MR. CATHCART WASONI beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland if his attention has been directed to a petition from the hundreds of small owners in Orkney whose rental is under £50 (the limit of the Small Landowners Bill); and if, in view of the fact that the business, profession, or trade of those small owners is seriously threatened by the Small Landowners Bill and that the Government recognise the serious nature of their petition, he will state what steps the Government propose to take to reassure those persons that their living will not be endangered.
§ MR. SINCLAIRA petition signed by about eighty persons was received praying that no tenant should get fixity of tenure whose proprietor owns no more land than is worth £50 a year. The Government will consider whether, with a view to meeting such ease, it will be possible in the Small Landholders Bill to give statutory recognition of the principle accepted by the Crofter Commission in the case of Slater v. Esslemont where the proprietrix of a croft desired, and was allowed, to resume possession thereof in order personally to reside in and occupy the same.