The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-30 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVcNING. SEPTEMBER 30, 18:33.

REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE

ON AGRICULTURE.

The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the pre-
sent state of agriculture, ;aid of persons employed in
agriculture in the United Kingdom, and to whom seve-
ral petitions presented on the subject of agriculture to
the House were referred, have, pursuant to the order of
the Hou,e, examined the in uteri to them referred, and
agreed to the following report:—
In presenting to the house the mass of evidence
collected from various parts of the United Kingdom,
your Committee are restrained by the vast extent
of the subject, and by the discursive stature of the
inquiry, from attempting a minute analysis of the
testimony which it has been their duty to ex-

amine.
The witnesses who have appeared before your
Committee have, with very few exceptions, been
immediately connected with the cultivation of the
soil; most of them are either rent-payers or sur-
veyors of land, some of them are land-owners, few
of them not practically experienced in the detail of
the matters to which they have deposed, and it is
impossible not to remark a rare concurrence both of
statement and of opinion on the part of witnesses
brought together from the most distant quarters. It
is due to them to state, that they have generally
given to your Committee the fullest information in
the most open manner, and the frankness of the
exposition of their views is no less remarkable than
the ability with which they have made and support-
ed their statemeats.
Having thus disclaimed the intention of giving
even a summary of the evidence, your Committee
assure the House that they are deeply impressed
with the caution which appears to them necessary
in drawing any general conclusions, or in offering
any positive opinions, where national interests of
such vital importance are concerned, where doubts
so reasonable exist, and where errors so fatal may
be committed ; they remember " that the agricul-
ture of the kingdom is the first of all its concerns,
the foundation of all its prosperity in every other
matter by which that prosperity is produced ;" and
they cannot forget what Mr. Bunke has so truly
stated, " that it is a perilous thing to try experi-
ments on the farmer—on the farmer, whose capital
is far more feeble than commonly is imagisied,
whose trade is a very poor one, for it is subject to
great risks and losses; the capital, such as it is, is
turned but once in the year; in some branches it
requires even three years before the money is re-
paid ;" and although it is in the power of the Le-
gislature to do much evil, yet it can do little posi-
tive good by frequent interference with agricultural
industry.
If these be general principles, which are true in
ordinary times, the peculiar circumstances of the
present moment require also peculiar caution.
On looking back at the report of the Committee
in 1821, to whom the petitions complaining of the
depressed state of the agriculture of the United
Kingdom were referred, it will be found that the
report commences by stating " that the complaints
of the petitioners are founded in fact, in so far as
they represent that at the present price of corn the
returns to the occupier of an arable farm, after allow-
ing for the interest of his investment, are by no means
adequate to the charges and outgoings, of which a
considerable proportion can be paid only out of the
capitals, and not from the profits of the tenantry."
The average price of wheat for the year 1821 was
545. sd. per quarter. The average price of the
present year is 535. H; and although some of the
charges connected with general taxation have been
reduced since 1821, yet the local burdens, such as
poor-rate and county-rate, have, in most parts of
England, been grievously augmented. The Com-
mittee of 1821 arrived at the conclusion, " that the
returns of farming capital were at that time con-
siderably below the ordinary rate of profit ;" and
no evidence adduced before your Committee of
diminished outgoings, contrasted with the change of
prices in the interval, would warrant, at this mo-
ment, a different conclusion.
The Committee of 1821 expressed a hope " that
the great body of the occupiers of the soil, either
from the savings of more prosperous times or from
the credit which punctuality commands in this
country, possess resources which will enable them
to surmount the difficulties under which they now
labour." Your Committee, with deep regret, are
bound rather to express a fear that the difficulties
alone remain unchanged, but that the savings are
either gone or greatly diminished, the credit failing,
and the resources being generally exhausted; and
this opinion is formed, not on the evidence of rent-
payers, but of many most respectable witnesses, as
well owners of land as surveyors and land-agents.
The Genmittee of 1821 assumed " what they
believed to be then true, that the annual produce of
corn, the growth of the United Kingdom, was upon
an average crop about equal to the annual consump-
tion," Your Committee, on the contrary, is satis-
fied by the strongest concurrent testimony from
different parts of Great Britain, that the occupiers
of the inferior soils, especially of heavy clay land,
have of late expended less capital and labour in their
cultivation. This neglect, arising from low profit
and prices inadequate to the cost of production,
combined with a series of wet seasons, peculiarly
disadvantageous to land of this description, has
caused a diminution in the gross amount of produce
and the discontinuance of the use of artificial ma-
nures, together with a system of over-cropping, has
impaired the productive power of these in-
ferior soils; and in some cases, where the poor-rate
is heavy, their cultivation has been entirely aban-
doned. Moreover, it is not unworthy of observa-
tion, that these clay lands arc in many instances
proved to be ancient corn land, on which wheat has
been grown from time immemorial; and in the
Weald of Sussex a remarkable instance was adduced,
where rent and poor-rate together amounted now to
the same charge per acre as before the war of 1792;
but these burdens had changed places; the Bs, an
acre, which was rent in 1792, is row poor rate;
the 4s. per acre, which was the poor-rate then, is
now the rent.
But the diminished growth of wheat cannot be
considered apart from the amount of stock on hand;
and the evidence of Mr. Jacob on this subject is no
less striking than important, especially since his ge-
neral view is confirmed by the local experience of
occupying farmers throughout England.
" MR. JACOB'S EVIDENCE.
" Do you conceive, taking the dealers from ?he
great dealers in sea-port towns to the small dealers in
market-towns, there is a lessening in the stocks such
persons hold ?—Certainly, of English wheat.
" Could you state in what proportion to the time
the stocks were considered high P—l did suppose
at one time, when we had a harvest in 1816 which
was so very deficient, we had then six months' con-
sumption in the country ; I do not think there has
been a month's consumption in the country at the
time of the harvest since 1829.
" Can you form any opinion of what was the
capitals
suppose,they have in
beensom p
ay
ing a g
cause of the reduced stock in the hands of the farm-
ers some measure, e, r theeat
reduction
dealo
f teat
f
out of their capital.
" You say that in 1816, preceding the bad bar-
vest of that year, you think there were six months'
consumption in store, and recently not more than
one month; supposing the harvest of 1816 was to
come over again, from whence do you contemplate
the supply?—lt could not be supplied from all the
world. My opinion is, that if we were to diminish

the growth of English wheat by one-tenth part of
that now produced, we should not be in a safe state
in case of a deficient harvest, for all the world could
not make up the deficiency. We are now about
four weeks in the year deficient in our growth on
the average ; last year the harvest was one month
earlier than the year previous, so that we were en-
abled to get to the end of the year. The harvest
of 1832 ought to supply thirteen months, and I
dare say it will do so; but if we have a deficient
harvest, and the next harvest gives us but eleven
months' supply, and owing to bad weather it be de-
ficient one-tenth more, there would then be such a
deficiency as all the world could not easily supply,
at any price, for wheat is not the food of man in any
other country to the same extent as in England.
" In France even, where wheat is much more used
than in the north and east of Europe, Chaptal states
that there are only about 17,000,000 of quarters a
year grown, of which near 3,000,000 are wanted
for seed, and :that for a population of 30,000,000
persons, whilst we require nearly as much for half
that number of persons.'
On. this branch of the subject, after the most full
inquiry and the most careful consideration of the
evidence, your Committee have formed a decided
opinion, that the stocks of home-grown wheat in the
hands of the farmer and of the dealer at the time of
harvest have gradually diminished; that the produce of
Great Britain is, on the average of years, unequal
to the consumption; that the increased supply from
Ireland does not cover the deficiency; and that in
the present state of agriculture the United Kingdom
is, in years of ordinary production, partially de-
pendent on the supply of wheat f, om foreign countries.
Your Committee has already glanced at the in-
crease of certain out-goings borne by the farmer,
which, it is clearly established in evidence, have not
been compensated by a corresponding reduction of
his fixed money payments; on the contrary, while
the profitable returns from land have generally de-
creased, the burdens to which it is subject have
been augmented. The poor-rate is heavier, the
county-rate is heavier, the highway-rate has in-
creased; and the evidence would lead to the con-
clusion, that the outgoings of the farmer are gene-
rally larger than he can afford to pay during the
present prices of agricultural produce, without a
sacrifice of the profit on his capital which he is entitled
to realise; those outgoings, however, which the law
does not impose, are placed beyond the control of the
Legislature, are private bargains, open from time to
time, and regulated by competition; and where Par-
liament cannot interfere, any recommendation or
opinion pronounced by your Committee would cer-
tainly be inefficacious for good, perhaps even pro-
ductive of evil. Who are to judge what profit, rent,
and wages ought to be? Certainly, no legislative
authority; for these are matters of convention dic-
tated by the reciprocal convenience of the parties,
and silently indeed, but surely, adjusted by their
reciprocal necessities.
In proportion as both rent and wages are excluded
from the cognizance and the control of the Legisla-
ture, it becomes important that Parliament should
watch with jealousy those burdens which are im-
posed by law on land, and which it is within their
competency to revise and modify.
The whole subject of the county rate is particu-
larly worthy of a separate consideration. The im-
proved arrangement of the gaols, admitting of the
classification and separation of criminals; the pay-
ment of the costs of prosecutions, both at the
assizes and quarter sessions, not only of felonies but
of misdemeanors, whereby the want of a public
prosecutor in England is now supplied ; the vast
expenditure on bridges for the improvement of the
great inland lines of communication, an object of
national importance ; all these are growing charges
imposed by law, levied by county-rate, and borne
principally by land, anomalous from the circum-
stance that purposes of general utility are thus de-
frayed by local taxation subject to abuse, be-
cause placed under the control of the authorities
not personally responsible, and requiring, therefore,
in the opinion of your Committee, the early and
deliberate attention of the Legislature.
Your Committee, in their inquiries, have nor
overlooked the subject of tithes, a burden which
materially affects the outlay of capital in the im-
provement and cultivation of the soil; and they re-
port with satisfaction, that on the part both of the
laity and of the clergy, of the tithe-owner and of
the tithe-payer, the desire of a fixed computation is
very generally expressed. The removal of an ob-
stacle to the outlay of capital on land, which a per-
manent commutation of tithe on moderate terms
would effect, is a national object of the highest im-
portance, for the attainment of which the temper
of the present moment would seem to be favourable.
The tithe-owner would be relieved from the cost of
collection, and would gain by the substitution of a
certain for an uncertain income, while the tithe-
payer would be exempt from collection in kind, and
from the discouragement of industry inherent in a
system which gives a certain share of the produce
to a party who partakes neither in the risks nor in
the losses of production.
The administration of the poor laws in England
affects so directly the condition of every class in
society connected with land, that it is impossible for
your Committee to leave the subject unnoticed,
especially since, in the course of their inquiries,much
useful information has been elicited on this point.
A special commission having been appointed by
the Crown for the purpose of investigating the ad-
ministration and operation of the poor laws, and
the final report of this commission having not yet
been presented, your Committee abstain from offer-
ing any suggestions in detail ; but they earnestly re-
commend -to the attention of the House the evidence
of Mr. Smith Woolley, who details the success of
Mr. Beecher's plan of management, which has been
It is, is the, However, labouring
adopted in 50 parishes in Nottinghamshire, and
which has produced a large diminution of the rate,
and a positive increase of comfort and independence
arn
i e ipoor.ecs ar y to observe, that Mr.
13eechet's plan is calculated rather to arrest the early
progress than to eradicate the inveterate evils of a
system of mal-administration.
The evidence of Mr. Blamire is most satisfactory
with respect
- to the northern comities of England,
where able-bodied men still maintain themselves and
families on wages without the aid of the poor-rate;
and the great abuse would seem to be more preva-
lent in the southern counties, where wages are paid
out of the rate, where the system of roundsmen has
been longest established, where the father of the
family r •
iceives an increased allowance on the birth
of each child, where the supply of labour is re-
dundant •
, and where a premium is thus indirectly
offered to improvident marriages and to an increase
of population.
The labour-rate has been introduced in these dis-
tricts us a palliative to evils which had become in-
tolerable
:
its effect has produced temporary relief:
but the measure must be viewed with suspicion and
adopted with caution, since it is contrary to every
sound principle, interfering directly iA i h the natural
demand for labour, levying, in many cases, the
wages of labour from those who are not its em-

I)l°Yers) and absolutely destroying the distinction be-
tween pauperism and independence.
It is also worthy of consideration, whether, in
parishes where the supply of labour is greater than
the demand, the law of settlement, as it now exists,
may not aggravate the evil. Its tendency is
i to pre-
vent the free circulation of labour, to chain t to the
spot where it is not wanted, and to check its natural