importance than the actual dilapidation of the structural portion of the estate. It may be, under these circumstances, taken for granted that the quitting tenant has not availed himself of the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883, which, had he done so, would have enabled the landowner to raise a counter-claim; therefore, the only recovery open to the owner would be an action in the matter which probably he would consider inexpedient. The incomer will, of course, look to the owner to tide him over the first three or four years of his lease by direct payment of money, by presents of cake or manures, or by very substantial compensation when he quits.

This, however, is only a case of a farm the lease of which has expired, and upon which it is necessary to expend capital to render it fit for re-letting. The matter becomes more important when a complete equipment of buildings is needed. Let the farm, say, of five hundred acres, have been an off-farm without any buildings at all, or a portion of a larger farm set off with a view of decreasing the area and increasing the number of farms. To erect a farm-house and suitable buildings with all the numerous requirements, a large expenditure of capital will be necessary. The following figures, though not professing to be accurate, will be very near the mark, and near enough for the purpose of this argument :—

A farm house

Two pair of cottages, that is four in all, for shepherd,
ploughman, cowman, and labourer

A central block of farm buildings with all necessary
appliances, including nag-stable, coach-house, dairy,
and outbuildings

Walls to yards, road making, tanks, water-pipes,
troughs, &c.

One covered yard, say 300 superficial yards @ 75.
Fencing of paddock, orchards, gardens, &c.

S. d.

£3355 0

O O

O

O

or in all £3355 or nearly £6 15s. per acre. Now if the farm unequipped was worth, exclusive of tithes, rates, and other charges, 15s. per acre or £375, it must with 5 per cent. upon this expenditure be worth £175 more, or £550 in all, if the investment is to prove satisfactory. This we think would undoubtedly be obtainable if the farm possessed all those attributes which might be reasonably expected. Of course many farms with a complete equipment, such as this and in certain favoured districts, would let for much more, but we prefer to take an ordinary case without question as to position. At the present time farms can be had for any rent, from a pepper-corn to pounds an acre, so that it is impossible to deal with exact figures.

Sufficient has been said to prove that capital wisely expended upon land will yield a reasonable return.

CHARLES E. CURTIS.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

SMALL HOLDINGS AS AN INVESTMENT.

BY W. J. HARRIS, F.S.S.

THERE has been great controversy as to the advantages which can be offered to the labouring classes by giving them facilities to become farmers on a small scale, and thus stemming the constant drain of the rural population. As a political question, this subject is constantly being put forward by both parties in the State. It is used as a sort of political stalking horse, and when an election is near, the interest that is suddenly assumed on behalf of the rural voters is almost ludicrous. The correspondence which recently took place in one of our largely circulated Liberal journals was too much tinged with political controversy to throw much light on the subject. The special correspondent studiously kept away from those parts of the country where a thoroughly good feeling exists between landowner, tenant, and labourer, and equally studiously made the most of districts in which the destitution was greatest. The correspondents who have written letters in the same paper, have been too openly seeking for the disestablishment of the Church, and attributing to the Parson's influence all the evils that exist, while the typical Squire, who is always supposed to be a Tory, has been pictured as the universal Tyrant. Had the correspondence been carried on without any bias towards party politics, nothing could have been more

useful at the present time. The chief points to be considered are these: First-Do small holdings pay the labourer? Second-Do they pay as an investment for the landowner?

There is at the present time a great tendency among the newly enfranchised to attack the rights of landed property. The land laws of England have been framed to prevent property changing hands. The increase of the population has created a vast number, who would be only too happy to purchase a little land, and, although there are no end of large estates in the market, yet they are either too unwieldy for moderate individual investment, or the would-be investors see before them a crisis approaching, which deters them from operating pending its culmination.

Presuming that the reform of our land laws has taken place, and that real estate becomes just as easily dealt with as consols or railway stocks-that the unlimited accumulation in the hands of a few is prevented, and every inducement given both to individuals or corporate bodies to invest in land; let us see whether the inducements would be sufficient to attract the investing public, and to cause them to arrange their properties in such a way as shall encourage a thriving peasantry, without at the same time discouraging the higher agricultural element, in the shape of well educated and intelligent farmers.

Personal experience is better than any amount of theory, and I now proceed to give, at the Editor's earnest request, a description of my own proceedings on the Halwill Manor Estate.

I came into possession of the larger part of the property in 1871, and the remainder some years afterwards. The buildings were in a very dilapidated condition, and there were no cottages worth the name.

Such as existed were very similar to those one sees in the far west of Ireland.

The country around was in a somewhat similar condition, but I think Halwill might have been described as one of the poorest parishes in Devonshire. Nearly half the estate was moorland, from which the farmers now and then snatched a crop or two, without applying sufficient dressing, and then it relapsed and did not feel the plough again for twenty or thirty years. Even this treatment was only for the best of it, and the rest had not been tilled in the memory of man. The cultivated land, contiguous to the farm houses, was better farmed, and the system of farming universally adopted was to keep this in very fair cultivation and treat the moorland as a summer run for the cattle. Originally all the land had been moor, but sometime between its first settlement and the time when I purchased it, nearly all of it had been tilled. This could be plainly seen from the old furrow marks. I imagine that it was the high price of wheat and rye in the first twenty years of the present century which had induced the farmers to grow corn on the moors. The rough banks with hedges growing on them still remained at the time of my purchase, but everything wore a dreary, uncared-for aspect. My reason for purchasing was not with a view to making money, but I thought it would be a healthy relaxation of mind and body, and a good study of the English Land Question. My first purchase consisted of about 1700 acres. I afterwards increased my holding by purchasing about 1300 acres in addition, making in all an estate of 3000 acres. It was just at the time when it was all the rage with most landowners to consolidate farms, and make one dwelling do the duty of two or three. Old cottages were voted a nuisance, costing more