Gàidhlig / English
Mac-Talla: Na Gàidheil 's na Fèidh

Mac-Talla: Na Gàidheil 's na Fèidh

Posted by Andrew on Monday 3 April 2017
Although the newspaper Mac-Talla was based in Sydney, Nova Scotia, it would sometimes take its stories from other papers, especially papers in Scotland, in order to report on news about the Highlands back in Britain. That’s how this article appeared in December 1892, about the efforts towards land reform which were ongoing in Parliament at the time. This gives us an insight into how important events in Scotland were, and especially in the Highlands, for the Gaels in Canada; land issues would have been the cause of many of them leaving Scotland in the first place, and they would certainly still have family in Scotland who were affected by these issues.
 
THE GAELS AND THE DEER
 
It seems like there is no stopping that unholy work which turns the land of the Gaels into deer forests. More earth today is used for hunting than ever before, but according to the warning Mr Macfarlane gave in Parliament the other day an Act of Parliament will put a stop to this soon. But the Gaels themselves must act on the situation at home and keep the cause alive this way. Unless the populace themselves actively make claims their opponents will say that no-one wants the law changed except the men of Parliament who are causing upset for their own ends. Therefore the Gaels, south and north, must keep their hands to this work, and let it be seen that they are hopeful about the situation. It is clear enough that if things are left as they are it won’t be long before the land becomes too expensive all over the Highlands, for it will pay better for the landlords to leave it entirely as hunting land than to keep it as land for small farms. It is appropriate, therefore, that the Gaels raise their voices strongly about this cause, and that the deer forests do not expand under their noses, and the fostering they are carrying out of deer rather than people.
 
We can see here how there were still links between the Gaels on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, and also how important British political developments were for them in Canada. Although they lacked the technology for the same sort of links we have today, they did their best to keep those links up.
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