STARVATION IN THE SHETLANDS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.']
Srn,—Will you kindly allow me in a few lines to state the condi- tion of a part of the United Kingdom, in which actual starvation at present exists, and will, I fear, increase unless a vigorous effort is made to alleviate it ? I allude to the northern portion of the Shetland Islands, especially Unst, Yell, Fetlar, and the northern part of "Mainland."
At the beginning of last year the proceeds of the coming fishing season had been to a large extent pledged for arrears of rent caused by the unfavourable harvest of 1868. An important branch of this industry, the herring fishery, has proved almost a total failure. The corn harvest of 1869 promised well, and was fairly housed in the southern and western parts of "Mainland." In the other and larger portion of the country comprised in the districts I have mentioned, the terrible storms of October almost entirely destroyed the standing crops, "thrashing them out," one of our informants says, "as completely as on the barn-floor," and so twisting and rending even the straw as to make it not worth cut- ting. The potato crop also has proved an almost complete failure many fields desolated with the disease, and even the sound potatoes generally so small and poor as to be unfit for food or seed.
The result of all this is that in many parishes the people are actually starving, or what is almost equally alarming for the future, subsisting on the reserves of grain which should have served as seed for the coming year.
A small fund has already been raised by some recent visitors to the islands, chiefly members of the Society of Friends, who know the circumstances of the case well. They are working mainly through the ministers of the various Churches there— Established Kirk, Free Kirk, Wesleyans, Independents, &c.—of course without any regard to sect or creed. Only /200 or /300 have yet been collected, and they need as many thousands.
Contributions will be thankfully received by Messrs. Dimsdale and Co., Bankers, London, or by your obedient servant,
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