§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)asked the Lord Advocate, If the following report of the visit of the Crofters Commission to the township of Solitote in The Scotsman of 6th May was correct:—
Without exception, Solitote is the most miserable place which the Commissioners have yet visited, the patches of ground which the tenants cultivate vary in size from three roods to two acres. The township has no right of grazing. There are 17 families in the township and only three cows, and two of these are fed with grass purchased from the tenants of Conista, while the third picks up its living at the roadside…. The visit of the Commission caused a great deal of excitement in the township; the people crowded out to meet them, and followed them from croft to croft with long tales of their grievances. At various points of the inspection the Commissioners were met by groups of men, who urged them to give them more land. They pointed to the green fields of the sheep farms lying around, and asked why they should he huddled together while so much of the best land in Skye was under sheep. It was in vain that the Commissioners pointed out that under the present Act they had no power to create new crofts, even if the land were available;and, whether the Government will introduce a measure to empower the Crofters Commissioners to form new holdings or townships to relieve such congested townships as Solitote?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. H. A. MACDONALD) (Edinburgh and St.1467 Andrew's Universities) The Question which the hon. Member has put to mo varies slightly from the Notice I received. It is quite impossible on short notice to express an opinion on a newspaper report regarding the condition of a distant part of the Highlands; but assuming the report is correct, Her Majesty's Government are not prepared to introduce a measure inconsistent with the provisions of an Act deliberately passed in a recent Session.