There remains the proposal to sell glebes for allotment gz-ounds. 

 The scheme betrays some ignorance of the condition of rural 

 parishes. Most parishes are fully provided with allotments ; 

 sometimes the supply is greater than the demand. If allotment 

 labourers are encouraged to become tenant-farmers, their troubles 

 at once begin. Allotments are invaluable, so long as the 

 labourers consume their own produce. But in the market they 

 cannot compete with large farmers, except where their proximity 

 to a town affords a ready sale for garden stuff. If all the 

 lands which in these letters have been treated as glebes are to be 

 included in the sale, the larger portion is unsuitable for the 

 purpose from its distance from the village. In this case the Bill 

 must contain a clause giving the Government the monopoly of 

 laying out allotments, for, in more than one instance, the labourers 

 have thrown up their old allotments so soon as they obtained more 

 convenient tracts. If, on the other hand, only glebes proper are 

 to be sold, the proposal is grossly unfair to glebeowners. 

 Veiy often it is only the attraction of the land near the village 

 which enables them to let their remote and scattered parcels. 

 Take away the glebe proper, and the best chance of finding 

 tenants for glebe lands will be gone. 



In concluding my letters I beg to express my thanks to the 

 number of clergymen who have kindly rendered me assistance, 

 and whose letters I have in many instances unavoidably left 

 unanswered. I also received valuable aid from many landlords 

 also from Mr. Smith Woolley, of South Collingham, Newark 

 Mr. Castle, of the firm of Messrs. Field and Castle, of Oxford 

 and Mr. Peter Purves, of Huntingdon. I must also acknowledge 

 my special obligations to the Bishop of Peterborough and the 

 Ven. Archdeacon of Oakham, without whose advice and assist- 

 ance I should have been unable to collect any real information 

 respecting the effect of agricultural depression on the incomes 

 of the clergy. 



