Prince Rupert Daily News, February-December 1924: Pattullo's plan to settle Hebridean crofter-fishermen in British Columbia

A run of reports, read 10 Oct 2026 in the page images (object numbers at https://prnewspaperarchives.ca/islandora/object/prdn%3A). The three marked [checked] were read again for this archive; the rest are as the research brief transcribed them.

• 22 Feb 1924, p. 1 (prdn:32267), “Immigrants are Destined for Lands in Northern British Columbia Pattullo Announces”: the Minister of Lands “further said that the crofters of the Hebrides were anxious to secure land in the province and he had cabled informing them that suitable land was available on the Queen Charlotte Islands.”
• 23 Feb 1924, p. 1 (prdn:33370) [checked], “Provincial Government Asked to Provide for Hebrideans on their Arrival in this Country”: “Details of the plan under which hundreds of hardy Scotch fishermen from the Hebrides might come to British Columbia to engage in the fishing industry in place of Orientals was laid before the Provincial Government yesterday by Captain Ian McKenzie, M.L.A., of Vancouver.” The British government would pay their passage.
• 25 Feb 1924 (prdn:31448): Pattullo cabled the Agent-General in London offering loans “up to $300 per family,” the Imperial government to match.
• 19 May 1924, p. 5 (prdn:31504) [checked], Pattullo’s campaign speech at Prince Rupert: he had been criticized “for his trips to the Old Country in connection with the Stuart Lake lands,” but “a party of Esthonion settlers had just arrived… Sir John Pitka, who brought them, stated that he expected several hundred more families.” And: “Mr. Pattullo stated that he had endeavored to have Hebrideans settled on the Queen Charlotte Islands but there had been opposition from the south in favor of Vancouver Island. ‘Often we have to fight battles for the north that the people here do not even know about.’”
• 30 Sept 1924, p. 2 (prdn:32800), Pattullo’s letter of 25 September: “The Overseas Settlement Board apparently had been very much prejudiced against the Queen Charlotte Islands”; “there is room on this Coast for thousands of fishermen… Porcher Island is admirably situated to take care of a considerable number of fisher folk.”
• 30 Oct 1924, p. 1 (prdn:31739) [checked], “No More Aid Hebrideans: Pattullo Says Better Stay at Home if $600 Not Enough for Them”: answering Father Macdonell, “who is fostering the settlement of Hebridean fishermen on the British Columbia coast,” that the aid offered was inadequate, “Mr. Pattullo asserts that if the settlers cannot make good on a grant of $600 and a tent apiece contributed by the two governments it would be a great deal better for them to stay in the Hebrides.”
• 17 Dec 1924 (prdn:31290): “The legislature has passed a $20,000 appropriation to cover the cost of bringing fifty Hebridean fishermen to the west coast of Vancouver Island.”

A Victoria report of 30 July 1925 (the Daily Colonist, as the research brief read it in OCR) has “definite arrangements” for 25 Hebridean fishing families near Alberni “early next Spring.” No record of their arrival has been found. Michael Vance (article-vance-2008-scots-fishing-industry) says the scheme was abandoned for want of support from Ottawa and London.

What it shows: Pattullo pressed the plan for the north coast (the Queen Charlottes, then Porcher Island) and lost to Vancouver Island; in his own reported words it was about settling the north, while the case for the Hebrideans as replacements “in place of Orientals” was made by Ian Mackenzie. See thomas-pattullo-1873 and pattullo-bloody-sunday.