TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 677 



2. On Adam Smith's Theory of Bent. By W. D. Henderson. 



I purpose confining my paper to one aspect of the subject, viz., the effect of the 

 payment of rent upon the productiveness of the ground, and this, it will be seen, 

 includes at least one aspect of the great question — is it for the benefit of the com- 

 munity that land should be owned by persons who let it out for cultivation 

 rather than by the cultivators themselves ? Again, my investigation will not 

 answer the question- — would it be worth while to destroy the present system upon 

 which land is owned, and substitute for it some form of ownership by peasant 

 proprietors ? It was the well-known opinion of Smith that land which would 

 grow almost anything would afford a rent. His reason for this opinion was, that 

 agriculture was more profitable than any other mode of employing capital. The 

 question may fairly be asked, why should not the same rule be applied to agricul- 

 tural rents as Smith applies to rents of mines, and why should not the landlords 

 refuse to let lands which would yield them no rent, either on account of the natural 

 barrenness of soil or the expense of working it ? Now, the reply given by modern 

 political economists is this. They admit that in fact there are large tracts of land 

 which would be cultivated by peasant proprietors, but which will not be cultivated 

 by mere tenants. So far we are all agreed, and this admission furnishes a per- 

 fectly solid economic basis for the demand of which we often hear in Ireland, that 

 the waste lands should be dealt with by the State. I shall endeavour to point out 

 what are the landlords' motives to prevent the increased cultivation of the soil, and 

 what are the means taken to attain his end, it being assumed that his only motive 

 is to obtain the largest possible rent for himself. His first motive will be to keep 

 down the poor rates. He has constantly before his eyes the risk of the labourers 

 and their families coming on the poor rates in bad seasons, or through sickness or 

 ill health. The burden of supporting them properly falls on the land ; and it is a 

 source of incessant watchfulness on the part of the landlord that it should not be 

 in any way excessive. So strong has this motive been found in practice that it has 

 been necessary in England to extend the area of rating for the poor rates. His 

 second motive is his desire to have a steady and certain income. He is, in fact, 

 like other men in his position, disposed to take the world very easily indeed ; he 

 prefers large farms to small. Pie would rather deal with one man of capital than 

 with a dozen men who might, and probably would at times give him trouble. 

 From this, again, arises another important result. The landlord is most anxious 

 that he should be absolute. owner of his land, and this for various reasons, political, 

 social, and economic. And all these motives combine to dictate his conduct as to 

 having large farms. Now, a system of small farms, such as we have in Ulster, 

 almost necessitates that the tenants shall make the improvements, both permanent 

 and otherwise. The desire also of the landlord to get an addition to his income in 

 the shape of an increased rent will tend in the same direction. He does not 

 care to be met with the argument that so many labourers have been employed. 

 Such seem to be the chief determining motives of the landlords. The mode in which 

 they attain their ends are very simple. In the first place the landlords absolutely 

 refuse to allow of the sub-division of farms. No matter how large may have been 

 the farmer's holding, or what his tenure, the landlord reserves the power, and ex- 

 ercises it, of compelling the farmers to cultivate it themselves, and he forbids after 

 their death any sub-division of their interest. The peasant proprietor, or the semi- 

 peasant proprietor, who would sub-divide within reasonable limits, and cultivate 

 carefully, has no chance on the estate. Not merely does he prevent sub-division, 

 but he is disposed to pursue a system of consolidation of farms. 



