RURAL HOUSING IN SCOTLAND [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—Your Glasgow correspondent, Mr. Andrew Haddon, puts very clearly and forcibly the case for giving a foremost place to housing as well as to education in dealing with the pressing problems which confront the present Government. But I crave permission to correct one statement which he makes with reference to rural housing. " All over Scotland," he writes, " farm workers are living in cottages which are most unhealthy and often not even weatherproof."
This sweeping generalization may be true of other districts of the country. It is certainly not true of the county of Dumfries. As a parish minister, as well as a native of the county, I have been familiar with the character of the farm houses and farm cottages for more than half a century.
During that period, and especially since the eighties of last century, a great and beneficent improvement has been taking place in rural housing. Amongst the causes which have chiefly contributed to this result is the fact that, unlike many other districts of Scotland, the ownership of the land in Dumfriesshire has continued practically unchanged during that time. This fixity of tenure in ownership has tended to a gradual advance in the style and character of farm buildings, while it has contributed to the increased productiveness of the soil.
The great landlords, chief amongst whom are the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Mansfield, Sir John Buchanan Jardine, Colonel Brook of Kinmount, and Mr. Hope Johnstone of Annandale, have clearly realized that the true interests of landlord and tenant are inseparable. If their estates are to be properly developed and cultivated to the full advantage of all concerned, the proprietor and tenant must work hand in hand. The conditions under which the farmers and farm workers carry on their daily labour must be conducive to comfort and contentment and consistent with the . main- tenance of a decent standard of living.
As might be expected one direct result of this enlightened and statesmanlike policy on the part of the landowners has been the settlement upon the land of an intelligent, highly skilled and hard-working class of tenants who have proved to be notably successful as agriculturists even in those times of acute agricultural depression, in England and elsewhere.
While it cannot be claimed that any have made fortunes they have been reasonably prosperous, and one hears from them surprisingly few complaints of the bad times for farmers.
It is common knowledge that there is keen competition for any vacant farms which are in good heart. Such holdings are rarely advertised in the newspapers. The estate factors know where to look for suitable tenants when they have farms to let. Naturally, the farm steadings and cottages are expected to be in good repUir and suitable for the tenant and the workers whom he employs.
The most desirable class of farm servants are the men with young families who expect to find comfortable and con- venient cottages within easy reach of school and kirk and market. Such farm workers often remain for many years upon the same farm. They take a pride in keeping their cottages tidy and in obtaining the best results from their garden plots.
The ill-appointed and comfortless home of the sturdy cottar —if not actually a relic of the past—is the exception rather than the rule in this district of Scotland.—I am, Sir, &e.,
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