THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1879.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1799, 26 November 1879, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1879.

Now that the resources of New Zealand are strained to the utmost and one of the numerous panaceas put forward to remedy the existing state of affairs is the development of the class of peasant proprietor, or occupier, it will be well to learn the views of statesmen on the practicability of inducing the British laborer to turn his attention somewhat to cultivating small plots of land at a profit. A small plot of land may, wo take it, be utilized in one of two ways. Firstly, thex-e is its cultivation for the purpose of raising the crops which are found on ordinary sized farms; secondly, there is its cultivation by what may bo called spade and garden husbandry. Lord Beaconsfield, in a recent address at the Mansion House, made himself somewhat merry over the prospects of an individual with a small holding. His description was as follows :—“ Look at the position of the' peasant proprietor. He buys his farm of ten, fifteen, or twenty acres, and having got his farm ho has to stock it. He has to purchase, if not a plough, yet many spades, barrows, and other implements. He has to construct a cart. Ho has to buy a horse, the manure of which is necessary for his farm. He is obliged to raise some buildings, even though they may bo so modest as a single shed. This is the floating capital which he requires for his labors.” But is this a true picture of the small proprietor. A correspondent to the “Standard,” differing entirely from the English Premier, draws the following : —“ A peasant proprietor or occupier having possessed himself of his ton, fifteen, or twenty acres, half of which should be turf or grass, the rest arable (one acre market garden), he stocks it, not with one horse to make manure, but with four or five good dairy cows, and as many breeding sow pigs. He has also his eighty to one hundred head of laying 'hens; he also sets up his strong, thick-set cob mare, from which he breeds. This represents his live stock. Ho pur-

chases—does not construct—a cart, also harrows, water-cart, harrew, farm and garden implements, as well as dairy utensils, &c. For buildings there must be the necessary shedding for his cows, pigs, horse, poultry, &c.; in fact, a small farmstead, however small it may be. His floating capital is thus represented by some £l3O or £200.” This correspondent further ridicules Lord Beaconsfield’s ideas on the subject ;—“ Does Lord Beaconsfield,” he asks, “ suppose a peasant proprietor is to dispense with stock, and to acquire a horse to enable him to manure fifteen or twenty acres of ground ? And is he to construct his own cart, or to be satisfied with a “ modest single shed ” to afford shelter to his solitary four-footed steed? Aud is he to rest content with a spade and a barrow, “ if not ” a plough ?” In point of fact the English Premier was at the time of his utterance at the Mansion House in one of those frames of mind in which he is willing to sacrifice the truth of a picture to brilliancy of diction and to the novel and startling views he may enunciate on the subject. He has besides, for political purposes, made the worst of the matter, and has endeavoured to show that the genius of the English agriculturist does not lie in the direction of working small holdings at a profit. Time and experience would, of course, only be able to show if indeed peasant proprietors would develop into a thoroughly contented and satisfactory class. But at present the arguments in favour of the formation of such a class are at least as strong as those against it.

There is the example, besides, of France to be turned to, though truth compels it to be stated that the condition of the small com farms in the less populous districts of that country have been unduly praised.

On tbe subject of the second method of cultivating small holdings, namely, by spade and garden husbandry, Mr. Gladstone has something to say. At a recent address to the Hawarden Agricultural Society be stated his opinion that much might bo done in this direction. He points to the astonishing sums -which are paid by England into the pocket of the foreign fruit and vegetable grower for articles which might easily ho grown in the old country. The annual value of dried fruits imported is nearly two millions and a-half, and although a very large proportion consists of fruits not producible in England, if better native fruits were raised not so many foreign one would bo eaten. Are not good apples and pears most difficult to buy at reasonable prices, and are not consumers often driven to eating raisins, dates and figs because the native article is not procurable ? Then the annual foreign importation into England of apples, pears and plums is valued at £1,704,000; of nuts, £467,000; of onions, £400,000; of potatoes, £2,386,000; and of other vegetable about £300,000 ; making a total of nearly £5,500,000. These figures are astonishing, and Mr. Gladstone reasons that the money might be kept in the country with the greatest ease if people could only bo shaken out of the rut in which they have been travelling so long. The English climate is admirably adapted to the cultivation of all the fruits and vegetables above named: it is merely the vis inertia), so characteristic of the British agriculturist, which prevents a monopoly of this trade by the Homo market. Turning to Hew Zealand it may be asked whether there are not lines of industry which might not well be opened to the advantage of the country at large. The values for instance of jams and jellies imported last year is reckoned in the import and export returns at £44,660. This sum is paid into the pocket of the foreign producer, hut might very readily he kept in the country. Tho climate of New Zealand is eminently adapted for fruit growing, and there is nothing to prevent large manufactories of preserves springing up in our midst if persons with energy and capital would only turn their attention in that direction. The duty on sugar in New Zealand is O-g-d per lb; in Tasmania, from whence we obtain a large proportion of our preserves, it is Id per lb. Then again, the value of imported hops is placed at £17,083; of bottled and dried fruits at £II,BOB. Then there are other articles, which are at present not considered as producible in this country, hut which might very well he raised by the peasant proprietor. The North Island is evidently more suited for raising tobacco than Germany or France, and yet these continue to a great extent to supply themselves, while New Zealand payed, in 1878, to the foreign producer, £134,513f0r tobacco and cigars. These and other facts might well he thought over at this juncture. If the class of peasant proprietor is to grow up, it will he well that it should realize tho openings in various directions that lie before it. With a mind well fixed on all the possibilities of turning an honest penny that exist in a new country, the peasant proprietor could enter the arena far better fitted for tho combat that if he had decided to merely carry on in the old groves which have distinguished the small British farmer in days gone by.