THE RUIN OF BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1420, 30 November 1886, Page 3

THE RUIN OF BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

Ir. seems now to bo settled that under existing conditions it does not pay to er >w grain or raise cattle in the best part of the Continent on he British Isles. For this curious and alarming slate of things the world is indtb ed to the exto-.tion of steam navigation to all parts of the earth. Wheat, barhy, oats, etc., cm be grown on almost any arable land. It. follows th>*t wherever the factors are rro t fav table that region geis the benefit o ■ this cheep access to the consuming market. A few years ago I d a contributed but 90 CK.'O bushels of wheat to canines outside the Peninsula, I's export supply is now about 50 000, t CO bushels, and with the extension of the r ilway system it will have fully 10 !t 000,0J0 for outside consumption. The secret of India's ability to sell In distant markets Is the extrao dinary cheapness of labor, which does m t command more than ten cents a d >y of our money. The United States, Austral!-, and N; w Z‘aland can produce v. hea-rnd lay it d'-w.i in Liverpool at a price wh'ch Is simply rul'ioua to ih’ Eng ish and European wh atgrower. This is because of cheaper and more fertile land and the use of machine on the broad prairies md plains, which dispenses w t i ois'.ly labor Recent statistics show that tenant f irmers in the British|'fslancla who confine them selves to cereals and catc’p raising cannot m«ke b< th ends meet if they undertake to pay their rent This accounts for the distress among the agricultural classes in the Old W rid. and more especially for t a abject miserv of the iMsh people, w o have no diverslfiad Industries, because they are withou' coal or iron, and British laws discourage manufactures of any kind In that unhappy country. The inability to raise grain is effecting a s dal revolution. It has struck a fatal blow at the authority and the prestige of the peers, who are the great land owners, and it will end in agricul ural laud being transferred to the peasaats'lla Erg m I and Scotland as wall rs Ireland, These agricultural workers, having no rents to pay, will be able to make a .iving out of the soil, for they can raise perishable vegetables, poultry, eggs, and dairy produce, and these are safe from foreign competition. In the meantime the cities of Europe are growing rapidly, and are yearly consuming more and more not only of the grain and cattle raised In the distant regions, bat also of the vegetables, poultry, fruit, and dairy produce of near production. This explanation of the agricultural situation throws a good deal of light upon the political and social change now taking place in the Old W irld—K change.