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Stornoway Gazette: Ness News - 3rd May 1923:

An advert that appeared in the Stornoway Gazette in 1923:

"Lewismen in Canada prepare welcome - Montreal, Tuesday - Preparations have been made at various centres to give an enthusiastic welcome to the large party of Hebridean settlers coming to Canada on the Metagama. Owing to the ice conditions in the St. Lawrence it is uncertain where the party will land. Although the Metegama is due to arrive at Quebec at the end of the week, it is stated by the Canadian Pacific Authorities that unless the river is considerably clearer of ice the steamer may have to be diverted to St. John's.

Wherever the settlers land they will immediately be forwarded by special train to their destinations in Ontario and the Western Provinces. Should they land at St. John's, the City Council there is planning a reception for the Hebrideans by the local Scottish Societies, while those both of Montreal and Toronto intend to offer hospitality to the settlers from Stornoway, including addresses in their native Gaelic which is still spoken by a number of Scotsmen in various parts of Canada."

CANADA

Domestic Servants
for Ontario

Wanted for Ontario, Domestic Servants for First Class Farm Houses. To sail in April. Situations Guaranteed. Assisted Passages.

In placing the Girls in Situations every effort will be made to place them as near each other as possible.

Immediate application should be made to Major Goodliff, Ontario Government Representative at: 46 Point Street, Stornoway

Extracts from the Stornoway Gazette of 25 October 1923:

"Mr. Lothian deplored the present conditions of life in Lewis and wondered at the pleasing appearance of the young men reared under such climate and agricultural disadvantages, and went on to explain at length what Canada with its vast resources offered to young men willing to ensure hardships at the outset and possessed of good qualities of brain and a healthy constitution. Schemes for emigration on a large scale were now under way, and when completed would be worthy of their consideration. He trusted negotiations would be matured in early Spring and the Dominion Government would then offer assisted passages at the rate of 75 per cent, the emigrants to pay the balance of 25 per cent."

Mr D.E. Lothian, B.Sc., the Canadian Agent for Scotland, addressed a meeting in Lionel School in 1923.

"Mr. Gunn explained at length what strenuous efforts had been put forth to move the home Government to provide employment in sorely needed relief works at home, but all such efforts had proved in vain. They had hoped against hope that Lord Leverhulme would consider them, seeing they had stood so loyally by him, but such thoughts had proved only an air bubble. Now, hard as it seemed to forsake their home forever, he counselled them to emigrate at the earliest possible moment...Mr. Gunn poured scorn on the late British Premier's promises during the last war and ended up saying, ‘He promised you a land fit for heroes to live in. I say to you, it is only a hero who could live in the land you subsist in now!’ ".
Mr Iain Guinne, Headmaster at Lionel School, spoke at the same meeting.

Though both forced and voluntary emigration was a traumatic experience for the thousands who left Scotland over the past two centuries, for many new opportunities awaited them far from home on the distant shores of North America.
John MacLeod ("Mac Bhoids") from South Dell, Ness, who departed for Canada aboard the SS Marloch in 1924, recalls:
"I left South Dell at 23 years of age in April 1924 on the ship Marloch and settled in the province of Ontario. I worked in Ontario for a while, then, in hopes of making money went to Niagara Falls in the United States. After a few months I moved back to Canada to the city of Fort William, Ontario. Fort William proved lucky for me. It was there that I met Jessie Anne MacPhail from Benside, Lewis and we were married on January 9 1929. A few months later we left Fort William and came to Trail, British Columbia, and we are still here. I worked in Trail with the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. (now officially called Cominco Ltd.) until I retired with a comfortable pension.

The decision to come to Canada was one we never regretted. Never does a day pass that we don't talk about Lewis and our younger days....Our eldest grand-daughter, by the way, recently won the Canadian Junior Figure Skating Championship."

'Tarmod Iain Ailein' from Port of Ness left for Canada on 17 may 1924: "The Depression was not over and work was scarce but that only brought us closer together. There was a large Lewis colony here and we had taken root. We were no longer from Ness or Point etc, but we were as one village, with one common bond. Fate brought us here and we were different .

When one found work, he would at once recommend a fellow Lewisman for the first opening. This worked so well both on land and sea that there was very little unemployment among us; many of the Lewismen held responsible jobs both on land and sea. Ness was well represented among the captains and officers who served on the Great Lakes and on salt water, also among those who studied for the ministry and served as pastors both in Canada and the United States."