1 Jan., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 75 
The Rey. Dr. Paton, of Nottingham, having given figures to show the 
decline of the rural population in the last forty years, said the. diminution 
had no parallel in any country in the world. One reason of the decline was 
that the democratic spirit of the age would not brook the dull monotony of 
country life and its servile conditions. The speaker uttered an eloquent 
aspiration for the yeoman class who furnished the men that made England great 
in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. With the exception ofa few hundred in 
Westmoreland and Lincolnshire, that race had entirely disappeared. There was 
no country in the world where the ownership of land was so divorced from 
occupancy as in this, Half the land in England was possessed by 2,250 
landlords ; two-thirds of Scotland was owned by 250 landlords. He contrasted 
this state of things with that existing in. France, where there were 5,000,000 
persons who owned 7% acres of land each, yielding maintenance and constituting 
a provision for old age. He called attention to the fact that out of 32,000,000 
quarters of corn consumed in this country 24,000,000 were imported, and said 
that while we paid £4 per head for imported food the equivalent amount in 
Germany was only 7s. In case of war that state of things would involve grave 
risk. His remedy was the formation of farm colonies in which each family 
would have eight acres of land. That would enable them to keep four or five 
cows each, and still have plenty of space for crops. The land could be bought 
at £10 an acre, and 4.00 acres would found a colony of fifty farms. The price 
of each would be, with extras for roads and other works, £100. Six per cent. 
per annum would pay off interest and capital in twenty-five years. Each 
farmer would need a capital of £5 or £6 an acre; and the speaker attached 
great importance to the formation by a colony of a national credit bank. By 
means of such a bank, cottages could be erected at a cheap rate. Finally, Dr. 
Paton advocated the establishment of indoor industries for the winter months. 
QUEENSLAND V. SCOTCH FARMING. 
Farina not Remunerarive. 
A BALANCE-SHEET has been placed in our (Scottish Harmer) hands of a small 
farm in Galloway, where strict accounts have been kept for many years, and 
the tenant knows what he is doing. Jt corroborates what has been said—viz., 
that no general rule can apply all round in the matter of profitable farming. 
The rent in this case is close on £1 10s. per imperial acre, and the soil consists 
of sharp, thin land, a good deal broken with boulders and jutting rocks, partly 
granite and partly bluc-stone. Some years ago £140 was spent in liming, the 
proprietor and tenant sharing the cost between them. It is well farmed and 
managed, but does not pay, as the following figures will show :— 
The income for the year ending May, 1897, amounted to £245 Os. 8d., 
derived from oats and oatmeal, cattle, sheep, wool, potatoes, pigs, dairy and 
poultry produce, amounting in all to £234 12s. 4d., with £10 8s. 4d. from 
miscellaneous sources. The expenditure amounted to £304 15s. 10d., including 
£18 for interest at 3 per cent. on capital; rent and taxes, about £120 10s. ; 
manures, about £13 17s.; feeding stuffs, about £36 15s. ; seeds, £7 10s. ; 
labour, £93 10s.; and the balance for tradesmen’s accounts. The loss was a 
fraction less than £60, so that this farm would barely have paid had the tenant 
had it rent free, because, it will be observed, he makes no charge for manage- 
ment or marketing, and £60 a year is a very poor wage for a man with £600 
of capital. In the preceding year the loss was about £24, and only twice 
since 1890 have the accounts shown a slight balance on the right side. _Obvi- 
ously the tenant’s lot is a hard one, and we can certify that his book- 
keeping is systematic and exhaustive. 
[Had this farmer come out to Queensland in 1890, he would with his 
experience of farm management, probably have been amongst the successful 
wheat-farmers of 1897. Queensland lecturers have for years pointed out the 
advantages to be gained by coming to this colony, and yet here we find a man 
losing from £24 to £60 a year, year by year, who will probably never leave 
that farm till he enters the “ union.’’—Ed. Q.4.J.] 
