Mr. Gladstone will find it difficult to substantiate his- declaration
that the Welsh landlords have dealt harshly with their tenants, and have not made as great reductions as the English. Lord Sudeley—a Liberal Peer—writes a very temperate letter to Wednesday's Times, pointing out Mr. Gladstone's error. Mr. Gladstone took the public returns as to the rateable value of England, and from these showed that, while English rents had gone down 24 per cent., Welsh rents had only fallen 7 per cent. Lord Sudeley's answer—an answer which all who know anything about land will regard as convincing—is this :—Only permanent reductions are noted in the returns. Temporary reductions do not appear. But it is only on large farms that reductions are given as permanent reductions. In the case of small holdings, they are almost in- variably given as temporary abatements, the landlord hoping for a change of fortune, and the tenant being willing to muddle on so long as he does not have to pay the whole of the old rent. But Wales is a country of small farms ; hence the Welsh reductions do not appear in full on the returns. These tem- porary reductions, says Lord Sudeley, have often been as high "as 10, 15, and 20 per cent.," and have been made in addition to smaller permanent reductions. It is obvious that Mr. Gladstone jumped to a hasty conclusion, and for the moment forgot that, in considering the figures in a blue-book, many compensating circumstances have to be taken into account.
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