The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-11-19 00:00:00

THE BRITISH LAND QUESTION,

Mr. James Caird delivered the opening address of the
session of the Statistical Society on Tuesday evening, and
spoke o the British Land Question. He advocated land re-
forms, and expressed the belief that when they should have
been effected the British farmer would be able to meet the
competition of the foreigner. We give the following extract
from Mr. Caird's speech :

• . . . In considering the question, for the home pro-
ducer, of the kind of produce in wh;ch he is best
likely to succeed against his foreign competitor, the
weight to be transported from great distances is
very important. A ton of meat or provisions is six
times the value of a ton of corn, and, as these are
yielded by the land in about like proportions, the pro-
duce of six acres in the form of meat or provisions could
be transported (if the rate of carriage were the same)
as cheaply as that of one acre of corn. But provi-
sions cannot yet be handled with the same facility as
corn, and therefore the rate is higher. Still there can
be little doubt that ingenuity will devise methods by
which this difficulty will be largely overcome, there
being so big a profit in every farthing per ton per
mile that can be saved over a distance of four or five
thousand miles. This is already showing itself in the
more rapid proportionate increase which has taken
place in the relative imports of the last 20 years, those
of meat and other animal produce having increased
175 per cent., and those ot corn 90 per cent. The pro-
portion is already doubled, and the practice of con-
veying, over vast distances, that description of produce
which can be packed in the least bulk, must prevail
and extend. It would seem not necessary, therefore,
to overturn the general principle of the agricultural
system under which British agriculture has attained
pre-eminence. Mixed husbandry. corn and cattle, will
continue to hold their ground. Our cattle cannot be
reared without winter fodder, and that can be most
cheaply found in the straw of the corn crops which at
once supplies fon: and yields manure. The value of
straw,though not reckoned in money, is a large addition
to that of the corn. The alternation of corn, and
green crops, and grass, keeps the land refreshed. It
proportions the work to the seasons, and by its variety
elicits the skill of the cultivator, and gives employ-
ment to the labourer, and to the blacksixiith, the
carpenter, and the village shopkeeper. The country
feeds the town, not only with fresh provisions, but
recruits it with fresh life. There will be still room for
all conditions of men among us, and no need to convert
the surface of England into a vast grass field. Those
parts of the country in the western midlands, the west,
and in Ireland, which by climate and soil are least
fitted for corn, will go more into grass, but the " con-
yertable " soils of the rest of these islands will
in the general interests, be most profitably con-
tinued under arable cultivation. The wider compe-
tition to which British agriculture is now exposed,
differs only in degree from that from which
our predecessors little more than a century ago
sought to defend themselves. "It is not more than
50 years ago," says Adam Smith, "that some of the
counties in the neighbourhood of London petitioned
the Parliament against the extension of the turnpike
roads into the remoter counties. Those remote
counties, they pretended, from the cheapness of labour
ard land, would be able to sell their grass and corn
cheaper in the London market than themselves and
would thereby reduce their rents and ruin their culti-
vation. Their rents, however," he adds, "have risen
and their cultivation has been improved since that
time." In much the same spirit it was lately pro-
posed in some quarters to reimpose a protective duty of
ss. on imported corn. But our vicinity to the best
markets in the world, in our various centres of
population, not now limited to London, gives us a
natural proteotion much higher than this. The cost
of transport from the western prairies to our compe-
titors in this .market at the lowest rate hitherto
reached is is. 6d. on a bushel of corn, which is a na-
tural protection of 12s. on a quarter and equal to 425.
an acre on the average produce of our wheat crops,
and somewhat more on barley and oats. If this
rate should, in the progress of invention and
competition, be reduced by even so-much as one-third
—viz., to is. a bushel—we should still have a natural
protection equal to the average rent of our corn land.
Is it to be supposed that the, British farmer, with
his inherited and acquired skill, with the command
of labour at a much lower price than that in America,
and when legal security shall be given him for
his invested capital, would, with this advantage, by
which he starts on equal terms, be unable to meet his
foreign competitor? It has been indeed stated re-
cently that the rates, tithes and taxes which the Eng-
Ash farmer has to pay are equivalent to and do away
with this natural protection, the idea being that the
American producer is not weighted by local burdens.
Rates and taxes in this country, so far as they can 'be
shown to be inequitably imposed on the land, are un-
doubtedly a grievance which should be fairly read-
justed; but it is a delusion to imagine that the pro-
ducer in the United States is exempt from their
burden. In those new countries all the donveniences
which have been the slow growth of centuries here,
have to be provided at once there. Roads, bridges,
court-houses, gaols, schools, churches, have to be con-
structed by the young colony from its own resources.
The local taxation even in a comparatively old
State, when I was in Ohio some years ago, exceeded
1 per cent, of the capital value of the• real pro-
perty of the State, which would be equal, at our rates
of investment in this country, to nearly one-third of
the annual rental of the land. And in regard to tithe,
it is not of the nature of a rate, but is part of the rent,
and is therefore itself subject to be rated. In EO far
as it is felt to be a hardship, there would be no great
difficulty, if all parties interested would agree, in
bringing about an arrangement by which the tithe.
owners as a class might receive from the State the
average of their present net income, and the landowner.
would be gradually redeeming the tithe by paying the
hill amount direct to the Statf,, for such a period of
years as would extinguish it, on the same principle as
tithes in Ireland have been dealt with in
.order to be
redeemed.

Referring to the British system of farming, Mr.
Caird said there were two capitals employed—that
of the landlord, who was content with three per cent.
for his secure investment, and that of the cultivating
tenant, who looked for a trade profit of ten per cent.
By farming another man's land the farmer traded on
the capital of the landowner, practically lent to him
at three per cent., which by good management
he converted into a trade profit of ten per
cent. He (Mr. (laird) thought that neither
in our system of agriculture nor in the
principle of a divided but harmoniously work-
ing separate capital, was it necessary or advisable
to introduce any essental change ; but our aim ought
to be concentrated upon those questions affecting
both landowner and farmer in which the legislature
could really afford assistance. The landowner should
be the fee simple owner, and the farmer's interests in
his improvements should be cared for. Comparing
our system with the peasant proprietary of France,
or with the small farm system of Ireland, there could
be no doubt that the true policy of British agricul-
ture was to strengthen and maintain it on its present
lines. 'When the landed interests of the country
should have been placed on all points in the most
favourable conditions for mutual co-operation, he
believed there would be ample room for successful
Hine competition with the foreigner.—Mr. Caird con-
cluded his address by saying—ln examining the
various articles of agricultural produce which come
into competition with our own, it may be of interest
to point out their relative importance. Wheat alone,
worth £40,000,000, equals nearly in value all other
edible articles, animal, corn, and vegetable. This
does not include Indian corn, which we cannot grow
in this climate. The wheat imported, if it could be
grown with advantage in this country, would occupy
five million acres of additional land. Next to it
is butter, of the value of £12,000,000, whi...11, if
produced at home, would demand upwards of two
million additional acres. Then barley and oats,
together of the value of £9,300,000, which, if grown
in this country, would require an additional one-and-
a-half million acres. To produce the live cattle and
sheep and the cheese imported, together of a value of
£15,000,000, would call into requisition another three
' million acres. In each one of these I believe there
Is ample room for successful home competition, if
each man goes with confidence into that special
branch for which his soil and climate and facility of
market offer him the surest possibility of success. In
regard to wheat, barley, and oats, he must consider
the value of the straw in addition to the corn, for it is
with him either a marketable article (with which the
foreigner cannot compete), or an article of nearly
equal value as fodder for the live stock on his farm.
In the production of milk, of which the consumption is
rapidly extending, there is no foreign competition, and it
could be increased in this country to any extent if the
profits were not so largely appropriated by the inter-
mediate agent between the producer and consumer.
A dairy farmer can barely make 2d. a quart for his
milk at the nearest railway station, and for this the
dealer gets sd. from his customers in town. Another
a quart would enable the farmer, within practic-
able reach of the consumer, to make a larger profit by
selling his milk than in any other form in which he
can at present use it. And, if we desire to keep to
ourselves a substantial share of the 212,000,000 now
paid for foreign butter, we shall have little difficulty
in doing so, in those parts of the country more remote
from large populations, by establishing butter fac-
tories, to which milk from the surrounding districts
could be sent to be converted into butter of the best
quality, by the best known modern processes, and
which could be warranted to be free from all modern
foreign adulteration. When the landed interests of
this country shall be placed on all points in the most
favourable conditions for mutual co-operation, we
should be wanting of faith in the enterprise and
capacity of our own people if, with the immense ad-
vantage of the best market at our doors, we should be
afraid to compete with the foreigner in the production
of any article suited to our climate and soil. For this
is indeed a great interest on which I have ventured to
offer these remarks for your consideration. It repre-
sents one-fourth of the entire capital of the United
Kingdom, and in one form or another gives an income and
employment in nearly an equal proportion to its inhabit-
ants. It far exceeds any other single interest in this
country in importance, influence; and strength. Pos-
sessing, till within very recent years, a commanding
power in Legislature, that power had been mistakenly
used to maintain in fetters, and consequent stagna-
tion, a business which can only thrive by expanding
in full proportion with the other business interests of
the country. An unequalled period of calamitous
seasons has discovered the weakness which had escaped
observation during the peaceful and prosperous years
enjoyed by this country, while our neighbours, west
and east, were wasted with war. But the blow at
last has fallen ; landlord and:tenant are heavily smitten
by it, and we will trust that the Legislature, by a
wise and timely effort, will devise and carry through
such measures in the approaching Session of Parlia-
ment as shall give freedom to the landowner in his
future dealings with the land, and proper security to
the farmer for his capital and enterprise. The move-
ment that must follow the unshackling of this great
and leading industry would be felt in every trade and
in every village and country town. And the third
branch of the agricultural interest—the labourer—
would reap the benefit of it in full proportion with the
rest.
' Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, M. P., in moving a vote of thanks
to the President for his address, expressed his agree-
ment with Mr. Caird's views generally. Referring to
some of the causes of the losses the British farmer had
) sustained in recent years, he pointed out that while
there had been a rise m the price of a great many articles

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