Emigration to Canada

Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands 1883 Part H

Alex Gunn continues:

"A Canadian land agent, who was examined before the Royal Commission, recommended emigration, assisted by Government grants, as a cure for the present destitute state of the unfortunate crofters. But my answer to that is, why send the people away from their native soil so long as there is an acre of ground capable of cultivation in their native glens? In place of Government subsidising them to leave their native homes let it give them grants of public money to help them cultivate land at home, and to stock their farms." 

"I am of the opinion that there is as good land in the Highlands as there is in America or elsewhere. I have seen farms in East Lothian which paid £7 per acres, but the finest crop of wheat I ever saw was in a field on a farm in Ross-shire, every stalk of which was six feet long; and Ross- shire is in the Highlands I presume."

Just harvested crops at Ross-shire 2015

Harvest at East Lothian 2010

"We are often told of the great and rapid prosperity of Canada, and of the colonies in general, by reason of the great and constant flow of emigration. Well, in proportion, as our colonial possessions are being enriched, by our industrious classes spreading over the face of the country, in the same proportion is our country impoverished, by the deportation of her industrious population. It is not sheep or deer that enrich a country. It is by a teeming and industrious people that a country is made prosperous and happy."

My Comments:

There was quite a lot of discussion on the pros and cons of emigration to Canada at the Royal Commission but Alex Gunn makes his point that if there was a fairer distribution of land in the Highlands then no-one would have to leave their homeland. The same argument was offered by other witnesses as well.

I was pleased to find the two photos from Geograph with evidence of bumper crops at Ross-shire and East Lothian more than 120 years after Alex Gunn’s claims about good land in the Highlands. I can imagine him saying 'I told you so!'