A PEASANT PROPRIETARY CLASS.

Colonist, Volume XVI, Issue 1603, 31 January 1873, Page 4

A PEASANT PROPRIETARY CLASS.

(From the Otago Daily Times.)

Fbom 1789 to the present day, according to an instructive writer in Frsser's Magazine, the creation of a peasant proprietary class has taken place in France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, ■ Denmark, and in nearly all the states comprising the German Empire; and in each with assuring results. Ireland now sturdily demands the same privilege ; and the English mind is earnestly directed to the same quarter for relief from pauperism and discontent. Eminent writers contrast very favorably the present condition of the peasantry in the above-mentioned countries with that which formerly prevailed in them, and that which still prevails in England and Ireland, declaring that while the peasantry in the former are " progressing—attaining a condition, both socially and politically considered, of a higher, happier, and more hopeful character," in the latter, they " are struggling in the deepest ignorance, pauperism, and social degradation;" and the healthier condition is ascribed to be owing to the education given to all the children, and to the division and simple transfer of land. If such be the case, it is a matter of regret that while these countries, the United States, and the British Colonies are proceeding in this direction, England has been, and is, pursuing an exactly opposite course, so far at least as the ownership of land is concerned. In the United States there are six millions of freeholders out of a population of forty millions, and there is an annual increase of 60,000 freeholders; while " at least 8-lOt.bs of the landed property in Great Britain is in the possession of less than 10,000 persons," and a seventh of the reclaimable land is in a state of nature " chiefly that it may serve as the occasional playground of its few owners." Indeed, " three noblemen own between them a quarter of all Scotland," and a " tenth part of that country, equal to two millions of acres, is appropriated to deer forest alone.''' Add to this the fact that land passes from hand to hand in America, France, and elsewhere, with "almost the same readiness that the most ordinary commodities do," while in Britain, it is tied up, and only transferable at enormous expense, and amid delays innumerable. In France it is said that there are thres millions of land owners, comprising fifteen millions of people, nearly one half the population, and the land, it is said, has been made to yield, without exhaustion or injury, more than double the quantity it yielded before. The same may be said of Switzerland, in those caees in which the land has been disposed of by the State to peasant proprietors, yielding three times as much &% it did when cultivated by leasehold tenants, so that it was said by one capable of judging, not only that " ot all oultivators the peasant proprietors were the happiest, but also that their ■ existence best promoted the welfare of all classes;" and as an illustration, it was adduced that in the Canton of Bern, with its 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, nearly five-sixths had an interest in real property, and one out of every seven of the inhabitants was a depositor in the savings banks. And yet this state of things is not without its special danger. An increase of wages does not invariably secure an increase of happiness, nor do comfort and ease go invariably with property ; it is necessary that the mind be rightly educated, and the increased means rightly employed. It has been found by oft and sad experience, that where the laborer or tenant-at-will-farmer has additional wages or means at his disposal, these are often dissipated, unless the mind is more or less onltivated, or he has a hope of forming a permanent home. When such a prospect is before him, the public house loses much of its attraction, and the family hearth becomes a holier and happier place.