Page:Peasant proprietary in Ireland; a rejoinder.djvu/14

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PEASANT PROPRIETARY IN IRELAND.

the value of that form of agricultural economy.^[1] The Prussian system is that adopted in all the minor States of the empire with varied degrees of perfection. It affords a great example of the policy of 'thoroughness,' as the laws were originally framed in so entire a spirit that since their passing they have required little modification or supplement, and in this respect present a curious contrast to the imperfect legislation of these countries, where the possibility of annual supplement to our most elaborate statutes is ever within the ken of practical politics. Who of its most ardent admirers and enthusiastic advocates could venture to prophesy finality or promise an enduring settlement from the Irish Land Act, with its present machinery for fixing judicial rents—a system that has no foundation in economic science or history—a plan that is unworkable from the necessary accumulation and uncertainty of its work? Before leaving this branch of the subject I think it well to explain the idea of the institution of local land banks in Prussia and the principle of their operation. In each district local rent banks were established by the State, which advanced to the landlord in rent debentures, paying 4 per cent. interest, a capital sum equal to 20 years purchase of the rent. The peasant on his part paid into the hands of the district\

↑ Mr. Morice states that 80 per cent. of the Prussian peasantry are now exempted from direct taxation on the score of poverty. As the limit of non-taxable income is £45—a much bigger sum in Prussia than here—and as the expenses of agriculture are deducted on the assessment, Mr. Morice's statement by no means implies the desperate state of things for the peasant proprietors he would lead us to imagine.

In Prussia, exclusive of the Rhine provinces and Westphalia, there were in 1858 (see Mr Harris Gastrell's report) 1,300,000 proprietors, of whom only 108 had estates large enough to be rated over £1,500, and only about 16,000 had estates of more than 400 acres, while 350,000 had estates varying from 20 to 400 acres, and the rest, 925,000, owned less than 20 acres. In the Rhine provinces and Westphalia the sub-division of land is carried so far that each proprietor has but 10 acres. The result is, according to Mr. R. D. Morier, that 'the Palatinate peasant cultivates his land with more of the passion of an artist than in the plodding spirit of a mere bread winner.' In Wurtemburg the parcelling of land runs down even to five acres, and there are 280,000 peasants thriving comfortably in that province on even less than five acres a piece.

[1] Mr. Morice states that 80 per cent. of the Prussian peasantry are now exempted from direct taxation on the score of poverty. As the limit of non-taxable income is £45—a much bigger sum in Prussia than here—and as the expenses of agriculture are deducted on the assessment, Mr. Morice's statement by no means implies the desperate state of things for the peasant proprietors he would lead us to imagine.

In Prussia, exclusive of the Rhine provinces and Westphalia, there were in 1858 (see Mr Harris Gastrell's report) 1,300,000 proprietors, of whom only 108 had estates large enough to be rated over £1,500, and only about 16,000 had estates of more than 400 acres, while 350,000 had estates varying from 20 to 400 acres, and the rest, 925,000, owned less than 20 acres. In the Rhine provinces and Westphalia the sub-division of land is carried so far that each proprietor has but 10 acres. The result is, according to Mr. R. D. Morier, that 'the Palatinate peasant cultivates his land with more of the passion of an artist than in the plodding spirit of a mere bread winner.' In Wurtemburg the parcelling of land runs down even to five acres, and there are 280,000 peasants thriving comfortably in that province on even less than five acres a piece.

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