422 



Tiic Country Gentleman's Magazine 



cessors with a fair proportion of the improve- 

 Bients. Owners would not then hesitate to 

 carry on works from which, if they did not 

 fully benefit them, would be no loss to their 

 children. As the law stands at present it is 

 possible a wliole country side may languish 

 for half a century, placing a dam]) upon all 

 energy, and creating an untold loss to the 

 community and those immediately interested. 

 There are, in my opinion, many other subjects 

 effecting tlie farmer's interests, even more 

 than tenure, which require legislation, but 

 Avhether it is because they are subjects which, 

 if taken in hand, would speedily be remedied, 

 or the interests they effect are too strong and 

 combined, I know not. One of tlie greatest 

 boons we have received was in the recent 

 ■Weights and Measures Act doing av,-ay with 

 all kinds of deductions and allowances. In 

 the same direction, and with the same spirit, 

 we want a complete alteration in our fairs and 

 markets. First catch your hare, &:c., is good 

 advice ; we have the animal, the commodity, 

 but we have not the accommodation to dis- 

 l)ose of him to the best advantage. Under 

 the patent for fairs there appears the power 

 to collect tolls, but as to situation, arrangement, 

 accommodation, prevention of disease, pens, or 

 of anything appertaining to order or business, 

 there is not the remotest idea. We need not 

 go further than mention the fact that at the 

 market in Cork, men, women, cattle, sheep, 

 and swine, have promiscuously to pass in and 

 out through one opening of lo feet, and that 

 at this opening tickets have to be collected 

 from the different lots passing out, whose 

 egress is stopped by corporate othcials, armed 

 Avith stout clubs, until the proper scrutiny has 

 taken place, whilst other lots being goaded 

 in, get mixed and give rise to scenes of 

 brutality that beggar all description. Another 

 sad example of the want of some change is to 

 be found at the Great Cahirmee Horse Fair. 

 The site is in the heart of a country where 

 there is neither accommodation for man or 

 beast within miles ; a feed of oats, or a bed 

 to more than half the frequenters cannot be 

 obtained at any price ; and upon strangers, 

 who must have some place to rest themselves 

 and stow away their purchases, the greatest 



extortion is practised ; whilst the great bulk 

 of botli men and horses remain in the 

 roads, or the streets of the neighbouring 

 villages, exposed to the elements for the 

 night- — ^so much then for the fairs. One 

 example of our market system will suffice : — 

 Take the Cork butter market, where one and 

 a-half millions sterling are annuall}' turned 

 over, it is under no legal control. \\"\\\\ the 

 exception, I believe, of the weigh-master 

 there is nothing legal about it, and I under- 

 stand that this official's duties have been per- 

 verted, and that instead of being paid his 

 fees under the Act, he is now in the hands of 

 the committee who appointed him and pay 

 him a fixed salary. The market system is a 

 huge monopoly, and the regulations and prac- 

 tices of the market are most detrimental to 

 every man sending in his butter for sale. The 

 local agricultural societies have from time to 

 time remonstrated against these practices, but 

 are powerless to put a stop to them. The 

 butter merchants being a large and wealths- 

 body, Avith a good balance in hand, deris'ed 

 from the fees of the market, are at all times 

 prepared to fight the farmers Avith their own 

 money ; combination, wealth, and influence, 

 are all brought to bear upon the main- 

 tenance of a system which, whilst it has created 

 hundreds of living examples of rai)idly-made 

 large fortunes by dealing in butter, fails 

 to exhibit one solitary instance of marked 

 success amongst the producers. The Avhole 

 subject calls for a searching inquiry, and re- 

 quires to be dealt with in a broad and com- 

 prehensive spirit. If the alterations in the 

 times require Parliamentary Reform of our 

 boroughs and constituencies, believe me the 

 details affecting our agricultural system, and 

 none more so than our fairs and markets, 

 demand it. So long as they are controlled 

 and in the hands of interested parties, they 

 will fail to give that accommodation and 

 means of obtaining such prices to the pro- 

 ducer as he ought to realize in an open and 

 properly constituted market. Besides the 

 change required of a purely agricultural cha- 

 racter, there are others in Avhich farmers are 

 indirectly interested ; I refer to our local 

 taxation, Avhich is unnecessaril}- hea\v : the 



