A GLOOMY PROSPECT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1414, 21 December 1887, Page 6

A GLOOMY PROSPECT.

The English farmer (says the " New Zealand Herald" correspondent, writing from London on October 13th) is slowly but steadily going to the wall, and every journey I take out of London tends to strengthen ■ and confirm this. "view. The price of English wheat is '28s to 29s per quarter, and at such a price it is impossible for the farmer here to pay his taxes, which often amount to 19$ per acre, and anything like. a rent to the landlord. The re- > mlt ii that yon sue land now, in the poor regions of the country, uncultivated, and large areas of agricultural land are being pnt dowu into grass, so that the employ ment of agricultural labourers grows less and less. In one district in Wiltshire, the wagps have just been reduced from 10s per week to 83 per week, ond the rector of the parish very properly asks, how can a man with a wife and family keep body and soul together upon such wages ? As there is a great deal of grumbling in New Zealand just now about your own depression, I clip a few paragraphs '»ut of the ptpers to show you the outlook, from an agricultural and land owning point of view, in Britain just now. Hem is a fair sample : "A farm in Lincolnshire, in the neighbourhood of Louth was offered for sale last week, and the hiuhpst bid was only £1406, although there is a mortgage on 'he property of £5000. The price offered was under £14 an acre, and the land originally cost £100 per acre."

Upwards of 130 farms extending ov>-r 20 000 acres, are advertised lo let in Cumberland an<) Westmoreland.

"In the Spaldiug district and in fid joining vicinities, where a great number of oUtle are reared and fed, the outlook is very gloomy for ihe farmers in the matter of winter keep for their stock."

" Ashford (Kent) Local Board havu decided to purchase a meadow of over ten aces hi extent for £1100. Thoy intend utilising ifc for a recreation ground "

But what prospect is there of an improvement? is one of the questions we h»ar almost daily. Not much, I fear. Even t.> uiiiht one of the papers publishes the following paragraph for the information of wheat growers in England :

"We publish a letter to day, which contains tfews which may well alarm our agriculturalists. Wheat growing in Manitoba, it seems, has been hitherto anything but an unadulterated pleasure. The crops were frequently injured by early frosts, and many wheat growers were getting disheartened, and thought (if giving ap the game altogether. Now, however, thanks to the efforts of tbe Land Corporation of Canada, two sorts of Russian wheat have been introduced, both of which grow aud ripen in three week'B less than the Red Fyfe wheat hitherto grown, and thereby escape all risk of damage from early frost. The results of two seasons' experiments with the new seed have been strikingly successful, and one of the greatest difficulties in the way of the Canadian wheat grower is removed."

In London there are thousands of artizins and labourers out of work already, and the winter has not fairly commenced. On two occasions I have witnessed th« demonstrations of the suffering poor, carrying their black flags, and demanding work or bread. There were hundreds of policemen following in the procession, and the agitators W6re kept in order. But some day a spark will kindle the flame, and all the police in London will be unable to extinguish it, before great damage is done. The "Pall Mall Gazette" comments upon the subject as follows ; "'The demonstrations of the unemployed,'says the " Standard " this morning, 'are becoming an intolerable nuisance.' We only wish they were, for in that case public opinion would insist on something being done to remedy the evils which are demonstrated. But they are not intolerable to the average smug citizen at all. On the contrary, half of the well to do citizens of London carefully walk on the other side, while of the remainder, those who do not smile at the demonstrations merely shrug their shoulders. Occasionally, indeed, the said demonstrations occupy aa it were, the whole road, and leave no room to pass by. But in that case what do we all do ? Why, most of us are hardly glad when some Sir James Ingram tells the intruders that they are 'impertinent' fellows, and bids, them be off to the poorhouse. As for the rest, we rush to Trafalgar aquare with coffee stalls, give aid with absolute indiacrimination, and think to get rid of the * intolerable nuisance ' in that way. It would be hard to decide which course is the more foolish and the more harmful of the two — that which thinks to mop up an ocean with a coffee cup. or that which hopes to cure diatreaa by driving it beneath the surface."