LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
MR. CHANNING ON ENGLISH LANDLORDS. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:]
Sin,—Mr. F. A. Channing asserts that "for land that a new tenant would not take at more than a half or third of the old rent, and with all manner of improvements thrown in, the old tenants have had to go on paying out of their dwindling capital the old rent, with some trifling 10 or 20 per cent. re- mission." Will Mr. Channing, who is, I think, an old friend of mine, be so kind as to specify where so pleasant a state of affairs for landowners still exists in England ? As a poor Wiltshire squire, I should very much like to make an exchange. I should like to live where tenants make improvements, and will go on with 10 to 20 per cent. reduction. In our part of the world they are not so simple. Perhaps a few facts for which I can vouch may interest Mr. Channing. The prin- cipal farm at Wilbury is about 650 acres in extent ; the rental thereof when let on a fourteen years' lease in 1875 was 2650, and the tenant paid tithe. When the distress set in, large reductions were made, and at the expiration of the lease the tenant remained on at a rental of 2300, I paying the tithe. Besides this, I put the buildings in repair, and assisted the tenant in fencing for cattle, and by making stables for a large dairy. Another farm of 430 acres, for which my father always obtained 2230 rental, I have let for 250 a year, which is 26 less than the assessed tithe on it. This, of course, is an extreme case. I had my own reasons for letting it cheap to the tenant of the home farm, and he was immediately able to let off the house and 30 acres at 230 a year. The home farm, one of the best farms in our part of Wiltshire, and formerly worth 2440 a year, is now let at 2270. None of the tenants do any repairs, and the cottages in the village are let at rents which leave nothing for the repairs that I am compelled to make year by year.
I should be very pleased to show my property to Mr. Chan- ning. He will not find it in bad order, and I believe it to be a very fair average specimen of the state of affairs all over Wilts and Hants and Dorset. The labourers are in easier circumstances than I ever remember them. The farmers have their farms at their own price. The clergy receive their tithe with more than 20 per cent. reduction. The rents have, on an average, been reduced from 50 to 60 per cent., and the land- lords have to do all repairs.
This, I take it, sums up the situation hereabouts; where- fore it seems to me that the landowners within Mr. Chan- fling's ken are having a good time of it. I want to know where it is.—I am, Sir, &o., Wilbury House, Salisbury, August 21st. HENRY MALET.
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