The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1887. PEASANT PROPRIETARY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1467, 27 January 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1887. PEASANT PROPRIETARY.

That the system ot land tenure has all to do with the prosperity of any country is now very generally admitted, and it is not m New Zealand pnly that the cry is being raised of the evils of landed monopolies — the aggregation of vast estates. Possibly the tendency to minimise the area of indiviuual holdings is too great m France, but it cannot be doubted that her wonderful resiliency after the crushing she received at the hands of Germany m the time of Napoleon 111 is largely to be attributed to the wide extent of her peasant proprietorship. In England, large holdings are fast becoming unprofitable for agricultural purposes, and we shall not be surprised to see the solution of the problem of how to deal with the land profitably worked out by its subdivision, to a large extent, into small holdings on the "three acres and a cow" principle and by the bringing into effect of the plan of co-operation. The cooperative system has of recent years been carried out on the most extensive scale m mercantile matters, co-operative stores doing a large share of the business m London and many of the chief provincial towns. It had a very modest beginning, being started by a club of some 6 or 7 workmen, m Rochdale, and has now assumed gigantic proportion?, and it is worth noting that there has been a recent instance of a new departure on co-operative lines m connection with agriculture. According to an English paper, an interesting experiment m cooperative farming is now being made on the Duke of Portland's Gringly estate, where a farm of 485 acres, together with all the stock, horses, and implements upon itt with all the rights of the tenant, has been let to an association of agricultural laborers. The farm is chiefly arable, there being only 36 acres of grass. The general terms upon which the farm has been let are that a fixed rent is to be paid halfyearly, and rates and taxes, except the drainage rate and property tax, to be paid by the tenants. The tenant right has been valued by valuers mutually ! chosen, and 3 per cent is to be charged on the amount, to be paid half-yearly with the rent. The horses, stock, and implements left upon the farm have also been valued by the same valuers, and a similar percentage charged as on the tenant-right. The tenant-right, the stock, and implements are at all times to be kept up after a style of good husbandry, and the Duke of Portland, his agent or servants are to have every facility shown them to see that the capital is being m no way deteriorated. The men are having a deed of partnership drawn up among them, which they state shall be m force for seven years. By it each one of them receives a wage of a month, no one to receive more than another. At the end of the year their accounts are to be balanced, and after the rent and interest due on the valuation have been paid, together with an interest of 5 per cent, to any one of the men who may have put a little capital into the concern, the remainder is to be paid over towards reducing the amount of the valuation, which it is hoped m time to clear." The results of this experiment will be looked for with great interest, and it may he that it is destined to be the prelude to a wide extension of the co-operative system m connection with agriculture — to the bringing about of an extensive peasant proprietorship, by an- entirely new method,