Of the total population of Scotland, 91.4% were Scottish in 1921, a figure which had been almost stationary for a consider able period before that date. English people represented 3.8%, Irish 3.2, Welsh 0.1, British Colonials 0.4, British born abroad 0.1, and aliens 0.4. The Irish (159,000 in 1921) and English (who increased by 17.2% between 1911 and 1921) are found mostly in the cities of the south and in the central industrial area; there are very few in the northern counties. In 1921 nearly I70,000 men were employed respectively in agriculture and transport, over 150,000 in mining and quarrying, and 280,00o in metal working. Professional occupations engaged 42,000. Among the women nearly 170,000 were engaged in personal service, and 146,000 in the manufacture of textiles, textile goods and clothes.
In 1931, of the total population 7,069 persons spoke Gaelic only, and 130,080 persons spoke both Gaelic and English. The high est percentages of Gaelic-speaking inhabitants were found in Ross and Cromarty (55), Sutherland (42.2), Inverness
and Argyll (33.7). In 21 counties under 1% spoke Gaelic, and Over 5o% of all those speaking the language were found in Ross and Cromarty and Inverness. Of the 73,602 inhabitants of the insular portions of Inverness, Ross and Cromarty and Argyll, 8,797 in 1921 spoke Gaelic only, as compared with 15,746 in 1911; the majority are children under nine or people over 5o, Gaelic being still largely the language of the homes.
In recent years, large numbers of Scottish people have emi grated, owing to difficult economic conditions in the rural and isolated areas (from which a large proportion of the emigrants are drawn) and to the prevalence of unemployment in the indus trial centres. In 1924 and 1925 Scottish emigrants numbered between one-third and one-half of the number emigrating from England and Wales, although the total population of Scotland is only about one-eighth of that of England and Wales. The population of Canada was 13% Scottish in 1921. This coincides with a large immigration of Irish labourers, which has caused some alarm to certain Scotch writers, as threatening the national traditions of Scotland.
The Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) is the most influential and powerful religious body in Scotland, and its membership has increased during the last 5o years at a greater rate than that of the population in general. Nearly half the total marriages of Scotland are performed by Church of Scotland ministers, and there were some 760,000 communicants in 1927. The next most important body is the United Free Church, formed in 1900 by the union of the Free Presbyterian Churches of Scot land. The Church of Scotland Act (1921) was passed in order to facilitate union among the various Presbyterian bodies in Scot land, and the Church of Scotland bill of 1925 vested all the property and endowments of the Church in its general trustees. The Episcopal Church in Scotland had some 145,000 members (6o,000 communicants) in 1925, with seven bishops and 352 clergy. There are also smaller bodies of Baptists, Congregation alists, Wesleyan Methodists and Unitarians.
There has always remained a small but steady native Roman Catholic population in Scotland, mostly centred in Inverness and Dumfries, but in recent times the infiltration of Irish labour ers has resulted in a large increase in the Roman Catholic popu lation, which was estimated at as high a figure as 606,650 in 1927. There are two Roman Catholic archbishops, four bishops,
and one bishop auxiliary, and 13.6% of Scottish marriages are celebrated in Roman Catholic churches. There were over soo Roman Catholic priests and monks in Scotland in 1921.
By the Act of Union in 1707 the Scottish parliament was assimilated to that of England. Scottish representation in the parliament of Great Britain was fixed at 16 peers (to the 108 who formed the English House of Lords), to be elected for the duration of each parliament by the peers of Scotland, and 45 members (to the 513 English) in the House of Commons, of whom the Scottish counties returned 3o and the burghs 15. The power of the sovereign to create new Scottish peerages lapsed at the Union. The representation in the Lords has remained unchanged, but the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act of 1832 raised the number of members in the Commons to 53, the counties under a slightly altered arrange ment returning 3o as before, and the burghs reinforced by the creation of certain new "parliamentary burghs," 23. The Act of 1867 added 7 members, the universities obtaining representa tion by two members, while two additional members were assigned to the counties and three to the burghs, and in 1885 the Redistri bution of Seats Act gave an additional 7 members to the counties and 5 to the burghs. Under the Act of 1918 the total representa tion was raised to 74-38 members for the counties, 33 for the burghs and 3 for the universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Among the counties, Angus,' Argyll, Banff, Dunbarton, Dumfries and West Lothian return one member each; Fife and Renfrew, two members each; Lanarkshire 7 members (in the divisions of Bothwell, Coatbridge, Hamilton, Lanark, Motherwell, Northern and Rutherglen). The combined counties of Berwick and East Lothian, Caithness and Sutherland, Moray and Nairn, Orkney and Zetland, Roxburgh and Selkirk, and Galloway (the shire of Wigton and stewartry of Kircud bright combine to form the parliamentary county and sheriffdom of Galloway) return one member for each two counties; Mid lothian and Peebles, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and Clackmannan, two for each two counties; Aberdeen and Kincardine, Ayr and Bute (including the division of Kilmarnock), Inverness with Ross and Cromarty (including the Western Isles division), three members for each two counties. While a majority of the burghs are included for parliamentary purposes in the counties in which they are situated,' the following form independent constituencies, namely, Greenock, Leith, Paisley, one member each ; Aberdeen and Dundee, two members each; Edinburgh, 5; Glasgow, 15 (in the divisions of Bridgeton, Camlachie, Cathcart, Central, Gorbals, Govan, Hillhead, Kelvingrove, Maryhill, Partick, Pollok, St. Rol lox, Shettleston, Springburn and Tradeston). Six groups or "districts of burghs," named after the leading burgh in each group, also return one member each, namely, Ayr, Dumbarton, Dun fermline, Kirkcaldy, Montrose, and Stirling and Falkirk districts of burghs.