20 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



Mr Drummond, agent to Lord Cawdor, admits that 

 rents are partly paid out of capital, and in some cases 

 from children's wages. 



In conclusion, I feel it to be my duty to state, as 

 regards Wales, and after considering the Report of the 

 Welsh Land Commission, as well as the evidence laid 

 before our own Commission by Welsh witnesses on the 

 subject of agricultural depression, its causes and its 

 possible remedies, that I am of opinion that the 

 economic position of agriculturists in Wales deserves 

 the immediate attention of Parliament, and that, so far 

 as our own evidence covers the ground, I concur in the 

 conclusions and the recommendations made on these 

 subjects by the Welsh Land Commission. 



Scotland. 



In estimating the character of agricultural depres- 

 sion in Scotland, it must be borne in mind that the nineteen 

 years' lease has been practically universal. These leases 

 have led to high and thorough cultivation, the results of 

 which have enabled the soil and the occupier to hold out 

 better. On the other hand, in times of rapidly falling 

 prices, rents fixed years before, under different circum- 

 stances, become an intolerable burden, and lead to the 

 impoverishment and ruin of tenants, if the letter of the 

 agreement is insisted on. 



Again, the security of a long lease has raised rents 

 and increased competition, so that relatively Scotch 

 rents have been and are somewhat higher than English 

 rents generally. 



Further, the standard of wages has been rising more 

 rapidly in Scotland than in England, except in the most 

 northern counties of England. 



Thus the facts that Scotland escaped one or two of 

 the bad seasons which have most severely crippled the 

 east and south of England, and that Scotch farmers have 

 had, in their thoroughly cultivated farms, a better weapon 

 with which to battle against hard times, are counter- 



