TOPICS OF THh DAY.

STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE AGRICULTURISTS.

THE Select Committee on Agricultural Distress have already published a portion of the evidence given before them. The witnesses whom they have examined seem to he intelligent men, most of them largely engaged, and all experienced, in the business of farming. The progress of the inquiry has been hostile to the views both ofCurrency and Corn-law quacks; and tends to confirm the opinion that very littl_ can be accomplished by the Legislature towards relieving embarrassed landowners and over-rented tenants. Unless rents are reduced or prices raised very considerably, it is the unanimous opinion of the witnesses that the difficulties of the agriculturist will be permanent, and the remuneration of his labour and capital will continue to be inadequate. A bad harvest would be the ruin of a large portion of the tenantry on the heavy wheat-growing soils. But, say the Currency gentlemen, prices may be raised by de- preciating the standard of value. On this point it is worth while to attend to the opinion of Mr. JOHN HOUGHTON, a receiver of rents in the counties of Lincoln, Buckingham, Middlesex, Sorry, Berks, Sussex, Northampton, and Suffolk ; a farmer on his own account, in Berks, Middlesex, Sussex, Northampton, and Bucks ; and a land-valuer in several other comities,--a person, therefore, of extensive experience. He allows, of course, that an issue of one-pound notes, or a forced increase of the circulating medium in any other way, would raise the prices of agricultural produce; but, he says, a rise in prices obtained in this manlier would yield no permanent benefit. Mr. CAYLEY catechized this gentle- man, in order to squeeze out of him an opinion, or facts, in favour of his currency schemes : with what success, will appear from the following extract. " Do you remember, that in April 1822, Lord Londonderry came down to the Ilowe of Commons and proposed an extension of the one-pound notes ? "- " Yes ; I recollect that 1822 was one of extreme distress."

" Do you remember, that subsequently to the extension of the one-pound note system, prices rose during the years 18.2.3, 1S24 and 1825 ?"—" Yes; that is that I have always said would be the effect. But what did it bring us to in 1825 ? I have no doubt that the issue of one-pound notes and paper

would have an effect in raising pt ices." • • " Your opinion is, that if the standard of value be depreciated, the prices would not be permanently raised under the depreciation of that standard ?"— " I think they would not for a long period." " You are willing to stake your character as an inquirer into the Currency question upon that opinion? "—" No; I am stating the effect wpm the ayri- cultural produce." The same witness mentioned some of the effects of the abun- dance of paper money in 182.5 upon the farmers; who appear to have been as much bitten by the mania of speculation as any other class of the community.

" You state it as one of die disadvantages of the paper system, that tenants were induced to offer a higher rent than they could pay ? "—" Yes; I could name many bankers, who went down with the panic in 1825, who lent money to farmers, and farmers have been induced to take land on those gentlemen going tothem for the propose of lending them money. * * * A great many, I could name, were ruined, who had borrowed money of bankers at the time, and who took such a quantity of land ; and it is an act of injustice to men of capital to have to compete in the market with a man who has taken a farm without any capital. I have not a fair chance with that man ; he goes and gets paper, and comes into the market with as good a grace as those who have a fortune to stand on. • • 1 could name men who in 1825 went, without the least knowledge of a farm, into farming ; and one instance I can name, of a man who went to look at a farm, and it was covered with snow ; the farmer said, he (the owner) should have the money; and be took the farm without any thing more."

This is the state of things to which Messrs. ATTWOOD and CAYLEY would bring the farming interest once more, by their " action on the currency,"

The abolition of the Malt-tax is another of the schemes for helping the farmer. On this point it must be remembered, that almost every tenant is a prejudiced witness: but let us hear what they had to say to the Committee.

Mr. JOHN BRICKWE Le lives in Buckinghamshire, and cultivates a farm of 700 acres. His rent and tithe of arable land amount to 30s. an acre; and he gave a detailed statement of the cost of cul- tivating an acre of wheat; from which it appeared, that with wheat at 40s. a quarter (the price he bad sold his wheat for being 36s. a quarter only), there would be a loss of 2/. 2s. an acre. Only 150 acres of his land was arable; if this were all in wheat, his loss would be 3151. per annum. Now, suppose the Malt-tax abo- lished, how far would that go to redeem his loss? In reply to the Marquis of CHANDOS, Mr. BRICKWELL said, that the immediate saving to him would be '211. per annum, but that he should use double the quantity if he could give cheap beer to his labourers : on his present consumption 211. is all he would gain, to set against 315/. loss on his wheat crop. Take the calculation another way : suppose that he pays an average rent of 20s. an acre, and 2s. tithe, Ins outgoing to the landlord and parson would be 770/. per annum ; his saving by the abolition of the Malt-tax, 211., or less than 3 per cent. It is not likely that he would be allowed even this miserable reduction, unless he had a lease : the 3 per cent. would be seized by the landlord, in cases where the farms are let from year to year.

The repeal of the Malt-tax, and the depreciation of the standard of value, are the two favourite schemes of the gentlemen who will do any thing in preference to reducing their rents and their ex- penditure; but there are some minor methods of obtaining relief, which have been incidentally touched upon in the course of the

inquiry by the Committee. One of these is a reduction of the duty on Clover-seed. Mr. Houoisrort is asked— "Do you think that a reduction of the duty on clover-seed would be bene.. ficial to the farmer or not ?"—" On the contrary; and particularly against the farmers who are occupying heavy land." " In what counties is clover principally grown for seed ?"—" In part of the county of Northampton, part of Bedford, part of Hampshire, and stone parts of the county of Bucks within my knowledge." " Do you not believe the cultivation of clover-seed gives some additional em. ployment to the labourer ?"—" Very much ; I do not know what we should do with our labourers at some periods of the year, but for the thrashing out of the clover."

Here the agriculturists of the North may see the working of the prohibitive system to their own direct disadvantage : they complain that the duty on foreign clover-seed compels them to use the bad and dear produce of the South of England, instead of the sound and cheap seed of the Continent. They are suffi- ciently sensitive to the injustice of a monopoly when it touches their own pockets.

Some of the witnesses complain of the pressure of the Assessed Taxes; but when asked what tax he especially wished to see repealed, one of them replies, that the tax upon his horse and groom presses upon him—it was 1/. 8s. this—his farm being about 250 acres in extent, and his rent upwards of 2001. a year The county-rate be did not much regard—it was only sixpence an acre on his farm, or upwards of 6/. ; but then the Window-tax was 4/., and that he considered oppressive. This is a specimen of the calculation and reasoning of agricultural grumbling !

Very little is said in the evidence, as far as it goes, of the effect of a commutation of Tithes ; but several of the witnesses speak strongly in favour of the operation of the Poor-Law. The condition of the agricultural labourer is universally allowed to be much improved ; but the farmer complains that his wages are too high, when the low profits of farming are considered. There is, however, a demand for labour all over the country ; and it is not from a reduction of wages that the agriculturist can expect relief.

There is scarcely any allusion to the operations of the Joint Stock Banks in the published evidence. The only witness who appears to have been examined on that point is Mr. EVAN DAVID, an extensive farmer in Glamorganshire, and himself a director of a Joint Stock Bank. This gentleman says, that there is great distress among the Glamorganshire farmers ; but that some relief has been afforded by the issues of the banks. He is asked- " Do the farmers now receive accommodation as easily as they used to do? "- " They now get a little more accommodation, in consequence of Joint Stock Banks having been recently established in our neighbourhood, and on more easy terms."

" Can they get it with as little trouble and as easily as they did before the change in the currency in 1819 ?"—" I should conceive not."

" At the present time, have you any difficulty, if you go to your banker, in getting an advance, supposing you have a proper security to offer ?"—" is o; provided I hare that proper security to offer."

It is fair to conclude that little evil can proceed front the operations of the Joint Stock Banks, as long as the rule of re- quiring proper security for loans is adhered to; and that no addi- tional facilities for borrowing are required as long as men with security can obtain loans without difficulty. As far as the evidence has been published, it does not afford cause for apprehension that the recent rise in the prices of various commodities has been oc- casioned by an injudicious facility on the part of the banks in lending money ; neither does it countenance the notion that an indirect "action on the currency." in the depreciating meaning of the phrase, may be produced by the agency of these establish- ments.

Of course we cannot tell what may be the final result of the Committee's inquiries ; but we have no hesitation in affirming that the published evidence goes to prove the following facts,— That the farmers generally are in a state of difficulty, and their

labourers in a state of comfort;

That neither an alteration in the Currency, nor the repeal of the Malt-tax, nor a reduction of the County-rate and Assessed Taxes, will yield the farmers substantial relief; That the Poor-law has worked admirably well for them ;

That a deficient harvest is the most serious evil they have to dread.

It is to be hoped that, before the inquiry shall be closed, some of the witnesses will have the honesty and boldness to put the ne- cessity ,If reducing rents strongly before the Committee ; for we suspect that the conclusion most men of sense will come to is, that the main difficulty of the farmer arises from his being rented beyond what he is able to pay. This is a point on which the witnesses and the Committee are reluctant to join issue. It may also be demonstrated more clearly than ever, that to the juggle of the Corn-laws are to be referred the mistakes as to their real in- terest of both landlord and tenant. Should this be made out, much good will have sprung from the inquiry, however adverse to the views of those who set it on foot.