RUSSIAN LANDED PROPRIETORS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2119, 13 October 1885, Page 2

RUSSIAN LANDED PROPRIETORS.

This once rich and influential class is fast disappearing throughout Russia; the majority are ruined. After the abolition of serf labor, and the establishment of land Banks, which vied with each other iu advancing money to the proprietors, these latter attempted, says the British Consul at Taganing, to introduce a system of improved and at the same time extensive cultivation. Agricultural machinery was imported, but the least important factor-the absence of field labor—was not fully considered by them ; hence all their efforts were crippled. Unfortunately the majority of the proprietors understood, practically, little about farming. They did not reside oil their estates, and left them to the management of stewards, who studied their own interests, It must also be said many of them squandered a great deal of money abroad, At first, when the returns fell short, the interest was not paid at the Bank; successive failures necessitated fresh loans: the provincial land taxes increased; bad yoars followed, preventing tliem from meeting their liabilities, until gradually the estate became the property of the Banks. What is to be done with this vast amount of property-several thousands of estates—is the question. Attempts have been made to dispose of part of them by public auction; about 10 per cent, have been put up for sale; one-half, however, remained for the Bank's account. Peasants' land Banks have recently been established, from which village communes obtain means of buying portions of bankrupt estates, thus replacing the landowner by peasant proprietors. As it took only thirteen years to ruin the landed aristocracy, the same fate-for they have no thought whatever of the morrow—is probably ii) stnre fqr a large number of pesants at some future date; yet as they will be in possession of the land, this system seems fraught with serious consequences, The greatest penury prevails in the country, and the existing drawbacks against aucoes3f-.il fawning, coupled with the politico-economical state of Russia, prevent capital from being employed in this direction. The tax on grain, imposed by Germany and France, is thought to be a deep blow to the agricultural interests of this country, involving the lowering of the rent value of land, and necessitating less wheat cultivation, but at present it is difficult to guage the effect, whether tho consumers of bread or the producers will have to bear the corn taxes. As yet, prices of wheat and rye have not been Influenced on this side, At the present time there are few proprietors whose estates are not mortgaged, The rent value of land in paper currency, has increased of late years in these parts, and those who have escaped the bank and are fortunate enough to possess property near village communes, let small plots to peasants, who must hire land to enable them to live, The proprietors themselves are giving up cultivating their own lands, and find it more profitable to let thorn out by allotments for several years, or by plots annually, or on a system much in vogue in this district, that of receiving from the peasant every fourtli or every third shouk of sheavea ("copna")of the crops, which are to be delivered to the proprietor in lieu of payment for the rent of land. The post of ploughing seed, and harvesting Is borne by the peasant, The revenue received in this manner enables many to tide over difficulties, but their power and influence as a class are no longer felt.