THE STATE OF SKYE.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTITOR."] &R,—Being a regular reader for many years of your esteemed paper, I-would be obliged by your insertion of the following statement about Skye, which is known only to some as an island of " sport, scenery, and spirits." It is not so well known that it is famous for its soldiers and sailors. It gave 10,000 men to the Duke of Wellington's army; 2,000 soldiers was its contribution to the last war. Only seventeen men returned of the 4th Cameron Highland Territorial Unit. My brother-in- law, a Skyeman, left a good situation in Johannesburg (S.A.*, and died in France, one of many who hurried home from over- seas in 1914. About a seventh of the population enlisted. The inhabitants suffered privations with the rest of the kingdom during the war, but since the war they are threatened with a famine of food caused by a want of boats, private enterprise having failed. In the Western parts a steamer only calls with foodstuffs every three weeks. They may be six weeks ordered in Glasgow before they are received, and the account for payment presented before the goods have been received. It is not a dearth of money; prepayments often are made. Every person has to wait his turn, and goods are often lying in quay sheds for weeks at the port of embarkation for want of vessels. The result of all this delay was told at a meeting of gentlemen resident in Skye, and the report circulated in the Scottish Press. Stories were told of schools closed, famished children fainting, no milk; to obtain a loaf a tramp of many miles. Old women went from house to house asking as a favour to drink the washings of teapots. A friend in Skye had a shoemaker's shop for want of leather closed for three years. "Ii is impossible to buy milk; a cow having two calves, one died for want of milk," so writes my woman friend. The scholars in Portree High School had to pass the night in some carriages, the steamer for Harris and Uist not to be had. In Skye, if you wish to be in time for a boat you must come the day before it goes. This long-standing grievance has been brought up in the House of Commons several times. It was a plank for the return of Sir W. Sutherland for Argyll at the General Elec- tion. The difficulty seems to be the cost of running extra vessels or of seeing how much the Government could afford. Why, if Scotland contributes 20 million pounds to the Exchequer could they not afford to be generous ? And when so many minesweepers and steam drifters and light cruisers were on their hands after the peace, a tithe would have sufficed.
[We are glad to have been informed since our correspondent wrote•that, beginning in June, a mail is to be sent daily to Skye and the Western Islands; that the Ministry of Food will run a coasting vessel; and that a railway between Portree and Dunvegan is projected.—En. Spectator.]
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