues sont.frco to intending ' purchaser!. Garlick 'and Cranwell, City W,tM Arcade, Quc^-itreot, Auckland.