350 



PAJ^LIAMENTAEY PUBLICATIONS. 



[Dec. 1895. 



PATILIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 



Royal Commission on Agriculttire. Report on the County of 

 Cambridge, by Mr. Wilson Fox, Assistant Commissioner. 

 [C— 7871.] Price S^d. 



In this report it is stated that agriculture in North Cam- 

 bridgeshire is in a depressed condition, but that owing to the 

 nature of the soil, which is easier to work and adaptable in 

 certain districts to the growth of seeds, roots, veo^etables, and 

 market garden produce, it has suffered less than the southern 

 portion. The position of affairs in the greater part of South 

 Cambridgeshire is, it appears, deplorable, and on the south- 

 western side the effects of the depression upon the land are such 

 that considerable tracts of it are, for all practical purposes, 

 worthless. 



The reductions in rent and the fall in the freehold value of 

 land have seriously affected the position of landowners, and the 

 ownership of some of the heavy land in the county is said to be 

 regarded as an expensive burden. 



Tenant farmers, too, are reported to have suffered greatly from 

 the general effects of the depression, while the labourers have 

 had to submit to a reduction of wages since 1893, particularly 

 in South Cambridgeshire. 



It is the almost unanimous opinion of agriculturists in the 

 county that the depression is due mainly to the fall in prices 

 of agricultural produce. This fall is stated to have been so 

 great that the land is now incapable of sustaining the heavy 

 burdens imposed upon it. It is urged, therefore, that personal 

 property should be subjected to a larger share of taxation than 

 at present and that certain charges, such as education, poor rate, 

 the cost of the police, and the maintenance of highways should 

 be made the subject of Imperial taxation. Among other 

 remedies for the present state of things suggested to the Assis- 

 tant Commissioner, were the abolition of preferential railway 

 rates on foreign produce ; the manufacture of beer from malt and 

 hops ; State loans for improvements ; the marking of foreign 

 meat ; the prevention of adulteration; cheap transfer of land; 

 light railways ; old age pensions ; and the suppression of gambling 

 in wheat. 



It seems that Cambridgeshire, like other eastern counties, has 

 not a high reputation for butter making, and a great deal of 

 foreign butter is sold in towns in the county. The lack of 

 uniformity ih the home manufactured article is said to be the 

 chief reason for this, though in a number of cases the quality is 

 inferior. In calling attention to these points, Mr. Wilson Fox 

 observes that there appears to be but little hope of English 

 butter competing successfully with foreign produce until there is 

 more uniformity of quality. 



