Hawke's Bay Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1867. THE TENANT FARMER.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 537, 26 December 1867, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1867. THE TENANT FARMER.

“ Nullius addict us jttrare in verba magistri.

A portion of the letter which appeared in our last issue from one who has been a “ Tiller of the Soil,” deserves more than a passing notice. Wo refer to that portion in which he speaks of what he terms the imperative annual expenses of the tenant farmer in the mother country —consisting, in addition to the rental, of tythe rent charges, poor rates. &c., and amounting to not less than £2 5s per acre per annum. Our correspondent is one who has had experience in these matters, and what he states is well borne out by ample confirmatory evidence. A letter recently received by us from home bears on this question, and we give a short extract from it. The writer says :

My farm is a yearly tenancy of 000 acres of mixed soil, and I keep COO ewes. I often have to make a deep pull out of my pocket for cake, corn, fee., sometimes to the extent of 00s per head per annum. At the present time I have over a thousand head—sheep, lambs, beasts, horses, and pigs— eating corn, for the sake of a good crop 15 months hence, and my outlay is as nothing compared to that of some farmers I know. There are besides many turns of the screw in a long list of covenants, &c., and the continual expectation of a notice to quit if the least thing is done contrary to what is supposed to be the interest of the landlord.

This picture is black enough, and we suppose that ia the Avorst of cases the Colonial small farmer will be better off than his fellow at home, being free from the heavy burdens we have enumerated ; while the produce of his land should be quite equal in \'alue to that of the English tenant farmer. The principal item of extra expenditure here will be found to be farm labor ; and here again the comparative advantages of small holdings over extensive farms becomes apparent, until the extensive introduction of labor-saving machinery enables the latter to successfully compete with that which, being under the immediate control and management of the cultivator, will of necessity be the only payable method of cultivating the soil.

A Tiller (if th Q Sioil “i« rirrht in what be says about a well-organised society for the dissemination of a knowledge of the principles of agriculture, &c., in relation to the New Zea-

land climate, and the great blessing it would prove. We heartily wish we could see any hope of the organisation of such a society, but we do not; —

agricultural and pastoral societies seem to us to have proved, so far as Hawke’s Bay is concerned, an entire failure. We know of no reason why it should be so.

it appears to us, therefore, that in this time of dear labor the small farmer has the advantage, and that until such

time as a large influx of population

makes labor more abundant, and larger cultivations desirable, small holdings must continue. That the

problem of makiug them pay can be solved we are well convinced.