The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-26 00:00:00

AGIRICULTURAL

The Marquis of en A fib oSrose for the third time to ad-
dress the House on the behalf of the English farmer, and he
did so on this occasion in the hope of inducing the House to
give their assent to a measure which he conceived would afford
great relief to the farmers without interfering with the motion
which was to be iritrddtited by another member of the House
on a subsequent day. It was impossible for any man to con-
ceal from himself the desperate position in which the English
farmer Wa4 now placed—( Hear, hear) ; and looking at the
situation in which lie was plaided in former years, no country
gentleman tit least, Who
,Was Continually seeing his old tenants
obliged to give up their faring, *tad deny that some measure
of relief was absolutely necessary. Under the CireilMstances
in which he stood it was difficult for him now to bring forward
:Thy iiieastifd of Coti6l&jrable relief to the agriculturist. The plan
he had to propose was no definitive iiiealift, it would only give
the farmer relief for the present, but he hoped that at a future
time, and that no distant period, the House would grant a larger
measure atelier to the distressed farmer. The House would re-
colleht that sittet the time of Oectge 111., the county rates had
been greatly increased, and the ftirhierS had teen burdened with
the charges of building and repairing bridgeS In the Bounty,
and of giving statute labour on the highway. By the way.
he would ObserV€, that a eommutation of tithes was expected
to have the effect of relieving the farfiltr, but it certainly had
been shown to=night; that it was not the intention of the Go-
vernment to proceed with any Other measure this session, than
those they had already given notice of their intention to bring
in. He thought himself that a commutation of tithes Would
be a medium of great and considerable relief to the occupiers
of the soil, and he therefore earnestly hoped the Noble Lord
would pass some measure of this kind during the present ses-
sion. But he was diverging from his own proposition. He
must confine himself to stating to the House his plan for re-
lieving the farmer from the pressure of local taxation. When
they considered the present price of produce—that wheat was
now at 45., which last year was at 65., and that the diminu-
tion in the price was not sudden or temporary, but had
for a long period been gradually decreasing, he thought the
House would be disposed to admit that they ought to re-
lieve the land as much as possible from local, as well as gene-
ral taxation. At the present moment he held in hand a
calculation made by Mr. George Sinclair, which showed
that, in 1800, the price of wheat was 110 s. ; in 1812, 1225.;
in 1833, 555. ; in 1834, 445. : and in 1835, 38s. The House
would judge for itself from this regular descending scale,
in the remuneration which the farmer had obtained for his
produce, whether the time had not at length arrived when
some relief must be given to him, if he was any longer to
cultivate the land for a subsistence. Even the low price which
he did get for his produce was reduced still lower by foreign
importations. Looking at the Mark-lane account, he per-
ceived that there were 515 quarters of foreign wheat, and
33,490 quarters of Irish oats, besides a very large quantity of
bonded corn and flour, lately imported. He would suggest to
the Government, that they should purchase the foreign corn
that came into the market, and bond it under the King's seal,
so that a preference might, if possible, be given to the produce
of the English farmer. He merely threw out this as a sug-
gestion ; he knew the Chancellor of the Exchequer was not
partial to the plan, but he hoped the Government would take
it into their serious consideration. The ground on which he
stood on the present occasion was very narrow. His
present motion was restricted solely to the relief which the
removal of local taxation would afford the farmer, the
question of the currency being in the hands of another
Member of the House. In the general charge of county-rates,
the farmer severely felt the heavy pressure of the maintenance
of prisoners in gaol, and out of the same source came the funds
for building and repairing the bridges in the county. Added
to this he was compelled to perform statute labour on the
highway. He begged that the Chancellor would look to the
report of the committee on county-rates, and then take these
charges off the land—throw the rates on the general charge of
the country.—( Hear, hear.) Was it not fair that the pub-
lic, who passed over bridges constructed at an expense of
100,0001. or 200,0001., should contribute their quota towards
defraying their costs ? Again, the prosecution of felons and
the maintenance of prisoners in gaol should not be forced up-
on the farmer ; that also should be a national charge.—( Hear,
hear.) The same observations applied to the performance
of the statute labour on the highways. He thought it most
unfair that the farmer should be obliged t 6 send men, whom
he could be profitably employing on his own farm, to make
roads for the convenience of the public, who contributed no-
thing towards the expense of keeping. them in repair. Thus
much for the subject of the local taxation of the farmer. With
regard to general taxation, he would call the attention of the
House to the fact that the Noble Lord the late Chancellor
of the Exchequer made some reductions in favour of the
farmer, which, though small, were to a certain degree very
beneficial. He took off the duty on windows in farmhouses
under 200/., and on horses used in husbandry on farms under
5001., and reduced the duty on farm servants under 18 years of
age. By the first of these reductions the Noble Lord estimated
that the revenue would lose 35,0007., by the second 10,000/.,
and by the last 20,0001. Now, trifling as this was, and trifling as
he (the Marquis of Chandos) thought it to be, he hoped the
House would agree to take off the remainder of those taxes. If
a farmer went to market in a cart without springs, he was not
taxed for it ; but if it should so happen that it had springs or
a cushion, he was immediatel3 taxed. This ought not to be.
The relief, indeed, would not be great, but still the present
law on this subject was an inconvenienco to him. He might,
perhaps, be told by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that the
surplus revenue would not permit to accede to his plan, but he
had been told by so many Governments, at so many times, that
they were unable to give any large measure of relief, that he
hoped he should not be met by a negative to this small propo-
sition. He should have preferred bringing forward the ques-
tion of the malt tax, but on a recent occasion so large a ma-
jority of the House had decided against its repeal, that he felt
it was quite useless for him to advocate it, and he should be
the last person in the world to take up the time of the House
in what could not lead to any profitable result. But what he
wanted to do was to impress upon the mind of the House the
necessity of extending relief to the British farmer. He had
but one object in this instance ; this was no party question ; it
was not not from party motives that he brought it forward,
but to do good to the country at large, and he hoped that Mi-
nisters would do him the justice to believe that no other
object had induced him to come forward.—( Hear, hear.)
When the whole of the agricultural part of the country was
pressing forward for relief, when the pauper population was
disturbed, when the poor laws were failing in many instances
to prove so successful as had been expected—(Cries of " No,
no")—he would repeat that in many instances the poor laws
were not proving so successful as had been expected—it was
certainly necessary for Government to introduce some mea-
sure of relief. He should not have another opportunity
during the present Session of bringing on this question,
and he had now brought it forward in a modified way. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer had ample means of protecting
the farmer to the extent now sought : and when large quan-
tities of foreign butter, cheese, and other articles of con-
sumption, were daily poured into this market, some steps
ought to be taken to secure a proper remunerating price to
the farmers of this country, who also brought these articles
into the market for home consumption. There were besides
other articles requiring to be protected, in which the Scotch
farmers were more particularly interested, and those were
clover and other seeds, of which large importations annually
took place. He would again repeat, Government was• in a
position to give the trifling relief he now asked on behalf of
the farmers, and he trusted there would be no objection to it.
In the course of another session Government might rest as-
sured he would ask for considerably more than he now did.
He concluded by moving, " That an humble address be pre-
sented to his Majesty, expressing the deep regret this House
feels at the continuing distressed state of the agricultural in-
terests of this country, to which the attention of Parliament
was called by his Majesty's most gracious speeches from the
throne, at the commencement of the preceding and of the pre-
sent session of Parliament, and humbly to represent the
anxious desire of this House that the attention of his Majesty's
Government may be directed without delay to this subject,
with a view to the immediate removal of some portion of those
burdens to which the land is subject, through the pressure of
general and local taxation."
The Earl of DARLINGTON seconded the motion. From
what had been stated by the Right Hon. Baronet who had
lately held the office of Prime Minister, and who was not one
who was likely to raise hopes that might be disappointed, he
was sure that if that Right Hon. Baronet had remained in
office, something, by this time, would have been done for the
effectual relief of the farmers of this country. As to the pour
Law Bill, it might he useful hereafter, but he could not see
any immediate relief that was likely to flow from it to the