§ SIR C. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been called to the statement contained in a Glasgow paper to the effect that in the Island of Coll, in consequence of his having incurred the displeasure of the proprietor of the Island by standing against the factor for the County Council, the Rev. Mr. Ross, Free Church minister there, had been subjected to many annoyances, the last move against him being the barricadiug of his front and kitchen doors by the factor by the erection of six rows of barbed wire fencing and the filling up of the well, from which the manse got its supply of water, with all sorts of filth and stones; whether it is true that the barricading with barbed wire fencing described was thrice renewed after removal; and whether the Procurator Fiscal has yet completed his inquiries into the case; and, if so, with what result?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR,&c.) Clackmannan,It is the fact that there has been for some time a dispute between the Rev. Mr. Ross and the proprietor as to the right of the former to use an access to his manse through certain ground belonging to the latter, on which also the well in question was situated, and that the factor twice put up a barbed wire fence close to the manse doors, and filled up the well with stones, his object, as he states, being to have the respective rights of the parties legally tested, and the matter is now accordingly before the Sheriff. The proprietor was abroad at the time, and both he and the factor deny that their attitude towards Mr. Ross has been affected by the County Council election, though other statements are to an opposite effect. I may add that, although the extreme measures taken by 1621 the factor cannot be justified, Mr. Ross says that the proprietor has, of his own accord, never exacted more than the half of the feu duty due to him for the site of the manse, and that matters between them now seem likely to be arranged on the footing that Mr. Ross shall have a lease of the ground he wants, including the well, free of rent.
§ SIR C. CAMERONWill the right lion. Gentleman inquire into the statement of Mr. Ross, that the proprietor has offered to let him the land on nominal terms if he will abstain from opposing the factor for the County Council?
§ *MR. J. B. BALFOURI will further inquire, but I may repeat that on one hand it is asserted that this dispute has nothing to do with County Council politics, and that this is denied on the other side.