FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9493, 24 April 1894, Page 3

FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

[BY OUR ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL CORRES-

PONDENT.] London, February 24. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL. In the House of Lords, as stated in my lasb letter, the Local Government Bill was greatly improved from the landowners' and farmers' point of view. Amendments were introduced with a view to limiting the voting power to those who pay rates, and although these were not carried out consistently, because it was held that the Lords were infringing the privileges of the House of Commons by making such financial arrangements; it was stipulated at least that the members of parish and district councils should be ratepayers. Again, several valuable safeguards were introduced to prevent hardship to owners and occupiers of land through the operation of the clauses authorising parish councils to acquire land compulsorily by purchase or hire. But on the Bill going back to the Commons everyone of these fair and reasonable amendments was rejected, and in all probability the Lords will give way on most points, if nob on all, and the most unjust Act of Parliament ever passed in this country will become law. This wrong has been perpetrated to gain the votes of the agricultural labourers, and when we see such things done by a great party, it is enough to make us despair of the political prospect.

AGRICULTURAL CREDIT BANKS. The projecb for establishing agricultural credit banks in this country, although it has gained the general approval of the j press, has not been taken up very warmly at present. The subject is a new one here, and very few people understand the working of the system which it is desired to introduce. A report just presented to the Labour Commission on the Labour Question in Italy, by Mr. Drage, one of the secretaries of the Commission, dwells at great length upon the establishment and management of people's banks, including the rural banks in that country. People's banks, mainly for the use of townsmen, were es tablished as long ago as 1858, and in 1870 there were 50 of them, while by 1887 the number had risen to 608, and is probably much greater now; but it was nob until 1883 that Signor Wollemberg founded the first rural bank at Loreggia, in the province of Padua. It succeeded so well that its founder was encouraged in his efforts to , establish the system, and he was so success- | ful that by the end of 1881 there were 53 rural banks in Italy, and 20 more were founded in 1892. The need of these institutions in Italy was very great, for the ' peasants had been cruelly oppressed by usurers, who frequently charged them 30 to 50 per cent, for loans, and even in extreme cases as much as cent, percent. The testimony to the improvement in the condition of the people where the rural bank has been established is astonishing. One witness says:—"Our families delivered from the stone yoke of usury have opened their hearts to the hope of a happiness of which formerly they would nob have dared to dream. The cultivation of vines has received a new impulse ; better methods are employed ; intensive cultivation is adopted ; profits increase. Morality has gained greatly. Our peasants, as they are never tired of repeating, now work with minds at ease about the future, a feeling hitherto unknown to them. The more aged members speak with emotion of the days when the bank possessing its own gradually accumulated capital will be able to grant more and more favourable conditions to borrowers. They know, not without reason, that this collective fund will be a great resource for their sons and descendants to fall back upon." This is only one extract oub of many that might be given, showing the great benefit which has resulted from the establishment of rural banks. Usury no longer oppresses the lenders and the usurers themselves have had to leave the districts where the banks have come into play. It cannot be said that there is as great a need in this country for these institutions as there was in Italy ; but they cannot fail to do good wherever they are established if they are carried on in the careful manner in which they are conducted on the Continent of Europe, all members being jointly responsible, and therefore careful to prevent dangerous loans being made. COWS* DIET, AND FAT IN MILK. The new number of the Journal of the British Dairy-Farmers' Association opens with a paper by Mr. John Speir on the effect of the cow's food upon the quality of her milk. He gives the results of a number of ex periments carried, u oub Americin Canada, and other countries, including some which he conducted himself. A3 he truly says, the indication of these experiments is that the proportion of butter-fat in milk is not materially affected by differences in diet during shorb periods, although the total quantities of milk and butter are considerably affected, and the solids other than fat in small degree. Bub even to this extent the conclusions are not absolutely certain, because the experiments have been so badly managed thab ib is quite possible that they are misleading. The periods of feeding on different diets have never, or hardly ever, been more than a month each, and the average of fat for the whole of each period has been taken so that the effects of the diffcrenb diets really run into each other. The proper plan would be to feed on a very low diet for ab least a month, testing the milk for the last week only, then feeding for another month on a very rich dieb and testing the milk in the last week of that period only. We should then see clearly the results of each dieb. Ib would be better still to let the trials last for two months each, and to have two lots of cows all of them having calved at about the same date, and trying one lob on bhe rich dieb and one on the poor one for two months and then changing about, taking the tests for the lasb forbnighb of each period. In mosb of the experiments, too, toe differences in the diets have been insufficiently marked. So far as can be judged from the evidence, it is probable thab in spite of being fed badly, a cow yields her normal proportion of fat in milk, although the quantity mosb likely falls off, so long as she has any surplus fab in her system. Whether when this is exceeded she will continue to give normal milk in greatly reduced quantities, or whether it will fall off in quality also, remains to be proved. At any rate, the important point for dairy-farmers is that the quantity of butter as well as of milk falls off when the diet becomes poorer, and the great point to be determined is the limit of profitable feeding. PROTECTION IN FRANCE. The French Chamber has passed a Bill raising the duty on wheat from 8a 9d to 12s 3d a quarter, and the duties on different kinds of flour in a corresponding degree. It is expected that the Bill will be carried quickly through the Senate. NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE. In consequence of two of Shaw SaviU's steamers being taken off, there has been a great gap in arrivals of butter and cheese from New Zealand, which is unfortunate, as the trade has been good recently. Nothing has come for a fortnight, the Aorangi having been the last steamer to arrive, and the Rimutaka will not be here for another fortnight. Such . colonial produce as has been in the market this week—chiefly Australian—has gone off well, cheese being quoted at 53s to 56s and butter at 90s to 114s, to give the extremes, the bulk having gone ab 100s to 110s.