The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-09-19 00:00:00

THE AGRICULTURAL SITUATION.

Mr. George Rolling.. Barrister, of the Oxford
Circuit, addressed some of the principal farmers of the
neighbourhood on Saturday afternoon, at the close of
the market. The formal office of chairman was die.
pensed with.
Mr HOLLINGS said at the present time matters were
so grove that no apology was nes&d for investigating
as trar as possible all matters connected with agriculture.
So far as agriculture was concerned, he was not speak-
ing as a mere novice, for he was happy to say it had
been one of the great studies of his life, and if there
was , ne thing that gave him pleasure it was the study
of this particu ar industry. He was bound to say that
at the present time the contemplation of it gave him
• great amount of sadness; in fact it reduced the tem-
perature of one's (trollop something like 50 per cent.
with an indication to go below zero. This was brought
about by the terrible state of things that existed. Who
were the persons who took part in this Industry! If
there was one class of persons in this country who
merited the 'lmpact, the admirati on, of the people
renerally, it WY those connected with it. Again what
was agriculture? It was the greatest industry we
had in the country, and was Indeed the very source
of all its wealth—he might go further and say
it was the driving wheel In the great mechanism
of the British Constituti n. The period of the
losses which the agricultural community had
sustained extended over something like seven years.
Up ti the present time they hal et e I their position
manfully, and he was gla 1 to see that the agricultural
depression had not affecte I thil county such as many
other counties in England. He wool,' draw attention
to what had taken place in the past. It was only
ne -emery to go back to way 1846, sat which period the
duty upon corn was 4s. • qr., and an arraneerneet was
come to that the duty should intend from 1849 f.e 20
years. Now, it was thought that that 1.. aqr %fie:Lel
the financial position of the farmer.. In 1869 Mr.
Lowe, he might say boastfully, introdoosi an Act
which Rot rid of that duty, and bonded that he had
got rid of the last vestige of protecti on ; but in his
(the speaker's) opinion it really adminiatered the death-
blow to agriculture in this country, al' ough at first
sight p sop did not attach much importance to it. tie
then passed on to notice what was the producing
area of this onentry, and to see how they were
likely to be affected in the future by the
competition from forei.n eounteies. There were
3,000,000 acres that produced wheat, with an average
production of something like 90 000.000 bushels a
year. Now, if they c rupartd that with the corn pro-
ducing area even in the United ',Wes of America
alone they would find there were n 000,000 *CM Pro.
ducing 420,000,000 bushels. It would strike them at
once the little chance they had of competing with that
country. He should perhaps be told that when they
compared the populations, there the difference arose;
but that was not so. Here we had a population arid-
ing upon agriculture of. omething like 12.000,000, and
In America something like 28 000,000 engaged, in the
Industry. Therefore when they were told they were
not likely to have a continuance of the competition
which they bad been suffering from, he maintained it
would not hold water. It was patent upon the face
of it, that the competition from America showed there
was an area, to commence with, which th. y could not
p ersibly successfully compete with. He would now
draw attention to what took place s time la.t
autumn. It was endeavoured to be shown that there was
some prospect of going bank ti the .4 1 days of
protection. There were in this country something
like 18,000,000 of people whom they could not porsdaly
feed, and he would ask them for one moment just to
think of thiy. Suppose they went back even to the
small duty of la, per qr., what would happen? Why,
they would have almost a revolution in the land.
Therefore, be maintained, when it was held out to
therm and lashed before their eyes by members
of both parties in the House of COMMON. that there
was some prospect of going back to protective duties,
It was a delusion, and be asked them not to be misled
by it. He quoted the remarkable words of Mr. John
Bright fend anything that Mr. Bright said could
always be relied isponi—" In one single year the corn
Increasing area in America was equal to the total
growth of this country; there is a constant lucre le
In the area of the growth of corn in America, and
you have to look forward to competition not stopping
at the present time, but going on from year to year,
and continuing for • very long period" From
ugg to 1860 the production in America
rose from 15 to 20 million quart4r. ; from
1860 to 1880 from 20 to GO ; so they
would see there was • steady growth, and if the
growth was of that character, ha asked them what
grounds they had for stating that competition was
likely to ream)? lbws were matters which for some
reason or other they did not get into tivir mind., and,
for some reason or other, the Legislature did not like
discussing agricultural questions. From the last
wistus returns ~f the number of farms in America it
appeared in 1850 there were 1.400.000; 1860, 2,044,000;
1870, 2,600,(0; 1880, 4,000,000. lie was using these
futures to show that the views expressed by Mr.
Bright were correct. if. than, there wa, this vastly.
increasing competition, and he sail it with great pain,
It could not truthfully be ass-rted th.t e rn producing
WY in the future to be rus industry upon which they
could rely. These were matters that we.e at all time
concealed, and never brought to the trot as they
should be, in the House of C =mons by persons
familiar with agriculture. There were 400 persons in
Parliament connected with the land-owning interest
who mum be acquainted with these matters,
but they took good care that they should be
repressed. What prospect, he asked, was there in
the future that the industry of corn growing, would be
one of success to them? With reference to the area
under cultivation in the United Stater there were
3,603.000 square miles, and 500,000,000 fit for culti-
vation in the hands of the State, to which no private
Individual had any title—virgin moil, only waiting to be
broken up ; so it would go on increasing year by year
until the area under cultivation embraced these
500,000,000 square miles. What then, was the go.l,
where were the gr ,unds or reason for withholding
this information? Why WWI it these matters were not
brought prominently to the attention of agriculturists?
If they were brought home and discussed, if those
rational; who, at the close of a Session, went down
to &dolmen their oceastituents, had the common
honesty, having the means at their command, to make
theme things aloes, it would give rise to a vast amount
ol.wholseome enquiry at the heads al tbe futons, mei