SCOTLAND 21 



balanced by excessive renting of the great majority of 

 farms, and by a relatively greater increase of the cost of 

 production. 



The rise in the labour item would have been greater 

 but for the more rapid adoption of changes of rotation 

 and cultivation, and especially in the extensive develop- 

 ment of the temporary pasture system, which has slightly 

 lessened the numbers of men and horses employed. 

 Expenses under the head of labour have also been some- 

 what kept down by the increasing use of machinery. 



Mr Hope, in his two reports, covers the whole of 

 the eastern counties, or the mainly arable districts of 

 Scotland. The general result of his inquiries was that 

 depression has been present in all the districts in varying 

 degrees, and that at no time had the difficulties been 

 greater, and the struggle more keen to meet them than 

 in the last few years. 



"In the case of old leases, many proprietors granted 

 abatements of rent ; but in some cases proprietors were 

 slow or unwilling to recognise the fight which their 

 tenants were having against adverse times, and held 

 them firmly to their obligations, and exacted the rents 

 contracted for without any allowance for the great 

 alteration in the position of things." In other cases 

 tenants were saved from bankruptcy by timely reduc- 

 tions and by allowances for manures, etc. 



Protection being out of the question, and unsound in 

 argument, Mr Hope holds that " the real solution of the 

 difficulty created by low prices is to be found in the 

 reasonable reduction of rent." " The question of rent 

 lies at the root of the whole matter, and is the main 

 factor which ultimately determines the margin of profit." 



The whole of the eminently practical evidence from 

 Scotland turns on these economic issues, and the main 

 purport of suggestions of the Scotch witnesses is to 

 protect the tenant in the enjoyment of the profit his 

 outlay and skill enables him to gain. 



The fall in rents has varied greatly. In the south of 

 Scotland, Mr Hope mentions estates where the rental 

 has fallen from ^6949 in 1882 to A806 in 1893, from 



