From the archives: Harris crofters’ protest, 17 April, 1948
Specialising in a high-class tweed made partly of handspun yarn, the crofters find that the new increased tax exaggerates the difference between the price of their more expensive cloth and the millspun Harris tweed to such an extent that buyers are cancelling all orders. The Harris Crofters’ Association has been left with several thousand pounds worth of tweed on hand and very little chance of finding a market. They are to appeal to Mr Malcolm Macmillan, MP for the Western Isles, to approach the Board of Trade. Although the margin between the cost of Harris tweed and utility cloth has been widened considerably, the large-scale producers of millspun cloth have not been seriously affected so far, because the export market takes a large proportion of their output.
• archive.scotsman.com