THE NATIONAL MOD (SCOTLAND) (Hansard, 2 April 1969)

§ Mr. Russell Johnston

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make further provision for contributions by local authorities in Scotland towards the expenses of the National Mod. The National Mod is the annual cultural festival of Gaelic speakers, directly comparable to the Eisteddfod in Wales, organised by An Comunn Gaidhealach, the Highland Association, which exists to promote the Gaelic language and culture and the social and economic welfare of the Gaelic-speaking area or Gaidhealdachd.

In April, 1966, the Secretary of State for Scotland at a meeting with An Comunn Gaidhealach pointed out that town and county councils have powers under Section 339 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1947, to spend up to a 2d. rate, with his consent, on purposes for the benefit of their community. He then indicated that he would look favourably on any application that was made for expenditure on the encouragement of Gaelic or in connection with the National Mod. Quite a number of councils applied for this consent and received permission to make contributions. However, in 1967 it was discovered that the Section did not apply to district councils; indeed, a number of them had erroneously made contributions without realising that this was outwith their powers.

An Comunn Gaidhealach approached me in October, 1967, and inquired whether it would be possible to have special legislation introduced to enable district councils to do this, rather on the lines of the Bill introduced early in 1967 by the hon. Member for Wrexham (Mr. J. Idwal Jones), to allow all local authorities in Wales to contribute towards the Eisteddfod rather than simply those authorities in the immediate area in which it was to be held. Since that time I have been in touch with the Scottish Office, from which I have had the fullest co-operation—I am happy to see that the Minister of State, Scottish Office is present—and which has assisted me in drafting the Bill. I have also been in touch with Members in the Gaelic-speaking area, and the hon. Members for Caithness and Sutherland (Mr. Maclennan), Ross and Cromarty (Mr. Alasdair Mackenzie), 502 the Western Isles (Mr. Malcolm McMillan) and the right hon. Member for Argyle (Mr. Noble) have agreed to sponsor the Bill with me.

The Bill will not compel any local authority to do anything—it will confer permissive powers—nor will it lead to the expenditure of very much money. The sort of sums that individual district councils have mentioned range from £10 to £50, but taken together they will represent a not unimportant source of income for An Comunn Gaidhealach in assisting it to run its National Mod. The sum of £5,000 is regarded as the minimum which must be found before a Mod can be run, and An Comunn itself is heavily dependent, in financing its other activities—and its annual expenditure now approaches £20,000—on the surplus of income which is raised in connection with the National Mod. Local committees find it increasingly difficult to raise this money and therefore I hope that contributions from district councils will make a real, if limited, difference.

In many ways it is a reflection on our society in general that I should be in the position of proposing this little piece of legislation. We know quite a lot about economic investment and more than we did about the importance of the physical environment, but although we are continually reminded of the disruptive and costly effect of anti-social behaviour we still give very little attention to the maintenance of a sound social environment. We spend next to nothing on defending the values that stable and integrated communities give to the whole of society—often quite out of proportion to their numerical strength. As a society we think nothing of spending a million pounds on one mile of motorway, but all that we were prepared to give directly to An Comunn Gaidhealach—which is concerned with the fate of a whole culture, based on a language that was a written language before English—was, this year, a grant of £4,000 from the Government for administrative costs, and from the Highlands and Islands Development Board—which was prepared to give £1,000 to a team looking for the Loch Ness monster—a grant of £2,000.

The Celtic fringes are always good topics for the music-hall comedian, and references to haggis and bagpipes readily produce a titter, but we should remember 503 that not only within the British Isles but within the English-speaking community as a whole the cultural stimulus of the Celtic fringes has been immense. In literature alone they have acted as emotional banks whose resources have been continually drawn upon.

Time will not allow me to develop these questions, but I feel strongly that our attitude to the cultural framework in which we live is far too restricted. In my view the task of seeking to sustain and, one hopes, to extend and expand an old language which has important social values associated with it, is immensely worth doing. This Bill, of itself, will make only a tiny contribution, but if it makes people think of the wider implications it will do something much more important.