7 SEPTEMBER 1867, Page 11

THE METAYER TENURE IN PERIGORD.

AIOST Englishmen believe, and not without reason, that the

11. effect of the Revolution was to break up the old tenures in France, and parcel out the country among small freeholders. The most rapid traveller must notice the small plots of land, each bearing a different crop, which tell him that he is among a people with other habits than prevail at home. Yet France is not entirely in the hands of peasant proprietors. In some districts, as in parts of Normandy and Maine, the land is farmed after the English fashion. A much larger portion is held under the Metayer tenure, which was widely spread in France before the Revolution. It extends even now over nearly a third of the cultivated soil of France, if we may believe the estimate of M. Audiganne, who, in a recent number of the Revue des Deux Mondes, has given an account of its working as seen in Perigord, where this primitive tenure still flourishes with but few alterations from the time when it first supplanted serfdom. Metayage is, as is well known, the partition, generally equal, of the gross produce between the proprietor and the farmer. The proprietor's share in the undertaking is not con- fined to the land ; be is also bound to provide stock and imple-

meats, the tenant simply supplying the labour. At first sight this would seem an extremely good form of contract. - The tenant secures the advantage of the use of capital and free play for his energies, while the landlord has the best assurance that his tenant will be careful and industrious, in the fact that the remuneration of both rises or falls together. The tenant is, in fact, a labourer paid in direct proportion to the results of his labour and skill. Unfortunately, the system has not always been found to work well. English economists, who are generally prejudiced in favour of fixed rentals, have almost universally condemned it, and although Mr. Mill in his Political Economy has said something in its be- half, his defence relates only to certain countries where it exists under favourable conditions.

The impression we derive from M. Audiganne's report is that where the division is, as in Perigord, fairly by halves, the tenure is favourable to the cultivator. The metayers, who, requiring no capital, answer to our labourers, are tolerably comfortable, live better than the same class in many other countries, England in- cluded, and have a wide field open to their activity, when once they are sufficiently enlightened to desire improvement. The peasant lives chiefly on the produce of his farm ; good wheaten bread, not mixed, as in many parts of France, with oatmeal or rye flour, pork, eggs, and poultry, especially geese, which are potted after a peculiar fashion under the name of " confits," the whole washed down with tolerable wine, for a vineyard belongs to almost every lot, and the labourer generally consumes his share of the crop. Milk and butter are almost unknown, as the cows are employed in tillage. The surplus produce sold at market supplies the few necessaries that must be bought. Occasionally the women spin a little wool while keeping cattle, or take a child in to nurse, an industry which is unfortunately spreading and becoming more remunerative. With these slight exceptions agriculture is the sole means of livelihood, and the people live a jog-trot life, working in an old-fashioned, quiet way, without much thought of the future, hospitable, indeed liberal, of gifts in kind, but parsi- monious, for very little money goes through their hands. They are not without their amusements. Market days, and still more the fete day of the patron saint of the village, give them opportunities of public merry-making ; while much is made of family events, especially marriages; and every household gives a great feast on the day of killing the winter pig. Their habits, for the rest, are simple, as becomes a rural population. There is little unchastity, for the girls marry very young (often at fifteen), and the youths as soon as they have passed the conscription, the children's labour being valuable on the farm. The population, however, does not seem to multiply so rapidly as to cause that excessive competition for holdings which is the bane of Ireland.

Thus, as far as distribution is concerned, the system seems to work well. With regard to production, the account is far less satisfactory. The peasants love to follow in the old ruts. " They scratch the earth and throw in the seed according to the tradi- tional routine, and that is all. The most primitive methods, the roughest implements remain in favour." The cultivators shut their ears to all suggestions, less by ill will or obstinacy than by straightforward apathy ; they do not take sufficient interest in the advice given them to remember it. They might largely increase their income by extending the vineyards, to which their soil is well suited. M. Audiganne tells us that he has seen a family raised from poverty to ease simply by introducing vines upon its plot. Yet the people are slow to be convinced, and they need to be taught a better method of cultivation, since at present their vines are very ill managed. There has of late years been a school of viticulture at Varetz, on the borders of the De- partment, but its influence has not yet penetrated deeply.

This undisturbed contentment with antiquated methods is chiefly due to the general ignorance of the peasantry, one of the least instructed in France. But it may be attributed in part also to some great obstacles which the Metayer system throws in the way of improvement. The first is the insecurity of tenure. In some parts of Italy, through a custom having the force of law, the metayer feels himself as safe in his holding as if he were in posses- sion by lease, but in Perigord this is not the case. The tenant there receives but a few months' notice of dismissal, and he con- sequently rarely looks beyond the year, and aims simply at draw- ing the most he can from the soil in each season. Not only does he neglect draining, and such work as, causing permanent benefit to the land, might be expected from the landlord, but even so simple a method of improving his returns as a rotation of crops is out of his reach. He might gain by it if he were certain to stay, but there is always the chance that he will be turned out just the year before he expects his most profitable crop. It is true that he is most likely to remain and enjoy the fruits of his foresight, but an insecure tenure takes away the habit, almost the power, of looking forward.

This being so, one naturally asks why the proprietors have not bit upon so very simple a measure as the extension of the term by lease. It must be remembered that the tenants are not men of substance ; they are for the most part mere labourers, living from hand to mouth, and without any reserve funds. No English landlord would grant a lease to a man who had nothing, and a Frenchman is equally unwilling to bind himself to a man against whom, from his poverty, the law loses its rights. Moreover, the landlord looks to his power of instant dismissal as his chief pro- tection against fraud. M. Audiganne suggests that the tribunals should have the right of cancelling a lease on proof of the tenant's dishonesty. But the landlord would probably be unwilling to put the use of his strongest defensive weapon under the restraint of the law.

This fear of being cheated is general among the landlords, and it would seem not without reason. A phrase common in the neighbourhood is frank enough on the subject. When the pro- duce is to be divided, the proprietor is not invited, as one would expect, to come and arrange the shares. The regular form of invi- tation runs, " Fixez le jour ou nous partagerons votre part," and. too often the entertainment answers to the invitation. Here is. one of the worst moral evils of the system, and one which is very hard to eradicate. The employers of labour who have of late• years tried the experiment of sharing their profits with their men, may escape all suspicion of unfair dealing, both on account of their- high character, and because the men do not inquire curiously into the method of assessing what is usually a bonus beyond their- regular wages; but if the practice became general, the workmen, would often be suspicious unless they had free access to the•books. We cannot be surprised that doubts arise where the management is in the hands of inferiors who are quite incapable of keeping- accounts. We are told that in some instances where the produc- tion of a balance-sheet was necessary for a public competition,. returns were sent in that had been put together the day before_ Withpersons so ignorant close inspection is the only warranty for fair dealing. They could hardly be just if they would, and too often it is not only the power that is wanting.

Another difficulty which hampers at once improvements in. cultivation and a rise in the status of the labourer is inherent in the system of metayage ; the tenant is discouraged from investing his savings in the land, and this not merely by uncertainty of tenure, but by the terms of the contract. Since the partition is of the gross produce, it does not pay as a rule to expend money in order to. obtain an increased return, for the landlord would get half the increase. The inducement to economy and profitable- expenditure is, therefore, less than with either the small proprietor- or the farmer at fixed rental. This difficulty may be got over by special agreements, but the necessity of making such is a restraint on action. Each change of this kind is a step from metayage- proper to money rental, and the best hope of progress for the- district lies in such a gradual transformation of the tenure, accom- panying a general elevation in the habits and intelligence of the- labouring class. No sudden alteration can be looked for. The- greater part of the present tenants are likely to be long before they amass capital enough to stock their farms, and if farmers from other- parts of France could be tempted to settle they would have little- chance of success. The same difficulty would hinder them which prevents direct cultivation by the owner being profitable except in a few exceptional cases. Labourers accustomed to the stimulus: of a share in the results of their labour are inert and shifty with-

out it. Besides, while a change which raised the metayers into• farmers would be an advantage, one which depressed them into- mere day labourers would give much cause for regret. The only chance of improved cultivation remains is making the most of the- system now existing, and in developing such germs of better things. as it contains. Something may be done in this direction by public- action, by facilitating communication, and above all, by thespreadl of education. That the-department of Dordogne needs teaching may be seen by the fact that it ranks eightieth in the scale of primary education. This deplorable ignorance is caused less by want of schools than by apathy on the part of the population. The first aims of associated effort must be to awaken in them some desire to learn, and to stimulate them to improved cultivation by agricultural shows and prizes. These are much valued, according to M. Audiganne, in this primitive district, where a little money goes very far.

It is not only the tenants who want raising. The landlords also require to be stirred into exercising for good the influence they possess. 316tayage, a very primitive form of tenure, leaves a great field open for the energies of the proprietor. By vexatious interference he may hamper the efforts of the tenant, while he may help him much by wise direction. M. Audiganne cites examples of proprietors who have honourably distinguished themselves ; among others, M. Magee, the owner of the Chateau of Montaigne, which he has carefully restored, and where he has collected a library of works relating to that most interesting of French writers. MM. Vallade, Freres, who gained in public competition one of those prizes for good behaviour which we give only to agricultural labourers, but which the French offer to higher ranks, have succeeded by care and energy in greatly augmenting the return of their properties, and in so doing have much advanced the condition of their tenants, one of whom, formerly penniless like most of his class, retired lately on 12,0001. It is not a very large sum, but imagine one of our day labourers amassing anything like it ! The report which awarded the prize attributed the success of MM. Vallade to their having succeeded from the beginning in inspiring confidence among their tenants. Here, as in all social reforms, comes in the inevitable law that no government or legislative improvements are of any avail as com- pared with the moral attitude of the people, their mutual trust, and the care which they exhibit for each other's welfare. But for this, we should be more sanguine than we are of seeing Ireland happy and contented.