HH62/2/SUTHER/3

Transcription

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In Area the County extends to 1,297,846 acres - equivalent to
2027·9 square miles - of which only the parts near the shores on the
East Coast, and some parts of the valleys and hillsides below a
certain altitude, are cultivated. But not all that is capable of profit-
able cultivation is used for agricultural purposes, and very much of
what is being cultivated by the mass of the people is poor soil, and
is certainly not such as would be chosen by reasonable people for
remunerative fields of labour had there been any choice in the matter
at the time when large numbers of the inhabitants were transposed
from the sheltered straths and valleys to the outermost rim of the
unsheltered and largely rock-bound coasts.
The people are located over the face of this County in thirteen
Parishes, and at the Census of 1891 they numbered 21,896. Counting
them on their relation to acres, the land is most sparsely populated,
the proportion being only 0·016 persons to the acre, or 10.79 people
to the square mile. The population is decreasing steadily since 1851,

TABLE I. - Population of County of Sutherland in Years.

[Table Inserted]

and is now lower than it has ever been during this century. This
remarkable circumstance is only in keeping with what occurs in other
rural districts, but it is none the less deplorable that it is not an
uncommon fact. The birth rate is only 22·7 per 1000, as compared
to 22·3 in 1889, and 20·2 in 1890; and the marriage rate is also very
low, being only 2·8 per 1000 in 1891, as compared to 3·8 in 1890,
and 2·8 in 1889. These figures may be compared to the rates for
Scotland generally, which are about 29·5 for birth rate and 6·6 for
marriage rate.
About one-fifth part of the people are now to be found congregated
in our villages, of about 300 population and upwards, in such condi-
tions as to house room and necessary conveniences for healthy life as
will afterwards appear. Originally there were no villages of any size
in the County, the inhabitants leading mostly a pastoral life; and,
even now, there is not one of such a size as to be dignified in the
Census Returns by the name of Town (a Village has 300 to 2000
people, and a town over 2000). There is, however, one ancient and
Royal Burgh - Dornoch - but it is under its own Town Council as
Local Authority. Several of the villages, especially on the East
Coast, are rapidly increasing in population and importance. Since
May, 1891, the part of Reay Parish belonging to Sutherland has been
added to Farr Parish, which has thus increased by 893. There are
at present in existence Health units i.e., Water and Drainage
Districts, in Helmsdale and Dornoch; and Water Districts in Brora and

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Lochinver, all of which, except Dornoch, are governed by Sub-
Committees of the County Council. Golspie, Bonar, and part of
Tongue have private water supplies.
Along with the reduction in population, there has been a
proportionate lessening of the number of Inhabitated Houses, and
I have been enabled, through the kindness of Donald Taylor,
Esq., Sheriff Clerk, to compile from the 1881 Census Returns (the
last available, except abstracts for 1891), some interesting facts bear-
ing on house-room in the County. The aggregate number of
inhabited Rooms in houses, however, has increased; and so, in pro-

TABLE ll. - County as a whole. Density of Population - Census 1871, 1881, 1891.

[Table Inserted]

portion, the number of persons to each house and each room has, on
the whole, diminished, though it is humiliating to record that some
of the houses and rooms, particularly in our Fishing Villages, are too
densely populated, with the necessarily attendant circumstance that
the Death Rate - notably from some diseases - is very high. There
is a connection between density of population and Death Rate which
is very striking to find true even in country districts. Note the
difference between a village house population of 7.09 persons to the
house and 1.87 to room as compared to 4.76 in the strictly rural
houses and 1.35 in rooms respectively. Embo Village is seen to be
most densely populated with 7.3 and 2.7 of people to house and
room; and, though this is abstracted from the 1881 Census, I fear
the conditions will not be found to have improved when the facts of
1891 Census are published.
The bulk of the families in the County, of which there were 5220
in 1881, and 5118 in 1891, live in houses of two rooms, viz., 33.8 per
cent.; while 19.9 percent. live in three-roomed houses; 15.8 per cent. in
oneroom; 10.4 percent. in five-roomed houses, and the remainder in houses
of more than five rooms. Rogart Parish had the largest percentage in
the County of its families in five-roomed houses ; while Kinlochbervie
District of its own Parish had the largest percentage of its families in
two-roomed houses, viz., 48.5 per cent. Again, in one-roomed houses,
Kirkton of Farr had 27.3 per cent. of its families. An instructive
comparison can be instituted between the density of population in
the various Villages as seen in Table V. Embo first, then Brora,
are most densely populated in their houses as a whole; while
Embo is again first, and Portskerray and Melvich combined second,
for density of population in their rooms.