§ MR. KEAYThe following question stands on the Paper in my name:—To ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that Messrs. W. Anderson, George Smith, James Flett and Sons, Murdo Morrison, and others, fish curers, who hold portions of waste and uncultivated land within 100 yards of high-water mark on the foreshore at Castlebay, Island of Barra, under ten years' leases, and have built thereon sea walls, curing stations, and landing stages at great cost, have received from the agent of the landowner notice to quit on 1st May next, no compensation being offered for the disturbance or for the large outlay which they have incurred; whether he is aware that the sole reason for serving the notices is that these persons, while duly tendering the rent of their stations, have refused to pay the fees charged in their leases for net drying done by the fishermen, which fees the lessees had agreed to collect from the fishermen, but which, since signing the leases, they have discovered constitute an illegal demand on the fishermen, which, if made, would subject them to heavy penalties; and whether it is in accordance with the Law of Scotland that a landowner can terminate a ten years' lease at two months' notice under the circumstances stated, without any compensation to the lessees for disturbance and for the loss of all their outlay? I wish to say that the question has been put down on the Paper by mistake. I had intended to put it down for a later date, and will therefore defer it.
§ MR. J. P. B. ROBERTSONI think the hon. Gentleman had better put it down for some day after Easter.