Land Tenure in Denmark.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 220, 21 September 1904, Page 4

Land Tenure in Denmark.

A very interesting section 0 f the report of the deputation sent by the Department of Agriculture of Great Britain to Denmark is tha' which deals with the relation between the land tenure of the country and cooperation, working conjointly with it 0 n tihe oth<*r hanid, and agricultural prosperity on the otln-r. The present wealthy state of Denmark, says the report, is attributable, as far as call be observed, to three causes Kirst, the establishment of a system ol' education through the medium of what are called popular high school ; secondly, peasant proprietorship ; thirdly, almost universal co-operation. It is with the second of these three headings that this section of the report is immediately concerned. Before 1792 the laud in Denmark was principally held by a few large proprietors, and since that time it has been pastsing into the hands of tenants, and is now held chiefly toy peasants themselves as proprietors. As above stated, the system 0 f transfer from the lauge landowners to the peasants was gradual up to about the year 1851, when a great stimulus was given to the desire for ownership by the establishment of companies in Denmark, who provided capital to the would-be proprietors o®' mortgages of the acquired holdings, These mortgages were repayable with interest by annual instalments for fifty yeare a-s a minimum, so that at the present time those wlio availed themselves of these financial societies, on their minimum number of years' purchase, are Bow absolute holders. Most of the purchasing occupiers, however, took loni ger periods, some even up to one hundred years, for repayment of tihe capital. As before stated, this system of purchase has become so general that at present the small percentage of tenants are ttaose who are holding their land on a very old custom which previals on certain estates. Ihe systems of land tenure at present are practically four in number

(1) Estate owner® who have retained their demesnes' and home farms, and, in some cases, a few outlying farm 9. The home farms under this class of owner are in no way neglected as compared with the farms of the peasant proprietor the estate owner is alive to the importance of cultivating bis land in the best possible manner, in order to bring him in as great a return pro portionately, as bis neighbour, the peasant proprietor ;in fact, he is very often looked up to as an example in the cultivation and managoment of 'his farm, and one whose methods the smaller people endeavour as fa® as possible to imitate. Again, the lord of the majior, as you may so describe him, /has, by taking his place and position among the peoplo on a footing of democratic equality, 'becomes in many instances their natural leader in lofcal affairs; whereas, under the old systm 0 f landlord and tenant, there were Constant sources of friction, and his influence and popularity might be placed in the same category as that of the land-owning and peasant classes in Ireland at the present day. This was most strikingly brought home by a visit made to the owner of a very large tract of country, the great proportion of which had been sold to the tenants; but he still retained a few farms, which were let on a system to be described later. The. great friendliness and freemasonry, if it may be so expressed, between the farmers who were present proprietors and the pre--1 sent owner of the estate, was remarkable, end to further show how he was respected he had been placed, |by selection, on every representative body in that part of Denmark, amd gave great Impetus to material progress, which is fully borne out by the statistics of the country, ajid which is also manifested in connection with every department of Danish commerce and industry. Before concluding this paragraph, let it ibe again repeated that the estate owner, with bis demesne and home farm, is equally farmer, and' gives every attention possible to the. high cultivation and maintenance of his lands as does .the smallest peastont proprietor in Denmark.

(2) The next system of laJ&d tenure is an old custom which is prevalent in certain parts of Scotland. This sy»tem is called the "Faeste," the best method of describing which would bo to put forward an example A landlord , has! a farm to let; this farm, from ■time immemorial, has had a fixed value, which is well known to every,body ; but this Value is of a fictitious nature, being) only a figure fixed for ithe purpose oS letting, never, perhaps, exceeding half the selling value of the land. We presume, in this case, the figure to be £4OOO. The farmer who takes this will Be required ito pay down £ISOO in caah on assuming possession, and, besides this sum, he will pay an aflnual rent of aibout £166, or about 4 per cent, on the nominal sum of £4OOO. He cannot be turned out of tiria {arm during his own life, or the life 0 f his wife. The system taikes rather the form of a speculation, in that should the man die in any year before he has completed 15 years' possession the owner refunds to the widow £IOO for every year short of tho 15 years; so that, should the tenant die after ten years, his widow, if ha has one, will receive £SOO, and she shall still continue to be the tenant for the rest of her life, but has to pay the annual sum originally stipulated. Should the farmer, however, not! have a wife, 'the momiey which should go, in the case of his death before 15 years, to the widow could not be claimed from the landowner, and the farmer's son, if he had one, would have to enter the farm if he wished to do so, in exactly the same mannor as his father did before him, and, in any case upon the death of the widow, tihe son, if he wished to do so, could only succeed to tho farm on precisely the same conditions. Analysing this system, therefore, it would appear that tho tormsl of the tenancy becomo Aery much the nature of a gamble dm life insurance. Of course, to a young farmer, the terms are exceedingly good, seeing that tho nominal sum on which the rent and premium are payable is well under the selling value. (3) The ordin a ry tenancy, as is known in other parts of Denmark, ig very similar to the terms 0 f leasehold to farmers in England. It is arranged between tenant and landloud by mutual agreement, but frequently includes the taking over of live stock and' implements, the property of the landlord. These a re taken at a valuation, and any additions or alterations to either of these stocks during the tenancy have to be paid for on the conclusion of the term by the landlord or tenant, as the case might be, at a valuation.

(4) Peasant proprietorship. This form of land tenure is iby far the greatest in the country, as indicated by the above figure. Over 110 years ago agitation was rife in the country for peasant proprietorship, and, ijwteod, it may be said that at that period the position of the Danish tenant was almost analogous to that of the serfs in Russia at a more recent date. Denmark, as a country, at the time was not progressing in commercial or industrial prosperity ; in fact, at that period the comparisons between Denmark and Ireland of less than half a century ago were very analogous, emigration t a k-ing place on a very largo scale, and general trout le and discontent prevailing throughout tiie land. While on the subject of emigration, to show the value of Co-operation in i Denmark for retaining the people at [ home —and to no other cause but cooperation can this be at I rib u tod—it is a fact that the total emigration for the four years 1891-1895 was over 61,000, or over 15,000 per annum ; whereas the figures for the year 1899 alone are only 5700, or a little over one-t'h/ird. In the year 1851 the desire for ownership of the land was s© intense that it wa£ a question whether State funds or guarantee of credit .should mot be raado available. The solution, how- i ever, was brought about "by the,star-) ting of a number of private com-i ffaMflflpr fojwmctetions. known in I

Government, so that in this way the ' societies were, to ia very considerable , extent, State controlled. The companies thus formed took mortgages up to 50 per cent., and in a lew 1 cases 60 per cent, of the purchase price, and the repayment of these j mortgages- extended from periods of ) 50 to 100 years. The establishment these me a ns of obtaining money, on good terms gave the peasants an ' impetus to work and save mor,<»y to enable them to borrow 50 per cent, or 60 per cent, of the purchase orice of tie property, to which they added their own hoardings, saved by industry with a view toi purchase. The interest and repayment of t|hese loans are still a heavy drag 0 » the farm- , ers ; but, at the same time, they, i are cheerfully bome for tihe following reasons .-—The farmer, feels, it he is a young man, that he will ono day benefit iby having no further • instalments or interest to pay, and practically the whole of the profit from his farming will bo for his own use ; secondly, the load is carried ligihtly, sening that he takes a more intelligent interest in tois farm, and so works the land and attends to his stock that they produce more profit, thus giving him about tilie same amount more in profit lor his own use as he would have to pay in repayment of loan interest and taxes:. Again, if he has a soa, he feels happy in the reflection that he has paid off so many instalments; that when his son succeeds he will in all probability come into the full enjoyment of absolute ownership,. In the case of one small farm,, out of many which were visited the proprietor had seven years' more instalments to pay j and in his case he had six acres., for, which, in interest amd repayment, he had to pay 200 kroner, or ■ £ll 3s annually, of which GO kroner, or £3 7s (M, were rates and tax- . es, local and State, the remainder being instalments, with interest on the original mortgage. Even with t:.is heavy rent, so to speak, the farmer was able to so work his land as to bring him in enough to keep himsuli Sn comfort and case without Farms of varying sizes up to 600 acres were visited ; but it was undoubtedly obvious that the smaller farmer, who held only the average number of acres, say jibout *23 or 24, was aible to give more attention to details than the le ngier, besides providing almost the whole of the labour in his own family ; whereas the largci' farmer has to pay a stall of men, who, Consequently, cannot have the same interest in attaining perfection as has the master. The peasants, as wall as tifie former landlords, were practically unanimous in agreeing that, under the present condiuoas ol education and land tenure, coupled with co-operation, , the country had made great strides to prosperity. Also, co-operatioo would not have had such great eifects, comparatively speaking, upon the country, without peasant 1 proprietorship. The reason for this is obvious, seeing) that farmers who hold their land for uncertain terms j and periods were half-hearted in any • attempts at successful co-operation ; whereas at presont the peasant proprietor leaves no stone unturned to | Ijecoine part owner of his creamery, stallion, bull, boar, or bacon factory. In the little villages no signs | of dirty, unkempt farms or houses were visible—everything was tidy' and neat, and in one small village populated almost entirely by small peasant propitetors and their families, and certainly having no more than 250 head of population, the i spirit of co-operation and zeal in ■search of knowledge was such th a t ! they had established a small hall, in which lectures on Danish history, , and other interesting subjects, were given overy Sunday afteritbon, and on week days the hall was utilised in the evening by the young men an a gymnasium. This is rather a digression from peasant proprietorship,;

but it adds a proof of how far peasant proprietorship has assisted to bring comfort and orderly ways and maimers to an entire rustic popula- j tion. Peasant proprietorship has marc hod si-do toy side with another | more important factor of .Danish j prosperity, which is the system of education among the people*, and tho outcome of this education, coupled proprietorship has been ; co-opiration.—lrish Homestead, I