The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-11-07 00:00:00

torresponunce.

THE HON. W. H. B. PORTMAN, Ml'., AT
DORCHESTER.
To use Editor.
Sir, —I regret not having had before me a full rep ,rt
of Mr. Partman's 'perch when I directed attention ti
some of his obeervaUons lact week. Baader the points
I then referred t,, I lint Mr. P..rtman thought it
becoming • represent dive of • great afiticultural
ometitu-ocy pm. over the true merits of an
important question affecting the vital interests of
epic anre—the prin .iple of which I disculeed at con.
siderable length at Blandfoni—to make not only an
offeneive attack no in the motives actuating me, but
to leis-state the effeet of what! then said.
Let me assure Mr. Portman I am quite ready to
meet him withiu the limits of fair c•iticion, or on the
legitimate sequence of principle, whether the latter
has r.ference to ag.ictilture or any other topic. I,
however, antra' elate that gentlemen • n the
"principle" he enunciated, although lain sorry lose}
it real. al if it were only wrung out of him when be
said "Landlords should lower their rents rather than
exact rents in bard times they could not expect to
receive."
Mr. Portman propounded, and somewhat solemnly,
that he did not approv e my "adobe" at Blaudfonl. that
"the farmer should borrow capital with which
stock his lsren, he (Mr. Portman) regarding it, 11/1
imprudent for ate tan: to take • farm on borrowed
c trawl as lir a laud' rd to borrow money to buy
land." Now, where does Mr. Portmau find I sin
r. ported as talking each puerile nonsense' Every
report I have seen (and what I said at Blandford has
been thought worthy the pages of a large number of
ageicultural j .urna's in Lond m and various ',arta of
the kirgdom) is distinct as affording LW grounds for
the conclusions Mr. Portman a-rived at. What I did
gay in effect, is clear, as reported, viz ,—that to
enable la,mers to rettieve their position it c mid
only be accomplished by availing themselves of the
Teat amount of capital in the hands of capitall-ts
at low rates of interest, to re-stock the' farms. N.
suggestion has fallen front me, nor I hope is it
' likely to "advising" (as Mr. Portman is fond of
that word) farms to be taken on borrowed capital." In
"principle' I am sorry to almoner) Mr. Portman can
discover n thing in me En:station—that means skould
bc provided by the ieginiaturc to enabi faniEvc to borrow
money to ec-sZock ikeir farm,. By my suggestion be
alone eau perceive teat lam acting '' in the iotereet
of morreytendrra. Meg about (an he p ditely and
generously puts it) aa what is called a traysllor f..•
them."
That • Representative of • great Agricultural Con-
stituency, having at his elbow • gentleman of Mr.
Henry Footsie attainments, should be unable to
! appreciate the means tt providing for a too well
undetstood agricultural necessity, when it is pointed
out, isnot only singular, but missies strange. For his
information, and in the interest of agriculture, I most
earnestly request Mr. Portman to follow waat Mr.
William Stratton has said on the subject at a more
recent date than my visit to Blaudford. Speaking at
the Warminster Farmer.' Club Dinner, Mr. William
Stratton remarked—" Whence ia the capital to come
to awry on the cultivation of the land? He wanted
to brow where the capital was to come from to go
Into Agriculture, flit was not to be borrowed from
the outside public? The keystone of the situation
was not la borrowing money, bat in not being able to
borrow money."
This coming from such an authority all Mr. William
Stratto n —one of the Royal Com missionen by the way
I do not suppose even Colonel Digby will object to it
on " and perhaps after all Mr. Portman on
reflection wit not be disposed to rspeat—he "does not
approve."
I am, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
Geckos HOLUM:is.
2, Tanfield Court, Temple, October 30th.