A PEASANT PROPRIETARY CLASS. (From the Otago Daily Times.)

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 122, 15 February 1873, Page 2

A PEASANT PROPRIETARY CLASS. (From the Otago Daily Times.)

Fiiom 1789 to the present day, according to an instructs c writer in Frasers Magazine, the creation of a peasant dio-j| prietary class has taken place in France, Holland; Belgium,™ Switzerland, Denmark, and in nearly all the B<Aies com - prising the German Empire; and in each wiCu aasuung results. Ireland now sturdily demands tho same privilege , and the English mind is earnestly diicctcd to the haincqua) ter for relief from paupeiism and discontent. Eminent writers contrast very favorably the present condition of the peasantry iv the above-mentioned countiies with tint which formerly prevailed in them, and that which still prevails in England and Ireland, declaring that while the peasantry in the former are "progiessiug — attaining a condition, both socially and politically considered, of a higher, happier, and more hopefnl character," in the lattci , they "are struggling in the deepest ignorance, pauperism, and social degradation ; " and the healthier condition is .ascribed to be owing to the education given to all the children, and to the division and simple transfer of land. If •uch be the cose, it is a matter of regret that while the^o countries, the United States, and the British Colonies uro proceeding in this direction, England has been, and is pursuing an exactly opposite course, bo far at least as the ownership of land is concerned. In the United States thine arc six millions of freeholders out of a population of foitv m llions, and t'.ere is an annual increase of 60/00 ireeholders ; whilo "at least 8-10ths of the landed property in Grout Britain is in the possession ol li-«s than 10,000 persons," and a seventh of the reelaimnble land is in a state of nature "chiefly that it may scne ji» the occasional playground of its lew owuers" Indeed, "three noblemen own between them a quarter of all Scotland," and a "tenth part of that country, equal to two millions of acres, is appropriated to deer forest alone." Add to this the fnct that lund passes from hand to hand in .Americu , France, and elsewhere, witli " almost the same readiness tliut the most ordinary commodities do," while in Britain it i-» tied up and only transferable at enormous expense, and amid delays lr.iunnerable. In France it is snid that there are tin cc millions of land owners, comprising fifteen millions q£peopk> nearly one half the population, and the land, it if said, lis« been made to jield. without exhaustion or injury, more than double the quantity it j ieldcd before. The same may be said of Switzerland, 111 those eases in which the land has been disposed of by the State to peasant proprietors, yielding three times as much as it did when cultivated by leasehold tenants, so that it *<w said by one capable of judging, not only that "of all cultivators the peasant proprietors w ere the happiest, but also that their existence best tlia welfare of all classes ; " and as an illustration, it vus adduced that in the Canton of Bern, with its 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, nearly five-sixths had an interest 111 real properh, and one out ol every seven of the inhabitants win a depositor 111 the savings banks And Act this state of things is not without its special danger. An increase of wnges does not invariably secure an increase of happiness, nor do comfort timt^, easo go imarinbly with properh ; it is necessary that \hm mind be rightly educated, and the increased means righth , eniiilojed. It has been found by oft and sad evperienci , that where the labourer or tenant-at-u ill farmer has nddtionnl wages or means nt his disposal, these are often di->sipnted. unless the mind is more or less cultivated, or he has 11 hope of fornuug a permanent home. When sucli a propect i«> b'fore him, the public house losc3 much of its attraction, ami the family hearth becomes a holier and hnj>picr place.