OUTDOOR RELIEF TO FARMERS.
WE should be sorry to make light of the• generosity of certain landowners who, in consideration of the terrible character of the season, have remitted a portion of their tenants' rents. The unhappy farmer whose crops are under water, whose hay is unhoused or is too damp to keep, whose turnips were sown several times, and yet do not promise well after all his pains, and who knows that he must sell cheaply the little produce of indifferent quality which lie can hope to bring to market, is a fit object of compassion. Very wonderful is the elasticity of an English farmer. Misfortunes slide off him as rain slides off one of his own cleverly thatched ricks. He will look sleek and comfortable, and his wife and daughters will dress well, while he can demonstrate by figures, over a table spread with plenty, that he is a
ruined man. He rides out storms in which other less buoyant classes go down. But this time he has been hard hit. Three bad years in succession have been too much for him, and indulgence on the part of his landlord is opportune and natural. Landlords who have made an abatement in rents, in consideration of the hardness of the times—especially those who, like Lord Tollemache, have remitted rent according to some fixed principle--have acted with public spirit. But it is possible to praise too highly the generosity which has come to the rescue of struggling farmers. Let us see how they would have fared in very bad times under other systems of landholding than our own, which, according to Lord Beaconsfield's solemn joke, is the perfection of reason, because it yields three incomes, and which requires rent to be paid without the slightest regard to the ruin
of the tenant. Let us look at the principles on this subject of the Roman Law, which constitutes the Common .Law of most of Europe. The substantial effect of that law, as stated by Vangerow, is that, "if a fruit-bearing piece of land is lot on lease, and if, owiag to extraordinary events, a smaller produce can be obtained than might be reasonably ex- pected, the lessor must bear a proportionate reduction of the rent." Accordingly, not only was there a remission of rent when grave injuries were done by the operations of war, but also when extraordinary calamities occurred in consequence of inundations or hail-storms. Allowance, too, was made for in- juries inflicted by locusts or birds ; and the landlord might have to forego even the whole of his sent, if the crops had been utterly ruined by tempests, drought, wind, or rain. Of course there were qualifications of this +principle. If the tenant had expressly agreed to bear all losses, he could not claim a re- mission of rent. If the farmer was really eorapensaked by good years in his lease, it was understood that he would set off the fertility of one period against the barrenness of another. All that we desire to point out is, that the principle of remitting rent (partially or wholly), when a farmer was the victim of many unusual calamities of great severity, was clearly recognised. The Scotch law is to much the same effect. Not only does it allow an abatement of rent, when the subject-matter of the lease is destroyed, but—we here quote a well known authority—" exemption or deduction May be claimed, although the Sterility or vastation be not total ; if it be what is termed plus gum toterabile. No definition of this phraseology is given either in the Roman or Scotch law ; but the common opinion is said to be that the tenant is liable for the rent, if the produce exceeds the expense of production. . • • • The principle has been recognised that an abatement is to be given for sterility during one or more years of the lease, without regard to the returns during previous years." When a crop of corn was so injured by a storm of hail Of unusual violence that the pro- duce was not more than would pay for seed and labour, the farmer's rent was remitted for that year. The French law 18 substantially much the same ; and the Prussian All- gemeines Landreeht recognises the same principle, with some differences of application, as the Roman law. We need not advert to the diversities in carrying out the prin- ciple. It is quite sufficient to say that it has been almost universally admitted to be a farmer's right to get an abate- ment of rent, when he is prevented by totally unforeseen cir- cumstances, not directly affecting his land, from making any profit out of it.
he more important question, however, is whether this principle, so 'widely recognised, is fair and rational. Rent, it must be owned, presumes the existence of surplus produce. We may entertain any view about "the law of rent,"—it may be, as Adam Smith thought it, the price of a monopoly ; or it may be, as Ricardo thought, the price for the inherent advantages of the soil ; it may be measured, in the case of any particular acre, by the difference between the value of it and of the worst piece under cultivation, or not. But however analysed, it presupposes that the farmer covers his expenses. It implies more ; it assumes that he .gets the current interest on his
capital, and fair wages for his personal attendance ; and when all this is not paid, the gum' handed to the landowner, though called, in common parlance, "rent," is not, in the view of the economist, really such. It is of the nature of a forfeit or a penalty ; but it is not rent as defined by Ricardo or Mr. Mill. Of course, when a lease is so long that it includes years of plenty, the landowner may fairly claim to set the good years off against the bad. He gets no increase of rent when the crops are ex- cellent, and why Should he be compelled to make a sacrifice when the crops are a failure I This is unanswerable, so far as it goes. But it takes no account of the farmers whose leases are short, and have not been diversified by good harvests. It is beside the question, so far as the multitude of farmers are concerned, who have no leases, but who are tenants from year to year, with perhaps a friendly understanding that they will not be turned out if they vote straight, and do not grumble when the squire rides across their wheat, or when his hares devour their turnips. In a business point of view, they have no right to make their calculations on the assumption that they -will be able to set the good years off against the bad. They are in the position of a fire-insurance company whose policy-holders have all their premises in one street, and which may be ruined by one conflagration.
Every one will have a good word for the considerate land- lords who do not feel comfortable in drawing high rents from farmers on the brink of ruin. Some have remitted 20 and even 25 per cent. But this kindliness has its 'bad side. It is not well that farmers should depend on the mercy or' forbearance of their landlords. It is a blow to their inde- pendence. We do not .much like to see any class getting doles. An allowance system is bad for masters ancl men alike. It 'would be a thousand times better that what is given to. a favour could be fairly asked as a right ; and it is to this' That may come. It is manifest that, with our variable climato,farm- ing is a mere variety of betting when a man has no lease, or an understanding which is equally good. As a mere tenant from year to year, he makes virtually a wager which may turn out had for him, and the consequences of which he may not be able to rectify in a good season. His business becomes safe, as the Romans, with their usual good-sense, saw, only when he has a lease, which enables him to calculate upon
,a fair average return for his capital and toil. This fact
alone ought to induce every prudent farmer who escapes the calamities of this year to insist upon obtaining a lease—unless, indeed, he thinks that the uncertainties of farming are to great to make him think of entering into any bargains to last for several years. But this is not enough. There are leases and leases. Many landowners are reluctant to part with the practical possession of their land for nineteen or twenty-one years, and will not consent to grant leases suffi- ciently long to enable a prudent farmer to be sure that he will strike a fair balance at the end of It. Others will not hoar of a lease, unless it is stuffed full of restrictions. Let the farmer use his opportunities. Rents have fallen, and landlords are anxious about the letting of farms, which lie heavy on their .hands. Let the farmer press his point, and insist upon getting a long lease ; and if the Legislature will not give him those advantages which he possesses under almost every other system of law but our own, let him take care to stipulate' for them in his lease.
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