THE ISLE OF AXHOLME.
BEFORE the Conservative Party became convinced that the creation of peasant-proprietors was the sovereign remedy for Ireland's ills, and was not open to those economic objections (so dear to Conservatives) which might be urged
against other proposals of the Government, the state of the small landholders in the Isle of Axholme, in Lincolnshire, was sometimes referred to as convincing proof of the hopelessness of attempting to introduce prosperity into Ireland by the con- version of tenants into owners. And, no doubt, whenever the English Land Question comes up for legislation, we shall have the same kind of arguments directed even against proposals to free the land from artificial shackles. It may not, therefore, be uninteresting to give some account of this rather singular little land-settlement in Lincolnshire, and the state in which it was found in the spring of this year.
The Island of Axholme lies on the north-west side of Lin- colnshire, on the borders of Yorkshire, and is formed by the rivers Trent, Idle, and Don. The original island, no doubt, consisted of the high land about Epworth, but it has been much enlarged by the reclamation of low-lying laud on the river-banks. This has been greatly improved for purposes of agriculture by the process called "warping," which consists of covering the land with alluvial deposits, by alternately flooding and draining it for two or three seasons. The land thus treated becomes very valuable arable land, but produces next to nothing in a wet season. There is a tradition that the Isle of Axholme was originally a Dutch settlement ; the name of Cornelius abounds, and the inhabitants are distinguished by that scrupulous cleanliness in which our neighbours in Holland have always excelled. The system of small holdings seems to have been long established in the district, which is clearly defined, not only geographi- cally, but by the existence of this system. The island consists of seven parishes, and measures about seventeen miles in length and five in breadth, its total contents being a little under 50,000 acres. The holdings run from half an acre to a little over twenty acres, the majority not exceeding ten acres, and a great number being under five ; and every kind of arrangement exists with respect to the land. There are small owners occupying their own land, and living solely by its produce. There are other small owners who, in addition to occupying their own land, rent a few acres of some other owner. Some owners, again, are not above doing a day's work upon one of the few large farms of the district ; indeed, it is obvious that the owner of a very small plot is much in the position of a labourer with an allotment, except that the allotment is his own, and he has every incentive to add to it. Then, again, there are small tenants not owning any land, and these also mostly either work themselves, or lend their carts and horses for work on their neighbours' farms.
Now, what is the condition of this (for England) unusual little community? In the first place, what is the record of pauperism Then, in what state of cultivation are the small holdings, and how do their occupants live ? And, how have they been affected by the recent bad seasons?
Upon the subject of pauperism, the answer is very remarkable. In the parish of Haxey, where the greatest number of peasant- proprietors, as distinguished from small tenants, is to be found, pauperism is almost unknown. The Vicar, who has had con- siderable experience in country parishes in various parts of England, reports that he never met with such a state of things before. And this result cannot be due solely to disinclination to apply for relief, though the independence of character pro- ducing such a feeling is in itself a most valuable possession ; a most significant fact proves that there must be some amount of saving amongst the members of the class. There is in Haxey a group of seven almshouses for widows, and no less than four of them are often without occupants. Theinference would appear to be that the widows of the small owners are usually sufficiently provided for to render such assistance un- necessary. And the reason is not far to seek. Almost every one acquainted with the place, even if he does not like the small, cultivating class, admits, either directly or by implication, that the possibility of buying,or even of renting, a small piece of land is an immense incentive to industry and thrift. "The man who has a piece of land may be seen working early and late ;" "one cannot call a labouring man thrifty, when he does not make an effort to obtain a piece of land like his neighbour ;" "my opinion is that small holdings are a means of making the people thrifty and industrious,"—such are some of the expres-
sions used by those who have full experience of the working of the system, and some of whom might be expected, from their occupations, to be rather averse to it. And a state of things in which a labourer, left an orphan at eight years of age will by the time he is twenty-two, by working, as he says, "almost day and night," save .f50 and buy a piece of land, must be altogether different from the ordinary rural economy of the country in its effect upon the mind and feelings of the labouring class. And what a passion the possession of land may become, in the English as well as in the French or Belgian peasant, is shown by two accusations which are brought against the small farmers of the Isle of Axholme. "When times were good," says a tax-collector, who has a good deal of trouble with the small holders just now, and is rather angry with them' "the small farmers would attend sales, and give prices for land very far in advance of people of better means," relying (that is to say) upon borrowing a considerable proportion of the purchase-money on mortgage. Again, in connection with the agricultural depression, it is said that the small owners will not sell their land and get quit of their debts, till every other resource fails, and it is considered a wonder how some of them manage to keep soul and body together meanwhile. Again, though some observers say that the small tenant is better off than the small owner, because the rent of the former is less than the interest to be paid by the latter on his mortgage, still, every one who can buy land, even though he must mort- gage to pay for it, does so. So strong is the charm of owner- ship, and the advantage of possessing all the improvements effected by the cultivator's toil !
Upon the state of cultivation of the small holdings there is but one opinion. They are more elaborately and carefully tilled than large farms, and the work upon them apparently leaves little to be desired. As might be expected, the labour being that of the owner or tenant himself and his family, and not hired labour, it is bestowed most prodigally. Weeding is done by hand, each weed being picked up by the roots, put in a basket, carried off the land, and burned. Special care is also given to the mode of manuring ; the manure is laid in furrows, the soil turned over on it, and the whole field afterwards levelled. The manure chiefly used is that of pigs large quantities of pigs being kept, and hardly any other stool ; but stacks of other kinds of natural manure, bought by the cultivator, are to be seen about, and artificial manures are also used to some extent. The farm-houses are all very clean, and well, though plainly, furnished, and the homesteads are in fair condition. The main diet .consists of potatoes and bacon ; sometimes bread and potatoes, with a little dripping, are alone used for many days together. There is very little milk in the district, and what little there is, is used chiefly in cooking potatoes. The land is mostly arable' and consists, to a large extent, of the warped land to which we have referred,—land which in wet seasons produces scarcely anything, but in dry weather yields very fine crops. Both the rent and the price of land have been very high until the recent bad seasons. The average rent of the best lands has been £4 an acre, while that of the inferior, low-lying land has ranged from Ns. to 45s. ; and the selling price has varied from 180 to £100 and £120 per acre.
The effects of the agricultural depression have been severely felt in the Isle of Axholme. In addition to all those causes which have had general operation, the bad seasons have pressed with peculiar severity, owing to the prevailing character and produce of the soil. The price of land -has fallen 15 to 25
per cent ; and in many cases mortgagees are afraid to realise, so doubtful have become their securities. The small owners and tenants have been forced most stringently to contract their expenditure ; and it is said that the trade of the village shop- keepers has fallen to a third of what it was, and that much of what remains is transacted on credit. Opinion is, however, gene- ral that all classes of the agricultural community have suffered alike, and that the small cultivators will compare favourably in their power of resistance with the few large farmers of the district. Indeed, it is suggested that, for the nonce, the less a man has to lose the better is he off ; and the labourer with regular wages of 2s. 3d. a day is pointed to as a most fortunate being. It is admitted, however, that there is this rather serious drawback to his lot, that it is very uncertain what amount of regular work he can get ; during most of last winter he had no work at all. The large farmer is worse off than the small cultivator in this,—that the former is forced to hire labour, whereas the latter makes shift with the work of himself and his family. As to the question between small tenant and small owner, it is said that the former has this advantage, that he can the easier free himself from his liabilities,—and to men racked with anxiety as to how they shall pay the next instalment of interest on their debts, no doubt this seems, from one point of view, an enviable lot ; but there is, of course, the opposite side of the picture. If the owner can pinch himself and struggle on, he maintains his position, while the tenant who gives up his holding drops at once in status, and it may be long before he recovers his position ; and that such a descent is felt, is proved by the fact that very few of those who have farmed on their own account take to farm-labour under the stress of adversity, the majority going to work at the ironworks at Gainsborough. It is, in fact, just in the intense effort it calls forth that the owner- ship of land has such an immense advantage over all other agents in its effect on the peasant cultivator, and the descrip- tion of his struggles to bear up against debt and difficulty is only another way of stating an old proposition.
As we have so often heard in the case of peasant-proprietors elsewhere, the one drawback to the system is the prevalence of indebtedness to mortgagees. It is the payment of interest and the burden of debt which are the universal subjects of com- plaint amongst the small owners, and they talk much of the anxiety they suffer. On the other hand, a small capitalist who lends to some extent speaks very favourably of the regu- larity with which his interest is paid. The chief lenders, however, are the solicitors of the neighbourhood ; and high rates of interest appear to be often -charged. When the expenses attending the conveyance and charging of property are also considered, it is obvious that the burdens imposed must be heavy, and that while in good times there is no diffi- culty in bearing them, in bad seasons matters become serious. Fortunately, owing on the one hand to the courage and per- severance of the small owners, and on the other to the fall in the value of land, there does not appear to have been any great amount of property sold up, and it is to be hoped that a prosperous season or two will right matters. But we cannot help wondering whether some co-operative system, such as that of the numerous building societies in towns, for the advance of money, might not to a great extent obviate all the evils of borrowing, on which so much stress is laid. The application of money, when times are good, steadily and con- stantly, to purposes which perhaps do not seem of such paramount importance then, and constant reinvestment, may do wonders in the way of liquidating debts and providing funds ; and it would certainly seem to be worth the while of thosewho are interested in small landholding, to assist in start- ing such a loan society, by way of experiment, in the Isle of Axholme. The difficulty of borrowed capital vanquished, there seems to be every reason why the peasant-proprietor should, at least in some places, more than hold his own against large cultivation..
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