Newspaper and date unknown but on the back of the cutting . This might give a clue/ if we had a state of affairs where a score of atom bombs could dislocate the whole economy and social and military life of the country, the whole 800,000,000 pounds for defence was a colossal expenditure and a fraud on the British taxpaper. SMUGGLING IN KILMORY The parish of Kilmory comprises the greator part of the south and west coasts of Arran extending from Largiebeg to Lochranza; quite astep even in these days when buses swing round the winding hilly road in second gear and morning papers are delivered to the front garden by a well-aimed throw from Janet to Sheena as their bus rolls by. Kilmory church, lying inland from the present coast road, is hardly discernible from the bus. It lies on the old road which joins the modern route half a mile before the bus dips down to cross Kilmory Water at the picturesque old Inn of Lagg. The kirk is typical of many a Highland parish, and togethe! r with glebe and manse the oldest now inhabited in Scotland forms a pleasantly wooded group against a background of gien and moor. The Honourable Still: There're many generations of Kilmory folk lying in the old churchyard where the headstones tell the story of croft and sea, and common is the inscription, "Farmer of this parish."Others of the stones have a different tale to tell; of days when farm and hill and the lawful occasions of the sea were not the only occupations of the good people of Kilmory . The Rev.Angus MacMillan, "Minister of this parish." who lies in the corner next the glebe, writing of his charge about 1840 in a vein of love and respect for his people, feels compelled to mention that "...... illicit distillation prevailed to a very recent period, but its demoralizing effects were not developed here so prominently as in other places, from the circumstance of its not being considered a disreputable pursuit, and there being few if any, in the parish who at some time in their lives were not engaged in some department of smuggling." Far from being a burden on the public conscience, smuggling, the minister continues, "...was considered rather an honourable occupation as exhibiting an intrepidity and art that acquired for these persons a distinction in the eyes of their companions." The activities to which the Rev. Angus referred were rather different from the traditional "free-trading" of the English Channel and West Country, where the illegal importation of French cognac and laces, and escapades of such desperate professional smugglers as the Hawkes gang, gave rise to a state of affairs bordering on local civil war with great cruelties practiced by both sides. In Kilmory the problem was rather one of export; whisky made in the hills was shipped to the mainland for sale, and as the Rev. Angus points out, " It was on the darkest night, when no cruiser would stand the gale, that in his little skiff the smuggler transported his cargo to the opposite shores of Ayrshire." Perhaps he too had a sneaking admir! ation for the nocturnal adventures of his young men. It would appear that the Revenue forces and the Arran smugglers ran a fairly gentlemanly war on the whole, and that certain unwritten but clearly defined rules were tacitly observed by both parties. Thus the gauge, whose cottage still stands just up the road from the Lagg Hotel, would make an occasional seizure in the hills, and the Preventive Water Guard who manned the cutters were expected to seize what contraband they could capture on the high seas. There was at least one occasion when the zeal of both sides outran the rules. ARMED SHORE PARTY: On March 25, 1817 H.M. xxxxxx Prince Edward (Captain Sir John Reid,BT.) lay becalmed about three miles west of Pladda and some two miles offshore. In the late afternoon a skiff was observed pushing off from the shore laden with casks. Whether the occupants were simply ignoring the cutter, or whether they had not recognized her, is not clear. At any rate the sight was too much for the noble captain, who promptly dispatched the cutter's boat and 12 seamen under the command of the mate John Jeffrey, to head them off. The smugglers turned back and made for the hills complete with casks, no doubt having kept the horses handy just in case. Jeffrey appears to have been a determined officer for he quickly beached his boat, and leaving a couple of hands in her as keepers marched the rest of his men inland to search for contraband. In his own words " three of the party had muskets and bayonets, and two or three muskets without bayonets; the rest of the party were ar! med with pistols and cutlasses." After a stiffish climb they found four casks of spirits in the "muir ground" of Shannochie. While the Revenue men were breaking out the casks five strangers appeared: Jeffrey, noticing that their lover garments were wet, challenged them with being from the skiff. There was apparently some argument, but no arrests were made, and the Customs men started carrying the four casks beachwards. While this was going on the five suspected men had been joined by onlookers from miles around--Jeffrey finally estimated them to number 200 people. There was plenty of shouting and taunting and bitter was the complaint that the cutter had never previously made seizure so far inland. The mate plodded steadily on in the wake of his party, and no doubt beads of perspiration rolled down under his leather hat and broadcloth coat. BLOWS TO BULLETS The crowd now threatened that none of the party would reach the boat alive, and Jeffrey, after warning the people of ! his uniform and authority..."having drawn his sword, repeatedly pressed the mob back with the flat of it." After some distance they had to negotiate a dyke, and having got his men safely past this danger point the officer must have been relieved to see the crowd hang back till he was in advance about 200 yards. His relief was short lived; in a burst of cheering the islanders made a charge and with ammunition both plentiful and handy in the dyke they pelted the Customs party from a range of ten yards with telling effect. In the scrap that followed the mate and two seamen were thrown down and overpowered. The situation was by now distinctly ugly, and rightly or wrongly Jeffrey gulped out the order to fire. The Kilmory people retired in face of this volley taking with them the muskets of the sailors knocked down. Unfortunately three of the islanders, two men and woman, were left dead on the field. DUTY DEFENCE Jeffrey was later charged with the murder of William McKinnon, Dani! el McKinnon and Isabel Nicol in that he "having conceived a causeless malice or ill-will towards the said persons, did fire a pistol loaded with ball...." His defence was brief and to the point, the killing being claimed as justifiable "inasmuch as the same was done in execution of his duty as a Revenue officer and in self defence." There were 35 witnesses for the Cown and 64 for the defence. The fact that these included officers and men from no fewer than five Revenue cutters and a ship of war gives some idea of the forces deemed necessary to combat smuggling on the West Coast of Scotland. Jeffrey appears to have been acquitted, but three of the stones in Kimory churchyard recall the passions that raged in hot blood so many years ago. by Thomas E. Appleton.