§ MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate, as representing the Secretary for Scotland, if he will state for what number of years leases have been granted to twenty-four settlers on the estate of Lord Fincastle at Boroe, Bernera, Harris; will he state 1320 whether there is any condition in the lease that at its termination these settlers will be put under the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886, and not be liable to eviction or increased rentals; and did the Congested Districts Board endeavour to arrange with Lord Fincastle for these twenty-four settlers to become tenants under the Crofters' Act instead of under lease; if so, will he say on what ground Lord Fincastle declined to act on the Board's suggestion.
§ *THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. A. GRAHAM MURRAY, Buteshire)The reply to the first paragraph of the hon. Member's question is thirty-one years. The reply to the second paragraph is in the negative, and the answer to the first portion of the third is that the Congested Districts Board did endeavour to arrange that the new holdings should be under the Crofters' Acts, but it is within the proprietor's rights to decline without assigning reasons, and in this case none have been assigned.