ENGLISH LAND QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 293, 20 January 1910, Page 2

ENGLISH LAND QUESTION.

To the Editor. Sir, —I am pleased to see that tlie English land question is being discussed in your paper. Will you allow me a small space in your correspondence columns. I was brought up on the lasid, and have farmed for thirty-three years in the old country. For the last twentyfive years I was farming my own land in Kent. I was a tenant farmer for the first eight years, also in Kent, and can thus write with confidence on the subject. The tenant farmer under a- good landlord is far better off than the mail who farms' his own land, and the large landholders are in. most cases good landlords. They will in bad seasons grant | a reduction in the rent—perhaps five or ten or even more per cent —and they have suffered a big reduction in rents the last twenty years. Many of them are compelled to live abroad and let their mansions, as they cannot afford to keep them up. Many farms that twenty years ago were let at 25s to 35s' per acre are now let at 12s to 15s per acre,' and in some eases a tenant cannot be found at all. Rates and taxes are heavy. What would people here think of a rate of 3s 4d in the pound levied twice a year for local purposes, besides land tax, property and income taxes, cart, dog, and gun licenses, and others? I have read Mr. B. Enroth's letter, and can endorse what he has written as to the high state of cultivation ii' the Old Country, and the up-to-date buildings, cowsheds, cart lodges, barns, etc. Every farm of about 100 acres would have an eight to twelve-roomed farmhouse and two or three cottages on it, quite as good as the average settler's house. Dairy farming and grazing are the only two branches of agriculture that, have paid for some years. Corn-growing is not a paying branch, and hop-farming hasJ been disastrous, while fruit-growing (so strongly advocated by the late Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone) has in very man)', I might say the majority of, cases been a failure. I am satisfied that under preisent freetrade conditions, when "England is the dumping-ground of the world's surplus," if people were put on the land they would be glad to get away from it as soon as possible. You say in your editorial remarks that land is unattainable in England. I say it is unsaleable. Land can be bought in Kent at lower prices than are asked for land here. I can_ v give one instance as a sample. A neighbor of mine had been paying » yearly rental of £2 10s per acre. Two years ago, owing to the death of the owner, the property was sold, and the tenant purchased it at £ls per acre. And plenty can be bought cheaper, The only mean'' by whMi farmers can make a living in 'he Old Country is by fiscal reform, or fair trade.—l am, etc.,

JOHN J. BATES. Tarurutangi, 15th January, 1910. P.S.—I left England in August. 190S, as I found farming so unprofitable. [We have dealt with the chief poin's in the above in our editorial columns.! To the Editor. Sir,—will you kindly allow me, on behalf of the members of the New Comic Opera Cricket Club, to thank the gentlemen who so kindly gave us such an enjoyable time during our stay in your town. Though we suffered defeat on two occasions, the pleasure was none the less, and our boys are happy to have met such a charming combination of gentlemen and cricketers'. With the best of good wishes—l am. etc.. J. ROLAND HOGUE, Hon. Sec. New Plymouth, 19th January.