324 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION AND POOR LAW 



are now estates," says Glover,^ " in the most fertile parts of England, 

 nay even within 50 miles of London, Avhich are an absolute loss 

 to the possessor." The natural reluctance of landlords to lower 

 rents may have involv^ed tenants in their fall ; but by 1816 

 they are stated to have lost 9 miUions a year by rent reductions 

 alone. 2 



For the next twenty years the same record of depression is con- 

 tinued. The attention of Parhament was continually called to 

 the distress of the landed mterests. Petitions covered the table of 

 the House ; innumerable pamphlets and letters demanded remunera- 

 ting prices for agricultural produce. Some exaggeration there 

 jDrobably was, for the struggle of Free Trade against Protection had 

 begun. But the account which has been given of farming conditions 

 in the years 1814-16 was substantially confirmed by numerous 

 witnesses who gave evidence on the continuance of the distress 

 before a series of Select Committees in 1820, 1821, 1822, 1833, and 

 1836. Rural conditions were deplorable. Even as late as 1833, it 

 was stated that, in spite of rent reductions, which in Sussex amounted 

 to 53 per cent., there was scarcely a solvent tenant in the Wealds of 

 Sussex and Kent, and that many farmers, having lost all they had, 

 were w^orking on the roads. Violent fluctuations in prices co n- 

 tinued to overtlirow all ^ alnnlations ; fhp w^^ t^iat area alternatel y 

 expanded and contracted : the shding scale of 1829, soon exploite d 

 for their ow^n profit bv foreign importers, only increased the spec u- 

 lative character of the agricultural industry. On heavy clays less 

 capital and less labour were expended ; wet seasons prevented 



^ Observations on the Present State of Pauperism in England, by the Eev. G. 

 Glover {Pamphleteer, vol. x. p. 384). 



2 If this statement is correct, it approximately restored the rental of land in 

 Great Britain to the figure at which it stood in 1806. In that year a sub- 

 division for the fii'st time was made of the classes of property the income of 

 which was assessed under Schedule A to the Property Tax. 

 Annual Income from 



1. Property from Lands - 



2. Property from Houses - - - 



3. Amount of Tithes 



4. Profits from Manors 



5. Fines on Leases . - - - 



6. Profits of Quanies 



7. Profits of Mines - - - - 



8. Profits of Iron Works 



9. General Profits, etc. ... 



