Lord Derby, speaking on Wednesday at a conference in the
Manchester Town Hall held in connection with an exhibition of fruit, set forth the causes of agricultural depression with his usual perspicuity. They may mainly, be said, be classed under four heads,—First, increased and constantly increasing facilities of communication, which destroy the natural protec- tion given to native products by distance ; second, the demand for higher wages, for better accommodation, and for more of the pleasures and conveniences of life ; thirdly, the desire for larger returns than land can give, and for speculation rather than for the slow processes of industry and saving ; and lastly, " a certain uneasiness and distrust of what Parliament may do, leading many people to prefer investments which they could get out of at short notice, and which are less under the control of legislation than land is."
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