OLD ORDER VISIBLY CHANGING IN SCOTLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18446, 6 January 1922, Page 8

OLD ORDER VISIBLY CHANGING IN SCOTLAND.

‘T have come back from my usual yearly visit to the North of Scotland,” writes Sir W. Robertson NicoH' in tho British Weekly. “It is a wonderful experience to see the old order visibly being changed and replaced. That is what is happening in Scotland to-day. I make a few notes on certain points, always remembering that it takes a long time and much careful observation to discern the trend of things. Tho Land Question. — “The land question has taken a turn., Forces at work in recent times are pressing upon all. the change that is rapidly coming on. In my boyhood the fight was between the ■ tenants and landlords. There were always very good landlords, and there were also reckless and cruel landlords. But now the landlords, generally speaking,' are very poor. I had estimates from farmers and from lairds, and found a general agreement that a landlord’s rent yields’ him only 5s in-the £ when all taxes and obligations are discharged. Some would put it at even a lower figure. “It requires no effort to see that’ a landlord who draws from £2OOO to £SOOO a year has bad his position much altered, and his income much reduced. Thus a landlord with a nominal rental of £2OOO would be considered fortunate if he received £SOO. Sales of land and old historic houses are continually going on. In some cases the old families have practically disappeared. To a considerable extent the fanners have accepted the offers of tho landlords and occupied their own farms. Whether this- expedient will prove successful remains to be seen. In the old times the landlords had to bear the cost of the upkeeps of their properties. Now the new proprietors have to find the money, and the result is disclosing itself. Disappearing Crofter.— “The census, as everyone knows, shows a great decrease in the last 10 years. When the previous census was taken there was much regret'over the disappearance of the crofter. I shared that regret to the full, and I was’ grieved to see how many thatched houses which had maintained honourably, families that have come to, bo a. strength to the State were disappearing. This is not the fault of landlords. The standard of life has been raised, and nowadays a family would not, and perhaps conld not, be contented with the housing which their fathers and their grandfather s stood up to. “One consolation is that in the various regions—some of them off the road—which I visited, there, was .every appearance of the people being homed comfortably. Excellent farmhouses and steadings were to be seen everywhere, even in places more than 20 miles from a station. But nearly, half the rural population are gone, and I. confess with reluctance that I see no prospect of their places being supplied. “There was very little lamentation over, the decrease. People have got quite a njw idea into their minds. They doubtwhether the country can support a population larger than that which occupies it now. They think that tho problem of a steady increase is not to be solved, and that there may be more comfort and better bousing in a reduced population. Scotland is strong and soberly hopeful, but the signs of the times are unmistakable, Religious Life.— "The reductionof population’ has had, much to do with the decrease ’ of rural ( congregations especially. But there are* encouraging, signs.'. Young people; appear to join the 'Church, in great numbers. There is a fine Christian liberality. There are many vigorous congregations, and the vast majority in the rural districts are more or less associated with the Churches. On the other hand, there is a general diminution in the attendance at public worship. Mr Lloyd George took occasion to make allusion to this in one of his little speeches, and ho said rightly, that Scotland would lose her greatness if the people fell out of association with the Church.”