The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-26 00:00:00

SUCCESS OF THE ALLOTMENT
SYSTEM AT WIMESIVOULD, LEICESTER.
rather extensive
itscale.
was There A very interesting meeting took place at this vil-
lage on Tuesday evening last. The allotment sys-
tem appears to have been carried out there on a
years
ago determined
i s
bya the
quantity of what is called feofee land, and two or
three
in conjunction with the Rev. Mr. Alford, the incum-
bent, who, we understand, was the principal mover
in the scheme, to let it out in allotments of from a
rood to half an acre. In addition to this, several
gentlemen of the neighbourhood encouraged the
system, and an allotment society was formed—the re-
sult of whose exertions is, that a great quantity of
land, la hich before was almost a barren waste, is now
fruitful and productive. It having been determined
upon to celebrate the success of the Society by a
supper, the meeting was held at the Infants' School-
room, which was tastefully decorated for the occa-
sion with laurel and evergreens. We noticed in the
assembly the Rev. Mr. Alford, President of the So-
ciety (in the chair), Lord John Manners, M.P.,
Jones, Esq. Gurney, Esq., S. B. Wild, Esq.,
Messrs. W. Ella, Brown, 'F. R. Potter, Henson, Bos-
worth, G. Kilby, and several other landowners and
occupiers. The rest of the company, mustering up-
wards of 130, consisted of the allotmenters and their
frk nds.
The Rev. CHAIRMAN gave the usual loyal toasts,
which were responded to with great enthusiasm.
Mr. T. R. POTTER rose to propose the health of the
Noble guest, Lord John Manners, and took the op-
portunky of entering into a statement of the "rise
and progress" of the allotment system in Wimeswould.
There was at first considerable opposition to the plan ;
but he himself felt confident that it would be
productive of immense advantage both t the
rich and poor. He believed it would be fraught
with benefits both to the giver and receiver, and he
thought he could say that that had been the case there.
He believed there was no poor man there who
would not say that his situation had been much im-
proved by it ; and the farmers and ratepayers generally
must indeed be short sighted if they could not see that
the allotment system had in some degree diminished
their burd.ms.—(llear, hear.) But he would mention
an allotment on his own ground. He let a field in
portions of from one acre to half a rood ; it was an
unmanageable piece of land, situate about two miles
from the village, and with a shocking bad road to it.
It was, indeed, in so wild a state, that he could not
restrain his tenants from using the plough ; but having
an adjoining field he put the spade into that, and dagup
from thirteen to twenty inches deep, burying the twitch
and rubbish ; and the consequence was, that he got
the land completely subsoiled, and the surface, instead
of being a heavy dead mass, was now a light spongy
soil.—(Cheers.) That land, which he might say had
never borne a germ of useful vegetation from the
time of the flood, was now fruitful and productive.
The speaker here mentioned, in terms of high com-
mendation, the names of several of the allotmenters,
whose example, both as to industry and the quality
of their work, he said, might afford a valuable lesson
to many of the farmers themselves. He mentioned
those men by name because they had not, as yet, tried
the system of bringing them out by emulation. They
had had no prizes—no perambulations of the allotment
ground. He hoped, however, for better things another
year. He hoped they should institute a prize for
digging, which would be as interesting as prizes for
ploughing matches, offered by the Agricultural So-
cieties. All those things, he had little doubt, would
come in time, kind feelings would be induced, and
all classes learn how much they depended on each
other. There was another thing he wished to men-
tion ; their parish was half manufacturing and half
agriculture. He thought there had been a consider-
able increase of right feeling, and a decrease of mis-
chief and disorder—(Hear, hear, and cheers)—and
from year to year he hoped that would go on. There
were other results of their Allotment Society—that
meeting was a result : their noble guest was an-
other result—(Continued cheering)---himself a la-
bourer in a very wide field, one of the noblest that
could uffet iti cif Lu, is :scion of the of 11.-at1,..1
the renovation of the great mass of his fellow-crea-.
tures.—(Loud cheers.) He would give them, thee,
the health of their noble guest, Lord John Man-
ners, with many thanks to him for his condescension
—no, he would not call it his " condescension," his
" good sense" —in coming amongst them, to
see how they lived, how they breathed, how they
worked ; and if that nobleman wished to form a good
senator he could not do better than acquainting him-
self, and identifying himself, with the wants, the
wishes, and the rights of his fellow-men.
The toast was received with very great enthusiasm,
and continued rounds of applause, which having some-
what subsided,- -
Lord J. MANNERS rose and said—Mr. Alford, Mr.
Potter, and Gentlemen,--When I yesterday received
your kind Invitation to be present at this gratifying
assemblage, I was most anxious, if possible, to accept
it, because I have lately, in various parts of the
country, attended meetings, which, in different ways,
all had for their object the amelioration of the con-
dition of the people, and I was anxious to
witness a similar scene in my own native county.
—(Loud cheers.) Your kindness has enabled
me to do so, and I beg to assure the gentle-
man who, much too flatteringly proposed my health,
and you who have so kindly received it—l beg you
all to believe that in coming amongst you to-day,
nothing could be so far from my thoughts as that
whioh my friend would at first call a condescension—
such an idea never entered my head.—(" Bravo" and
cheers.) There may be some gentlemen to whom an
allotment supper of this land may teem only an unin-
teresting affair—l am not one of those ;tome it pos-
sesses an interest, and has claims upon our attention,
such as I may safely say no other meetings can pos-
sess; for, gentlemen, that which we have heard this
evening, that which we have seen, and that which we
are to hear, gives us—while it naturally places before
our fancy the dreams which we may suppose were real-
ised in the merry days of old England—gives us hope
for the future that our country will continue to pros-
per and progress ; and that the true old English spirit
is still alive amongst us—((;heers)—uniting the dif-
ferent classes of society in one common bond of cor-
dial good feeling; and instead of self-interest predo-
minating, leaving us all to act upon, as well as to
profess, our belief, that we are the common children
of one common Father.—(Great applause.) To you,
the allotment tenants, who have had now two years'
experience of the benefit this system confers upon
you, it is unnecessary to say anything in praise of it.
You are all well aware of the advantages you derive
from it; how, when perchance hired labour may fail
you have that savings' bank in the earth upon which
you may fall, and into which you may deposit with a
certainty of finding your contributions returned to
you with ample and compound interest. You know
what it is to be able to improve your children, and to
give them an agricultural education—not only free
of expense, but with a certainty of return. You
know what it is to be able to keep out of the union
workhouses, and to feel that owing to this sys-
tem, if you be only commonly industrious and
honest, you need entertain but small dread that you
will have to enter them. But it does seem extraor-
dinary to me that, while you are all agreed as to the
benefits you derive from this system, there are par-
ties in England—though, thank goodness, not in
Leicestershire—there are men, feeling the greatest
interest in the welfare of the people, who deliberately
set their faces against this system. They tell us it
militates against the true principles of political eco-
nomy—that it makes us dependent upon labour, and
then refer us to the results of the Irish cottier system.
Gentlemen, in the first place we are told that the
allotment system militates against the true principles
of political economy. All that I can say to that is,
that it would matter very little if it did. The only
question we ought to ask ourselves is—does it work
well or ill ?—(Hear, hear)—and if experience proves
it to work well, then all the dogmas of political
economy may be whistled down the wind for what
we care.—(Tremendous cheering.) Oh, but they
say it prevents the labourer, who would other-
wise work for the- farmer, work only for himself.
Now, this system has been tried for many years in
various parts of England, and I would ask, has it
been found to work ill in any place ? I believe there
will be but one answer to that question—it has not
been proved that it has, and experience is totally the
other way. But suppose, to show the complete ab-
surdity of the thing, that it be true. Now, we find
this argument of the bad working of the Irish cattier
system brought forward when we propose any system
for improving the condition of the people, and re-
moving the weight from their shoulders. They say it
is all of no use ; it is a surplus population, and until
we- get -rid of them all the measures you can intro-
duce 'will be unavailing. Suppose this to be well
founded ; I say it is a most inconsequential and ab-
surd argument; because, if the labour market be
overst ()sled, that ought to be an argument in favour
of, rat Le, r than against, the system. IVell, then, it is
nh ' it mak s the labourer dependent. Now, in
•
`another place I sometimes have to attend—the