The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-17 00:00:00

SHROPSHIRE CENTRAL AGRICUL-

TURAL ASSOCIATION.

On Saturday last the Members of The Central and Ge-
neral Agricultural Association for Shropshire held their an-
nivercary dinner at the -Lion Inn, Shrewsbury. The Eall
of Darlington, as President of the Society, took the Chair,
and the Hon. R. H. Clive, M.P., and. W. 0. Gore, Esq.,
M.P., officiated a/ Vice-Presidents. After the customary
toasts, the Noble Chairman said that, as President of their
Association, he felt it his, duty to state his opinions as to
the aspect of the times with respect to agriculture.—
(Cheers.) As to the extent of the distress, there was very
little difference of opinion among them ; but as to the cause
and remedy there was much. Did he not think that Par-.
liament had the power of in some degree relieving the dis-
tress of the farmer he should not now address them. He
disagreed with those who asserted that the agriculturist
must look alone for relief from his present situation. by an
improved cultivation of the land, and by an adjustment of
rent between himself and the landlord. He appeared be-
fore them as a Member of Parliament ; and first let him
ask, what it was that the farmers most complained of?
He believed they would_ all agree that it was the " low
prices of produce."—(Hear, hear.) And, that being the
evil, in order to remedy it they must have recourse either
to some mode of raising the prices, or reducing the costs
of production.—(Cheers.) He would begin by a conside-
ration of the latter remedy. The first and most material
item, perhaps, in the farmers' expenses was rent. With re-
spect to those rents which were enhanced during the war, they
had, generally speaking,been reduced from 30 to 40 per cent.;
though certainly this was not the case as regarded all. If
the landlord, however, were to be called upon continually to
reduce his rents, he would shortly have none left at. all.
Next came tradesmen's bills, machinery, .and implements.
'there had been very little diminution sink the war in
these, nor did he see much prospect of their being further
reduced. With respect to the costs of ‘laborir,-be had no
dotibt but that the Poor Law Amendment Bill would ul-
timately prove very beneficial in this respect to the farmer,
but it would of course be gradual. ,The main feature of the
Bill was to make the labourers support themselves and fami-
lies by their own industry, but in order to do that their
wages must not be diminished, but rather increased.—
(Hear.) He now came to the consideration of 'other bur-
thens, such as county rates, highway rates, poor's rates, and
tithes. Of the latter he would only say that he was anxious
for a commutation ; •but still the benefit in a pecuniary
point of view to the farmer would not be very considerable,
for the clergymen must still have his stipend. There was
-every-reason to believe that Government would effect such
an alteration in the county rates as to give some trifling be-
nefit to the farmer. It could not be much, for the county-
rates throughout the kingdom did not average more than
4d. in the pound on rent, and if all were to be taken off it
would'be but as a drop in the ocean.—(Hear, hear, hear.)
The highway rate certainly pressed very heavily, and he'
believed the farmer would find himself much benefited by
being relieved from a greater part of statute duty.—
. (Hear, hear, hear.) As to poor rates, he thought it
would be far better to make it a State tax, rather than a
local .one ; but there was no hope of such an alteration
being effected, unless it were introduced by Government,
and he did net see much prospect of that being done. It
was said by some that the fall in prides was caused by the
sudden transition from war to peace. That certainly might
have accounted for it in the first year of peace ; but not
in the twentyrfirst.—(Hear, hear.) The war virtually
ended in 1814: The years 1817 and 1818 were years of
as great prosperity as the farmer perhaps "ever knew or
could expect to know. In 1819, what was called Peel's
Bill was passed, having for its object the curtailment of
the currency- Immediately prices fell, and continued to
fall, until 1822, at which period the farmer suffered more
than at any former or subsequent tune.—(Hear, hear.)
" The distress, indeed, was universal ; it rang in the cars of
• Parliament, and .the Government at length took up the
subject, and by a forced issue of four millions from the
Bank. quickened the circulation. All pric-es immediately
rose, and in 1824 and 1825 agriculture was flourishing
After this, they went up and down till 1830, with no great
. complaint from the agriculturists, but ever since that time
things have been getting much worse, the reason of which
was, that the latter - part of -Peel's Bill, prohibiting the
issue cf country bank notes, took effect in 1829, and pro-
Eluced, the effects now unhappily so apparent, to all. He
would take that opportunity of correcting a mis-statement
which had been made in both the Shrewsbury papers, with
reference to what he said at Bridgnorth. I3e was re-
ported to have said that he wished the currency to be
placed on the same footing as it was in 1815—that was,
an issue of Bank notes without any responsibility. Now,
no person could deprecate that system more than him.
self. What he wanted was,-that there should be an al-
teration in the standard, instead orbeing compelled to
abide by a gold standard only, and that too at a fixed and
.arbitrary price, even though it should end in utter ruin.—
(Cheers.) Ile wanted an alteration of the standard from
gold to silver, which he believed Would be productive of the
best results. He would listen to no other basis for our cur-
rency than a metallic one.: There was one other point to
-which he wished to allude before he sat down. The prin-
cipal distress was amour* the small farmers—men who had
- but 1 ttlp capital, and who were ,often compelled to take
their produce to market at the most unseasonable time of
the year. Now this of course operated most injuriously.
The time at which there was the greatest,glut of corn was
between harvest and Christmas, and he thought it would
he a great relief to the small farmer if the landlord ;would
ascertain the amount be wanted to raise by taking his stock
into the market, and instead of suffering him to do so, place
so much to his credit, until a suitable season, when h 6 could
take his grain to market, and obtain a better price. His
Lordship sat down amid loud cheers.
Several other Gentlemen addressed the meeting in the
course of the evening,
The Chairman left about ten o'clock, and the company
immediately after broke up.