The ‘land question’ and emigrationWhat was the ‘land question/problem’ in the Highlands of Scotland?

The land question in the Highlands was about land ownership.

Without ownership, the crofters of the Highlands had faced eviction for many years.

The Crofters Act of 1886 put an end to the Highland Clearances by granting security of tenure to the crofters.

That meant that crofters could not be evicted from land they rented on the sudden whim of the landowner.

That security meant that crofters could build substantial permanent houses on their land.

However, the Act failed to restore the lost land from which the crofters and their ancestors had been forcibly evicted over the previous century.

The failure of the Crofters Act to restore the former crofting townships to the crofters resulted in the continuation of poverty and overcrowding in the crofting communities.

It also meant a continuation of protest by the landless families for land in the former crofting townships.

By 1914 vast areas of land claimed by the landless crofters were used for sheep farms, deer and grouse moors/shooting.

Why did the land question become a problem again after the Great war?

• When the war ended many soldiers from the Highlands and Islands returned home with the firm belief that they had been promised land as a reward for fighting for their country.

• Propaganda, recruitment statements and speeches had made a firm link between Highland men and their land, and some large landowners did make promises of gifts of land from their own estates to men who had joined up to fight.

When the land the ex-soldiers expected was not given to them fast enough, many took the law into their own hands and began land raids.

What were land raids?

Land raids had been used in the 19th century when tempers ran high over the issue of clearances and absentee landlords exploiting the Highlands while the crofters starved.

Land raids usually involved a number of men marching onto the land they believed they should have a right to work on.

Some claimed an old law stated that if they could build a wooden shelter and a hearth on which they could have fire then they had a right to the land.

Did the Land Settlement Act of 1919 solve the problem?

The Land Settlement (Scotland) Act stated that land would be made available for men who had served in the war-but where would that land come from?

For the Land Settlement Act to be successful the government would have to purchase land from the previous owners, but very soon it became clear the government could not afford to do so.

Land raids continued and the government were in a difficult position.

It would be very expensive to meet the demands of all the ex-service men; to punish the land raiders would be very unpopular; to do nothing about land raiders would undermine the authority of the government.

To make matters worse, an official government report from the Board of Agriculture said that seizures of land would increase

If the governments promises were not kept.

By the end of the 1920’s the problem of land ownership, overcrowding and poverty had still not been resolved in the Highlands.

Many of the local people saw emigration as the only escape.

Was emigration a serious problem for Scotland in the 1920’s?

In the inter-war period Scotland had the highest rate of emigration of any European country.

In the 1920’s emigration from Scotland became a flood. It was said at the time that Scotland was being emptied of its population, its spirit, its wealth and its talent.

The 1920’s saw an ‘out migration’ from Scotland higher than at any other time in Scotland’s history.

Many Scots saw emigration as an escape from a Scotland locked in unemployment and decline.

Did the Empire Settlement Act of 1922 boost emigration?

The Empire Settlement Act of 1922 provided for the first large- scale government -assisted migration programme.

It was intended to boost the rural population of Canada and other parts of the British Empire.

Subsidies were paid to emigrants who agreed to work the land for a certain amount of time.

Emigration affected not only the Highlands.

Lowland Scotland also saw emigration of large numbers of skilled and talented labour.

In the 1920’s three out of ten migrants to New Zealand came from Scotland and the migrants were not only from the Highlands but also from the depressed industrial areas of central Scotland.

Emigration was also increased by the deliberate actions of the Canadian government in advertising their country

By the 1920’s full time resident agents encouraging emigration to Canada had offices in Glasgow and Inverness.