DISTRESS IN THE WESTERN ISLES.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XCIV, Issue 5165, 19 February 1924, Page 1

DISTRESS IN THE WESTERN ISLES.

O ■ 20,000 THREATENED WITH ] STARVATION. STORN'OWAY, Dec. 12. ', A distressful situation exists in the western isles of Scotland. The. potato crop is a failure, the hay has., been ruined by rain, heavy gales from , the Atlantic have destroyed the har- 1 vest, and on account of the sodden| state of the peat there is a shortage; of fuel.. There is no work of any' kind bsyond one or two small schemes of road surfacing, and unless measures are taken promptly to deal with the situation a population of not less than 20,000 people in Lewis, Skye, and Western Ross will find themselves in a few weeks' time face.

to fac.e with starvation. Already there is widespread destitution. It is worse in Lewis than, elsewhere, and Sir Hector Munro of Foulis, Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty, has issued an appeal to, the psople of Scotland for assistance' in money, clothing, or kind to meet the distress. A similar appeal has been made with regard to Skye. The weather is to blame for a great deal of the trouble. Lewis this year has known neither summer nor autumn, only an endless succession of grey, sunless days of drizzling rain. There have been only 20 dry days since and there had not been a single day since September 2 on which rain had not fallen until last week, when the ( dreary succession was broken by snow and frost. I have seen this week co rn stand-j ing in sodden stooks in Lewis, and hay brack unwholesome and uncut in j Skye. Most serious of all is the fail- | ure of the potato crop. Potatoes are the staple food of the islanders.' This year they are as small as marbles or large, soapy, and diseased.

The agricultural authorities complain that the croft,ers have been guilty of culpable negligence in not spraying the potatoes to prevent blight. There may be justice in their charge of apathy and inertia, but one has to see the conditions in the crofting areas to realize the disheartening

nature of the struggle. It is the unkindest land in the United Kingdom, and the crofts are too small and unfruitful to maintain one fam-. ily, much less ths two or three families who squat upon each of them. What usually happens is that the wives work the crofts while the men and girls go off to the fishing ; but the profits from the herring fishing have been so small during the iast two years that some of the men, after three or four months' absence from Lewis, have had to borrow their i fares back to Stornoway.

A bitter cause of complaint is the amount, of illegal trawling that is 'going on within the three-mile limit. In this way the former prosperous 'inshore white fishing has been ruinled. Thsre is only one fishery patrol boat for the whole of the west coast, and it is naturally easy to elude such control and reap the rich harvest that lies among the banks near the shore. Ninety per cent, of the male population are ineligible for unemployment benefit. Only 350 out of a population of nearly. 30,000 are receiving the so-called dole. About '400 others are on road work, many 1 of them at great distances from their 1 homes, and they are sleeping in bell tents. But the Lewis people are accustomed to" such rigours. To-day old women may be seen walking bare footed across the moors from the [ peat beds carrying on their backs creels of fuel weighing 701b. or 801b. for two or three miles. Women 'carrying fish to Stornoway walk bare- ! footed till they get within reach of ( ' the town, and then halt and put on I

their boots. The plight of the children this winter is pitiable. Many of them are without boots. They go wet and barefooted to school with only barley bread and tea for breakfast. In ordinary circumstances they would get nothing else till 3 or 4 in the afternoon, but, thanks to private charity, the teachers are able to give them, in some places, though not in all, hot cocoa at noon. Their only other food is potatoes when they get home, and tea and bread for supper.

. Their clothes in many cases are in a deplorable state. The medical officer of health states that the effect of this malnutrition on the physique of the children is alarming, and the position is the more grave by reason of the consumption which ravages the crofting areas. The parish councils are considering extensive schemes of relief to tide the people over till the summer fishing, and three of the four local authorities have .accepted the offer of the Scottish Board of Health to accept potatoes at cost price as part payment of wages. The difficulty of getting dry peat is serious, for the people cannot buy coal. Coal costs 3s. a cwt. in Stornoway, but in Ness, the centre of the distressed aree, 27 miles away, it costs 6s. a bag. About the only monsy coming into the island is in the form of old-age pensions and war pensions. Some of the crofters have already parted with their only cow. The housing conditions are extraordinary. There are hundreds of cases in which human beings and animals live under the same thatch, with only a partition between the living-room and the byre. Not all the houses have chimneys and some are even without windows.

I The crofting Acts have reached the nd of the tether. In Lewis all the land has been broken up, and the land hunger is worse than ever. There are two cures—which can operate concurrently—for the present trouble, Qrs<=; yUf' Sjljequate.* pro.tectipri : ;;.£pp v^he Five hunrded" people left Lewis for Canada and Australia this y.ar. More a'"e going next year.— " London Times."