142 RATES AND TAXES 



agriculture, the main industry of the country, 

 has certainly not advanced in anything like 

 the same extent, and has probably retro- 

 graded, taking capital and profits as the 

 test. It is not necessary to take the ex- 

 aggerated estimates of Mr. Palgrave to the 

 foot of the last figure. A good deal of the 

 loss shown in his figures may be due to a 

 difference in the mode of measurement. 



You can make land fall in capital value 

 fifty per cent, by reducing the number of 

 years' purchase fifty per cent., the rental 

 being practically the same. And similarly, 

 the estimates of the losses of farmers' capital 

 may be to some extent altered simply by 

 the mode of valuation adopted of the very 

 same things. Still, after making all allow- 

 ances, there is no doubt that, relatively, 

 agriculture has been much depressed. 1 



1 See Report on Agricultural Depression, p. 30. 



