THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



11 



canal 00 years ago ; all we Lave to do is to keep the dam iu 

 Hs place, aud see that you do not take it up, C, not yet 

 discouraged, and thinking his property has, to a certain ex- 

 tent, become a Government security, appeals to the Inclo- 

 sure Commissioners, who thus reply : " Sir, with every wish 

 to be of service to you, we regret we cannot render you any 

 assistance ;" adding, however, subsequently, that C is autho- 

 rised to inform the trustees they consider it most improper 

 the works should be intho state rej)resented. At this slight 

 ebullition of wrath, the said trustees snap their fingers, and 

 invite C to apply for a mandamus, telling him at the same 

 time that an opinion having been taken some years before, 

 his doing so will be a complete waste of money. I wish it 

 to be understood I do not make personal allusion to anyone ; 

 it is the state of the law I wish to draw attention to. We 

 hear mucli of the damage from game. I will venture to fay 

 more injury is caused in a single day from the want ot 

 drainage, than from all manner of " four-wheelers" upon our 

 estates during the whole year. Let me, therefore, entreat 

 landowners to defer commencing any important drainage 

 works until an alteration in the law has been made ; end 

 let me urge engineers (who have not hitherto had a fair 

 chance) to decline undertaking any work, of the success of 

 which there can be any reasonable doubt. Let the custom 

 of giving pipes or tiles to tenants to be laid upon a hundred 

 different principles, and often upon no principle at all, be 

 abandoned. Draining with a due regard to economy, the 

 only kind of draining to be advocated, is a science requir- 

 ing a long apprenticeship, and few men become masters of 

 it. If a change in the law be desirable for the great and 

 powerful, it is eminently so for the small proprietor, I be- 

 hoves us, therefore, to urge the Government to lose no fur- 

 ther time iu collecting such information as will enable them 

 to prepare a strong, broad measure, and, if possible, one 

 that will work with simplicity ; to frame such other acts as 

 they are assured, and find from their own inquiries, are ne- 

 cessary for the improvement of and modernizing certain 

 local acts ; and, iir fine, as far as practical knowledge, com- 

 mon sense, and a determination to do their duty, under the 

 Divine blessing, will ensure success, put an end to th^ pre- 

 sent ambiguous, unsatisfactory, and wasteful state of things, 

 Let us remind the Chancellor of the Exchequer that at a 

 moment when he is calling upon us for every shilling we 

 can spare, and occasionally for one we cannot — when the 

 rental of half a county, or more, is spent upon a single ship, 

 and the national debt has a tail nearly as long as that of 

 a comet, we cannot afford to be fettered by statutes passed 

 at a period when England was a second-rate power and a 

 wheat-exporting country. Finally, let it not be forgotten 

 by those of our fellow-countrymen who are not so directly 

 interested in the cultivation of land as ourselves, tha 

 the greater the share of the public burthens we are enabled 

 to pay, the smaller will their proportion be. 



Sir J. Shelley entirely concurred in what had fallen 

 from Sir H. Vavasour, but would like to know whether, in 

 the opinion of the chairman and of the meeting, the bill in- 

 troduced some years ago by Sir W. Miles in the House of 

 Commons was sufficient for the accomplishment of the object 

 in view ? If so, he might at once state that it was his inten- 

 tion to give notice, immediately after the reassembling of 

 parliament, of a motion for the introduction of that measure 

 (cheers). The '^bill in question, after having passed the 

 House of Commons, was rejected by the Lords ; but the in. 

 formation and experience which had been gained since 1852 

 rendered it possible that if such a measure were again sub- 

 mitted to parliament it would meet with the assent of both 



houses. PoBsibly those who convened the meeting h»d pre- 

 pared a bill on the subject. 



The Chairman believed that no bill had been prepared, 

 and understood that reference would be made to that of 1852. 



Sir J. Shelley said the reason why he thought such a 

 bill as had been rejected in 1852 would now be carried was, 

 that circumstances had since arisen which increased the im- 

 portance of the subject. Drainage, which was then but 

 beginning to attract attention, was'now almost general, and 

 it was certainly no exaggeration to say that where amongst 

 the landed proprietary there was one drainer in 1852, there 

 were now 100. One thing he would add, which was that 

 the government had their hands amply filled for the coming 

 session with other matters, and would make every excuse, 

 therefore, to aroid taking up a subject of this kind. If the 

 landowners on both sides of the house agreed in the desira- 

 bility of such a measure, and would take the matter into 

 their own hands, he had no doubt, from his experienre in 

 parliament, that they would succeed. He had no wish to 

 have the conduct of the bill, and would be glad if some mem- 

 ber of more weight and influence were entrusted with it. 



Sir J. Tyrell pointed out the difficulties which any pri- 

 vate member of parliament would have to encounter in taking 

 up a general question of this nature. 



Sir H. Vayasour then submitted a resolution to the effect 

 " That this meeting considers that a comprehensive public 

 measure of arterial drainage and the improvement of outfals 

 is highly essential to meeting the requirements of the present 

 advancing state of agriculture." It was the opinion of 

 almost all persons who had considered the subject that 

 such a measure could only be carried by the government, 

 and that government a strong government; therefore be 

 proposed to supplement this resolution by another, viz., 

 " That a deputation from this meeting wait upon the Secre- 

 tary of State for the Home Department to impress upon 

 him the necessity of the government introducing such a 

 measure at the earliest possible period of the ensuing session." 



Sir J. Shelley seconded both resolutions. 



Sir J. Tyrell said he should like to know what was 

 meant by "arterial drainage?" (Hear, hear.) 



Mr. Bailey Denton, at the request of Sir H. Vavasour, 

 came forward to give an explanation of what was intended. 

 He said that river reform was included in "arterial drain- 

 age ;" the power to deal with rivers and all their tributary 

 streams, the clearing away of dams, and, where necessary 

 of mills. 



Sir J. Tyrell having expressed himself dissatisfied with 

 the explanation, 



Mr. B. Thorold said he conceived that what was meant 

 was the clearing away of all impediments in the main water- 

 courses or arteries, and the removal of those engineering 

 works erected upon Sir George Rennie's principle for the 

 mere feeding of canals, which that authority declared to be 

 the only purpose rivers were intended to serve. 



Sir J. H. Maxwell deprecated one landowner's acquiring 

 power to enter on another landowner's property, considering 

 it better to leave the matter to be settled by neighbours 

 between themselves. 



The Chairman said the object of legislation was to ac- 

 quire the power of dealing with those who were not so 

 generous as Sir J. Maxwell supposed all landlords to be. 



The resolutions were then passed and carried. 



Mr. J. Clutton said, having been attached to the Drain- 

 age Commission in Ireland, he could say from experience 

 there, with the utmost confidence, that if the proposed mea. 



