LORD THURLOW ON DEPRES

Otago Witness, Issue 1476, 28 February 1880, Page 6

LORD THURLOW ON DEPRES-

I cannot agree with the gloomy forebodings of the Duke of Richmond and Lord Salisbury and Huutly ia their recent speeches on agricultural depression (soys Lord Thurlow in a letter to the London Times), and I will endeavour to explain why I, for one, still venture to believe in the future of British agriculture. In the first place, when it ia talked of tenant farmers abandoning tenant farming as no longer affording adequate return for their capital and skill, I believe by far the largest class of tenant farmers is altogether lost si^ht of— l mean those who practically cannot abandon their profession, and whose skill constitutes their main capital. A very largo majority of the tenant farmers of this country have originally commenced—they or their fathers or grandfathers —with little or no capital, and have crept up into their present apparently opulent position by imperceptible degrees and by the exercise of the great virtues of thrifc and self-denial, spread over many generations and greatlyiaided by a system of temporary cash advancesffrom local banking firms. These are the real children of the soil, and they cannot liquidate, if I may use the term, at this moment of depression without sacrificing a great portion of their working capital in the process, and, therefore, will not do so, but will continue to farm their holdings which they and their ancestors have in many cages farmed for centuries, without a line of a lea3o or written agreement— at rednced rents no doubt— and, like their landlords, await the cum of the tide of agricultural prosperity. For their misfortunes our climate is really more to blame than American importations without which we should at this moment be starving, though the evils caused by the one no doubt immensely aggravate the hardships inflicted on certain glasses by the other, and the two causes becoming confused, men naturally dwell upon the one that is under human control. But, as a matter of fact, prices have Dot ruled low these last twelve months, and corn and beef have sold at rates that it would perfectly pay to produce at in this country, if only the earth brought forth its inoreaseand farmers had it to sell in its former abundance ; and this is the case more especially under the circum. stances towards which we are now drifting. I mean cheaper labour, labour-Baring machines and a readjustment of the burdens to which land is subject, based upon a new rental of the country, and the common sense view of taxing personal property for the maintenance and security of the state, under whose protection it ia enjoyed ; and when all theße things come to pass the tenant farmer and his landlord will be no worse off than formerly. Certain articles of production will undergo a change. Wheat will be more sparingly grown, and in its stead more oats and barley ; feeding stuffs will be more studied, and possibly new plants, like oamfrey introduced ; poultry and dairy produce will re.' assert themselves; and even vegetables will receive increased attention. In the vicinity of large towns and on fine land, like the Lothians farmers will continue to grow gambling crops of potatoes, and often, as formerly, in a good year succeed in paying their entire rent off one field. In Kent the same may hold good with hops • while Devonshire and Cheshire will doubtless continue to produce their respective spe* oialities. What farmers require is good weather and a settling down of prices after their recent rude disturbance. It is really a period of agricultural transition that we are passing through, and farmers have, in my opinion, already realised their great looses in the fall in value of their stock. From my own experience on a farm o£ 600 acres, I know that last spring I sold out fat cattle, in some cases, for less money than I bought them in at as lean stock six months before. But this will net recur this year, as I and my neighbours have bought in our feeders at a price calculated to leave the same margin of profit as formerly. If a farmer oan buy in young cattle at £9 a head in October, 1879, and sell them to the butcher or the grazier at £17 in April, 1880, he is really better off than when he used to buy them in at £12, and sell them at £20. What happened in 1878-9 was this :— Farmers bought in at the high rate and sold out at the low. These figures are taken from my own books, and represent actual transactions on the 100 head of cattle that I turn over annually. But the farmer of to-day must not only grow one thing— say beef or corn j mixed agriculture is the thing that nays ; he must sell everything —beef, lambs, colts, pigs, poultry, butter, hay, grain, and possibly straw, under certain conditions. My experience of such a system of farming for 1878 9 shows a profit of £300 on a farm of fOO acres, after payment of rent, interest on capital, and every other proper charge, and this, notwithstanding bhe very unfavourable outturn of cattle, which was, however, fully compensated for by unusually large sales of grain of the abundant harvest of 1878. Under these circumstances, and letting alone exceptionally heavy lands, of which, unfortunately, I also possess some experience, and which remain a problem for future 'solution, I venture to look the future of agriculture in this country in the face with comparative tranquility, confident that when, the period of rjpid fluctuations in price is over things will down into their former relative position, leaving fair margins of profit, as formerly, to all classes de^ pendent on the land for their means of subsistence. Neither do I despair of the future of small estates, or peasant proprietors, as they are called, and I even look at the present moment, when land is rather less fashionable than it waa, as a golden opportunity for the introduction of the system. Many of the estates now in the market could be out up to suit small purchasers j titles are now comparatively cheap, aud I trust that the gloomy predictions of the Duke of Richmond and of Lord Salisbury and Huntly will not deter those who believe in the magic of freehold property from experimentalizing in a direction that would do more to strengthen the basis of our social fabric than any other innovation.