The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-19 00:00:00

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naomicelly tine
Sow, as a general rate, the holding, ,et this coun-
try are smaller than they ought to be ; but I be-
lieve—and I am speaking upon the judgment of
high agricultural authority—l say I believe that
farms of moderate size, from 100 to 200 acres, may
be worked with all the appliances of modern skill
and science, given only two conditions—that there
shall be the requisite training in the farmer, and
that he shall be able to combine with his neigh-
bours to obtain those costly improvements which are
necessary for modern farming, and which on his own
private account be could not purchase. (Hear.) But
we want something more. I have said it before, and
1 say it again, although I am afraid it is an old
story-4 think that every good tenant, who is ex-
pected to stay permanently on the farm he holds, is
entitled to ask for a lease or for the offer of a lease.
(Applause.) One feels that there is something rather
pleasing in the idea of that relation which exists be-
tween tenants-at-wilt and a landlord, in which they
are bound, not exactly by law, but by a sort of ho-
nourable understanding that exists between them.
(Hear.) I have nothing to say against that, and
where perfect reliance can be placed upon that
understanding I don't doubt it is sufficient. But I
do say this—and in what I am speaking I. am rather
in my own mind addressing landlords than tenants
—I say that if a tenant is to be expected to lay out
capital on his farm, it implies no distrust of the
landlord, it is simply an ordinary and a proper
business precaution, that he should insist upon
having a lease. I may say that upon the estate of
which I know most—upon the estate of Lord Derby
—no good tenant has been, or will be, refused a
lease except under some peculiar circumstances
where the arrangements made are only temporary,
and where some change in those arrangements is
contemplated. (Hear.) Now, there is another
matter which I, if I am not tiring your patience,
should like to mention. It is quite right that the
landlord, whose interest in the soil is permanent,
should secure himself against ill-usage or exlaaua•
tion of the land by one whose interest may be only
temporary. There can be nothing said against that
—(hear, hear)—but that may in general be done by
a few simple provisions, and I don't hesitate to say
that leases, as they are framed over the greater part
of the country, are in many—perhaps in most—
cases coupled with conditions which are unneces-
sarily complicated and unnecessarily restricted.
(Hear, hear.) Bat then the answer is plain. If you
don't want to enforce them, what is the use of
having them ? I believe that these two things—
the one making the giving of leases the general
rule, the other having leases drawn more simply
than, as a rule, they are at present—l believe that
those two matters would go very far to settle that
question of land ownership of which we have heard
something of late. (Hear.) And perhaps you
will allow me to say a word about that matter.
(Hear, hear.) I promise you, as I am bound to
do, to keep wholly clear of its political bearing,
and to consider it wholly as a social question.
We have heard great alarm expressed of late lest
the soil of England should be swallowed up by a
certain number of great proprietors. We have been
told that large estates are everywhere increasing.
that small properties are everywhere dying out, and
that therefore the bulk of the population is being
separated from the soil. Now, I cannot speak for
other parts of the country, but in these districts I
will venture to say that, although there has been a
very great amount of transfer, it will probably be
found that those transfers have been, in by far the
majority of cases, not in favour of the old possessors
of the neighbouring property, but rather in favour
of a new class of proprietors, who have made their
money in towns. (Hear.) No doubt there are cases
where estates have grown by economy and good
management, as there are other cases where estates
have been diminished by waste ; but, take it upon
the whole, the real change that is taking place is
this—that the old small freeholder, burdened with
debt and mortgage up to the ears, is being bought
off, and his place is being taken by those who have
acquired wealth in commerce or in manufactures,
(Hear.) Now, I can't say that, as to that process,
I see anything which ought to be objected to. In
England the possession (I mean the ownership) of
land is a luxury; and those therefore who are making
their 10 per cent. securely in business will be glad
to pay from 40 to 50 years' purchase for landed pro.
perty, receiving, that is, from 2 to 21 per cent. on
their capital, and thus be sacrificing, so far as that
amount goes, from three-tourtns to four-fifths of
what the are making. That is no uncommon case,
that is, I conceive, the result of our national charac-
ter. (Hear.) The noble lord proceeded to observe
that when a Frenchman had made a fortune his de-
sire was to take a fine house in a fashionable street
in Pari3, while an Englishman, in a similar case,
would buy an estate, and try to bring up has son as a
country gentleman, and that he thought the latter
the better taste of the two; but it followed from
the very existence of that taste that land could not
be remunerative as an investment. Consequently
land was a bad bargain to buy, but it was a good
one to sell, A poor man would thus sell a small
estate, which was heavily mortgaged, probably
thinking, and thinking rightly, that he would do
better by beceming a tenant on the land, and by in-
vesting the =Ley he thus obtained in the purchase
of stock, and in making other improvements, than
by rstaioing a nominal ownership of the land with-
out having the capital or the credit to make that
really available in a financial point of view. Aud
thus it was in this country that the number of small
freeholds was gradually diminishing—but dimi-
nishing not, so far as his observation went, in
favour of a few colossal properties, but rather of
moderate sized estates, purchased by capitalists
who had acquired wealth elsewhere. (Hear.) He
believed that if this state of things in England were
investigated, county by county and parish by parish,
that would be found to be a true description. (Hear)
That was not a state of things that they need re-
gret. Let them try to give the farmers a more in-
dependent possession, and let them ennourage such
excellent societies as that. He advocated the plan
of giving to labouring men at a moderate rent free-
hold cottages (and railroads added to the facility
for doing so), and remarked that the soil of England
was not split up into estates of which it would take
100 to make a good. sized field. His lordship con-
cluded by observing that, whether they had agreed
with him in what ha had stated or not, he thought
they would be of his opinion that it was better for
him to discuss such matters as those to which he
had alluded than paying them mere compliments.
As to the show of that day, so far as his observation
went, it had far outdone any of its predecessors ;
and though there were not so many implements
displayed as might be desired, the show of horses
was excellent, and of cattle generally very poor,
while the display of fruit was entitled to high praise.
He then gave the toast of the evening, which was
received with great applause.

NEW ACT ON METROPOLITAN TRAFFIC.—One
of the last public acts of the late session was for
the ')etter regulation of the traffic on Westminster-bridge,
and for the prevention of obstructions thereon. The regu-
lation of the City traffic will lead to great improvements in
the metropolitan traffic, and thereby prevent numerous ac-
cideats. The Commissioners of her Majesty's Works are
now empowered to make bye•laws, rules, and orders for
regulating the traffic on Westminster-bridge and ite ap-
proaches, and for a breach thereof the offender is to be
liable to a penalty of 40s, to be recovered under the Police
Act. The bye-laws, &c., are not to come into force until
14 days after the publication of the same in the London
Gazette and in the daily newspapers.

M. Eugene Godard and M. Gabriel Yon, who
went up on Monday evening in the balloon from the Quai
d'Orsay, came down at two in the morning at Redon (111e-
et-Vilaine), in sight of the Atlantic. It appears that they
accomplished 120 leagues in a little under seven hours.
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