A CANADIAN CHAPTER IN AGRARIAN AGITATION. 467 



be found. Once a sheriff bearing a writ was met by an armed mob, 

 headed by a member of the Legislature. 



A very significant element in the pleas made against the landlords, 

 was that the labors of the tenants alone had imparted increasing values 

 to the land in making fertile farms where there had been but wilder- 

 ness. It was urged again and again that the toilers who had imparted 

 value to property were entitled to proprietary rights, as against the 

 holders of titles whose exertions had been confined to the collection of 

 rent. Therefore, it was maintained, the Government should not, in 

 buying lands, do so on the basis of capitalizing a rent which had, as a 

 value, been chiefly created by the industry of tenants. A good many 

 occupiers of land on short or uncertain leases plainly manifested the 

 universal tendency of such tenure bad farming and a feeble interest 

 in improvement of any kind. Some of them were accustomed to re- 

 ducing their indebtedness by sums ranging from five dollars down to 

 five shillings. In every case the landlord's claim received such atten- 

 tion as it was convenient for the tenant to give it after the accounts 

 of merchant, blacksmith, wagon-builder, or other creditor had been 

 paid. This, too, when, even for good land, rent was rarely more than 

 about ninepence sterling an acre. Incidentally, it was shown that the 

 long coast-line of the island had had its effect in inducing many 

 farmers to embark in fishing, and allegiance divided between land and 

 sea gave agriculture but primitive development. Another fact of in- 

 terest elicited was that the island had a most admirable fertilizer in 

 the beds of mussel mud and shells bordering its shores, which, applied 

 to the land, increased its yield from two to even ten fold for several 

 years. 



When the Land Commissioners had concluded their labors in court 

 the experiment of tenant proprietorship began. It proved an experi- 

 ment attended with many difficulties. The surveys of the lands had 

 been very incomplete and imperfect, so that disputes as to boundaries 

 were constant. The Government now finds that it has paid for 41,000 

 more acres than it has received. From doubtfulness in surveys and 

 boundaries it was not uncommon for three or four persons each to 

 claim the right to buy the freehold of the same property. The pur- 

 chase of the land by Government having banished all fears of arrears 

 of rent being exacted from former tenants, a general resurrection by 

 former owners of old leases, agreements, and minutes developed an 

 army of claimants for the right to buy. In addition to these elements 

 of contention, the Government had to deal with hundreds of squat- 

 ters, who by virtue of twenty years' occupation had acquired proprie- 

 tary rights. During the years which have elapsed since the act went 

 into force, its difficulties have been gradually overcome, chiefly through 

 the judgment and ability of the commissioners who have administered 

 it. Let some statistics of their labors be presented : 



LTp to December 31, 1885, the Government of Prince Edward Isl- 



