MANSIONS AND COTTAGES I 29 



up. Buildings are getting so out of order as to hamper 

 the business of farming." 



There is also much evidence here and there that 

 drainage is still in a most imperfect state, that in some 

 districts the old drains laid many years ago are useless, 

 and have not been replaced. 



And the amount spent on drainage, and charged on 

 estates under the Improvements Acts, in the six years 

 following the disaster of 1879, is ^710,125 for the whole 

 of Great Britain.^ This was a most critical period, and 

 the area of land affected by the last season was enor- 

 mous. On Lord Spencer's estate in Northamptonshire 

 of 14,808 acres, nearly ;^i 7,000 has been spent in 

 drainage since 1879, with the greatest benefit to the 

 pasture land.^ But if this is the proportion on one estate, 

 it is hardly likely that the sum of ^^710,125 would cover 

 any adequate proportion of the large area of land put 

 out of condition by the wet seasons. 



It is certainly an extraordinary circumstance, in this 

 connection, that the outlay charged on estates under the 

 Improvements Acts after the passing of the Limited 

 Owners Residences Acts should have been so great in 

 respect of mansion houses. It appears from the tables 

 supplied by tht. Board of Agriculture that the expendi- 

 ture for mansion houses during the period of depression 

 between 1879 ^I'^d 1894 inclusive was no less than 

 ;^430,737, whereas during this period only £Z77,9'20 was 

 borrowed and charged under the Acts for the erection 

 of labourers' cottages. The expenditure for farm build- 

 ings was ^1,831,718, and for drainage ^1,047,274 during 

 the same period. In one year, 1890, the amount for 

 mansion houses is ^^77,844, whereas on labourers' cottages 

 only ;^83ii was expended, and even on farm buildings 

 the amount was only ^^67,080, or ;^ 10,764 less than on 

 mansion houses. In the five years ending in 1894, the 

 outlay on mansion houses was iJ" 169, 5 92, on labourers' 

 cottages only ^^67,864, and on drainage £12,227, a-i^d 

 farm buildings ;^328,464. These figures do not of course 

 cover more than the outlays arranged for under the Acts, 

 1 Vol. Ill, App. XXIX. 2 Pringle, Beds, etc., p. 12. 



I 



