128 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



managed estates repairs arc well kept up, but improve- 

 ments are not carried out to the same extent as formerly. 

 Up to recently, interest on improvements effected by 

 the landlord has been commonly charged to the tenants, 

 but latterly it has been found impossible to do this, and 

 consequently less outlay has been undertaken in this 

 direction." 



Similarly of Dorset, Mr Rew reports that v/hile 

 buildings are generally good on the larger estates, 

 some are bad in respect of convenience, adequacy, or 

 condition. " The times have checked expenditure on 

 new buildings, as it is very seldom that any interest 

 can be obtained for the money spent on them. On the 

 smaller estates, buildings are frequently inadequate and 

 in indifferent order." Some of the cottages, even on 

 larger estates, are disgraceful. 



The discreditable insanitary condition of many of the 

 farm buildings in Lancashire, where rents run high, and 

 the way in which stock and dairy farming is hampered 

 by these defects, has already been alluded to.^ 



In Cambridgeshire, where there are few large estates, 

 complaints are frequent that " most of the farm build- 

 ings and cottages are very bad. The drainage of farm- 

 yards is bad." " The buildings in East Cambridgeshire 

 are very bad." At Ely it is said, " ordinary repairs have 

 been kept up, but no substantial ones." At Parson's 

 Drove, " buildings and sheds have been neglected by the 

 landlords. The water in the streams is not fit to 

 drink," &C.2 



In Suffolk, though the farmers do not appear to 

 complain, buildings, with a few exceptions on some 

 large estates, are described as inferior and ill-adapted 

 to help farming. " The dairy accommodation is wretched 

 and discouraging to farmers," and "often near sources 

 of contamination." 



"In the Lothians, some owners are taking farms into 

 their own hands, and setting them down to grass, and 

 leaving the buildings alone rather than put new buildings 



' Page 49. 2 Wilson Fox, Cambs., p. 14. 



