June 1895.] PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 



93 



that owing, in the first instance, to bad seasons, commencing 

 in 1874, and then to the rapid and continuous fall in all prices 

 commencing in 1882 and 1883, which came at a time when there 

 had been great losses, through decreased yields and sheep rot, and 

 also when the land was much deteriorated, the farming industry- 

 has suffered blow after blow until the present time, when the 

 situation is extremely critical, and the future outlook of the 

 gloomiest character. 



The depression is almost universally attributed by the farmers 

 to foreign competition, though many regard the present system 

 of currency as a factor of more or less importance. As regards 

 the effect of the depression on the land, it seems that good land 

 in the county has not gone back much in condition, if at all, from 

 want of farming, but the heavy land has gone back considerably. 

 Some of the latter has been laid down to grass, but much 

 of it is reported to be worth little or nothing at the present time ; 

 none of the land has, however, been actually abandoned. It is 

 satisfactory to find that neither the breeds of cattle nor sheep 

 have deteriorated since the depression. 



Mr. Wilson Fox remarks that the position of landlords since 

 the depression set in must not only be judged by the reductions 

 they have given in rent, for a reduction of 40 or 50 per cent, in 

 their gross rental often means an alarming encroachment on 

 their private income when all outgoings and also fixed charges 

 and interest on mortgages have been paid. The fall in rents 

 since 1882 is reported to have been extensive and general 

 throughout the county, and there is apparently very little 

 grumbling about rent with the Lincolnshire farmers, though it 

 is very generally stated that reductions were not made soon 

 enough, and that during the disastrous period between 1879 and 

 1882 the majority of landowners did not make adequate 

 reductions. 



At the time of Mr. Fox's visit in April and May of last year, 

 there was, it seems, not much difficulty in letting farms of a 

 moderate size at present rents where the land was not heavy, 

 nor was there a great number of farms on owners' hands, though 

 tenants were not easily found for the larger farms. 



Ill speaking of the effects of the depression on the farmers, 

 Mr. Fox observes that the yeoman farmer, who in the good times 

 bought a farm at double its present value, is usually in a worse 

 plight than a tenant, because a large proportion of the purchase 

 money was frequently left on mortgage, and the rate of interest 

 paid now represents a considerably larger sum than the land 

 would be worth to rent. Many such men are said to have 

 already sunk, overwhelmed by the burden of interest they had 

 to pay, and their position is, it is pointed out, not only worse 

 than tenants, because they are paying a higher rent in the shape 

 of interest, but because tliey are irrevocably bound to the land 

 they liave bought, for they cannot sell it without going out as 

 ruined men, and they cannot let it for a sufficient rent to pay 

 the interest on their mortgages. Generally speaking, the effect 



