§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELLasked the Lord Advocate, Whether he has any information regarding a reported disturbance at Fraserburgh in connection with the peculiar tenure there under which the villagers are said to be tenants at will who erect their own houses, and are liable to be dispossessed of them at the pleasure of the landlord; and, if he can say whether the proposed inquiry into the position of the Crofters of the North and West of Scotland will include Aberdeenshire and the Crofters there as well as small farmers owning the improvements under the old inventory system, and such peculiar tenures as that which prevails at Fraserburgh?
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)It is the fact that three or four men recently pleaded guilty to a charge of breach of the peace which occurred on the occasion of the execution 1740 of a warrant of ejectment at Inverallochy, near Fraserburgh. But I have no information as to there being any peculiarity in the tenure existing there. The inquiry will extend to the crofters in the North and West of Scotland generally; but, as I understand, the part of the Question which relates to small farmers, is directed to a class of tenants who have made distinct contracts with respect to improvements, being a different class from those generally known as crofters, and it is not intended that the inquiry should extend to such farmers.