Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 150.djvu/268
is in the months of August and September, and who finds himself hampered by the restrictions of deer-forests, thinks wistfully how "purposes of recreation or of scientific or artistic study" should set him free of the country, and blesses Mr Bryce. For it is to be observed that in Mr Bryce’s hands the question purely concerns tourists, and, as a fact, almost entirely English and foreign tourists. Curiously enough, he does not include crofters in his view. To most people it would appear that if there is any grievance at all it will be felt by the crofters. If there is any system of undue exclusion, then it is those whose lot has been cast by birth among the mountains who have the highest claim to their free use. But this is not the view of Mr Bryce. His resolution of the present session is vague on the point, and treats of her Majesty’s subjects at large as on an equal footing. But the bill introduced year by year by Mr Bryce, and this year dropped only for a technical reason and to give place to the resolution, is presumably to be regarded as the full expression of his views. The preamble of that bill expresses clearly the objects:—
“And whereas doubts have arisen as to the respective rights of the owners of uncultivated mountain and moor lands in Scotland and of her Majesty’s subjects generally as regards the use of such lands and the access thereto, and it is expedient to remove such doubts and to secure to her Majesty's subjects the right of free access to such lands for the purposes of recreation and scientific or artistic study, subject to proper provisions for preventing any abuse of such right.”
And the principal enacting clause is the following:—
“Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, no owner or occupier of uncultivated mountain or moor lands in Scotland shall be entitled to exclude any person from walking or being on such lands for the purposes of recreation or scientific or artistic study, or to molest him in so walking or being.”
Thus the bill does not touch the case of those who have occasion to traverse the hills, not for purposes of recreation or scientific or artistic study, but in pursuance of the needs of daily life. If any case of general or widespread exclusion of such persons could be made out it would win general sympathy. But Mr Bryce makes no such attempt. He passes by the crofter altogether. With an enthusiasm that may be excused in the hero of Ararat, he is absorbed in the interests of the climber, and merely throws in as a makeweight the pursuit of scientific or artistic study. Here undoubtedly he is on his firmest ground. An artist at his work is a fixed object, and peculiarly liable to the interference of a fussy or ill-natured proprietor. Botanists and geologists should have free range. But the number of artists and of persons engaged in serious scientific research in the Highlands is extremely small, and the number of forests where such men would be refused access still smaller. Instances of foolish rudeness to distinguished men have