TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7777, 3 February 1891, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

If all the holders of peerages were half as worthy as the first Baron Tollemashe, whose death is recorded in The Times of December 12th, we should have little, if any* agitation against the hereditary branch of the English Legislature. The Times says he was the finest practical agriculturist in the country. He was also in every sense of the word a model landlord and employer of labor. He had two large estates—Helmingham, in Suffolk, of 7000 acres, and Peckforton, in Cheshire, 26,000 acres. Lord Toilemache was the originator of the historic " three acres and a cow," There ate no fewer than 250 cottagers on the Peckforton Estate. They utilise a portion of the land for a garden, and a portion for grazing and tillage. They supplement their wages on adjacent farms by selling the produce from the cows. In this way Lord Tollemaohe, we are told, completely solved the labor difficulty.

In dealing with his tenant farmers, his Lordship was equally thoughtful and liberal. He knew every tenant on his vast estates, and what each man could do, "The, only real and lasting pleasure derived from the possession of a landed estate," he onoe -wrote to a friend, "is to witness the improvement in the social condition of those residing on it." This was the motto on whioh he acted. He disliked farms over 200 acres in extent, and he was equally Impressed with the idea that a farmer could not be expected to thrive on a smaller holding. He went to enormoue expense to break up his estate into what he considered suitable blocks. His total expenditure up to 1881 on farm homesteads and apw cottages—all of which were constructed on the most approved eanitary principles, amounted to the enormous sum of .£280,000. He had the satisfaction, however, of seeing bis land farmed in the best possible manner, and everyone happy and comfortable around him. The bulk of the prizes at the county and local dairy shows , wore taken by his tenants. The farmers rarely or never lost a laborer. The Time* tells a characteriatio anecdote about Lord Tollemache at the time when Mr Joseph Arch was agitating among the Suffolk laborers. The noble lord made a short speech to the men's wives, and it was to this effect:— "Ladies, Arch is coming to talk to your husbands. Are you happy now t (Voices— *' Yes.') Will you be happier if yon accept Arch's advice and strike ? (Chorus of voices— •N0. , ) Then take my advice and make a fool's cap for any of your husbands who j attends his meetings, and make him wear :it to his work." The speech was received with roars of laughter, and Lord Tollemache used to say that however excellent the work that Arch had accomplished elsewhere, he never found it necessary to disturb the excellent relations subsisting between himself and the laborers on the estates.

It is not surprising to learn that so liberal-minded a man was exceedingly tolerant in religious matters. Hβ subscribed largely in aid of both the Anglican Churches and the Dissenting Chapels on hie estates. There varan old pear tree on the Peckforton estate, under which John Wesley used to preach, and when it was blown down Lord Tollemaehe planted another one, Howerer, he did ccme into conflict once with the local clergy. Hβ established a sohool on his Helmingham * estate for the benefit of the farmers' and cottagers* children, and that no offence should be given to the Dissenters the Church Catechism was excluded. All at once a feeling of caste began to bpring up, the tenant fanners raising objections to their children mixing with, the children of the laborers. ttightly or wrongly Lord ToJJemacae aaspeoted the clergy of

Waning ■ up ! Hβ coped with, the (UjjuZ , S*' •md effertually by boys to the Bchool and £ , Vl there for a considerable perioT ,f H* ac he used to add, " broke the'v opposition." This fine old 1j was hale and hearty up to W 'if? b!% |[ days of his death, and had hJ **T ' hia eiffhty-fiffch birthday amidh ; gratulationa. In a mca BUw jT^W' to his dutyae a landowner was of his death. Hβ drove wui* taN in a dogcart, covering about in his journey ot inspection, 3&" performed in a bitter east wind o **'■' return he complained of fegju M t cold and went to bed, havfo* J* V | severe chill, from which h d 1 covered. Pew men have «>& ?** ! '% rest more deeply honored or ■ mourned. '*^t 4 » Crkm ation 19 not making much fey W England,but every novraudtb«a o | of its being substituted for burial - fin the case of a person holdiag aj s | les3 distinguished position, *< % of the late Mr Baron HaddletfJ p pears, were so treated by the f of the late judge. The body in a thin pine shell, attaohed to w u?t a plato bearing the insoripMoa Is John Walter Huddleston. Died'wi cember, 1890, aged 75 yeate." ty S I/from a Home paper that the eettjJ • p< was held in the chapel crematorium at Wokinf?, '« eimplo description. Tuo Ussusl |"« the Uurialof the Dead I emendation made to suit the ciftajj; 1 of tho case being iv the words ; .» fore commit his body to the cro&l- ; *- which the clergyman «?P- 't therefore commit his body to ife j^k* '-.< * corpse having boen placed in fch e q* o, furnace, in about au hour ana *i!a ' process was complete, aad tag asha* * told, were gathered together ad veyed in an urn to Aswt by &t - Countter, his Lordship's chief dsjvT J whole ceremony seems to h«« 4 ducted with decency and - Still custom and prejudice are it will be a long timo, wo feairfe ; ' cremation becomoa the popular $gu - • disposing of the rcin&ius of the djji