THE ALLOTMENTS EXTENSION ACT.
LTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Would you be surprised. to hear that the agricultural labourer is becoming quite indifferent to the occupation of allotment lands P I happen to be Vicar of a rural parish where both squire and parson have more than professed to have the welfare of the working-classes at heart. On an enclosure of -common land taking place nearly sixty years ago, ten acres were allotted to my predecessor in lieu of certain common rights ; and after spending on fencing, enclosing, and getting these ten acres into order almost as much as would have bought the land -outright, he let it out in allotments, and for many years these roods of land were much in request, and a real boon to the labourer. The squire also, in two or three convenient places, let allotments on reasonable terms to all who cared for them. Another gentleman, owning a very suitable plot of ground, let it out in allotments on very favourable terms for himself. One more did the same. And up to recently this system was mutually beneficial. Neither parson nor squire, after deducting bad debts and having lots left on their hands uncultivated, and paying all outgoings, made a very good thing of it ; but, strange as it may appear to the Spectator, they were content, so long as the system seemed, on the whole, beneficial to that class whose only friend is the Liberal newspaper. Bat this is all changed, partly because vegetables are so cheap all round that it will scarcely pay for the labour to grow them yourself ; and the labourer does not care to work so hard now as he used, either for his master or for him- self. This may be for the better or the worse ; but it is so.
And then as to this Allotments Extension Act itself. About a year ago my attention was called to it by one of my parishioners, who already hired an allotment from me, and might have had more, who showed his distrust of the parson by consulting him how he was to proceed to obtain allotments from some Charity lands in the parish. I am actually the occupier of some such land at a rent which I have raised upon myself. I at once offered him this ; but it lies low, and is marshy and distant from the village, so it was declined. I wrote for him to the trustee of a considerable area of excellent Charity land, as I thought ; but the trustee replied that it was not all Charity land, but was only charged with a certain payment out of it for chari- ties. On seeing this trustee afterwards he told me, with some warmth, that if he had been obliged to portion out, fence, and let the land in allotments, and still be responsible for paying the sum due to the charity, nothing would have induced. him to retain the trust. Not long after, I was favoured with a visit from the Liberal agent for this division of the county, who wished for -some information as to the Charity lands in the parish. And he admitted, in course of conversation, that he had been recom- mended on high official authority to proceed cautiously, as it might be difficult to find responsible trustees for Charity lands, if the office was made so onerous and risky. May not this account in some measure for the hesitation—" obstructive im- movability "—of the Charity Commission ? I have lately had much difficulty and more loss in managing my own allotments, so that I should not myself care to remain trustee of Charity lands under this new Act. Rents of allotments have been reduced all round here; and, notwithstanding, tenants for spade- husbandry are not to be found. Carters and small farmers with horses take them for special privileges, but• almost out of com- passion. The only instance I know of paying in advance was in a small town in Suffolk ; and the practice was attended with great advantage to the Charity lands so let, and it secured safe tenants.
I have been a subscriber to and a constant reader of the Spectator for upwards of thirty years, but it is becoming a little too biassed and Radical for me. After a long experience in the north, the east, and now the west of England, I -have had many opportunities of observing the conduct of squires and parsons towards the labouring men, and among no other classes have they ever had truer friends ; and a bad day will it be for the labourer if he is set against his own natural protectors. If the landowners have ever been arbitrary, have the labourers never been ungrateful ? There certainly is no lack of allot- ments in this neighbourhood, without cutting up small fields of pasture-land, which are generally let to small farmers at higher rents than any other class of men could. afford to give for them, and are a real boon to such. With present prices the agricultural labourers, reduced in numbers by emigration to the towns and the colonies, are suffering less than any other class of men in the country from the bad times, and are pro- bably better off than they ever have been since the palmy Tudor times as described by Froude.—I am, Sir, &c.,
A COUNTRY VIC:Att.
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