AND Inter-ISLAND ADVERTISER. Onward, Skye! Queen of the West!
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I I- fi I arion of AND INtER-ISLAND ADVERTISER. Onward, Skye! Queen of the West! April, 1952. Price 1I- No. 15. We must, however, •be fair in our judgment EDITORIAL of others-a statement which undoubtedly includes' our Councjl members of the past. M-a ny of them From many parts of the world [ .have <received lhave vehemently brought up our griev-ances at letters of apprecia-tion o£ "The Clarion of Skye," the Council's meeting at l!nverness. Li·ttle or and while regretting that I .am not -able to ans·wer nothing have been -h!iard in •the Press of what all of these personally, I now say-Thank You! they said. What they said was completely eclipsed Some of these letters have been 'Very touching, by someth·ing of no very great significance, uttered coming from- ex)les who left the Island nearly 50 by some member of greater prestige in the social years ago. life of the County. ,, This s-tatement does not single out any mem- 1 News of 11he Island* of* their* hea·rt, remnants of ber in particular, yet the very p.rjnciple ·c.annot its history, :and names, and p~aces •.,A .~!liJ.!ar tq,. • be denied ; 11he very truth of it remains as evidence l them in their youth, have brought to'"''it~ of the reg•retful i gnorance of County affairs the happy memories. ~ Some have said that t'h;'printed -electors of the Island, as •a w.hole and as districts, . " Skye " on the :m's:t page was enough to welcome were kept in. .F-or some unknown reason the them to i>ts pages. Press reports were vague, particularly when the Whatever posioti on <they hold or wherever they .affairs of this •llsland were concerned. This must are, you cannot take love of their na-tive Island be rectified in the new CouncH, if the members out of the Skye man or woman. concerned wish to retain the faitlh and confidence pla~ed in .them .by ,their respective electorates. Feeling now' that this* * News* Magazine has put A much fuller repor,t of County Council pro new life into the Island people, I appeal to them ceedings ;i n far-off Lnverness, must •be given, c.s to contri·bute to its pages. No ela'bo·rate wording up until now thin.gs were not right .in the " State is needed, sufficient will to do it, will pave the of Denma<rk." More use can be made of the way to a greater and ano;re popular relation with ".CLarion," which though yet in t he lisping stage, our kith and kin ;i n many parts of the world promises to .become the "Voice of Skye " in the Get you· Pen NOW. years to, c9rne. At this ]uncture of Island affairs, to become It is learned tha;t *the * *Premier of Canada has -complacent would •be utter ruin, .and in the hope promised to send .a representative of h:l.s Govern that its .people wiLl .be enlightened by a fuller ment to plant a maple tree in the grounds of Dun report ·of County affairs, its County mern·bers shoUld vegan Castle, on Oanada Day Skye Week, 1952. see to ;it that their light be not kept under a bushel, 'but shine radtantly on the path of _pro We find ourselves in* · *the * throes of a municipal gressive leg!Silatlon and prestige. election, or the preparations thereof. To any read * * .;{· ers, let me •br~ ng t o their minds •the annals of the There is a lady in Maine, U.S.A., whose age past decade. Through those year~ very good men is 103 years, and ihas fo_ur sons who .have celebr-ated and women have lbeen elected to the County Coun 'their golden wedding anniversaries! cjl. Very often they 'have ,been the target £or severe *** criticisJn from Within this Island-criticism which The finst ba.tch of tourists to Skye arrived a·baut on the surface appeared to be earned-by their lack · the.,~jth of March, and a grea.t season is expected of interest in district aff.ai·rs. There iS no doubt l despf~:~r rise. Skye, it appears, appeals . to that this Island is sadly neglected or has been visit~rs a'S'One of the unspoilt holiday grounds of up to ·now. I the world. 2 THE CLARION OF SKYE Nairobi-Skye Connection L ETT·E RS Her many friends in the 16land of Skye will HRACADALE-POB!l'REE ROAD. be interested to lea.rn that Mrs Tyson, wife of Alderman G. A. Tyson, F.R.I.C.S., Nairobi, was A corresponden.t writes:- one of the company invited to have the honour One tails to understand why the County Coun of being presented to their Roy·al Highnesses the cil of Inverness does not consider the hiLl road from Princess Elizabe'tlh (now Queen Elizabeth) and the Brac·adlale to Portree as a first-cl~ road. ,..- Not · Duke of Ediruburgh, at the luncheon reception held only should i>t be a first-class road, but should" be I in Nairobi, on Saturday, 2nd February, durin·g the looked upon as the most important road in the tragically interrupted Royal Tour of Kenya. Island, as it cuts Skye in two. and .at the right place. / 'I'his road in its present condition. is a With the Mayor and Mayoress, Mr and Mrs blot on the administration of the Road Funds of the J. R. Ma~well, Mr and 'Mrs Tyson .were seated at County. Not a passing-p.lace is even provided. the top taJble, on eitheir side of the Royal guests. the bridges spanning the streams and rivers T.hey were previously presented to the Princess ar~ highly dangerous. This road does no.t alone in and Duke at the Garclen Party held by the convenience people stayting at the Portree and Governor and Lady Mitclhell at Government House. Bracadale ends, it is such to every motorist in and Mrs Tyson, however. had very long f\amily con ~ha •t comes to the Island throughout the Year. nections with the now beautiful city of Nai·robi, Counrt: y officials have now to pay for hire.ytletouring as her uncle, Capt. Duncan Beaton, arrived in the round S.Ugichan to come from Portree. a distance Dark Continent as far back as 1889. of 23 miles, whereas the distance is 9~ miley This He was, on his arrival, appointed as an agent itself is a shocking state of affairs. Can you not for the African Lakes Corporation, a co·mpany as Editor of "The Cl·ad'to)l," give this matter th~ formed to car_ry on the work of Livingstone in the publicity it deserves. Thank y<>u. · suppression of the sla.ve trade, and the opening Editor's Note.-.A Petition si.gned by household up of commerce in Nyasaland. He later became ers in Hracadale, has been forwarded to the re manager of the Corporation in that town. He sponJS~ · ble parties, from w,hence no satisf_actory first visited Nairc;bi in 1905, final.ly settling there in .answer has been received. 1908. conducting a large business, and did mudh tow;rds the development of that city. Among the many offices he held there. were Chairman of the BIRiiUINGHAM APPRECIATION. Film Censorsh~p and in charge o£ the OF·ganisation of supplies for the Army in East Africa. Capt. Beation is a son of Mr and Mrs Beaton, Sir,--'1 have been very interested to receive from Stormy Hill, Portree, where his two sisters reside, relatives in Skye, a copy of "The Clarion" for one being Mrs !Macdonald and mother of Mrs January, 1952, par.ticul.arly as it contained part of Tyson. Her fa'tlher, M.r James Macdonald, died an account of the Uig flood in 1877. David Fer some years ago. guson, who lost his life th·en. was my maternal gr.andfa•the)'. The traditions of this family of Skye is being carried on by memlbers of Capt. Beaton's famiJy There js an error .in one detail in the article. in and around Kenya. Mr W.jlliam Bea.ton, the My grandfiather did not occupy the Lodge; his house e.Idest son of Capt. Beaton, who has recently t"e was above the road, and during the storm. he got tired f.rom the post of Director of Veterinary Ser anxious about the safe·ty of the conten•ts of the vices in Nigeria, has been appointed Director of Lodge, and insisted on going there to see if a.Jl the Inter Afrjcan Bureau of Epizootic Diseases, to was well. My grandmother w:atchttd the light of be estaJblished ,in K•enya. his Lantern going from room to room, until it finally disappeared. I was three weeks old at the . Kenneth ser-ved - as Major with the King's time this happened, but g:randmother survived her African Rifles, wlhile Ma.ry, the only daughter, is !husband for 20 years, and I remember her telling married to Hev. J . Gillete of Nairobi. me about it~as did my mother and m;y aun.t. Mrs Tyson, therefore, has every reason to be I still have one of the " In !Memoriam" cards, proud of her adopted residence on the sands of which g.ives the daJte October 14: 1877, artd the text Africa, as Skyen;ten have contr~buted in no small quoted is: "Be thou fait!J,ful unto death.