THE DOOMED ISLAND
SIR,—Mr. Moray McLaren's concern over the proposed guided-missile station in South Uist is rendered fatuous, not because of his romanticism, but by means of the sheer in- consequence of his reasoning. He objects to the new proposals on the basis that an over- whelming influx of foreigners will mean an end of the living Hebridean culture, which is, he says, showing particular signs of renewed life in South Uist. It is just within this hypo- thesis that he contradicts himself, for the present liveliness of Benbecula and South Uist could be said to date from the construction of the Benbecula Airport and the South Ford Bridge. This took place during the late war, when the islands contained large numbers of Service men.
There are some points in Mr. McLaren's favour. It is true, for instance, that two (and probably three) townships will lose most of their machair grazings, and that a small num- ber of people (including, indirectly, the writer) will suffer some financial disadvantage. It is also true that, apart from other aesthetic draw- backs, the new station will probably banish the wild geese and that the rude soldiery might not be averse to using some carbide in the sea-trout pools.
But when it is considered that the present necrosis in these islands is due to bad and expensive communications and the almost total lack of employment for landless or near- landless young men, and when it is considered that the new proposal will go a very long way towards rectifying these deficiencies, one finds it very difficult to scratch up any sympathy whatever with Mr. McLaren's views. For it is nearly certain that the new proposal will bring with it the tragically overdue North Ford Bridge, will provide road access to four populated tidal islands, and will furnish both temporary and permanent employment to all who really need it.
There are reasons for regretting the character of the new proposal. But, to put it boldly, there is no marketable commodity .that can be produced in the Hebrides cheaper or more con- ' veniently than it could be on the mainland, and such a thing as a rocket station is really the only form of industry that one could be justified in establishing here. Mr. McLaren's would apparently reject this chance of survival in favour of maintaining these islands as a sort of Red Indian reservation, dying, as most of them are now, surely and expensively on the Public Assistance.—Yours faithfully,
DENIS BRANAGAN
Trumisgarry, Lochntaddy, Isle of North Uist
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