§ MR. MACFARLANE (Argyll)asked the Lord Advocate, If his attention has been called to the eviction of a tenant named Henderson, in Ardnamurchan, by a body of soldiers and sheriffs' officers; whether his wife, who was ill in bed, was carried into the open air by the soldiers, and left with her children without shelter; and, if he will cause inquiry to be made as to the causes which have led to this operation of the Law, which has created much feeling in the district?
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)&c.) (Clackmannan,I have now obtained information in regard to the case referred to in the Question of the hon. Member. It is the fact that Henderson, who had been in difficulties 191 for some time, was lately removed from his farm, which he held from year to year, being in arrears of a rent of £140 per annum for two and a-half years. The removal, which was at the instance of the trustee for his creditors, was carried out by a messenger-at-arms and six commissionaires, and it is therefore not the case that soldiers were employed. In consequence of the state of his wife's health, his landlord offered him a house in Tobermory, rent free for a year, which offer was refused, as also an offer of temporary accommodation in an inn which closely adjoined the house. It was, further, only, upon a certificate from two doctors, that Mrs. Henderson was in a state to be removed without danger, that the removal was carried out.