Island for Sale

$2 million might get you lona

Scotland's Western Isles are a striking blend of savage shores and pastoral serenity, made famous in music by Mendelssohn's Hebrides overture. If Mendelssohn were alive, he might now compose a Hebrides dirge.

Of the hundreds of Western Isles, few are as precious to Scots as tiny lona (pop. 90), where many kings of Scotland are buried and where St. Columba landed in the 6th century, bringing Christianity and the Irish art of whisky distilling. In 1693 the powerful Campbells of Argyll received the 4 1/2-sq.-mi. island as a gift from the Crown and have watched over it ever since. But from Inveraray Castle, ancestral home of the Dukes of Argyll, came word last week that lona will be sold to raise money for taxes. The announcement touched off concern among Scots who fear that uncaring foreigners might buy the island or that developers might transform its 2,000 acres of windswept pastures into a tacky tourist mecca.

Ian Campbell, 41, who is both the twelfth Duke of Argyll and Chief of the Clan Campbell, says he is surprised how "darned fast" the news of the sale got around and claims a dozen offers "from all over the world." Campbell is selling the island because he owes the government $1 million, the result of estate duties incurred on the death of his father in 1973. He says he shares his countrymen's concern for lona's future and would prefer to turn it over to the National Trust of Scotland, which would ensure the preservation of its historic sites and natural beauty. But he concedes that he will have to consider selling it to a private developer if the government does not offer him what he considers a proper price; that is likely to be in the $2 million area.

With Scottish pride still bruised following the inconclusive "devolution" referendum to give the region more autonomy, Scotsmen were rallying to save little lona; Scottish Nationalist M.P. Iain McCormick, representing Argyll, called for the government to buy it.

Commented one writer to an Edinburgh newspaper:

"To allow such places to pass into alien or developing hands would indeed confirm the death of a nation's soul."

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