AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1704, 19 July 1884, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

(PBOM OUR ENGLISH ARICULTURAI, CORRESPONDENT.) London, May 30. There is now a general outcry for rain in all parts of England but the Northern counties. In some of the chief grain-growing counties there ha 3 been but little rain since the spring' crops were sown, and the effects of the long drought are daily bepoming more obvious. There will be a very short hay crop if we do not soon have a good downpour, and the prospects of the mangel crop, and in some cases of barley and oats also, will bo very poor. Wheat* except on burning soils, and the barleys on good land, as well a3 all early-sown barley on any but the lightest soila, stand the dry weather well. Indoed, our greatest whsat crops have boen grown in dry, and even in droughty, seasons. The temperature of the past week has been very changeable, and just at present the wind is in the cast, and the nights are cold, with slight frosts. On the whole, crop prospects are decidedly less cheering than they were a week ago j but if wo get rain soon, with warm weather fco follow, all will yet ba well. Hops have recently been growing rapidly, but the. cold weather now prevailing will be bad for them if it continues. Lico havo appeared in some plantations, but not in sufficient number to occasion, alarm.

The wheat markets are duller than ever, though arrivals have been small. Several Australian cargoes arrivod off co.ist last week, only three of which wero sold. For the othars it is reported that the value is 40s per quarter, aud the best samples sell slowly at 42s in London. At the end of last week there were 9Gt,000 quarters of Australian and New Zealand wheat afloat, which shows that the reserve referred to last week has been broken through. A very fino Rample of long-bewy New Zealand wheat made 44s last Monday, but there was only a small quantity, and the price was regarded as a•" fancy " one, such as is commonly given for an early arrival of a new crop. Some round-berry „ was shown, only moderate in quality. It was not sold, and the value is supposed to be 403. The first of these samples is believed to be |much inferior to Jthe average of the wheat expected from New Zealand this season. Up to the present time the Australian wheat received is below the average in quality. European orop reports continue to be generally favourable, as do reports from the United States also.

A n9w Railway Bill waß introduced on behalf of the Government by Mr Cbamberjain, President of the Board of Trade, last week. Insome respeotsit is an excellent measure, but it is marred by two important defects, which will probably prevent it from passing during the present session, as there is bo much other work in hand that opposed bills, newly introduced, have a very poor chance. The Bill would permanently, establish the Railway Commissioners as a- .tribunal for adjudicating upon disputes between railway companies and their customers. The Commissioners were appointed under an act passed in 1873, whioh haa "only five "years' duration as originally passed.' , At the expiration of the term it was again renewed for a socond term of " years, and last year it was aps"*" '„ nve by the .".Expiring T.»- ..a renewed Act." . The Seleo*- ' _-ws Continuance Rates and T< *' - vjommittee on Railway 1881. -' ' -ares, which Pat in 1880 and , otrongly recommended the permanent appointment of the Commissioners, with extended jurisdiction and powers, ] and this suggestion would be carried into effect by Mr Chambei lain's bill, which enables Courts of ' Session to transfer cases relating to rail rates to the Commissions Court. Chambers of Commerce or Agriculture, and some other public bodies, are given a locus stemdi before the Commissioners, and this is an important concession, because few men care to fight a wealthy railway company single;handed. Greatly extended powers are also given' fco the

Board of Trade to provide for public Bafety and convenience, such as those of ordering any railway company to provide continuous brakes, to adopt the block system throughout their linos, to arrange for the inter-locking of points and signals, to provide bridges, subways, qr approaches, and to make returns of unpunctuality and long hours of employment of Bignsl-men, &c. The chief objections taken to the bill on behalf of the public are those relating to the goods traffic. During the last three years there have been many complaints of illegal overcharging and preference rating on the part of the companies. The defence made by the companies for charging in excess of the maximum rates allowed under their special Acts has been that "terminals "—that is, expenses incurred in providing stations, and in loading and unloading, &c, were not provided for when the special Acts wore passed. But recent legal decisions upon this important point havo gone against the companies, rendering them liable not only to a great reduction in their charges, but to the refunding of hundreds of thousands of pounds of past overcharges. Most unwisely Mr Chamberlain has offered them a way out of their predicament by proposing in his bill that tho companies shall be entitled to charge a reasonable sum for terminals, subject to the consent of the Commissioners, provided that they shall have first secured the approval by Parliament of a revised classification <of rates and a revised schedule of maximum charges, to be prepared by themselves. This is objected to by traders and agriculturists on two grounds — first, because, as already stated, the charge for terminals has been declared illegal; and, secondly, because if the companies once upset the maximum rate allowed under their special Acts, there is no telling what they will be allowed to charge. Another objection is to a proposal to allow an appeal to a higher court against a decision of the Railway Commissioners, if either the Commissioners consent or the Court of Appeal directs ;' and a further appeal to the House of Lords when the Court of Appeal sanctions it. This, it is feared, would perpetuate the costly litigation now so much dreaded by customers of the companies, and enable the longest purse, as usually at present, to win. ITor these reasons the Railway and Canal Traders' Association, really led by Mr W. A. Hunter (better known as Profoßsor Hunter), a barrister who has successfully conducted several cases against the companies, has declared an intention of opposing the bill. There are so many good points in the bill, however, that it will be a great pity if some means cannot ba found of removing its objectionable features.

On Tuesday last' Mr Trevelyan introduced the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Bill, a measure of great importance, to facilitate the purchase of their holdings by Irish tenants, by simplifying and diminishing the cost of transfer, and by providing funds for the purchase. The bill proposes that the Land Commission shall give the purchaser a Parliamentary title on the "payment of stamp duty, without any investigation of title. This is an important provision in a country where the cost of transferring land has commonly been a very serious item. Still more important are the financial properties of the bill. Under the Land Act of 1881 the tenant who purchases his holding can obtain from the Government a loan equal to three-fourths of the cost at three and a- half per cent., with an additional one and a-half per cent, towards a sinking fund to pay off the loan in 35 years.* In this new Bill it is proposed *to lend to fa purchasing tenant three-fourths of the cost of his holding at three and a-quarter per cent., with ODe and a-quarter per cent, to pay off the loan in 40 years. It is estimated by Mr Trevelyan that, on these terms, if a tenant paid a sum equal to twenty years' xjurchase for his holding, he would pay a fraction less than •his present rent, including tho taxes he would have to pay as a land owner, during the forty years ; and at the end of the term the land'would be his property. But a still more liberal offer is made to meet the case of those tenants who are not prepared to pay'a fourth of the purchase- money. They are to bo able to borrow of the Government the whole of the money at three and a- quarter per cent., with an addition of one and three-quarters per cent, to pay off the lain in 33 years. In this case, if the price paid were 2Q years' purchase, the yearly instalment would be exactly the same as the rent, and there would be only a trifle extra to pay in taxes, to enable a tenant to claim the ownership of his holding in 33 years. And yet some of thelrish members are declaring that the teims are not liberal enough ! In the event of the advance of all the money, the local authority is to be responsible for the payment of tho instalments, in order to secure the British taxpayer. Very little land in Ireland at the present time ia worth 20 years' purchase, though probably it will rise in value if the Bill passes. No compulsion as to sale or put chase is propo3od, and 'landlords and tenants are to' be left to arrange the prices between them. # Most landlords are so anxious to sell that if the Bill passes, the firat offerers will probably make easy bargains ; but once provide a market for Irish land, and values will quickly advance. It is doubtful whether the tenants will be at all eager to purchase even on the easy terms offered' in the Bill. They believe that their landlords, will soon be at thoir mercy, and there is no end to the concessions which they Remand. If the Bill should pass, it is expected that the leaders of the tenants will adviao them to agree not to go beyond a low maximum number of years' purchase, and then if the landlord shold out against the attempt to induce them in a ruinous sacrifice^ the measure may bo to a great extent futile. If, op the contrary, it should prove successful, there are dangers in the future which are not apparently*taken into account by the Government. Mr Treyelyn Baid nothing about the prohibition of subdivision and subletting, and even pupgosing that these will be forbidden till the loa.us are paid off, as they are under the purchase clauses of the Act of 1881, when the tenants have become proprietors there wUI be nothing to prevent impoverishing subdivision, while extortionate letting, although it may to some extent) bo kept within bounds by the Act of 188l> m>«" still become mow ruinous when imal) * *1* are landlords than it is at present T , . Jr i J were once placed in the.>- *. -. « tha la " d cultivate it, there.*" I*'1 *' v - ads of ™ oß * , w £° said in'favou*^* r • jaW * be a great deal to cc it in fr*" •"■ the total prohibition of letting j- ..are. The landlord and-tenant system -a relation to land is open to co many abuses, that it is scarcely possible to render it satisfactory bf any legislation, unless the landlord is made purely a rent-charger, without power to raise rent or to interfere in any way with a tenant. ITor my part, I cannot regard tho possibility of the land of Ireland being owned and let to a great extent by thousands of petty landlords without grave apprehension. The breeders of Hereforda have at last been thoroughly awakoned from that apathy which has so long kept their cattle from taking the position in the world to which so excellent a breed is fairly entitled. A Hereford Cattlebreeders' Association has now 'been formed to promote ' Hereford interests. The movement is the outcome of a visit from Mr Miller," of Beecher, Illinois',' the vigorous American champion and breeder of Heref of ds. He thoroughly

" stirred up the dry bones " of the Hereford interest in this country, showing the breeders how foolish they had been to let rival breeders tako up the running and advortiso their cattlo in all parts of the world, while they themselves were content to hide their light under a bushel. I understand that overtures have been made to the Mark Lane Express to induce that journal to give greater prominence than heretofore to Hereford transactions. That journal has always, or at any rate for many years, given a fair field to the Herefords, and more than that it is not at all likely to give in future. For such journal to constitute itself the partisan of a single breed, to the neglect or depreciation of other breeds, would be to descend from the position of impartial justice which it has hitherto maintained. The Mark Lane Express has denounced the humbug of the shorthorn "fancy"— the craza for podigrees and "blue blood " independent of merit — ever since I have known the paper, and for that reason it has been supposed by some people to be a partisan of the Herefords. In reality, however, the journal has simply done justice to the high merits of the Herefords, and it is not at all likely to puff them in order to please the new association.

A valuable report has been issued by the Commissioners on Technical Education, including a very full description of agricultural education as now carried on in the United Kingdom and other European countries by Mr Jenkins, secretary to the Royal Agricultural Society, who acted as a, sub-Commissioner. We are terribly behind several Continental countries in this matter, and the Commissioners recommend the compulsory inclusion of agricultural teaching in the higher standards in primary schools ; the establishment of secondary county schools by local authorities or ''private efforts in which agriculture would be taught ; Government grants in aid of agricultural schools ; and the attachment of small pieces of land to primary schools in Ireland for tha practical teaching of agriculture.