Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-02
AFOOT In SCOTLAND.
yiup-Tenths of all the Land Leased An
puaIly TO British Sportsmen.
, rountry where Population and Labor De tract
from the Value OF the Land-What
the Rentals Amount To.
sreciaI correspondence of the Gazette.


ToM1cH, SCOTLAND, Sept. 20, 1880.
On coming face to face with the fact
of the depopulation OF rural Scotland.
on5 especially of the Northern and
Western Highlands, it is astounding that
any system Of land laws is permitted TO
,vist which will work such fatal results
n p country. There must be practical
r.s.on for all this, you feel. You dig
orl d-lve for that reason, and you are
.tilI more astouuded. Inquire where you
NAV. there is in effect but one answer:
uHsgnlanders are not worth to the great
landlords so many red deer. Crofters
are of less account than cartridges and
-,lIrts. Human beings in the form of
scottish peasantry are less valuable than
heir weight in pheasants or fish!'
Not satisfied with assertions and gen.
srariiies, YOU deive and dig again. 1t is
sssr enough to find proof of depopula-
,.on Bat it Is difficult for the average
,r.p-fcan TO realize how land propTietors
,o, .rg adequate compensation for the
Io.s Of population and its labor, which
ordinarily alone give to land the greatest
mud factors everywhere tell you that the
t,c,ue from hunting and fishing privi-
r-g-s is more than repaying proprietors.
This seems 80 ineXplirable that you delye
and dir again, as | did, and finally ar
live at some most astounding facts. The
,rrest overwhelming fact is that greater
a-pa of land in Scotland is now devoted
10 the exclusive purpose Of game pre-
49, 60 Co. b..
ar,1usive cultivation of the soil, aud that
g.rp-tpuths of ali land and of all rods OF
.orh, brook or river shores in the king
dom are annually leased in shooting and
fishing privileges
TO BRITISH sPORTsMEN.
Naturally Scottish peasantry ara in the
WAY Of game and fish. But passing a
discussion Of the effect of this land policy
mon the sociologic and economic condi-
non OF Scotland, we Americans have no
conception whatever OF the stupendous
SUM annually paid 10y British titled and
gentlemen sports men for their few weeks
delights with rol aud gun. The amounts
received by single owners for single priv
ilegps are equally surprising. Mrs.
Chisholm, owner of the Chisholm estates
winch border Strathglass here, must re-
upIVe El4 ,uOO. ma that Tor slGty-nlne
shoo,ings and fishings the Duke of Suth-
praui receives rentals amounting to
E23. 1886. As he has more than 100 for
Tense, his income from this source alone
must reach f35, 900 or $40 900. In For
.arshirp, on one estate belonging to
the Tutors OF the earl of Dali
house, these privileges whose rental
prices have been able to secure reach
Go, 400; and Of these of the Countess
DoWager of Seafeid, regarding which
Information is available, twelve shoot
lugs and a-hngs in Elginshirs give her
g 50; eight in Bnuffshire, E566; aud
fourteen in Inyerness-shire, LAGOS; or a
total Of fs3GO; which is probably not one
third Of her entire income from this
source
As am quite certain the facts have
ueerr vel appeared IN the public prints
either in Great Britain or America, |
have been 10 the pains of putting into
;abulated form the actual rentals known
20 he annually paid for these shooting
and fishing privileges in Scotland: