The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-08 00:00:00

NETHERBY RENT AUDIT.

On Tuesday last, on occasion of the hslf-yearly rent
audit, Sir James Graham entertained about eighty of
his tenants at the Graham Arms, Longtown. The
Right Hon. Baronet presided. On his health being pro-
posed by Mr. Reed, and heartily cht e7ed, he returned
thanks. He met his tenants with pleasure; it was, indeed, a
duty when an adverse cloud seemed to hang over agricul-
ture. He could not but remember that in 1822, when the
management of the estate devolved upon him, that then,
as now, there were complaints, not only of low prices,
but heavy local burdens. Matters soon righted, and,
doubtless, would do the same now; at all events, all
the rates were much reduced, and habits of economy
had grown up. None of his tenants had made
application to him for a reduction of rent.
In saying this ho must not be understood as
having, from that fact, drawn an inference that his

tenants were prosperous ; all he meant was that they
hid taken a view of the present state of agricultural
prices similar to his own—that they were under a
cloud which would only be of temporary duration;
and that they had the reliance upon him that
when the proper time arrived he would meet
them in a spirit of Equity. He contrasted pre-
sent prices of corn with those of 1822 with 1835.
They had then, as now, followed yt ars of high prices
and short supplies, whereby cultivation had been stimu-
lated, and supply made abundant. He locked upon the
present prices aa transitory, and had, therefore, deter-
mined not take any step to disturb the present arrange-
ments between himself and his tenants, until it was
clearly ascertained what were likely to be the
permanent prices. He would caution all who
heard him not to entertain the slightest ex-
pectation that the recent measures of free trade would
ever be revered. That he believed to be almost an
impossibility. It might be said that he had changed
his opinions. He admitted that he had done so.
He had at one time held that to raise the price
of corn by artificial means must lead to an in-
crease of the wages of labour. His official po-
sition, as a responsible adviser of his Sovereign, had
led him to a close investigation of the sutject, and the
office he held had given him access to facts of such un-
doubted authenticity, and of such a character, as to lead
to a complete alteration in his views on the subject. He
drew attention to the price of wool as an instance
of the wrong impressions sometimes produced by great
changes. Wool was an article of importance in the
payment of rent ; and when the duty was taken off
foreign wool great. alarm was erca'ed amongst
shcep.farmerg. Tho result, however, had been that the
prices of British wool had ranged higher since the re-
peal of the duty on foreign, than they had ever done
before. He next instanced the price of pork, as another
proof of the case with which fdse alarms were some-
times cn a!ed. On this point ho appealed to the ex-
perience of all those who heard him whether the price
of pork had not been remunerative since tho tariff
nt) regard Came i operation. With to the question
of rent and to the system of making per-tentage reduc-
tions, he held it to be bad in principle. It was destruc-
the of the independence of the tenant, and placed the
good and the bad farmer on the same tooting, and, in
fact, operated as an inducement to indolence. He
woald rather wait the result of the present measure,
and if the effect should be to reduce prices
permanently, it would then become the duty
of landlords to meet their tenants in a spirit
of fairness, and make such a re-adjustment of contracts
as would be just towards all. He had not asked for in-
creased rents in 1847, when prices far exceeded ordinary
calculations, and the tenants bad now shown equal for-
bearance towards hiir. The meeting was in all respects
a pleasant one. It is right to say that no reporters were
present, and thet our stateme it is funded upon verbal
communication.—Carlisle Patriot.

The Marquis of Lansdowne left town yesterday
afternoon for Windsor Castle,