The Marquis of Huntly on Friday week called the attention
of the Lords to the agricultural depression, and brought up Lord Peaconsfield, who stated that no readjustment of local taxa- tion would reanimate the agricultural interest. The depression of that interest " is excessive," in truth, unequalled in past periods of suffering. There has been a succession of bad harvests, accompanied by excessively low prices, so that the "old, dismal compensation is wanting to the farmer." The public wealth has diminished from this cause alone by £80,000,000, which is one reason for the depression of trade. Nearly a million acres have gone out of cereal cultivation. The appreciation of gold, moreover, affects farmers, like all other producing classes. To relieve distress such as this, no small change in local taxation can be adequate, and the only big change, throwing the poor- rates on the general income of the country, would be most "disastrous and pernicious." Lord Beaconsfield, therefore, will do nothing, beyond hinting that there may hereafter be a formal inquiry into the causes which affect the price of the precious metals. The farmers, therefore, may give up their vague hope in a Conservative Government.
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