The Truth, about Agricultural Depression. By F. A. Channing, M.P.
(Longmans and Co.)—The central thesis of Mr. Channing's book, which to a large extent is a useful résumé of the evidence collected by the Royal Commission on Agriculture, is the denunciation of rent as the main cause of the disastrous position of agriculture, and a recommendation of the "extension of agricultural arbitration to rent," which should, in his opinion, be based not on competition but "on a valuation of the average money returns obtainable from the land." Mr. Charming adduces much evidence to prove that in the majority of cases rents have not yet been reduced to the point at which the enormous lose from fall of prices would be fairly shared between landlord and tenant; that excessive rents have brought, and are bringing, vast numbers of farmers to ruin ; and that, if the cultivation of land is to continue, rents must come down still further. There is, no doubt, a certain show of truth in these contentions, but that a remedy is to be found in the practical establishment of land courts to fix rent we do not believe. No one in these days is a fanatical advocate of freedom of contract, but to set up in England a system of dual ownership which in Ireland has not been successful, and which a wiser legislation is there attempting to get rid of, would be a fatal blunder, and would at once put an end to the co-opera- tion of landlord and tenant, from which alone an improved condition can be hoped for. The lesson of adversity has not been lost on the most grasping of landlords or the most inept and unbusinesslike of farmers, and there is some evidence in the Report that a healthier condition of the greatest of our national industries is being brought about by the free play of natural forces. With this exception Mr. Channing's recommendations seem reasonable, and at all events to be based upon a thorough survey of the facts, though he underrates the effect which currency legislation has had upon prices. His proposals for the alteration of the Agricultural Holdings Acts in the tenants' favour are, indeed, of a sweeping character; and his Draft Bill will no doubt not coincide with the terms of the measure which the present Minister for Agriculture will endeavour to pass. We are, however, in hearty agreement with him in his contention that the multiplication of small holdings should be farther encouraged by legislation; and with the pro- cedure he recommends for enabling traders to test the reasonable- ness of railway rates. Mr. Channing's solution of the local rating question is the old one of dividing the burden between owner and occupier, for which, in our opinion, there is less to be said than for a measure for totally relieving agricultural land from rates.
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