YOUR correspondent from Harris, Ian Callaghan (What Harris needs, May 27), seems to have hit the nail squarely on the head.
The only positive conclusions to emerge from all the representations are clearly summarised: Harris does not need its coastline to be destroyed by foreign quarrymasters who may, or may not, operate to the benefit of the island within the next 60 years; Harris does not need its pure waters to be contaminated by filthy ballast waters; Harris does not need the noise, pollution, scenic and wildlife destruction which accompanies such an operation.
A few short-term jobs and a few million pounds in bribe money could never compensate for the irreparable damage to a beautiful area, which took billions of years to create. Digging a hole on the mainland and filling it in when finished is one thing; destroying a coastline is quite another.
Would that the white cliffs of Dover were commercially attractive to quarry and we might then see the differences in approach from all sides. There would be no need for an inquiry - the proposition would be dismissed out of hand.
Yes, jobs and local enterprise are required in Harris, but we now live in a totally new electronic age. There are surely plenty of different opportunities that can provide jobs and wealth without destruction, while preserving an area of remote and tranquil beauty in an ever-increasingly ugly, commercial, and over-populated world.
Nigel Dewar Gibb,
15 Kirklee Road, Glasgow.
May 31.
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