*' 
 
 m- 
 
 WELSH 
 
 LAND COMMISSION 
 
 A Digest of its Report 
 
 By 
 
 D. LLEUFER THOMAS 
 
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 The Welsh Housing and Development 
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 ATMOSPHERIC POLUTION AND ITS PREVENTION. 
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 THE PURIFICATION OF RIVERS. 
 
 HOUSE-PLANNING FROM A WOMAN’S POINT OF VIEW. 
 
THE 
 
 WELSH LAND COMMISSION 
 
 A DIGEST OF ITS REPORT. 
 
 BY 
 
 D. LLEUFER THOMAS, 
 
 ii 
 
 Barrister-at-Law, sometime Assistant Commissioner to the lioyal Commission on Labour , 
 
 and 
 
 Secretary to the Welsh Land Commission , 
 
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3 33 
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The Report of the Welsh Land Commission, which was 
 published on the last day of October , extends to nearly 1,000 
 pages folio, weighs 5lbs. 10oz., and is sold at 10/6 net, or, including 
 postage, 11/6. These were the considerations which induced me to 
 undertake the preparation of a more handy and less expensive 
 volume, which should give the gist of the official Report in a much 
 smaller compass. 
 
 To accomplish this it teas necessary to condense certain por- 
 tions very considerably, and I have thus treated those parts ivhich 
 are mainly historical and do not bear directly on the more practical 
 issues of the present day. I have, moreover, wholly omitted the 
 Commissioners’ detailed description of Welsh Agriculture (which 
 in the official Report extends to more than 150 pages'), except where 
 I have quoted (in Chap, xi., section 2 ) a number of suggestions 
 which are made for improvements in the method of farming. 
 
 I have thus obtained more space for treating of the relation 
 of landlord and tenant — recognizing that this is the subject in 
 which public interest is chiefly centred, and that it was mainly, 
 perhaps exclusively, for its consideration that the Commission was 
 primarily appointed. To this subject, therefore, is devoted by far 
 the larger part of this Digest. 
 
 So much for the scope of the work. As to its method — so far 
 as possible I have throughout reproduced the actual words of the 
 Report, so that the Commissioners are able to speak directly for 
 themselves. 
 
 In dealing with those pwtions of the Report which are adopted 
 by all the Commissioners, and in which they review the evidence 
 and present a statement of the facts generally, my aim Juts been to 
 bring the more important points into greater saliency, introducing 
 
 
IV. 
 
 only such brief observations of my own as seemed absolutely 
 necessary for explanation and continuity of narrative. Where the 
 Commissioners, however , divide — some in favour , others against a 
 Land Court — I have stepped entirely aside , so that the full text of 
 
 (a) That portion oj the Majority Report , where a Land 
 
 Court is recommended, and 
 
 (b) The whole of the Separate Report of the Minority 
 have been reproduced (in Chapters xii. and xiii. respectively), 
 without any comment or observation of my own. In no other way 
 could I have satisfied myself that no injustice was being unintention- 
 ally done to the arguments of either group of Commissioners, or 
 give perfect assurance to the reader that the opinions expressed were 
 none of my own, but in every detail those of the Commissioners 
 themselves. 
 
 For purposes of verification and further reference , if necessary, 
 I have given the number of the page in the official Report from 
 which each quotation is made ; and as an exhaustive index to the 
 contents of the Digest is also added, reference can be thereby easily 
 made to any subject dealt with, whether in the Digest or in the 
 Report itself. For still further facility of reference — so that “ he 
 who runs may read ” — I have also placed in the margin notes 
 indicating briefiy the subject matter dealt with in the text opposite, 
 so that the busy man may find the whole thread of the argument 
 disclosed in the margin, as he hurriedly turns page after page. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add, save, perhaps, to prevent possible 
 misapprehension, that neither collectively nor individually are the 
 Commissioners in any way responsible for this book, which is, more- 
 over, in no sense an official publication. 
 
 D. LLEUFER THOMAS. 
 
 2, Brick Court, 
 
 Temple, 
 
 12th November, 1896. 
 
WivnSiTY 5F lliltaS UBFMff 
 
 MAW o 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. — The Tribunal. 
 
 
 
 page. 
 
 1 . 
 
 Its Constitution 
 
 1 
 
 2. 
 
 Its Jurisdiction 
 
 12 
 
 3. 
 
 Its Procedure 
 
 14 
 
 4. 
 
 General Scheme of Report and Appendices 
 
 21 
 
 Chapter II. — “ General Conditions and Circumstances. ” 
 
 1. The Geography and Natural History of Wales ... ... 25 
 
 2. Historical Sketch of the Welsh People, their Language and 
 
 Institutions ... ... ... ... ... ... 34 
 
 Chapter III. — History of the Welsh “Land Question.” 
 
 Introduction ... ... ... .. ... ... 47 
 
 1. The Period of Feverish Development, Inflated Prices, and 
 
 Artificial Prosperity (1755 — 1815) ... ... ... 48 
 
 2. The Collapse and its Results: Distress and Disturbances 
 
 (1815—1850) 51 
 
 3. Emigration and Rural Depopulation ... ... ... 63 
 
 4. The Period of Agricultural Prosperity and of Political 
 
 Evictions (1850—1880) ... ... ... ... ... 77 
 
 5. Agricultural Depression and Agitation for Land Reform 
 
 (1880 — ) 91 
 
 Chapter IV. — Security of Tenure and Land Hunger. 
 
 1. The Substitution of Yearly for Leasehold Tenancies ... 105 
 
 2. Continuity of Tenancies under the Yearly System ... 122 
 
 3. The Land Hunger: Its Characteristics and Effects ... 137 
 
 4. The Size of Holdings — a Factor in determining the Extent 
 
 of Competition ... ... ... ... ... 146 
 
 5’ Summary of the Historical Result ... ... ... ... 153 
 
VI. 
 
 Chapter V. — Conditions and Incidents of Tenancy. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 L “Custom of the Country,” and the Compensation obtainable 
 
 UNDER. IT ... ... ... ... ... ... 158 
 
 . Agreements— Clauses regulating Cultivation ... ... 171 
 
 3. Statutory Conditions of Tenancy: The Agricultural Holdings 
 
 Acts and the Ground Game Act ... ... ... 179 
 
 Game ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 187 
 
 5. The Right of Distress ... ... ... ... ... 192 
 
 6. Charges on Land ... ... ... ... ... ... 194 
 
 Chapter VI. — The Economic Relation between Landlord 
 and Tenant. 
 
 1. The Partnership of Landlord and Tenant in the Business of 
 
 Farming ... ... ... ... 198 
 
 2. Money spent on Improvements (or put into the Partnership) 
 
 by Landowners ... ... ... ... ... ... 202 
 
 3. The History of a typical Estate ... ... ... 212 
 
 Chapter VII. — -The History of Welsh Rentals. 
 
 1. Rents in South West Wales ... ... ... ... 217 
 
 2. Rents in North West Wales ... .. t ... ... 237 
 
 Chapter VIII. — The History of Welsh Rentals 
 
 ( Continued ). 
 
 1. Eastern or Border Counties of North Wales ... ... 257 
 
 2. Eastern or Border Counties of South Wales ... ... 277 
 
 Chapter IX. — General Conclusions as to the History 
 of Welsh Rentals. 
 
 1: English and Welsh Rents compared... ... ... ... 290 
 
 2. The Principles on which Re-Valuations are made and Rents 
 Fixed 
 
 302 
 
Vll. 
 
 Chapter X. — Miscellaneous. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 1. Crown Lands in Wales and their Management ... ... 312 
 
 2. Common Lands, and the Exercise of Manorial Rights as to 
 
 Squatters and Others ... ... ... ... 319 
 
 3. The Continuity of Estates ... ... ... ... 327 
 
 4. Small Freeholders ... ... ... .. 329 
 
 5. Agricultural Labourers ... v .. ... ... ... 335 
 
 6. The Farmer and Labourer “At Home” ... ... 340 
 
 Chapter XI. — Conclusions and Recommendations of the 
 
 Majority. 
 
 Introduction ... ... ... ... ... ... 347 
 
 1. Agricultural Depression, Its Causes and Effects ... 348 
 
 2. Remedies for the Depression ; or, Hints for Welsh 
 
 Agriculturists ... ... ... ... ... ... 356 
 
 3. The Unsatisfactory Nature of the Year-to-Year Tenancy 369 
 
 4. Suggested Remedies for the Existing System... ... ... 383 
 
 Chapter XII. — Conclusions and Recommendations 
 of the Majority ( Continued ). 
 
 1. “ Regulation of the Agricultural Industry ; ” or, the 
 
 Necessity for a Land Court ... ... ... 391 
 
 2. “ Proposed Legislation ; ” or, the Constitution of the Land 
 
 Court ... ... ... ... ... ... 406 
 
 Chapter XIII. — Separate Report 
 
 (of the Minority) 421 
 
 Chapter XIY. — The Demand for a Land Court and 
 
 for Separate Welsh Legislation ... 448 
 
 Summary of Recommendations 456 
 
 Index 
 
 ... 467 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TRIBUNAL. 
 
 1. — ITS CONSTITUTION. 
 
 A FTER a duration of exactly three years and five months 
 the labours of the Welsh Land Commission have come 
 to a close. The Royal Warrant appointing the Commission 
 bore the date of the 27th March, 1893. Their first sitting, 
 which was a private one, was held on the 14th day of April 
 following ; the first sitting for the reception of evidence was 
 held on May 23rd of the same year, while the last sitting for 
 the same purpose took place on December 5th, 1895. The 
 Report is dated 26th August, 1896, which was also the date 
 of the last sitting. 
 
 In July, 1892, it will be remembered, there had been a when and 
 General Election, w'hich resulted in placing the Liberal party appointed ? 
 in office. A brief Session of Parliament was held in the 
 following autumn. After re-assembling on the last day of 
 January, 1893, it would appear that one of the first acts* of 
 the new Liberal Administration was to decide on instituting 
 an inquiry as to Welsh Land Tenure, and to consider what 
 form such inquiry should take. The importance attached by 
 the new Government to the question may be judged from the 
 fact that they decided upon a Royal Commission, which was 
 to consist of as many as nine members — only one other 
 Commission, that of the “ Aged Poor” having been pre- 
 viously appointed since the Liberals had returned to office. 
 
 The Prime Minister at the time was the veteran statesman, 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, who, however, about a twelvemonth later, 
 retired from active political life, and was succeeded by the 
 Earl of Rosebery. 
 
 Previous to the appointment of the Commission, Mr. 
 Gladstone had himself taken a part in the public discussion 
 of the Welsh Land Question, and, as will be explained later, 
 his intervention, especially in his historic Snowdon speech, 
 had been instrumental in bringing the subject within the 
 range of the more immediately practical politics of the day. 
 
 * It is not without interest to observe that the Welsh Church Suspen- 
 sory Bill, which was subsequently “ dropped,” was also introduced and 
 read a first time on February 23rd, 1893. 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 Of whom 
 constituted. 
 
 In addition to his position as a statesman, he had the 
 further advantages of being both a lifelong resident and a 
 landowner in Wales. Moreover, one of his most intimate 
 friends was Mr. Stuart (now Lord) Rendel, who, owing to 
 domestic ties and his political position as M.P. for Mont- 
 gomeryshire (a purely agricultural county), and leader of the 
 Welsh party, was, there can be no doubt, freely consulted in 
 the matter. The Cabinet Minister who was, however, credited 
 with having been primarily charged with the selection of the 
 members of the Commission was Mr. A. H. D. Acland, who 
 possessed a considerable acquaintance with Wales, gained 
 during several years’ residence at Clynnog in Carnarvonshire, 
 w T here, for a time, he served on the Council of that County, 
 and interested himself in the promotion of intermediate and 
 higher education in Wales. He also, undoubtedly, received 
 counsel and assistance from his friend Mr. Thomas Ellis, 
 M.P. for Merioneth, who was then a junior Lord of the 
 Treasury, but in March, 1894, became Chief Whip of the 
 Liberal party, on his appointment as Patronage Secretary to 
 the Treasury. It was therefore on the shoulders of these 
 men that the responsibility of constituting the Commission 
 rested ; and it must be admitted that they had every possible 
 advantage for making a good selection. It may be said that, 
 when first announced, the names of the Commissioners were 
 received with a fairly general approval. Each member 
 of the Commission was from the outset connected in one 
 form or other with the Principality by ties either of birth 
 or family relationship, of residence, ownership or of strong 
 historical sympathy. Before they separated at the end of 
 their work these ties had in nearly every instance been 
 strengthened and increased, otherwise than by a more 
 thorough acquaintance with the country they had in- 
 vestigated. The following were the nine Commissioners 
 
 appointed. We give them in the order of precedence 
 
 observed in the Royal Warrant: — 
 
 Earl Carrington, G.C.M.G., 
 (Chairman), 
 
 Lord Kenyon, 
 
 Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn, 
 Bart., M.P. 
 
 Mr. D. Brynmor Jones, 
 Q.C., M.P., 
 
 Prof. John Rhys, LL.D., 
 Mr. J. M. Griffiths, 
 
 Mr. Edwin Grove, 
 
 Mr. Richard Jones, 
 and 
 
 Mr. Frederic Seebohm. 
 LL.D., F.S.A. 
 
 The question which may perhaps suggest itself to some 
 minds is : — What were the special individual qualifications 
 on account of which these gentlemen were severally asked to 
 take part in an enquiry as to Welsh Land ? Had they any 
 
3 
 
 special acquaintance with Wales or with its history, with 
 farming, or with land tenure, or did the inquiry involve 
 questions as to which they had no definite expert knowledge 
 so that they were deemed to be men who could bring an 
 absolutely open mind to their consideration. In short, now 
 that the Commissioners have given their verdict, many 
 will ask : — Were they competent judges ? Had any of 
 them prejudged the case, or were they possessed of 
 il open ’’minds? Instead of presuming to give an answer 
 of our own, we will let the main facts of the life of each 
 Commissioner speak for themselves, for which purpose a 
 few biographical notes may be both useful and interesting 
 in this connection. 
 
 1. Earl Carrington, G.C.M.G , who was born 16th May, 1843, is English Land- 
 descended on the side of his mother (who was the daughter and co-heiress . 
 
 of the 22nd Baron Willoughby D’Eresby), from the Wynns of Gwydyr, in N g -w a i es . 
 North Wales, a house to which, according to the high authority of Burke, 
 
 “ must be conceded the first rank in Cambrian genealogy.” He was 
 educated at Eton and Cambridge, then entered the Army, sat as 
 Liberal M.P. for Wycombe from 1865 to 1868, when he succeeded 
 to the peerage. He was Governor of New South Wales 1885-90, and the 
 popularity alike of himself and of Lady Carrington has probably never 
 been surpassed in the case of any Colonial Governorship. He filled with 
 conspicuous success the office of Lord Chamberlain during the Liberal 
 Administration 1892-5, and in the latter year was raised to an Earldom. In 
 1884-5, he served on the Housing of the Working Classes Commission, and 
 since March, 1892, has been a most active member of the London County 
 Council. He owns considerable estates both in Bucks and Lincolnshire, 
 and may be regarded as one of the chief pioneers in the sub-division of large 
 farms into small holdings and in the creation of allotments on his estates. 
 
 He had also inherited two Welsh estates, one in Montgomeryshire and the 
 other at Llanfair Clydogau, in Cardiganshire, but owing to their remote- 
 ness and his objection to being an absentee landlord, they were sold in 
 1868, the Llanfair estate being purchased by its present owner, Mr. W. 
 
 Jones, of Glandenys. In the autumn of 1895 Lord Carrington purchased 
 from the Duke of Ancaster the old ancestral seat of his mother’s family, 
 
 Gwydyr, near Llanrwst, and at Easter, 1896, he took up his residence there. 
 
 While Governor of N. S. Wales (where two-thirds of the land belong 
 to the State) Lord Carrington had opportunities of studying the effects 
 of State ownership, and the lessons which he then learnt were on more 
 than one occasion brought into service during the Welsh inquiry, 
 especially when examining witnesses who advocated Land Nationalisation, 
 such as Dr. Rhys Jones, of Cardiff, and Dr. Pan Jones. 
 
 It may confidently be said that no better Chairman 
 could possibly have been selected for the peculiarly difficult 
 work entrusted to the Commission, and the dignity and 
 urbanity with which Lord Carrington conducted the business 
 will long be remembered in Wales. To use a hackne}^ed 
 expression, the suaviter in modo and the fortiter in re were 
 combined in him in an almost unexampled degree. 
 
 The Commissioners’ sense of the invaluable nature of his 
 services may be inferred from the fact that at their final 
 meeting the following resolution, proposed by Lord Kenyon, 
 
4 
 
 Welsh Land- 
 owner 
 
 (North Wales). 
 
 Welsh Land- 
 Owner (South 
 Wales) and 
 Conservative 
 M.P. 
 
 and seconded by Mr. J. M. Griffiths, was unanimously 
 adopted : — “ That the Members of this Commission desire to- 
 place on record their high appreciation of the great ability, 
 the absolute impartiality, and the unwearied patience with 
 which the Chairman has conducted the proceedings of the* 
 Commission.” 
 
 2. Lord Kenyon is the fourth Baron of the name, being grand- 
 son of the last peer and fourth in descent from the first Lord Kenyon, 
 Lord Chief Justice of England. The Hon. G. T. Kenyon, who was 
 Conservative M.P. for the Denbigh Boroughs from 1885 to 1895, is his 
 uncle, while his mother is the Hon. Mrs. Bulkeley-Owen, only daughter 
 of the first Lord Harlech, who was better known perhaps as Mr. J. R. 
 Ormsby-Gore, of Brogyntyn, near Oswestry, and who was descended 
 on his mother’s side from some of the most notable families of North 
 Wales — the Wynnes of Glyn, Merioneth, and the Owens and Maurices- 
 of Clenenney, in Carnarvonshire. 
 
 Born in London on July 5th, 1864, Lord Kenyon was the youngest 
 member of the Commission. He succeeded to the peerage in 1869, was 
 educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he was also President of 
 the Bullingdon Club. He is a Captain in the Shropshire Yeomanry 
 Cavalry, a member of the Flintshire County Council, and of the 
 Agricultural Education Committee of the University College of North 
 Wales, is a life member (elected in 1889) of the Royal Agricul- 
 tural Society of England, a patron of the Cambrian Archaeological 
 Association, a vice-president of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 
 and has recently become president of the movement for establishing a. 
 national memorial to Llewelyn, the last native Prince of independent 
 Wales. He lives at Gredington, in English Maelor, which is the 
 detached portion of Flintshire, and owns a Welsh estate, wholly situated 
 in that district, of 8,000 acres, cultivating besides a considerable home 
 farm of his own. 
 
 Lord Kenyon is a member of the Carlton Club, is a keen sportsman, 
 and is much attached to the study of natural history. 
 
 3. Sir John Talbot Dillwyn Llewelyn, Baronet, born in 1836 at 
 Penllergaer, near Swansea, created baronet 1890, is the eldest son of John 
 Dillwyn-Llewelyn, who was himself the eldest son of Lewis Weston Dillwyn. 
 the maker of the famous Swansea china, and “the father of British botanists; 
 and naturalists.” L. W. Dillwyn’s second son was the late L. LI. Dillwyn, 
 well known as the Radical and Liberationist M.P. for Swansea (1855-1892,, 
 a constituency represented since the last general election (July, 1895) by 
 his nephew, Sir John Llewelyn, the subject of this notice, who then, as a 
 Conservative, entered Parliament for the first time. Sir John has had a 
 long and varied experience of local administration, having been Chairman 
 of the Swansea Board of Guardians for nearly 30 years, High Sheriff for 
 Glamorganshire 1878, some time Chairman of Quarter Sessions, and is 
 now County Alderman ; he was one of the original members of the Council 
 of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, is one of 
 the Trustees of Llandovery School, was Mayor of Swansea 1890-91, and 
 since 1892 has been director of the Great Western Railway Company. 
 He owns estates which, according to the Domesday Book of 1875, 
 measured some 9,600 acres, in the counties of Glamorgan, Carmarthen, 
 and Brecknock, for which counties he is also a magistrate. 
 
 Lady Llewelyn is a sister of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach (the present 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer), who was a friend and contemporary of Sir 
 John at Eton and Christchurch, and who was his companion on a trip to 
 the East. 
 
 In his younger days he was an enthusiastic cricketer ; he has 
 inherited much of his illustrious ancestor’s taste for natural history, and 
 is a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and an ex-President of the Cambrian 
 
Archaeological Association. He has always been a liberal contributor 
 towards Church of England and philanthropic objects, especially in 
 Glamorganshire ; is a member of the House of Laymen, of the Central 
 Council of Diocesan Conferences, and of the Central Committee formed 
 in 1895 for purposes of Church defence. 
 
 4. Mr. David Brynmob, Jones, Q.C., M.P., who was born 12th May, 
 1852, at Pentrepoeth near Swansea, is the eldest son of the late Rev. 
 Thomas Jones (1819—1882) who from being in his younger days a weaver’s 
 .apprentice and subsequently a collier, became in after life probably the 
 most eloquent preacher — both in Welsh and English — that Wales has 
 produced in the course of the 19th century. He was popularly known as 
 ‘•the Welsh poet preacher” and was sometime chairman of the Congre- 
 gational Union of England and Wales. His son received part of his 
 education at the University College, London (where he was Hume Scholar) 
 and in 1874 took the Ll.B. degree of the London University. He practised 
 .as a barrister on the South Wales circuit, until he was appointed (in 
 June, 1885) County Court Judge for Mid-Wales, whence he subsequently 
 removed to the Gloucestershire circuit, but resigning in 1892 he was then 
 elected Liberal M.P. for the Stroud Division. He then resumed practice 
 .at the Bar, was in 1893 made Q.C., was one of the draughtsmen of 
 the Charter of the University of Wales for which body he was later 
 appointed Senior Standing Counsel, being also a member of its 
 Executive, while his brother, Mr. J. Viriamu Jones is Principal 
 of the University College of South Wales, and at present Vice- 
 Chancellor of toe Welsh University. In July, 1895, he did not seek 
 re-election for Stroud, but became M.P. for the Swansea District. 
 Apart from writing a few papers on the Welsh laws and kindred subjects, 
 his chief literary effort has hitherto been the editing in 1884 of a volume 
 of sermons by his father, entitled “ The Divine Order,” for which Robert 
 Browning wrote an introduction. 
 
 Asa politician, Mr. Brynmor Jones may be described as a philo- 
 sophic Radical, and a Nationalist with strong Imperialist tendencies. He 
 was the only member of the Commission who had practised as a Barrister, 
 but he had the experience of the judge as well as of the advocate, and 
 may therefore be presumed capable, not only of eliciting but also of 
 weighing evidence. While on the Bench, he had probably seen more of 
 the working of the Agricultural Holdings Act than any other member, 
 iind for a Commission that ended by recommending that the County 
 Court should be utilised as a Land Court, his knowledge must necessarily 
 Lave been specially valuable. 
 
 5. Professor John Rhys was born June 21st, 1840, at Abercaero, 
 near Ponterwyd, North Cardiganshire, served a pupil teacher’s apprentice- 
 ship at Penllwyn British School, near Aberystwyth (1855-1859), was 
 trained at Bangor Normal College to be a public elementary schoolmaster 
 in 1860, and had charge of a school in Anglesey till Michaelmas, 1865, 
 when he entered Jesus College, Oxford. After a three years’ course he 
 was elected, towards the end of 1869, a Fellow of Merton College, and 
 during the next eighteen months attended lectures at various Continental 
 Universities. He served as H.M. Inspector of Schools for the counties 
 of Flint and Denbigh from May, 1871, until he was appointed, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1887, Professor of Celtic at Oxford. He had publishod his first 
 .great work, “ Lectures on Welsh Philology,” a few weeks earlier, and has 
 ever since been a prolific writer on all questions connected with Celtic 
 philology and ethnology. His best known works in addition to the 
 “Lectures” are his “Celtic Britain” (S.P.C.K., 1882), “Celtic Heathen- 
 dom” and “The Arthurian Legend.” He is also joint editor of the 
 “ Oxford Series of Welsh Texts.” From 1881 to 1895 he was Fellow and 
 Bursar of Jesus College, and in the latter capacity was responsible for the 
 management of its landed property. He had been associated, in one way 
 or other, with three Government inquiries connected with Wales prior 
 io the appointment of the Welsh Land Commission : he was a member 
 
 Liberal M.P. 
 and Ex-County 
 Court Judge. 
 
 Professor of 
 Celtic. 
 
6 
 
 Tenant Farmer 
 (South Wales) 
 and Breeder of 
 Welsh Black 
 Cattle. 
 
 of the late Lord Aberdare’s Departmental Committee, appointed in 
 August, 1880, to inquire into the condition of Intermediate and Higher 
 Education in Wales ; was Secretary-Interpreter to the inquiry conducted 
 in 1887 by Sir John Bridge into the Welsh Tithe Rent-Charge disturbances, 
 and Secretary to the Sunday Closing Commission in 1889-90. The degree 
 of Ll.D. was conferred on him by the Edinburgh University on the 13th 
 April, 1893, and that night he travelled up to London so as to attend the 
 first meeting of the Land Commission on the following day. In March, 
 1895, he was appointed Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, and is more- 
 over a member of several learned societies, a Member of the Court of the 
 University of Wales, and of more than one of the Welsh University 
 Colleges. Perhaps he was the only “pure-bred” Welshmen on the whole 
 of the Commission, though according to the ethnological views put 
 forward by the Commissioners, the probability is that he is not, however, a 
 Celt or even an Aryan. 
 
 6. Mr. John Morgan Griffiths, of Penally Court, near Tenby, was 
 born September 5th, 1834, at Castellgarw, Llanglydwen, Carmarthenshire, 
 and is descended from a family than which there is none more honoured 
 in the annals of Welsh Nonconformity. His mother was the daughter of 
 John Morgan, of The Forge, Whitland, and aunt to Professor Morgan, of 
 the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen (father of Mr. J. Lloyd Morgan > 
 M.P. for West Carmarthen). On the maternal side, Morgan, of The Forge, 
 was descended from a Scotch family named Rixon whence the fine 
 physique and the business ability of several of his descendants should 
 be probably traced. Mr. Griffiths received part of his education at 
 Merryvale, under the father of the late B. T. Williams, Q.C., County Court 
 Judge, and on marrying in 1887 (his wife being sister of the late 
 Rev. J. Melbourne Davies, Vicar of Tregare, Monmouthshire) he 
 became tenant of his present holding, Penally Court, a farm of over 300 
 acres on the Picton Castle Estate. Attached to this farm are extensive 
 limestone quarries and kilns which Mr. Griffiths has also carried on, 
 and, in former years, besides exporting lime to the Devonshire and 
 other ports, he supplied enormous quantities to the farmers of South 
 Cardiganshire, North Pembrokeshire and West Carmarthenshire, and thus 
 became intimately acquainted with their habits of life and mode of farming, 
 As a farmer, Mr. Griffiths has practically devoted the whole of his 
 life to the improvement of the Castlemartin breed of Black Cattle, his 
 herd of that breed being second to none in South Wales, as is amply 
 proved by the great demand for his pedigree bulls and the prices which 
 they fetch. He has been one of the greatest contributors to the Black 
 Cattle Herd Book since it was first started in 1874, has been a very suc- 
 cessful exhibitor, not only at Welsh shows but also at those of the Bath 
 and West of England and the “ Royal,” for the latter of which, as well as- 
 for the Smithfield Shows, he has acted as judge on several occasions. 
 His papers read before local Farmers Clubs, notably those on 
 the “Breeding and Rearing of Cattle,” and on the “Production and 
 Utilisation of Food for Cattle,” were highly appreciated. Mr. Griffiths 
 has had a long experience as poor law guardian, but he has hitherto 
 declined to permit himself to be nominated for the magistracy or 
 aldermancy of his county, but owing to the great interest he takes in 
 dairying he was elected as an “ outside” member of the Technical Educa- 
 tion Committee of the Pembrokeshire County Council. Not only he, but 
 his family also, has done veritable mission work in the improvement of 
 butter-making. In 1891, after obtaining an Advanced Teacher’s Certifi- 
 cate at the Western Dairy Institute, his youngest daughter (Miss May 
 Griffiths) became instructress to the Travelling Dairy School of the 
 Worcestershire County Council, and since then either she or her elder 
 sister has done similar work, with most successful results, under the 
 Councils of some half-a-dozen counties in Southern Scotland — the lectures 
 of Miss May Griffiths having been published in the form of a well- 
 received “ Primer of the Science and Art of Dairying.” 
 
7 
 
 Mr. Griffiths is Chairman of the South Pembrokeshire Congregational 
 Association, and President of the South Wales Congregational Union. 
 
 Though not an active politician, his sympathies are on the Liberal side. 
 
 7. Mr. Edwin Grove, who was the Senior Member of the chairman of 
 Commission, was born at JBilston, in South Staffordshire, 19th July, Monmouthshire 
 1832, and became an accountant at some Iron Works near West Coun y ounci . 
 Bromwich, but came to Wales in November, 1852, when the Pontypool 
 Works were acquired by Staffordshire capitalists. When, in 1864, the 
 Ebbw Vale Company was formed, with a nominal capital of four 
 millions, Mr. Grove was appointed Secretary, and this necessitated his 
 removal to London, but in 1873 he returned to Wales, settling at 
 Newport, where he has since resided ; he continued to serve his old 
 company, wholly, until 1884, and, as to part of his time, until 1891, when 
 he finally retired. Mr. Grove has closely identified himself with 
 the interests and the public life of his adopted county and country, 
 a fact which was cordially recognised by his unanimous election as first 
 chairman of the Monmouthshire County Council, a post to which he has 
 since been annually re-elected. He is a J.P. both for the county of 
 Monmouth and the borough of Newport, and also chairman of the 
 Asylum and the Standing Joint Committees, as well as of the County 
 Governing Body, which administers the Intermediate Education Act. 
 
 He also represented his county at conferences held to promote the 
 formation of the University of Wales, of which, after the death 
 of Lord Aberdare, Mr. Grove was appointed Treasurer. He has 
 
 also rendered yeoman’s service as Secretary to the Fund of over £60,000, 
 raised through the Mansion House and other agencies for the relief of 
 the relatives of those killed at the Abercarne Explosion in September, 
 
 1878, and it may safely be said that this has proved one of the best 
 managed relief funds in the country. 
 
 Mr. Grove took an active part in the agitation carried on about 1884-5 
 by the freighters against the Railway Companies as to the question of 
 Railway Rates, and in conjunction with Mr. Thomas Colborne, he made, 
 in January 1885, a special report on the subject to the Newport Chamber 
 of Commerce, by whom it was published in book form. He has 
 
 subsequently given evidence before several Parliamentary Committees on 
 Railway Rates, and during the inquiry with which we are now dealing, 
 he never lost an opportunity of eliciting information on this and kindred 
 questions. Mr. Grove thus brought to bear on the work of the Com- 
 mission a large experience of commercial life and of local administration. 
 
 His presence on the Commission was a guarantee that the interests 
 of the urban consumer would not be sacrificed to those of the agricultural 
 producer, and it moreover emphasised the fact that the “ thirteenth 
 county ” is an integral part of Wales. 
 
 8. Mr. Richard Jones was born 16th December, 1855, at Cilhaul, ^ na t k\y a [ n \ er 
 Trefeglwys, in Montgomeryshire, his father being descended from a ' Nor a e9 '* 
 Merioneth family of woollen manufacturers, a business still carried on at 
 Dolgelly by a relative — Mr. Meyrick Jones — who used to supply Tennyson 
 with Welsh cloth. Like Mr. J. M. Griffiths, his Welsh blood appears to 
 have some foreign admixture in it, if we judge from the evidence of 
 personal names, for his mother’s maiden name was Bennet, while 
 Andrew Breeze has also been a family name for several generations 
 (being derived from the Breezes of Llanbrynmair). After attending 
 the local National School and some private schools at Newtown, Mr. 
 
 Jones spent two years (1873-5) at the then newly-established college 
 at Aberystwyth, where, for a part of the time, he shared rooms with 
 Mr. Thomas Ellis, M.P., and had as his contemporaries, Mr. Ellis 
 Griffith, M.P., and the present Principal of the College. His parents 
 had lived since 1857 at Pertheirin, a fine half-timbered farmhouse, 
 once a mansion, near Caersws, and Mr. Jones, who on leaving 
 college settled at home, has carried on the farm since his father’s 
 death in February, 1887. The holding, which belongs to Mr. Edward 
 
8 
 
 Banker, and 
 Writer on the 
 economics of 
 land tenure. 
 
 Davies, of Llan Dinam, may be described as a mixed farm of about 150 
 acres, together with a sheep walk of some 100 acres. Mr. Jones’s public 
 life commenced in January, 1889, when he was elected, after a contest, 
 member of the County Council for Montgomeryshire, a position which he 
 has since retained, while in January, 1894, he qualified as a magistrate for 
 the county. Since 1889, he has also represented his county on the Court 
 of Governors of Aberystwyth College, and since October, 1895, he has been 
 a member of its Council. As becomes one bearing the same name as the 
 economist who was the reputed author of the Tithe Commutation Act, 
 Mr. Richard Jones is capable of taking part in the most recondite 
 arguments in political economy. His reliance on that dismal science is 
 only equalled by his enthusiasm for cricket and football, and by his 
 assertion of the superior merits both of Powys horses and of the Welsh 
 mutton of Montgomeryshire. 
 
 9. — Me, Frederic Seebohm, who was born in 1833, at Bradford, 
 in Yorkshire, belongs to an old Quaker family. He was called to the 
 Bar at the Middle Temple in 1856, but settled soon after at Hitchin, 
 Herts, where he became a partner in the banking firm of Sharpies & Co. 
 The late Mr. Henry Seebohm, the distinguished ornithologist, was his 
 brother. So far as the public is concerned Mr. Seebohm’s name is 
 connected more conspicuously with the history than the economics 
 of land tenure, nevertheless he himself confesses “ to having approached 
 the subject, not as an antiquary, but as a student of Economic 
 History, and even with a directly political interest.” To use his own 
 words, what he has done throughout is “to treat from an economic 
 point of view a subject which has an antiquarian interest.” Among 
 the first fruits of this economic study was a series of three articles 
 on “ The Land Question,” published in the Fortnightly Review for 
 December, 1869, and January and February, 1870. The nature of 
 these articles may, to some extent, be inferred from their sub-titles, which 
 were as follows : — (a) English Tenures in Ireland. (6) Feudal Tenures 
 in England (c) The Severance of the English People from the Land. 
 These articles, it should be mentioned, were published before the 
 passing of the Irish Land Act of 1870. Mr. Seebohm also took an 
 active part in connection with Mr. Forster’s Education Act of 1870. 
 After several years’ further study of the historical side of the subject, 
 Mr. Seebohm, in 1883, published his best-known work “The English 
 Village Community,” which, in its sub-title, he characteristically described 
 as “An Essay in Economic History.” A fourth edition of the work was 
 issued in 1890. From the Welsh point of view, probably the most inter- 
 esting portion of this work is that relating to the land system of Wales, 
 as disclosed chiefly in the laws of Howel Dda. His treatment of this 
 subject was further amplified in “ The Tribal System in Wales ” (pub- 
 lished in 1895), in which, if we may quote the words of Professor Ashley, 
 “ he has compelled what before was a bewildering jungle of Celtic nomen- 
 clature, to yield up some sort of intelligible shape.” He is also favourably 
 known as a writer on the history of the period of the Reformation. 
 In 1892 he was elected member of the Athenaeum Club under the special 
 rule empowering the Committee to elect yearly a “ certain number 
 of persons of distinguished eminence in science, literature, or the arts.” 
 The Edinburgh University conferred on him its Honorary Degree of 
 LL.D., and he is also an F.S.A. 
 
 Mr. Seebohm is, moreover, well-known in connection with banking 
 and financial matters, and has been president of the Country Bankers’ 
 Association for the past year. Equally valuable — for the Land Com- 
 mission — as his business training and his studies in economic history, 
 was his practical knowledge of peasant life. In his youth, he became 
 acquainted with the various vicissitudes of the small farmers among the 
 hills and dales of his native Yorkshire, while in later years he has studied 
 on the spot, not only the Irish peasant and the Scotch crofter, but also 
 the peasant proprietor of Scandinavia. It may be added that Mr. 
 
9 
 
 Seebohm is a staunch believer in Individualism and Freedom of Contract 
 and is now a Liberal Unionist. 
 
 The reader is now, we trust, in a position to judge for clmpSe^an^ 1 
 himself whether the tribunal was both competent and im- impartial ? 
 partial or otherwise. One word only need be added : not a 
 single member of the Commission had, prior to his appoint- 
 ment, publicly pronounced, so far as is known to the writer, 
 any definite opinion as to the Welsh Land Question, or 
 “ taken sides,” so to speak, in the matter. If there was an 
 exception, it was to be found perhaps in the person of Sir 
 John Llewelyn, who had become a member of the Executive 
 Committee of the newly-formed Landowners’ Association of 
 South Wales, but (as was made known at the time) when he 
 was asked to serve on the Commission, he at once informed 
 the Minister who approached him of his position, was told 
 that it was no disqualification, and, accepting the post on 
 that understanding, he thereupon withdrew his membership 
 with the utmost promptitude. Beyond this, not one of the 
 members appears to have previously taken anj^partin the public 
 discussion of the Welsh land question. So far as land tenure 
 generally was concerned — that is, irrespective of the special 
 circumstances of Wales — the only members whose views were 
 perhaps well known were Lord Carrington, who had a repu- 
 tation as a generous, reforming landowner, and Mr. Seebohm, 
 who had indirectly helped to pass the Irish Land Act of 
 1870 — facts which no one would take to be disqualifying 
 them for the work they undertook in regard to Wales. 
 
 Considering the amount and nature of the work done by I ts cost t® the 
 the Commission, it will probably be held by those most com- 
 petent to judge that its expenditure has by no means proved 
 extravagant. In round figures the expenditure charged to 
 the Temporary Commissions Vote on its account has amounted 
 to about £8,500, but this does not include the bill for printing. 
 
 The chief items have been the shorthand writer’s account* and 
 the travelling and other expenses incidental to the holding 
 of 80 public sittings in various parts of Wales. All the 
 Commissioners gave their services gratuitously, being allowed 
 only their travelling expenses and the usual “ subsistence 
 allowance,” — barely enough to cover hotel expenses — when 
 away from home on the business of the Commission. More 
 than one of the Commissioners did not, however, make any 
 'Claim on the Treasury for even their out-of-pocket expenses. 
 
 * The “ note-taking,” which proved remarkably heavy, was done by Mr. 
 
 James Towell, with the aid, of course, of numerous assistants. The total 
 number of folios of evidence transcribed was 63,463, and the sum paid 
 therefor (including attendance fees) amounted to £2,371 12s. 8d., while 
 the sum paid for note-taking during the Report stage was £105 8s. Od. 
 
10 
 
 Observations 
 its Staff. 
 
 Terms of 
 referense 
 and their 
 interpretation. 
 
 As to office expenditure, it may be claimed that the 
 most rigid economy was practised throughout, and in this 
 connection a word may perhaps be permitted as to the staff. 
 When the Commission was constituted, the writer of 
 this digest, who was then acting as Assistant Commissioner 
 to the Labour Commission, was appointed Secretary at the 
 usual salary of £400 a year, provision being also made that 
 he should have a clerk and a messenger under him. The 
 work of the Commission developed so rapidly that in October, 
 1893, it was found necessary to give him further assistance 
 and Mr. Cecil Owen, who, up to that time, had done the clerical 
 work of the office, was then appointed Assistant Secretary at 
 the yearly salary of £150. In February, 1895, when the 
 writer was prostrated with typhoid fever, Mr. Owen was 
 appointed Joint Secretary with him, their salaries thereafter 
 to the close of the Commission being £275 each. Mr. 
 Owen is the son of Sir Hugh Owen, K.C.B., Permanent 
 Secretary to the Local Government Board, and grandson of 
 the late Sir Hugh Owen, to whose unselfish and patriotic 
 labours, more than of any other person, the present educational 
 system of Wales owes its existence. Though new to official 
 life when he first entered the service of the Commission, Mr. 
 Owen has, since March, 1895, been private secretary (unpaid) 
 to Sir Arthur Arnold, Chairman of the London County 
 Council. 
 
 Perhaps it deserves to be placed on record that much of 
 the correspondence of the office had necessarily to be carried 
 on in Welsh, in which language a considerable proportion of 
 witnesses and others from the Welsh-speaking districts 
 addressed their communications. Every Welsh letter that 
 came to the office w r as invariably replied to in Welsh. 
 
 2.— ITS JURISDICTION. 
 
 The terms of reference, or in other words, the duty with 
 which the Commissioners were charged was — 
 
 “ To inquire into the conditions and circumstances 
 under which land is held, occupied and cultivated 
 in Wales and Monmouthshire, and to report 
 thereon.” 
 
 How to interpret these words was practically the first 
 matter the Commissioners had to decide. They came to the 
 conclusion that their instructions had been “ couched 
 intentionally in words and terms somewhat large and 
 indefinite,” in order that they might exercise a free discretion, 
 by way of limiting or extending the scope of their inquiry, 
 but, “ without any doubt,” the Report says, “ we arrived at 
 
11 
 
 the conclusion that it was the conditions and circumstances 
 connected with the ownership and occupation of that land, 
 which, for want of a better term, we call agricultural land, to 
 which we ought principally to give our attention.” (p. 1). A 
 syllabus was then drawn up “ suggesting the principal topics 
 on which information was desired,” and this was issued, both 
 in Welsh and English, for general circulation in Wales. 
 
 At least two objections have, we believe, been urged 
 against this interpretation. Those objections briefly put 
 amount to this : — (1) That the introduction of the word 
 “cultivated” into the terms of reference was intended to 
 limit the application of the preceding words— “held” and 
 “occupied,” to such land as is capable of cultivation only; 
 that is not principally , but solely to agricultural land. (2) That 
 the word “ held” refers to the holding of land by occupying 
 tenants, and not to the fact that the so-called ownership of 
 land in this country means that all land is held of the Crown. 
 
 According to this view, the relationship existing between 
 landlord and tenant is all that the word “held” suggests, 
 while the word “occupied” is also used so as to include 
 occupying freeholders, as well as tenants. The effect of this 
 interpretation would be the exclusion, from the scope of 
 the inquiry, of all questions of ownership, while the 
 previous objection, if valid, would still further exclude 
 questions relating to all land that is not agricultural in 
 character. These views will be better understood if we quote 
 from the evidence the statements of one or two prominent 
 witnesses. 
 
 As to the inclusion of questions of ownership, Col. the 
 Hon. W. E. Sackville-West, chief agent for Lord Penrhyn’s 
 estates, gave indirect expression to his opinion when asked 
 “to give some information as to any grants from the Crown 
 to landowners” in North Wales. “Do I understand,” the 
 witness inquired,* “ that the Commissioners are going into 
 questions of title ? ” “ Not as between two private individ- 
 
 uals, but as between the Crown and private individuals,” 
 replied Mr. Brynmor Jones, on behalf of the Commission; 
 “ But they are,” retorted Colonel West, “ they are investi- 
 gating the title of individuals as to property granted by the 
 Crown.” 
 
 The other view that the terms of reference implied an 
 inquiry into agricultural land only, is illustrated by the 
 attitude assumed by Mr. Myddelton Biddulph, of Chirk 
 Castle. A witness had alleged that the occupier of a shop 
 in the Ceiriog Valley had been capriciously evicted by Mr. 
 
 * Q.— 12,222-3. 
 
 Criticisms 
 of this 
 
 interpretation. 
 
12 
 
 Procedure 
 
 adopted. 
 
 Myddelton Biddulph, who thereupon addressed the Com- 
 missioners in these words f : — 
 
 “ Your Commission is an inquiry into the state of Welsh 
 agriculture and land tenure, and this case is not within the 
 scope of your inquiry as this person who is referred to held 
 no land, he held a house and shop only ; therefore 
 
 1 decline to answer or say anything whatever on the subject. 
 
 11 Mr. Brynmor Jones: Was the shop built on land? — I 
 fancy, sir, that all shops do have some foundation on land. 
 
 Q : “ This Commission is authorised to inquire into ‘ the 
 conditions and circumstances under which land in Wales 
 and Monmouthshire is held , occupied, and cultivated ’? — This 
 man held no land for agricultural purposes. 
 
 Q : “ He held a shop, and the shop was on land ? — There 
 was no land to cultivate ? You cannot cultivate bricks and 
 mortar that I know of.” 
 
 Though the Commissioners thus asserted their right to 
 inquire alike into the ownership and occupation of all kinds 
 of land, still as a matter of fact their inquiry was for the 
 most part limited to questions relating to the tenure of agri- 
 cultural land only, and the Report contains little or nothing on 
 such questions as leasehold enfranchisement, the taxation of 
 ground values, and mining royalties, except that reference is 
 made to the fact that these questions had been recently 
 investigated by other Commissions and Committees in a very 
 exhaustive manner (p. 2). 
 
 3.— ITS PROCEDURE. 
 
 With reference to the procedure of the Commission, the 
 following are, perhaps, the chief points that need be 
 mentioned. 
 
 1. They conducted the whole inquiry themselves and 
 did not delegate any of their power, as is often done, to 
 Assistant Commissioners. 
 
 2. Being a Commission to inquire and report and not 
 one to hear and determine, they were not empowered to take 
 evidence on oath. 
 
 3. All the sittings for the purpose of evidence-taking 
 were open to the public, and, as sittings were held at various 
 centres in every, county of Wales, evidence of a, local 
 character was so far as possible taken at the sitting most 
 conveniently situated to that locality. For example, evidence 
 of a controversial nature relating to the local management of 
 property was not taken in London, nor, so far as possible, 
 outside the district or county chiefly interested. 
 
 f Q.— 60,492-5. 
 
13 
 
 4. The examination of witnesses was conducted solely 
 by the Commissioners themselves, so that no counsel, or 
 solicitor wa3 permitted actively to intervene in the proceedings 
 in the manner usual in courts of law. 
 
 The Commissioners report that “'considerable pressure oraiinterven- 
 
 . . .. 1 . 1 , tion bjr Couns4 
 
 was brought to bear upon them direct!}’' and indirectly, to or Solicitors 
 give the fullest power to legal representatives of persons not permitted ‘ 
 interested, but that after full discussion ” they decided against 
 such a course (pp. 3-4). But while coming to this conclusion 
 they thought that “ there could be no reason why any wit- 
 ness should not be asked questions in writing handed in by 
 any one present at a sitting, if the Commissioners thought it 
 expedient that such written question should be put.” Six 
 reasons are categorically stated for the exclusion of any 
 examination other than by or through the Commissioners 
 themselves — the last and probably chief reason being that it 
 was contrary to all precedent in the case of similar Royal 
 Commissions. 
 
 The course adopted by the Commission was to all intents 
 and purposes identical with that of the Welsh Sunday 
 Closing Commission in 1889. That Commission had received 
 several applications that Counsel should be allowed to exam- 
 ine witnesses, but they were all refused ; and Lord Balfour 
 of Burleigh, in opening the proceedings at the first sitting 
 held in Wales, stated as Chairman their reasons in terms that 
 may here be quoted in illustration of the usual procedure of 
 Royal Commissions. He said : — 
 
 “ If the Commission were to have taken the course of allowing counsel 
 instructed on behalf of any society or association to appear and examine 
 and cross-examine, we should, I think, have been taking a course 
 absolutely without precedent upon a Royal Commission, situated as we 
 are, and therefore we rejected that suggestion without hesitation. We 
 shall, of course, if there is any corporate body, a county council, or a 
 town conneil. or any society that desires to make representations to the 
 Commission allow a representative — the whole society or the whole town 
 council cannot in the nature of things come here, and they must delegate 
 somebody to speak for them. If they choose, in the exercise of their 
 judgment, to delegate a gentleman learned in the law, rather than one of 
 themselves, that is matter for their consideration, and we shall be glad 
 that he should appear and make any statement that he chooses, but either 
 he, or some of those for whom he appears will, of course, have to be 
 available to answer questions upon which he may not have been — in perfect 
 good faith, no doubt, — but in which he may not have been perfectly 
 and fully instructed. No examination can take place except on the part of 
 the Commissioners themselves. If the gentlemen who put forward 
 witnesses think that any material point is being omitted, they can suggest 
 questions if they choose to the Commissioners, but the Commissioners 
 will be the only persons to put questions to the witnesses.” 
 
 This statement by the Chairman of the Sunday Closing 
 Commission practically expresses the principles on which the 
 Land Commission also conducted their inquiry ; and, making 
 
14 
 
 How the 
 evidence was 
 prepared. 
 
 due allowance for difference of subject-matter, the proceed- 
 ings in the latter case closely resembled those of the earlier 
 Commission. 
 
 Associations and Committees were formed with the view 
 of bringing forward witnesses and of assisting them in the 
 preparation of their evidence. Even before the Land Com- 
 mission was appointed two Landowners’ Associations had 
 been formed, one for North and the other for South Wales. 
 The former had as its Secretary the late Mr. George Owen, 
 a Solicitor of Carnarvon, while Mr. J. E. Vincent, of 
 the North Wales Circuit, had been retained as counsel for 
 the Society. All the North Wales sittings were attended by 
 these two gentlemen, with whom, on most occasions, Mr. 
 Owen Slaney Wynne, sometime chief agent of the Wynnstay 
 estates, was also associated as general agricultural adviser. 
 The secretaryship to the other Association was also filled 
 by Mr. Vincent, who along with Mr. H. L. Stephen, of the 
 South Wales Circuit, represented that society at the sittings 
 in South Wales. It may be mentioned that Mr. Vincent 
 was also understood to be representing The Times in the 
 capacity of correspondent, at the sittings of the Commission, 
 though when himself giving evidence, he declined to state 
 whether that was so or not. 
 
 The majority of landowners and agents as well as a small 
 proportion of tenants and other witnesses availed themselves 
 of the assistance offered by these two organisations, either in 
 the preparation or submission of their evidence. These were 
 the only general associations covering the whole of Wales. 
 
 The tenant farmers, as a class, were therefore not 
 organised on anything like the same scale as the landowners. 
 Here and there, they formed themselves into local committees 
 for the purpose of collecting evidence to be tendered by some 
 chosen representatives, elsewhere an informal meeting for a 
 parish or an estate was held and a delegate was chosen, who 
 received general instructions as to what he should tell the 
 Commissioners. In most counties, the machinery of the 
 Liberal Association, or some other societjr of a frankly 
 political character, was utilised, and its secretary, or the 
 registration agent of the party gave such assistance to 
 witnesses as was found possible or deemed necessar}^. 
 We cannot here mention all those who had thus something 
 to do with assisting tenant farmers in preparing or submit- 
 ting their evidence, and as it would appear invidious to 
 signal out a few names while omitting others, we content 
 ourselves with giving a general description of the capacity 
 in which they rendered such service. 
 
15 
 
 One obvious and, perhaps, inevitable result of these 
 methods of preparing evidence was that, in appearing 
 before the Commission, parties ranged themselves into 
 two hostile camps, and though this might be a matter 
 for some regret, still it may be said on the other hand, 
 that without the active help of these various associations 
 and their representatives, the inquiry of the Commission 
 could never have been nearly so searching or exhaustive 
 as it was, nor could the fierce light of public opinion 
 have been directed with such force, on the evidence that 
 was put forward. Chiefly, therefore, by the aid of these 
 two sets of associations, most of the witnesses, of whatever 
 class, were able to comply with a rule of the Commission 
 that each witness should submit before hand either an 
 abstract or a full statement of such evidence as he might 
 wish to give. Beyond stating that most of the Welsh wit- 
 nesses were “ no doubt aided by their friends ” in having 
 their statements thus prepared, the Report does not refer to 
 the method by which that was done. We have, however, 
 thought it necessary to give this brief account of the manner 
 in which the evidence was prepared, especially as it may be 
 regarded by some people as a factor affecting the value of 
 that evidence. 
 
 Besides the assistance thus rendered to witnesses before 
 their appearance in Court, the advisers or organisers referred 
 to generally watched the proceedings at the sittings, and, as 
 they thought fit, handed in written questions with the view 
 of eliciting admissions favourable to their case, or of prevent- 
 ing the omission of material points through oversight or other- 
 wise. Such questions, if accepted by the Commission, were 
 put by the Chairman in the names of the persons who sub- 
 mitted them. Moreover, “ in addition to the check upon 
 rash and inadequate statements afforded by this permission 
 . . . to put questions in writing through the Chairman,” 
 
 the Commission gave a general instruction that the Secretarj’ 
 should “ send notice forthwith to every person whose 
 character or conduct might (in their opinion) be impugned 
 by the statement of any witness, so that any person attacked 
 might have an opportunity of explaining or rebutting the 
 charge at an early moment ” (p. 5). A large number of per- 
 sons availed themselves of such opportunity, but in their 
 rebutting statements they were not allowed to enter into 
 general matters unless they had given notice of their inten- 
 tion of giving general evidence, but were strictly limited to 
 the rebuttal, more or less categorically, of the statements 
 they complained of. 
 
 Rebutting 
 
 evidence. 
 
16 
 
 Publication of 
 evidence. 
 
 Number of 
 sittings and of 
 witnesses. 
 
 Each day’s evidence was, moreover, printed and pub- 
 lished at the uniform charge of 2d. per copy, as soon as 
 possible after each sitting, and parties interested were thus 
 able to acquaint themselves with promptitude of the nature 
 of any evidence affecting them, while in urgent matters they 
 could procure at the customary charge a transcript of the 
 shorthand writer’s notes of any particular statement. 
 
 Subsequently the evidence, revised by the witnesses 
 themselves, was issued in five large folio volumes,* which 
 extend to an aggregate of 4,672 pages, while the number of 
 the final question is given as 79,062, the total cost of the set 
 being £1 16s. lid. 
 
 * The following is a list of the volumes, with some account of their 
 contents, &c. : — 
 
 No. 
 
 of 
 
 Vol. 
 
 No. of 
 Sittings 
 included. 
 
 Counties to which 
 evidence relates. 
 
 No. of 
 Pages. 
 
 Price. 
 
 No. of 
 
 Parliamentary 
 
 Paper. 
 
 Year 
 
 of 
 
 Pub- 
 
 lica- 
 
 tion. 
 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 I. 
 
 1st to 22nd 
 
 Glamorgan (first visit) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Merioneth & Carnarvon 
 
 898 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 C.— 7439— I. 
 
 1894 
 
 II. 
 
 23rd to 45th 
 
 Glamorgan (second visit) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Anglesey, Pembroke & 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Monmouth 
 
 958 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 C.— 7439— II 
 
 1894 
 
 III. 
 
 46th to 63rd 
 
 Carmarthen, Cardigan, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Brecknock & Radnor 
 
 1,054 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 C.— 7661. 
 
 1895 
 
 |IV. 
 
 64th to 80th 
 
 Denbigh, Flint, & Mont- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 gomery 
 
 956 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 C.— 7757. 
 
 1895 
 
 V. 
 
 81st to 99th 
 
 Evidence of Supplemental 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 with 
 
 Sittings at Carmarthen 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Index to the 
 
 & Newtown, & London 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 whole 
 
 Evidence 
 
 806 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 C.— 8222. 
 
 1896 
 
 
 Evidence : 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Vol. I.— V. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4,672 
 
 1 16 11 
 
 
 
 In addition to some 45 private sittings, chiefly for the 
 consideration of the Beport, 99 public sittings were held for 
 the reception of evidence, and of these, 80 were held in 
 Wales and 19 in London. On 23 occasions the Commis- 
 sioners found it necessary to divide themselves into two 
 courts on account of the large number of witnesses to be 
 examined. In all, as many as 1,086 witnesses gave evidence — 
 many of them on more than one occasion — and they are 
 thus classified, according to their occupations, in the Beport 
 (p. 7) : — 106 landowners, 110 agents, 516 tenants, 82 free- 
 holders, 21 labourers, 12 clergymen of the Church of England, 
 22 ministers of other denominations, 58 members of profes- 
 sions (not including those already mentioned), 39 tradesmen 
 and mechanics, 88 witnesses of various other occupations 
 difficult of classification, and 32 witnesses who gave official or 
 expert evidence. Of this total, 372 witnesses gave their 
 
17 
 
 evidence in Welsh, and the remaining 714 in English. The 
 grand total of 1,086 included as many as 25 women witnesses. 
 
 During the inquiry it was very frequently asserted that rhe aliened 
 tenant farmers were afraid to come forward to give evidence. Fam?erJand nt 
 Was this really so ? and if so, had they any reasonable others, 
 ground for their fear ? are questions which the Commis- 
 sioners therefore put to themselves. Their unanimous reply 
 thereto (p. 9) is — “ That not simply a small number of 
 exceptionally timid or prudent men, but a very large propor- 
 tion of the tenant-farmers in each district were deterred from 
 coming forward to give evidence by fear of incurring the 
 displeasure of the landlord, and therefore possibly of receiving 
 notice to quit, or at any rate, being placed in a disadvantage- 
 ous relation to him and his agent. This is simply a question 
 of fact, and is quite consistent with the view that these fears 
 of the tenants were groundless . . . Speaking more especially 
 with reference to the large estates, we think that the tenants 
 might have come forward without real danger of eviction. 
 
 The state of political and religious feeling in the Principality, 
 especially in the more distinctly Welsh districts, is such that 
 we cannot speak with so much confidence as to the tenants 
 not being molested or being treated with less favour than 
 may have been the case before.” The Commissioners how- 
 ever, point out that the question whether tenant farmers’ fears 
 were justified “is, after all, one of opinion and speculation, and 
 it can only be determined, with any approach to certainty, 
 by observing, after the Commission is over, the conduct of 
 the landlords in reference to the numerous tenant farmers 
 who gave evidence. If, as we believe will be the case, the 
 landlords continue to treat the tenants who did come forward 
 to give evidence in the same way as those who did not, then 
 public opinion will acquit the landlords of the suspicions 
 engendered in the minds of the tenant farmers by a con- 
 sciousness of the insecurity of their position and the recol- 
 lection of what took place at and subsequent to the General 
 Elections of 1859 and 1868.” 
 
 This is the judgment expressed on this question by the 
 whole Commission. The Majority however, in their separate 
 Report (p. 925), supplement this by stating that “ rightly or 
 wrongly the tenants believed that their landlords and their 
 agents were opposed to the inquiry, and that it would (there- 
 fore) be imprudent to give evidence.” The reality of this fear 
 is proved, they say, by (1) the preponderance of evidence to 
 that effect, (2) facts brought to the notice of individual Com- 
 missioners, (3) the naturalness of such fear, considering the 
 yearly character of most tenancies, and the prevailing sense 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 of their insecurity, (4) the fact that “it is idle to deny that 
 there is a profound and indelible conviction in the mind of 
 the average Welsh-speaking tenant that his landlord will not 
 hesitate to use the weapon of eviction if his political opinions 
 are thwarted or his pecuniary interest threatened,” (5) “ the 
 conduct of some of the landlords even in the course of the 
 inquiry itself.” 
 
 o^wftnesses’ 1 ^ 3 The last reason here stated has reference to complaints 
 
 Protection Act. made by witnesses that they had been injured in their 
 circumstances in consequence of the evidence they had given. 
 For example, several witnesses who had received notices to 
 quit, after they had given evidence, came forward a second 
 time and complained that it was because of such evidence 
 that they had been so treated. 
 
 The Commissioners in referring to these complaints, in 
 their General Report, state that with the view to giving con- 
 fidence to witnesses, and to warning the more intemperate or 
 unscrupulous persons, they had at their first public sitting, 
 as well as on numerous other occasions, made a definite formal 
 statement pointing out that “ the Witnesses Protection Act 
 of 1892 afforded a remedy adequate to meet any ordinary 
 case.” There is no doubt that this bold statement on the 
 part of the Commissioners did, as a matter of fact, encourage 
 many persons to come forward who would not otherwise have 
 done so. But it is now obvious that in making that state- 
 ment the Commissioners were too liberally interpreting the 
 Act, as they, in fact, confess: “we were distinctly under the 
 impression that in the true construction of the Act any action 
 by a landlord adverse to a tenant who had given evidence 
 before us for which any capricious, trivial, and wholly in- 
 adequate reasons were given would certainly primd facie 
 come within its terms, and at any rate throw on a landlord 
 the onus of justifying his conduct.” (p. 10). 
 
 This view of the Act was not shared by the law officers 
 of the Crown, who in no case, during either the Liberal or 
 the Conservative Administration, commenced proceedings 
 against any person who was alleged to have committed a 
 breach of the Act, though the Commissioners themselves had 
 come to the conclusion that a prima facie case against several 
 such persons had been established. In short, the Report dis- 
 closes a conflict of opinion between the Commissioners and 
 the law officers of the Crown. As to the ultimate criminality 
 of the conduct of the persons complained of, the Commis- 
 sioners do not, however, give any opinion, deeming it outside 
 their province so to do, but they content themselves with 
 
19 
 
 expressing regret “ that in any case the law should have failed 
 to give the protection intended by the Act.” 
 
 Their dissatisfaction with the Act as it stands at present 
 — or with the interpretation placed on it by the law officers of 
 the Crown may be further inferred from the following recom- 
 mendation which all the Commissioners make at the end of 
 their Report : “We recommend in view of the complaints 
 made by persons to us that they have been damnified by having 
 given evidence before this Commission, to the difficulty in 
 which we have been placed from time to time in dealing with 
 these complaints, and, the action of the Public Prosecutor 
 disclosed above, that a public inquiry should be made into 
 the operation of the Act, and as to the desirability of amend- 
 ing it, and in this connection we express an earnest hope that 
 landlords and agents will not allow themselves to be in- 
 fluenced in their dealings with any tenant by the fact that 
 he has given evidence before this Commission.” (p. 959). 
 
 Two complaints, coming from different quarters, have 
 been made in the Press and elsewhere as to the action of the 
 Commission in this matter. 
 
 First, it is urged, on behalf of those who alleged that 
 they suffered injury for giving evidence, that the Commission 
 •distinctly though unwittingly misrepresented the Act, and 
 were subsequently unable to extend to the witnesses so em- 
 boldened to come forward that protection which they led 
 •everyone to believe it was in their power to give. 
 
 Secondly, those who were publicly accused before the 
 Commission of having violated the Act, urge that a serious 
 criminal charge was allowed to be brought against them, and 
 that the Commission, though not a Court of Law empowered 
 to hear and determine such a charge, took upon themselves to 
 pronounce that in their opinion a primd facie case had been 
 established against such persons. 
 
 4 . — GENERAL SCHEME OF REPORT AND 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 From the foregoing pages it will be seen that the General scheme 
 Commissioners have placed in the forefront of their Report dLwibSf 01 * 
 an exceptionally elaborate explanation of their procedure, 
 and they appear to have aimed at disarming criticism, or at 
 all events, at defending themselves against attack by stating 
 categorically their reasons for nearly ever}?- decision arrived at. 
 
 All this, however, forms no part ot the Report itself ; it 
 is merely the “Introduction” to it. 
 
20 
 
 Now that we have disposed of this preliminary matter,, 
 it will be found convenient if. before proceeding further, we* 
 give here a sketch of the main divisions of the Report, 
 
 This, like most other Heports, is divided into two main 
 parts, but in the present case these divisions or compartments 
 are called “ books.” 
 
 The first book, which is sub-divided into four parts, is a, 
 statement of all the facts which were deemed pertinent to* 
 the subject matter of the inquiry. Much of the evidence is 
 here analysed, but the Commissioners have also drawn 
 largely from other sources of public information, as well as 
 from their own private stores of experience and erudition. 
 The second book contains (a) the conclusions which are 
 drawn from the data given in Book I., and (6) the recom- 
 mendations made by the Commissioners as to legislative and 
 administrative action. 
 
 Perhaps the general scheme of the whole work can best 
 be presented in this form, in which we also indicate what 
 portions have been signed by all the Commissioners, and 
 what other portions are signed by sections of them only. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BOOK I.— GENERAL VIEW OF THE CONDITIONS 
 AND CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH LAND 
 IN WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE IS HELD, 
 OCCUPIED, AND CULTIVATED. 
 
 PART I.— GENERAL CONDITIONS AND CIR- 
 CUMSTANCES. 
 
 PART II.— OWNERSHIP AND LANDOWNERS- 
 
 PART III.— OCCUPATION AND OCCUPIERS— 
 
 i.e., TENANT FARMERS, OCCUPYING FREEHOLDERS, 
 SQUATTERS, COTTAGERS, AND LABOURERS. 
 
 PART IV.— CULTIVATION AND FARMING. 
 
 [. Signed by all the Commissioners.'] 
 
 BOOK II.— CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 [Signed by the Majority of the Commissioners. 
 Also adopted in general terms by the 
 minority, excepting “ those sections ivhich 
 lead up to the creation of a judicial tenancy 
 and the constitution of a Land Court 
 
 SEPARATE REPORT. 
 
 [Signed by the Minority of the Commissioners 3 
 
 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
21 
 
 The Majority consisted of six members, or two-thirds of 
 ithe Commission, viz., Earl Carrington (Chairman), Mr. D. 
 Brynmor Jones, Q.C., M.P., Professor Rhys, and Messrs. 
 
 J. M. Griffiths, Edwin Grove, and Richard Jones. 
 
 The Minority, which consisted of the remaining third, 
 were Lord Kenyon, Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn, Bart., M.P., and 
 Mr. Frederic Seebohm. 
 
 In addition to the Report itself, a separate volume of contents of 
 Appendices to the Report has been published, containing dSSedf* 
 information, other than the evidence of the Commission, which 
 has been utilised as a basis for the statements made in the 
 Report. Each Appendix bears a distinguishing letter (A, B, 
 
 Ac.), and it may be convenient to give here the following 
 brief account of the more important of them : — 
 
 Appendix A : A summary of the Reports of the more important inquiries 
 conducted by Parliamentary and Departmental Committees and various 
 Royal Commissions, relating (either wholly or in part) to agriculture and 
 land tenure and to the general conditions of life in Wales and Monmouth- 
 .shire. 
 
 This memorandum, which extends to 78 closely printed pages, contains 
 summaries of as many as 42 separate sets of Reports, of which the 
 following appear to have the most important bearing on the subject matter. 
 
 (1) Agricultural surveys of each Welsh county made in 1794-1796, 
 under the auspices of the then existing Board of Agriculture. 
 
 (2) Reports, also made to the Board of Agriculture, in 1810-1815 on 
 the Agriculture of Wales and Monmouthshire — A volumes, viz. : 
 one on North Wales, two on South Wales by the Rev. Walter 
 Davies (Gwallter Mechain), and a 4th volume on Monmouthshire 
 by Mr. Charles Hassall, of Pembrokeshire. These Reports 
 superseded the earlier ones of 1794, and are simply a mine of the 
 most valuable information on almost every point relating to 
 Welsh rural life at the time. 
 
 It is not too much to say that Davies’s Reports, or “ General Views 
 -of the Agriculture and Domestic Economy of Wales,” are the foundation 
 on which the greater part of the present Report is based, and the 
 references to them are, therefore, both numerous and frequent. 
 
 (3) A series of about seven Reports made by Select Committees, &c., 
 on the Agricultural Distress in England and Wales between 1816 
 and 1837. 
 
 (4) Report on the Inclosure of Commons, 1844. 
 
 (5) Report of the South Wales (or “Rebecca Riots”) Commission 
 (1644), which ranks next to Davies’s Reports in importance, as 
 disclosing the condition of the farming population of South 
 Wales in 1844. 
 
 (6) Reports — three in number — on the state of Education in Wales 
 (1846-7). The accounts given of the condition of the people in 
 these Reports were deemed so unjust and unfavourable that the 
 inquiry became known as Brad y Llyfrau Gleision (The 
 Treason of the Blue Books). 
 
 (7) The Report on Agricultural Employment in Wales (1867). Mr. 
 
 Doyle’s Report on Welsh Agriculture (1880) and the Labour 
 Commission’s Report on the Welsh Agricultural Labourer (1893) 
 were also largely utilised, and are referred to or summarised in 
 this memorandum. 
 
 Appendix B is a Bibliography of all books (other than Parliamentary 
 papers) dealing with any of the subjects embraced within the scope of 
 the inquiry, and to this has been added by way of supplement, an anno- 
 
22 
 
 tated bibliography of the Fauna and Flora of Wales, a list of over 1,000 
 papers, &c., on the geology, mineralogy and palaeontology of Wales, 
 together with a classified list of works relating to the staple industries of 
 Wales. The lists in the first part of this Appendix are classified accord- 
 ing to the subject matter of the books recorded, among the more 
 interesting divisions being — 
 
 (1) Descriptions of the agriculture pursued in Wales, "containing 
 references to a large number of old tour-books and general topographical 
 works dealing with the subject, as well as essays in the Journal of the 
 Royal Agricultural Society on Welsh Farming, e.g., of North Wales by 
 T. Rowlandson (1846), and of South Wales by Clare Sewell Read (1849). 
 
 (2) Works on Practical Farming, and on Live Stock. 
 
 (3) Economics and Political Controversy. Commencing with a full 
 list of the publications of Welsh Chartists (1816-1840), it records 
 the papers written on Welsh land tenure by Samuel Roberts, of 
 Llanbrynmair, Dr. Rees ( Hiraetliog ), Henry Richard ; together 
 with the abundant crop of pamphlets, &c., written both in Welsh 
 and English during the last 10 years, and concludes with lists of 
 Welsh tracts on Land Nationalisation, of works relating to the 
 Anti-tithe Agitation, and of important articles on Welsh land 
 tenure in English newspapers but unpublished in book form. 
 
 Appendix C contains a review of the periodical literature of Wales in 
 so far as it throws light upon Welsh agriculture and land tenure. It 
 deals with (1) The Welsh Magazines (1770 — 1870) ; (2) Early Welsh News- 
 papers, and gives an exhaustive list (with particulars) of Periodicals and 
 Newspapers published in Wales, in Welsh or English, in 1895, and of 
 Periodicals issued in connection with Wales. To this matter are^ 
 added “ Extracts from the Times relative to the state of South Wales in 
 1843,” which contain much valuable information that supplements the 
 Report of the Commission of that year previously mentioned. 
 
 Appendix D contains the following statistical information relating to 
 Wales : — 
 
 (1) A List of all Enclosure Acts. 
 
 (2) The approximate extent of Waste Lands (a) in 1795, (6) in 1843, 
 
 and (c) in 1895, specifying how much is apparently suitable 
 and unsuitable for cultivation. 
 
 (3) The acreage of land, water, and foreshore in each parish. 
 
 (4) A Tabulated List of the contour areas of Wales. 
 
 (5) Heights of the principal mountains of Wales. 
 
 (6) Mileage of the coast of Wales. 
 
 (7) Meteorological Tables relating to Wales. 
 
 Much of the information here collected — some of it for the first time 
 — will be found most useful for Parish, District, and County Councillors- 
 as well as others interested in local government. 
 
 Appendix E is a memorandum on the Census Statistics of Wales, 
 illustrated by means of 24 tables, showing interalia the absolute and 
 relative number of persons engaged in agriculture and in each branch of 
 employment therein, at various periods during the century. 
 
 Appendix F is made up of abstracts of agreements and leases in 
 use upon over 100 Welsh estates. 
 
 Appendices G, H, and J give lists of the Hundreds, Poor-law Unions, 
 Highway Districts, and Urban and Rural Districts, according to parishes, 
 together with statistics as to their Population, Acreage, and Rateable 
 Value, and the Expenditure on Poor Relief. 
 
 Appendix K : A Return of all Land belonging to Municipal Corpora- 
 tions in Wales. 
 
 Appendix L gives the full text of the Statutes of Henry VIII. which 
 completed the incorporation of W ales with England. 
 
 Appendix M : Memorandum on the Lordships and Manors of Wales. 
 
 After this are given plans of some half-a-dozen modern farm-steads 
 in North Wales, and copies of all circulars, &c., issued from time to time 
 by the Commission. 
 
23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GENERAL CONDITIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 1. — THE GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY 
 OF WALES. 
 
 Returning to the Report itself, and commencing with 
 Book I., we find that the Commissioners, in pursuance of 
 their wide interpretation of the terms of reference, deal in 
 Part I. with a great variety of subjects under the somewhat 
 indefinite heading — “ General Conditions and Circumstances.” 
 A mere list of the topics dealt with in this Part (which 
 extends to about 170 folio pages) will suggest to many people 
 the questions — Was all this relevant ? Was it necessary ? 
 
 Similar questions apparently occurred to the Commis- 
 sioners themselves, and the following is the reply they give 
 thereto (p. 13) : — 
 
 “ In attempting to determine the economic condition of a particular 
 industry in a state of society which is the result of a growth continued for 
 centuries and which presents all the features of a highly organised 
 structure, it is not possible to understand the true meaning of the 
 statistics and facts directly affecting that particular industry, without at 
 the same time being acquainted, to some extent at least, with general 
 statistics and facts affecting the whole community, and all departments of 
 productive work. To detach or isolate the phenomena connected with 
 one or more classes in such a society is certain to lead to misinterpreta- 
 tion and error. One cannot really understand the meaning of evidence, 
 figures and facts about the agriculture of a country without knowing 
 something of its history, of its population, and of its staple industries, as 
 well as its principal geographical and natural features.” 
 
 The lengthy treatment of these general topics is described 
 as an “ attempt to lay a basis for the right consideration of 
 the evidence taken, and the facts collected concerning the 
 circumstances under which land in Wales is held, occupied, 
 and cultivated.” To those who may be inclined to think 
 that Part I. deals with matters irrelevant from a practical 
 point of view, the Commissioners, at the end of that part of 
 their Report, give the following warning (p. 180): — 
 
 “ In the view that we take of the grave political questions which our 
 inquiry raises, no one ought lightly to undertake to answer them without 
 a full and intelligent conception of the conditions, historical and existing, 
 of the counties that are comprehended within the area of our inquiry. It 
 is for this reason that we have, as preliminary to our analysis of the 
 evidence and view of the existing state of things, given such consideration 
 that we deem sufficient to the general causes which have created the 
 social, political, and economic circumstances of Wales.” 
 
 Relevancy of 
 certain portions 
 of the Report 
 discussed. 
 
24 
 
 Civil Divisions 
 of Wales. 
 
 Geology : 
 Agricultural 
 characteristics 
 and soils. 
 
 Whether relevant or not, Part I. occupies nearly one- 
 fifth of the whole Report. It is sub-divided into as many 
 as fourteen chapters, of which, however, only three or four 
 will be summarised by us at any length. The remaining 
 chapters, though containing much valuable matter for the 
 student and the statesman, will, it is trusted, be adequately 
 dealt with, in what aims at being a popular summary, if we 
 briefly indicate the nature of their contents. 
 
 Chapter 1, which is described as “ Geographical,” treats, 
 in fact, of the civil divisions of the Principality. It gives in 
 the course of separate sections : — (a) An account of the 
 exterior boundaries of Wales, to which is appended a note on 
 the anomalous position of Monmouthshire as being included 
 in Wales for most executive purposes, but in a few cases 
 treated otherwise ; ( b ) A list of the ancient divisions of the 
 country into cantrefs and commotes, together with a note on 
 the chief sources of information on the subject, and a 
 facsimile of Dr. Owen Pughe’s Map of Wales showing such 
 divisions ; (c) The history of the formation of the Welsh 
 counties, also stating the acreages of their ancient and 
 administrative (or modern) areas respectively ; ( d ) The 
 
 various sub-divisions of the country into hundreds and 
 parishes, and, at a more recent date, into poor law unions 
 and highway and sanitary districts; (e) Lists of the cities 
 and boroughs, with the dates of their principal charters, 
 and some other particulars derived chiefly from the Reports 
 on Municipal Corporations, 1835 and 1876, and from the 
 Acts of 1835, 1882, and 1883. 
 
 Chapter 2 (for the contents of which the Commissioners 
 acknowledge indebtedness to Mr. H. B. Woodward, F.R.S.) 
 gives (at pp. 23-26) a concise and valuable account of the 
 geology of Wales, paying special regard to the agricultural 
 characteristics and the soils of the country. As to the older 
 rocks from the Pre-Cambrian to the Silurian, which appear 
 to form the surface of the ground over the greater part of 
 Wales, it is stated that they “ form on the whole, somewhat 
 barren areas.” The result is, broadly speaking, that while 
 “ agricultural operations can be carried on in the lower 
 grounds, and sometimes for a distance up the hill slopes, the 
 higher grounds can afford little else than pasture for sheep 
 and black cattle, and the other industries would be the dig- 
 ging of peat, the quarrying of slate, and metal-mining” 
 (p. 25). The Old Red Sandstone, which occupies a large portion 
 of South-West Wales, forms on the other hand a compara- 
 tively rich agricultural region. The Limestone tracts, which 
 
25 
 
 fringe the South Wales Coalfield and runs along the North 
 Coast of Wales, provide good pasturage for sheep, and may 
 be recognised even from a distance by their greater verdure. 
 The soil over the coal measures, especially in South Wales, is 
 agriculturally poor. In the Yale of Glamorgan there is a 
 small lias belt, which forms a tract of useful dairy land, while 
 good corn may also be grown on it. The alluvial flats that 
 border the Dee, Severn, Wye, Usk, Dovej", and other rivers, 
 furnish rich tracts of pasture land. The presence or absence 
 of each kind of rock in the various counties is also shown by 
 means of a tabular statement, while another table gives the 
 -quantity and value of the useful minerals worked in Wales 
 in 1894 — the total value (excluding stone worked in Mon- 
 mouthshire) being given as £15,411,226. 
 
 Chapter 3 bears the title of “ Climatic Conditions,” and 
 deals mainly with the extent of rainfall prevalent in Wales. 
 It is observed that “ the excessive rainfall has a very impor- 
 tant bearing both upon the agricultural problem and upon 
 the general life and habits of the people of Wales.” For the 
 sake of comparison with other districts, a Eainfall Map of the 
 British Isles is given, which shows at a glance “ how Wales 
 -approximates to the hilly districts of Devonshire, to Lanca- 
 shire, to the western part of Scotland, and to the south-west 
 of Ireland ; and also how much greater the rainfall is than on 
 the central and eastern parts of England.” This is only 
 natural owing to the greater proximity of Wales to the 
 Atlantic, its more mountainous character, and its colder soil. 
 The obvious effect of all this is that Wales, speaking broadly, 
 is pre-eminently a pastoral rather than a corn-growing 
 country; in other words, is more suited for the production of 
 grass and root crops than of cereals, though the Commis- 
 sioners suggest that “ it is probably not so much the rainfall 
 as the greater amount of cloud and the absence of sun that 
 militates against the corn-growing capacity of Wales.” As 
 to the excessive rainfall, Liverpool, Birmingham, and London 
 recognize the fact by coming to Wales for their water supply. 
 
 “ The continuance of these demands upon the resources 
 of Wales will obviously raise an economic question of very 
 great importance. We do not affect (the Commissioners say) 
 to pass any judgment upon the matter, but we think it right 
 to point out that the permanent diversion from the Welsh 
 districts of water may create a hindrance to the further 
 development of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire, and 
 seri-ousty affect the bulk of the population in those counties, 
 even supposing that adequate compensation is given for pre- 
 sent vested interests of every kind and degree” (p. 180). 
 
 Excessive rain- 
 fall, and absence 
 of sunshine. 
 
River system. 
 
 Altitude of 
 surface. 
 
 Fauna and 
 Flora. 
 
 The resources of Wales in this respect are further dealt 
 with in Chapter 4, which gives a concise account of the river 
 system of the Principality — this being also illustrated by 
 means of a map showing the catchment areas of all the Welsh 
 rivers. The total mileage of the coast at high water mark 
 amounts to 614 miles, and at low water mark 610. Next 
 follows an important table and map showing the distri- 
 bution of the surface of Wales according to altitude, from 
 which it is to be seen that nearty 60 per cent, of the total area 
 of Wales is more than 500 feet above sea level, while less than 
 10 per cent, is below 100 feet high. 
 
 As these data had never been previously ascertained 
 we reproduce here the summary table which shows the 
 exact proportions of the various groups of areas : — 
 
 Altitude. 
 
 Area of 
 Acres. 
 
 Contours. 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Proportion 
 per Cent, of 
 each Group 
 of Areas. 
 
 From 0 to 50 feet - 
 
 249,269 
 
 '389-4 
 
 4-9 
 
 o 
 o 
 1— 1 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 183,440 
 
 286-7 
 
 3-6 
 
 „ 100 „ 500 „ - 
 
 1,665,023 
 
 2,601-5 
 
 32.5 
 
 „ 500 „ 1,000 „ - 
 
 1,638,859 
 
 2,560-4 
 
 31-9 
 
 „ 1,000 „ 1,500 „ - 
 
 1,029,198 
 
 1,608-2 
 
 20-1 
 
 „ 1,500 „ 2,000 „ - 
 
 309,576 
 
 483-6 
 
 6-04 
 
 „ 2,000 and upwards - 
 
 47,885 
 
 74-7 
 
 .9 
 
 Total 
 
 5,123,250 
 
 8,004-5 
 
 100 
 
 Chapter 5 deals with the “ Biological Conditions ” — in 
 other words with the Fauna and Flora, of the Country. The 
 information here given which occupies 13 pages (30 — 43) is 
 based partly on such well known authorities as George Owen 
 the historian of Pembrokeshire and Thomas Pennant the 
 naturalist, and partly on the coutributions of various corres- 
 pondents who privately communicated to the Commission the 
 results of their own observations. The latter relate exclu- 
 sively to North Wales, and a list of the rarer birds of North 
 
Wales supplied by Mr. T. Ruddy, of Llandderfel, near Bala,, 
 deserves special mention. 
 
 Under the head “ Fish,” it is observed that Wales has 
 been endowed by nature with every advantage as regards the 
 breeding and catching of fish. It has numerous rapid and 
 small rivers, containing excellent spawning grounds for 
 salmon — streams and lakes adapted for trout ; nowhere can 
 better pools be found than on the Dovey or the Dee. But, 
 alas ! something is apparently amiss : “ the salmon seem 
 reluctant to take the most insinuating fly, and with the 
 exception of the Wye, the Severn and the mouth of the Dee, 
 the net-takes in Wales are not great. Possibly some altera- 
 tion in the netting, regulations, allowing the fish more 
 opportunity to get up the rivers together with careful attention 
 to stop pollution, might in course of time give better results. ,r 
 Private enterprise is doing something in this respect, for it 
 is mentioned that Sir Henry B. Robertson of Pale, Llandderfel 
 “ has turned very many thousands of salmon and trout into 
 the river Dee and still continues to do so.” 
 
 The sea-fishing of Wales is apparently in a still more 
 unsatisfactory state. From the extent of its sea board, which 
 as mentioned above amounts to over 600 miles — “ one would 
 imagine that this would be a source of profit, but as an 
 industry it seems spasmodic and local. In North AVales, a 
 few fishing smacks put out for the mackerel and herring 
 when they are supposed to be in the bays. Local markets 
 are supplied, but no trade exists with the interior. Much 
 the same may also be said of South Wales.” 
 
 This, perhaps, is the most convenient place to refer to 
 the “ Observations on the General Economic Position of 
 Wales,” vdiich forms Chapter 14 of this part of the Report. 
 The “most noteworthy generalisation” which is made in 
 comparing the economic position of Wales at present with 
 what it v r as 100 years ago is that the extraordinary increase 
 wdiich has occurred during that time in the population, and 
 the wealth of the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth “has 
 had a most important effect on nearly the whole of the thirteen 
 counties. The demand for labour v T hich it necessarily 
 involved has led to a great immigration from the agricultural 
 districts of AVales to the centres of industry in Glamorgan- 
 shire and Monmouthshire, and at the same time to a 
 corresponding immigration from other parts of the country. 
 It might have been expected that in the Rhondda Valley, 
 w r hich is practically entirely given up to the coal industry, a 
 cosmopolitan population, possessing no particular charac- 
 teristics of a racial kind, might have been found. That i& 
 
 TMi and! 
 Fisheries 
 
 The industrial 
 development of 
 Glamorgan and 
 Monmouth. 
 
28 
 
 not the case ; speaking broadly, the characteristics of Welsh 
 life, its Nonconformist development, the habitual use of the 
 Welsh language, and the prevalence of a Welsh type of 
 -character, are as marked as in the rural districts of Wales” 
 <p. 176). 
 
 No attempt is made to give a continuous history of the- 
 various industries, but a few salient facts are mentioned, of 
 which the following are the chief : — 
 
 On the authority of Mr. Forster Brown, it is estimated 
 that the South Wales Coalfield measures approximately 1,000 
 square miles, more than half of which lies in Glamorganshire. 
 There are now in that area nearly 600 collieries, and the coal 
 raised in 1894 exceeded 36^ million tons, of which about 
 22 million tons were shipped from South Wales ports. 
 
 As to the tin-plate industry, it is said that of all the 
 tin-plates manufactured in the United Kingdom, by far the 
 greater part are made in South Wales — the total value ex- 
 ported from the Kingdom in 1894 being stated as £4,262,383. 
 The abundance of good pure water and of cheap fuel have in 
 the past greatly aided the development of these industries in 
 South Wales, but the present outlook is described as gloomy, 
 reference being made to the evidence given as to those out of 
 -employment before the “Unemployed” Committee of the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 The iron and steel industry is also said to be now “ at a 
 very low ebb, because of the extremely low price of tin-plates 
 and foreign competition in the manufacture of rails,” 
 the result being that “ several of the South Wales steel 
 works have ceased manufacturing because no margin of profit 
 -exists.” 
 
 Lead-mining is, at present prices, a non-paying industry, 
 while as to gold-mining, Mr. Pritchard Morgan, M.P., is said 
 to have stated that gold clearly exists in paying quantities, 
 but he complained of the high royalty demanded by the 
 Crown — a question which was however fully investigated by 
 the Mining Royalties Commission in 1889-1893. 
 
 The manufacture of woollen goods, it is observed, is carried 
 -on “ at many places,” Newtown being specially mentioned. 
 
 Among the results of the great industrial development 
 of the country are mentioned : — 
 
 (1) An immense increase in the size and population of the 
 4owns, e.g., Newport, Cardiff and Swansea ; and the continual 
 -enlargement of the towns and villages at the sea-side, and at 
 .some inland places (e.g., Llandrindod) as health and holiday 
 resorts. “ It will be manifest (it is said) that this develop- 
 ment has an important bearing upon the value of Welsh 
 
29 
 
 estates and on the position and prospects of farmers in the 
 immediate vicinity of these pleasure resorts.” 
 
 (2) “ Another consequence of the same movement has 
 been a great change in the ratio of the agricultural popula- 
 tion to the total population, or to those engaged in other 
 industries. The ratio is lowest in Glamorganshire, and next 
 lowest in Monmouthshire, namely, T28 and 2*99 per cent, 
 respectively, while it is highest in Montgomeryshire in North 
 Wales, 15*4 per cent., and in Radnorshire in South Wales, 
 
 18*6, while for the whole of Wales it is 5*64 per cent.” 
 
 This leads us to consider the statistics as to the popula- 
 tion of the country — a subject exhaustively dealt with in 
 chapter 6 (pages 44 — 65), part only of which we shall sum- 
 marise here. 
 
 It is stated that according to the Hearth Book of 1690 — Satlstlcs 011 
 that being the last year when the hearth money was collected 8ummari8ed ' 
 — the number of separate houses in Wales (omitting Mon- 
 mouthshire) was stated as 77,921, and assigning, on a general 
 average, five persons to each household, the total population 
 at that time has been estimated at 389,605 — or, speaking 
 broadly, about one-thirteenth of the estimated population of 
 England. The first systematic enumeration of the country 
 was, however, made in 1801, when the numbers for the 12 
 counties were 541,677 persons, or a little over one-fifteenth 
 of the population of England ; or, including Monmouthshire, 
 
 587,245, that is, about one-fourteenth of that of England. 
 
 The progress of the population of Wales subsequent to 
 that date can be best illustrated by means of the table 
 printed on the next page. 
 
 The significance of these statistics will be dealt with some causes of 
 later on, but some of the causes which resulted in the SS? depopula ' 
 decrease of the rural population towards the close of the first 
 half of this century may be referred to here. 
 
 Foremost is placed the decay of many local industries 
 which 60 or 70 years ago were carried on in the towns and 
 villages, or even in the scattered homes of rural Wales. 
 
 C( Thus, hats were largely made at Carmarthen and Monmouth ; boots 
 at Narberth, Haverfordwest, and Lampeter, and stockings, knitted gloves 
 and caps (called Welsh wigs) at Bala; Amlwch had its tobacco manufac- 
 tories, and Llanerchymedd was famous for snuff and boots. Most famous 
 of all was Swansea for its porcelain and china, an industry which was also 
 carried on at N antgarw, in another part of the county of Glamorgan. The 
 town of Holywell was remarkable for activity in various manufactures, 
 there being, in 1831, 256 males, upwards of 20 years of age, employed in the 
 manufacture of silk and cotton goods, in making paper, and manufacturing 
 iron, copper, brass, and lead. Mold, at the same time, had 230 men em- 
 ployed in the cotton manufacture. In Monmouthshire the inhabitants of 
 the parish of Shire Newton largely depended on woodcutting and hoop- 
 imaking, while the manufacture of japanned tin (known as Pontypool ware) 
 
Table Showing the Population of Wales in 1801, 1841 & 1891. 
 
 30 
 
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31 
 
 was carried on at Pontypool and Usk. These and many other industries 
 that were associated with different towns and localities have either entirely 
 disappeared or have fallen into a moribund condition. While these and 
 like industries were carried on in the towns the small farmers and cottagers 
 of the country — both male and female — supplemented their agricultural 
 work by the domestic occupation of spinning. The woollen yarn thus pro- 
 -duced further provided employment to a large number of weavers, who 
 were sometimes permanently engaged and employed by a farmer in the 
 same manner as an ordinary labourer would. A weaving room was fre- 
 quently one of the features of a well-equipped farmhouse in many a district” 
 
 The extent of the woollen industry can best be realised 
 by stating that the number of males, upwards of 20 years of 
 age, who in 1831, were described in the Census Returns as 
 “ engaged in weaving woollen yarn produced by domestic 
 industry” in all parts of Wales amounted to nearly 3,000, 
 but the Report also mentions the fact “ the number of female 
 weavers in Wales was also very large, probably not far short 
 of the total of male weavers,” though no statistics concerning 
 them are given. 
 
 The decay of such local industries was however part of 
 a general change experienced everywhere, namely, the sub- 
 stitution of organised, and centralised operations for the 
 unorganised and sporadic industries of the country. 
 
 In addition to this however, it is pointed out that the 
 great development of the mineral and kindred industries of 
 South Wales, coupled with the facilities for travelling, fur- 
 nished by the then fast-spreading railway system, inevitably 
 resulted in the “ drawing of a large proportion of the popu- 
 lation of the country districts to those localities where 
 industrial employment wa3 more abundant, wages higher, 
 and life generally fuller of excitement than in districts where 
 agricultural pursuits predominated.” (p. 46). 
 
32 
 
 2.— HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WELSH PEOPLE , 
 THEIR LANGUAGE AND INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The Welsh 
 people, “ an 
 amalgam of 
 races ” 
 
 The vast 
 majority being 
 probably 
 “not Celtic, 
 not Aryan.” 
 
 After their account of the physical features, civil divisions 
 and natural productions of the country, the Commissioners 
 pass on to discuss historically the origin of the present 
 inhabitants of Wales, the languages they speak, and the 
 institutions which form their environment. 
 
 Chapter 6 (pp. 65-78) states “what comparative philology 
 and ethnology have to say as to the races of Ancient Britain, 
 to be found in what is now Wales and what admixture has 
 taken place there in later times.” This chapter is illustrated 
 by (1) a specially prepared map of the British Isles (includ- 
 ing a portion of the North of France) as they were in the 
 first century, and (2) a drawing showing the older Ogam 
 characters or alphabet as found in the most ancient inscrip- 
 tions. The reasoning in this chapter being necessarily of a 
 technical character, we shall content ourselves with simply 
 giving two or three of the chief conclusions arrived at. 
 
 Racially, the Welsh people by no means appear to be a 
 pure unmixed race, any more than the English people are 
 generally acknowledged to be. In fact the people of Wales 
 are described as “an amalgam of races,” consisting of — (1) 
 ttie Non-Aryan or Aboriginal population ; (2) the Celtic or 
 Aryan immigrants including both Goidels and Brythons ; 
 (3) Scandinavians who settled along the coasts ; (4) the so- 
 called Flemish colonists (whom the Commissioners are 
 inclined to pronounce as not Flemings at all) in South 
 Pembrokeshire and Gower ; (5) Norman settlers in the 
 
 Marches, and particularly in South Glamorgan ; (6) “ lastly 
 Wales, situated as it is, between England and Ireland, has 
 always received additions to its population from both 
 countries.” But far more startling than all this, is the state- 
 ment that the Welsh of the present day (whatever these 
 admixtures may be) are on the whole not Aryan and are 
 therefore not Celts, but are the descendants of the people — 
 probably Piets — who inhabited this island before the arrival 
 of the Celts. Among the descendants of these aboriginal 
 inhabitants, the Celts proper form a mere sprinkling, and are 
 to be sought among the ruling class — in other words, the 
 gentry of the country. As to the two Celtic branches, the 
 Goidels and Brythons, it is stated — 
 
 “ Conquests there must have been, but the study of the 
 languages in point goes to prove more, namely, intermixture : 
 
33 
 
 the Brythons mixed with the Goidels,* who were themselves 
 an amalgam of the first Celtic settlers with the Aborigines ; 
 but all conscious distinction of race had probably been 
 obliterated before the eleventh century. “ The admixture of 
 other blood — Scandinavian, Norman, Flemish, and English 
 — has not greatly modified the race, the predominant element 
 in which has probably always been the substratum contri- 
 buted by the earliest lords of the soil of these islands. . . 
 
 “ Consequently, if a competent ethnologist were to be 
 sent round Wales to identify the individual men and women 
 who seemed to approach what he should consider the Aryan 
 type, his report would probably go to show, that he found 
 comparatively few such people, and that those few belonged 
 chiefly to the old families of the landowning class : the vast 
 majority he could only label as probably not Celtic, not 
 Aryan. To pronounce, from the point of view of race and 
 history, on the social, political, or religious proclivities of that 
 majority is rendered difficult by the difficulty of estimating 
 correctly the influence on Wales of movements originated or 
 developed in England. There is, however, one instructive 
 instance : the Welsh people have largely deserted the Estab- 
 lished Church, and they have done so in favour of more 
 democratic forms of religion, just as their kinsmen have done 
 in Cornwall and the Highlands of Scotland. Herein the 
 W elsh can hardly be said to have been merely following the 
 example of England, as England cannot be considered to 
 have given a decisive lead in the matter. Religion, however, 
 is not the only domain in which the tendency of the Welsh 
 is democratic : it holds good of their attitude, on the whole, 
 as regards social and political questions. And this cannot 
 fail to be rendered more and more conspicuous by all move- 
 ments calculated to weaken the attachment of the many for 
 the class which supplied them with leaders in the past ” 
 
 (p. 77). 
 
 But though the Welsh are thus described as an Jg^t a a f 
 “ amalgam of races,” the Commissioners do not appear to 1 u 
 
 have any doubt as to their being a nation : — “ They possess 
 marked and distinctive characteristics which separate them 
 
 * It is right to point out that the Commissioners’ theory of the inter- 
 mixture of Goidels with the Brythons, upon which, after all, the whole 
 argument practically hinges, is not by any means generally accepted by 
 writers on Celtic ethnology — Professor Rhys, being, perhaps, the only 
 writer of note who puts it forward. The more generally accepted view is 
 that the Goidels, with whatever admixture of the Aboriginal Non-Celtic 
 races they had absorbed, were swept out of Wales by the Brythonic Wave 
 of immigration, so that whatever Goidelic element is now found among 
 the W elsh people is chiefly due to their re-immigration from Ireland and 
 the North at a later date. — D.L1.T. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 And their 
 language is 
 Celtic and 
 Aryan. 
 
 The Eisteddfod 
 and its uses. 
 
 from the remainder of the people of the United Kingdom. 
 They cherish an ancient language, they possess a valuable 
 literature, they are imbued with traditions of an honourable 
 past, and they have aspirations which, while in no sense 
 inconsistent with the union of all parts of Your Majesty’s 
 dominions in an Imperial State, are at the same time in many 
 respects national in the highest and best sense of the term.” 
 
 (p. 12.) 
 
 Moreover if the Welsh people -be not Celtic or even 
 Aryan, their language is both, being in fact the lineal 
 descendant of the Brythonic tongue of the Ordovices. In 
 Chapter 8, (pages 78 — 97) the history of the language is 
 divided into the following periods : 
 
 (1) The Old- Welsh period, chiefly prae-literary, among 
 the survivals of which are (a) the proper names of men and 
 places mentioned in classical works, ( b ) the earliest Glosses, 
 and (c) the boundaries in the Liber Landavensis. 
 
 (2) Mediaeval Welsh, extending from the 12th century 
 to the Reformation — the Welsh laws and the “ ancient books 
 of Wales ” containing the best known specimens. 
 
 (3) With the Reformation began another period, of 
 which the Welsh version of the Bible is the best specimen, 
 but “ the language reached its lowest depths of neglect 
 towards the close of the 17th century.” 
 
 (4) “The actual or current period of Welsh may con- 
 veniently be regarded as opening with the establishment in 
 Wales about 1785 of the Sunday School,” an Institution 
 which has many features differentiating it from the English 
 Sunday School. 
 
 The epochs when Welsh literature flourished most 
 vigorously were (a) the couple of centuries preceding the 
 conquest by Edward I ; ( b ) the early part of the Tudor 
 dynasty; and (c) the latter half of the 19th century, which 
 has witnessed an awakening of interest in all things Welsh, 
 and the growth of “an antagonism to the philistine wish to 
 see all parts of the United Kingdom reduced to uniformity, 
 worked out on the level of the most characteristically Saxon 
 parts of England,” (p. 82). The fortunes of the Eisteddfod 
 have fluctuated along with those of the language — its 
 history down to the end of the 16th century is sketched, 
 followed by an account of its revival and reform in the present 
 century. The antiquity of the Gorsedd is, however, not 
 discussed. 
 
 The Eisteddfod itself is described as “ a sort of literary 
 parliament for Wales ” : — 
 
 “ Its platform is the most neutral ground one has in the 
 
35 
 
 Principality, and if the landed proprietors had more generally been 
 ^accustomed to take advantage, especially of the humbler Eisteddfods and 
 literary meetings, to assist and encourage the people in the development 
 of their own ideas of culture, it would have gone a long way to meet the 
 complaint that they keep themselves aloof and show little or no interest 
 in the pursuits and ambitions of those around them. Economically speak- 
 ing, the men of whom their dependents complain most loudly on the score 
 of their alleged aloofness, are frequently and readily admitted to be most 
 generous as regards the material welfare of their people. They may be 
 ever ready to give prizes for the best ploughing, and they may spend 
 lavishly on the improvements of the breeds of horses or cattle on their 
 estates, all excellent objects so far as they go. The Welsh character has 
 -a point of greater sensitiveness than even the pocket ; but the landowner 
 who has never taken part in a small Eisteddfod or literary meeting among 
 his people has in all probability never discovered it.” (p. 86.) 
 
 As to variations in the boundaries of spoken Welsh, it is 
 pointed out that in former years the Midland dialects of 
 English invaded the borders of Denbighshire and Flintshire, 
 
 .and Southern English into Mid-Wales, but “ no English 
 dialect seems any longer to possess the secret of spreading 
 itself into Wales. Welsh has nothing to fear, so to say, at 
 the frontier, but rather from innumerable points within its 
 boundaries ; from the towns as the centres of commercial life, 
 from her pleasant watering places crowded with English visitors 
 and from the public elementary schools in every parish in the 
 land. . . As a rule, however, the children in the country dis- 
 tricts leave school before they have so tar mastered English as 
 to be able to make a free and comfortable use of it in conver- 
 sation. Only a very small minority of them become really 
 bilingual, as proved by their habitual use of Welsh for all 
 purposes, domestic, social, and religious. At most, they 
 retain perhaps enough of the English learnt at school to be 
 able to answer simple questions addressed to them in very 
 plain terms. That they should shrink from giving evidence 
 in English in courts of law is perfectly natural, as any 
 Englishman possessed of a moderate acquaintance with 
 French would at once comprehend, if he were called upon to 
 undergo a cross-examination in that language, (p. 89.) 
 
 The Census Returns for 1891 furnish for the first time Linguistic 
 a record of the number of persons in Wales speaking Welsh censu8of Wales - 
 only, English only, or both English and Welsh. Though 
 doubts have been cast on the accuracy of these figures, the 
 Commissioners (p. 95) accept them as substantially correct. 
 
 The total of 1,776,405 persons then enumerated in Wales 
 and Monmouthshire were classified as follows : — Speaking 
 English only, 759,416; speaking Welsh only, 508,036; 
 speaking English and Welsh ( i.e . bilinguals), 402,253 ; 
 speaking foreign languages, 3,076 ; no information (over two 
 years), 12,833 ; infants under two years, 90,791. Thus of 
 the total population who spoke one or other or both of the 
 
36 
 
 Kecon>menda- 
 tion as to its 
 extension. 
 
 two languages, 1,161,669 could speak English, while 910,289 
 could speak Welsh. The total number of those who could 
 speak Welsh, however, outnumbered those who could not, 
 for while the latter numbered 759,416, the former amounted 
 to 910,289. 
 
 Returns as to the language spoken were published for 
 registration districts only, but owing to the artificial nature 
 of these areas it is recommended, that in future censuses, 
 both the civil parish and the ancient county should be 
 adopted as additional units for which linguistic statistics 
 should be stated in the published returns. Grouping together 
 various registration counties so as to give the results of the 
 census for large areas of Wales, the following table is given : — 
 
37 
 
 The ultimate result of these statistics is, that the total 
 population whose spoken language is recorded, 54*4 per 
 cent, were returned as able to speak Welsh, and 45 ’6 
 per cent, as unable to do so. 
 
 Estimates as to the proportion of Welsh to English 
 speaking persons in 1801, 1841, and 1871, made by Mr. T. 
 Darlington, the late Sir Thomas Phillips, and Mr. Ravenstein 
 respectively are then given, the results being shown in the 
 following table : — 
 
 o 8> 
 
 £ cS 
 
 += a 
 
 Sh bD 
 
 © a 
 
 cS 
 
 a ^ 
 a 
 
 © 
 
 eaa 
 
 v — 
 
 22 •+=> 
 
 ■;§ 
 ~ a 
 
 o 
 © a 
 
 •5 h © 
 aa 
 
 aa a 
 
 a ^ 
 o © 
 
 •2Tb 
 « a 
 
 5»2 
 
 « a 
 
 r aa 
 oaS 
 0) 
 
 -sj 
 
 ©53 
 
 x ass 
 § a 
 
 rH x 
 
 * ° 
 * aa 
 £ 
 
38 
 
 The extent of 
 Welsh literature 
 reviewed. 
 
 Need of a 
 National 
 Museum in 
 Wales. 
 
 And various 
 recommenda- 
 tions. 
 
 Assuming the first estimates to be substantially correct 
 the result of this table may be stated thus : — The whole- 
 population of Wales has trebled during the 90 years from 
 1801 to 1891 ; the Welsh-speaking population has rather 
 more than doubled in that time ; but the purely English 
 population has increased nearly sevenfold. 
 
 In a separate section of this chapter (pp. 89 — 94) there- 
 is given a “ Statistical analysis of Welsh bibliography during 
 the last four centuries ” — in other words, an estimate of the 
 number of books, written in Welsh or relating to Wales, pub- 
 lished during each period of 20 years from 1546 to 1896. 
 An increase is shown to have occurred in the number of 
 Welsh books over each preceding period of comparison, and 
 it is observed that “ Welsh seems to be far more read and 
 studied now than perhaps at any time in the past.” Tho 
 publishing trade of Wales is described as unorganised : there 
 is no central emporium for Welsh publications. The Com- 
 missioners experienced very great difficulty in obtaining 
 definite information as to Welsh books, and they strongly 
 recommend the establishment by Government of a National 
 Library and Museum in Wales to do what the British 
 Museum, through no fault of its own, is wholly incapable of 
 doing, viz., the collection and preservation of the scattered 
 productions of the Welsh Press, and of collections illustrating 
 the natural productions and the industries of the country. 
 With reference to the principal MSS. relating to Wales, now 
 collected at the Record Office, it is elsewhere (p. 9) observed 
 that “ small, if any, progress has been made with the work 
 of cataloguing and arranging them,” and it is urged that 
 steps be forthwith taken to that end. The Commissioners 
 “ were also greatly impressed with the inadequacy of the- 
 present means for bringing to the knowledge of the Welsh- 
 speaking rural population the provisions of Acts of Parlia- 
 ment passed for their especial benefit, and the work done by 
 the various Government departments, with the direct object 
 of improving their condition, or of facilitating them in the 
 pursuit of agriculture.” The prevailing ignorance as to the 
 provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Acts and the Ground 
 Game Act is cited in illustration. To remedy these defects 
 it is recommended : — 
 
 (1) That every local post office be a depot for the sale of 
 Acts of Parliament and government publications generally. 
 
 (2) That there should be a duly constituted representa- 
 tive of Her Majesty Stationery Office in Wales. 
 
 (3) That all Acts of Parliament directly affecting the 
 rural districts of Wales be translated into Welsh either in 
 extenso, or in the form of a concise and plain summary. 
 
39 
 
 (4) That the leaflets, &c., of the Board of Agriculture be 
 similarly translated, and that a Welsh edition of the Journal 
 of the Board of Agriculture be issued periodically. 
 
 It is pointed out that there are precedents in plenty for 
 the utilisation of the Welsh language in this way : Abstracts 
 of the Mines’ Regulation Acts, and the Factory and Work- 
 shops’ Acts have been thus translated ; in other cases the 
 Acts themselves have thus been dealt with : — 
 
 “ But not one Act that directly affects the agricultural 
 community as such — from the Ground Game Act and the 
 Agricultural Holdings Acts to the Allotments Acts and the 
 Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act — has been officially trans- 
 lated into Welsh, either in its entirety or in the form of a 
 popular summary. Nor does it appear that an official trans- 
 lation has at any time been issued of a single leaflet out of 
 the very considerable literature published by the Board of 
 Agriculture in the service of the agricultural interests of this 
 country. The practical suggestions, the timely advice or 
 warning, and the valuable information about the agricultural 
 methods of other countries which are contained in the publi- 
 cations of the Board, reach and influence but an infinitesimal 
 fraction of Welsh agriculturalists, owing to the fact that no 
 translations of these leaflets and other publications are ever 
 issued. The evil is to some extent aggravated by the further 
 fact that few, if any, of the Inspectors of the Board who 
 travel in Wales possess any knowledge of the Welsh 
 language. This non-utilisation of Welsh as a medium for 
 reaching the cultivators of the soil is all the more regrettable 
 inasmuch as there is no exclusively agricultural newspaper 
 or magazine issued in the Welsh language, and consequently 
 the ordinary farmer, whose reading is confined to his own 
 language, is not able to inform himself as to points concern- 
 ing which his English brother receives gratuitous advice from 
 the State.” 
 
 Chapter 9 (pp. 97-104) briefly deals with the “Ecclesi- Great religious 
 astical and Religious Conditions ” existing in Wales. bet^efn iand- 
 
 “The immense majority of the tenant farmers in the 
 country districts are Nonconformists, and a state of things 
 in regard to religion is disclosed that finds no parallel in 
 any part of England of equal area. ... “ On the 
 
 most typical estates in Wales, the landlord and his family 
 belong to the Established Church, while the bulk of 
 the tenants belong to one or other of the Nonconform- 
 ist organisations. We are not aware whether in any 
 English county a similar state of things is to be found, but 
 there can be little doubt that this remarkable fact has had a 
 
40 
 
 Political assimi- 
 lation of Wales 
 to England. 
 
 powerful influence in creating a marked divergence between 
 the opinions of the landowning class and the mass of the 
 people, in enlarging the social difference between class and 
 class which to some extent would have existed in any case, 
 and in emphasizing the opposing interests of landlord and 
 tenant.” 
 
 A sketch is given of the ecclesiastical and religious 
 movements of the country, concluding with an account of 
 the origin and progress of Nonconformity. The most notice- 
 able feature here is that the movement is regarded not as a 
 religious revival only, but as being in reality “ the new 
 birth of a people” — the Welsh Renaissance. It is shown 
 how the national upheaval whose first manifestation was a 
 revival in religion had for its results the preservation of the 
 Welsh language, and more general and greater literary 
 activity,— how it stimulated a demand for education, improved 
 the moral tone of the people, and in the end tended to the 
 improvement of the Church itself. 
 
 The chapter on “Welsh Education” (c. 10, pp. 104 — 111) 
 continues the account of this renaissance, and brings it down 
 to the installation at Aberystwyth on the 26th June, 1896, 
 of the Prince of Wales as Chancellor of the University of 
 Wales. The story of the manner in which the educational 
 system of Wales has been established is at present too well 
 known to require reproduction here, but it is none the less 
 important that it should have been placed on record in the 
 pages of the Report, so that in time to come it may be read 
 by those who will reap the full advantages aimed at and 
 struggled for by their predecessors. 
 
 “ The Legal and Constitutional History of Wales ” forms 
 the subject of Chapter 11 (pp. Ill — 133); in it are outlined 
 the principal stages in the political assimilation of Wales to 
 the rest of the country. 
 
 After dealing briefly with the history of Celtic-Brifcain 
 down to the Anglo-Saxon Conquest, the subsequent history 
 of Wales is divided into the following epochs : — 
 
 First. — From the death of Cadwaladr (who was the 
 last king of the Cymry to wear the “ Crown of Britain ”) 
 to the Norman Conquest of England (688 — 1066). 
 
 Second. — From that Norman Conquest to the conquest 
 and settlement of North Wales by Edward I. (1066-1301). 
 
 Third. — From the settlement of Wales by Edward I. 
 down to the complete incorporation of Wales into the English 
 organisation, in the reign of Hemy VIII. (1301 — 1543). 
 
 Fourth. — From the time of Henry VIII. onwards 
 (1543 .). 
 
41 
 
 The chief authorities for the history here given are the 
 following : — 
 
 For the first period — the Ancient Laws of Wales, as 
 found in the codes of Howel Dda and in other forms, with 
 treatises thereon. 
 
 Second. — Professor Freeman’s well-known works on the 
 Norman Conquest and William ftufus, an account of the 
 Lords Marchers in Clive’s Ludlow, and for the latter part, 
 the so-called Statute of Rhuddlan, a summary of which is 
 given. 
 
 Third. — The Statutes, 27 Henry VIII.,. c. 26 (commonly 
 known as the Act of Union), and 34 and 35 Henry VIII., 
 c. 26, in pursuance of which “ the arrangements for the 
 legislative and executive government of Wales were practi- 
 cally assimilated to those of the English counties and an 
 improved judicial system introduced.” The more important 
 sections of these Statutes are reproduced in the Report, 
 while they are printed in full — for the convenience of 
 Welsh students to whom they have hitherto been inaccessible 
 — in the Appendix. 
 
 Subsequent to the Tudor legislation, but little has 
 occurred of much importance, special to Wales alone, in 
 regard to its constitutional relations with England, the chief 
 events being the dissolution in 1688 of the court of the 
 president and council of Wales, and the amalgamation in 
 1830 of the previously existing judicial system of Wales 
 with that of England — the separate Welsh Sessions being 
 then abolished. 
 
 The most salient feature of this chapter is its insistence influence of 
 on the effect produced on the Welsh people, their institutions, marcher?” 
 and also on their tenures by the system of “ lordship marchers 
 “ By the middle of the 13th century nearly the whole of 
 what is now Wales, except the counties of Anglesea, Car- 
 narvon, part of Denbighshire, and Merionethshire — the area 
 roughly corresponding to the ancient kingdom of Gwynedd — 
 had passed into the hands of the Norman-English king or 
 Norman lords, who came to be described by lawyers as “ lords 
 marchers,” who were feudal vassals of the king of England, 
 but who exercised in their respective lordships practically 
 supreme power.” But no “ lordship-marcher without a 
 castle” was a recognized maxim, hence the prevalence of 
 castles in Wales — “ reminding us how long warfare remained 
 the daily business, alike of the men in that land and of the 
 strangers who had made their way into it at the sword’s point.” 
 
 For a long time, the dispossessed Arglwydd or lord 
 maintained the legal theory that he was de jure the lord of 
 
42 
 
 The transition 
 from the tribal 
 system to the 
 present 
 conditions of 
 ownership and 
 land tenure. 
 
 the conquered territory, and kept up his old tribal and cus- 
 tomary rights, a course in which he was of course supported 
 by the vast majority of the cultivators of the soil. Later, the- 
 leaders of the two races especially in particular districts- 
 began to accept the inevitable and to intermarry, but “ it 
 must not be assumed that, speaking broadly, there was any 
 such rapprochement among the lower orders (till long after 
 the 13th centurj 7 ). The small Welsh tenants, the servile 
 occupiers of the land, the Welsh bards, and the Welsh- 
 speaking clergy, continued to entertain racial prejudices and 
 to advance national claims, quite regardless of the interest 
 and intrigues of the princely families.” “ It was really the 
 accession of the Welsh dynasty of the Tudors to the throne, 
 and the legislation of Henry VIII. that made really possible 
 the complete assimilation of these classes and conferred on 
 Wales generally the blessings and advantages of peaceful 
 life and civilised government.” 
 
 It is in chapter 12 (pp. 133-149), which is entitled 
 “ History of Land Tenure in Wales,” that the Commissioners 
 first directly broach the question of tenure in their 
 Heport. It is, perhaps, not to much to say that in the whole 
 of Part I, this is the chapter that possesses the greatest per- 
 manent value, and its importance as a contribution to the 
 history of Welsh tenures cannot be easily exaggerated.* It 
 contains the best explanation which has hitherto been given 
 of those facts in Welsh economic history, which, commencing 
 with the general prevalence throughout the greater part of 
 Wales of the tribal system, have resulted in the present con- 
 ditions of ownership and tenure — that is practically in a 
 system of yearly tenancies. An account of the ancient tribal 
 system of Wales, and its result upon the occupation of land, 
 is first given in as lucid a manner as the subject admits. 
 The main point to be noticed in this connection is “ the fact 
 that the tribal unit of occupation of land was the kindred or 
 family group and not the individual. The rights, moreover,, 
 of the family group were vested in its patriarchal head, and 
 during the lifetime of this head of the group, all the subordinate- 
 members of it, down to great-grandchildren or second cousins, 
 instead of being joint tenants of the family rights as regards 
 land, had apparently only tribal rights of maintenance. They 
 were regarded, not as in the modern sense joint owners with 
 
 * Another important contribution to the history of the period of transi- 
 tion, from tribal to modern tenures in Wales, is a “Report on some un- 
 published Records relating to Land Tenure in South Wales,” by Mr. 
 Edward Owen. It is published in Vol. v., pp. 643-677, and was intended 
 to supplement evidence that he had previously given before the Commis- 
 sion ( See Vol. v., 382). 
 
43 
 
 equal shares in the land, but rather as the sons and grandsons 
 of a patriarchal family under the patriarchal rule of its head. 
 
 Thus tribal society was in no true sense a republic or demo- 
 cracy in the modern sense of the term, but rather an aristo- 
 cratic group of families organised on a patriarchal basis.”" 
 
 But after the conquest of Wales and the subsequent union of 
 the Principality with England in the reign of Henry VIII., 
 the process of assimilating Welsh to English tenures com- English tenures, 
 menced. Primogeniture was substituted for gavelkind (or 
 the equal division of land between heirs) by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, but that in itself made at first but a small impression, 
 and accordingly “ it fell upon the Crown lawyers of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, for the most part, to disentangle the knotty questions 
 which, after 300 years of silent decay, the tribal system had 
 left behind it, and to bring the various classes of Welsh 
 tenants within some category of English law.” 
 
 The manner in which the problem appears to have been 
 solved was as follows : — “ Broadly speaking, the rights of the 
 free tribesmen were respected, and they or their successors 
 in title still remain freeholders, paying the old and now 
 trivial quit rents” (p. 139). 
 
 So far as the non-tribesmen (or nativi ) were concerned,, 
 the problem was solved by granting them renewable leases 
 instead of the vague, complicated and (to the English lawyer)- 
 unintelligible tenures which were the result of the tribal 
 system. As to the question whether this worked an injustice 
 to the Welsh occupiers, by depressing their status, the Report 
 guardedly says that these settlements “were apparently, in in- 
 tention at least on the whole, fair attempts to deal with the 
 difficult circumstances of the ancient Welsh tenures.” But 
 for some reason or other, these substituted leases ceased to be 
 renewable, and if at all, it was here the injustice came in. 
 
 But, it is pointed out (p. 147), “ renewable leases disappeared 
 in England as they did in Wales. Whether there was some 
 legal flaw in the creation of leases with perpetual right of 
 renewal, or whether the right of renewal once exercised was 
 held to be exhausted, or whether the renewals ceased to be 
 sought for by the tenants, or how much economic causes had 
 to do with it, it is not easy to ascertain. One thing, how- 
 ever, seems to be clear. The fines on renewal in the absence 
 of express limit by the custom of the particular manor were, 
 it would seem, held by the courts to be uncertain , and owing 
 to the rise in prices and in the value of land, the uncertainty 
 might easily lead to prohibitive increase in their amount. 
 
 Whatever hardship resulted from this, English and Welsh 
 tenants shared it together.” But whatever happened, there- 
 
44 
 
 is not, in the Commissioners’ opinion, “ any reasonable ground 
 for importing into modern economic problems (the foregoing) 
 historical considerations which have been long superseded or 
 rendered inoperative by the economic changes of the past 3 
 centuries” (p. 149). Here then is the boundary line appa- 
 rently drawn between what is mainly of historical or academic 
 interest and what is of real practical importance in connection 
 with the existing problems of land tenure in Wales. We 
 leave, therefore, to another chapter the account which the 
 Commissioners give of the more modern aspects of the 
 question, as well as their summary of the chief results of this 
 historical survey. 
 
45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE WELSH LAND QUESTION 
 (1755-1892). 
 
 In the penultimate Chapter of Part I. (c. 18, pp. 149 — 
 
 176) the Commissioners pass on from what has been described 
 as “ the general conditions and circumstances of the country 
 to discuss the gradual growth, during the last 100 years and 
 more, of “ the modern ‘ land question ’ using that term in its 
 popularly accepted political sense as denoting vaguely the 
 numerous problems connected with the ownership, occupa- 
 tion and cultivation of the soil.” 
 
 The materials on which this Chapter is largely based are 
 given at greater length in Appendices A. B and C, the con- 
 tents of which have been outlined above, but in addition to 
 this, nearly every statement is supported by authorities 
 which are quoted at the foot of the page, but which we shall 
 for the most part omit. 
 
 Unless we go back at least a hundred years, it is impos- chief periods 
 sible (according to the view put forward in this Chapter) to thls hlstory ‘ 
 rightly understand the causes that are at the root of the 
 Welsh land question. 
 
 During that time, Agriculture has passed through alter- 
 nate periods of depression and prosperity. In this respect, 
 the vicissitudes of the industry have probably been similar alike 
 in Wales and in England. But each fluctuation has produced, 
 in Wales, some corresponding change in the relation between 
 landlord and tenant — changes which, broadly speaking, were 
 probably not paralleled in England. In other words, each 
 period, whether of prosperity or depression, corresponds fco a 
 clearly-marked stage in the growth of the land question. 
 
 These stages are not explicitly defined in the Report, but for 
 the sake of clearness we shall attempt to supply the omission 
 by a division of our own, based entirely, however, on the 
 Commissioners’ treatment of the subject. The history of the 
 land question in Wales, as given by them, appears therefore 
 to be divisible into the following four periods : — 
 
 1 . The Period of Feverish Development, Inflated Prices, 
 and Artificial Prosperity (1755-1815). 
 
46 
 
 -All modern 
 progress in 
 Jarming dates 
 irom 1755. 
 
 2. The Agricultural Collapse (1815-1850), resulting 
 
 in — 
 
 (a) General Distress. 
 
 (b) Disappearance of the Older Yeomen. 
 
 (c) The substitution of Yearly for Lease- 
 
 hold Tenancies. 
 
 (d) Agrarian Disturbances. 
 
 (e) The Depopulation of the Rural Districts. 
 
 3. Agricultural Prosperity (1850-1880), resulting in — 
 
 (a) The Growth of a Spirit of Independence 
 
 among the Tenantry. 
 
 (b) Political Evictions. 
 
 4. Agricultural Depression (from 1880 onwards), re- 
 
 sulting in — 
 
 (a) The Anti-Tithe Agitation. 
 
 ( b ) The Organisation of the Demand for 
 
 Land Reform. 
 
 1. — THE PERIOD OF FEVERISH DEVELOPMENT, 
 INFLATED PRICES, AND ARTIFICIAL 
 PROSPERITY ( 1755-1815 . 
 
 The starting-point for all modern improvement in the 
 methods of British farming is generally fixed at about 1760, 
 but to be on the safe side we shall fix it at 1755, which is the 
 date of the establishment of the first Agricultural Society in 
 Wales, that of Brecknockshire, which was also, we believe, 
 the second in point of time in the whole kingdom. From 
 that year down to 1815 extended a period of progress pre- 
 viously unparalleled, and subsequently unsurpassed, in the 
 history of British agriculture. The progress was undoubtedly 
 slower and, excepting Brecknockshire and some similar 
 border districts, much later in Wales than in England. 
 Even as late as 1836, the occupier of a large lowland farm 
 near Cardiff said to a Committee of the House of Commons : 
 “We mow our hay with the same scythe and reap our corn 
 witli the same hook as we did 40 years ago ; corn is also 
 threshed by the same flail ; some improvement has been 
 effected in the plough, but none in the drag and harrow ; 
 our carts and wagons are also much the same.” Still the 
 spirit of improvement was in the air towards the close of the 
 18th century, and both England and Wales were similarly 
 affected by the industrial development of the period and the 
 prolonged wars which the country had to carry on. 
 
 What the Commissioners say of this period (p. 150) is as 
 follows : — 
 
47 
 
 “ The attention of the country was directed to efforts for 
 improving the methods of cultivation and for increasing the 
 productiveness of the soil. The agricultural survey, which 
 was conducted for each county of England and Wales about 
 1794 by the old Board of Agriculture, established the pre- 
 vious year, sufficiently attests the existence of a general 
 desire, which was shared by the Government of the day, to 
 do something for the amelioration of British farming. 
 During this period we find that agricultural societies were 
 •established in most of the Welsh counties, the oldest being 
 that of Brecknockshire, which dates from 1755. It was 
 followed by the establishment of similar societies for Glamor- 
 ganshire about 1770, for Cardiganshire in 1784, for 
 •Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire some time prior to 
 1794, for East Denbighshire in 1796, and for the counties of 
 Anglesey, Carnarvon, Merioneth, Badnor, and Pembroke 
 between 1800 and 1810, leaving Flint and Montgomery as 
 the only Welsh counties which had no such societies previous 
 to 1810. 
 
 “This great development, strange as it may .appear, had 
 been co-incident with an acute crisis in the agricultural 
 industry. The 14 years from the outbreak of the French 
 Revolution to the peace of Amiens — from 1789 to 1802 — 
 formed an almost unbroken succession of bad harvests, that 
 •of 1792 was one of the worst of the series, while in 1797, so 
 great was the dearth, that not merely were the ports thrown 
 •open to foreign corn, but large bounties were paid on its im- 
 portation. The effect of the subsequent great war with 
 Napoleon was to enrich the capitalists, whether landowner, 
 farmer, or manufacturer, and to depress and pauperise the 
 labourer, whose rate of wages was further kept down by the 
 rapid increase which then occurred in the population. Wheat 
 rose to famine prices, upland sheepwalks were ploughed up, 
 ^wastes and commons were enclosed and brought under culti- 
 vation with marvellous rapidity ; all these, together with the 
 frequent recurrence of bad seasons, combined to force agri- 
 culture into a feverish and unhealthy prosperity. Land 
 •capable of any kind of cultivation acquired a wholly artificial 
 value, and rents generally were doubled and often trebled.” 
 
 The Commissioners assume that during this period of 
 artificial prosperity there was but little if any serious friction 
 between landlord and tenant, or, if such existed, that it 
 •attracted but little attention in the face of the high prices, 
 Avhich, for the time being, brought profit to both parties. 
 
 Another circumstance, indirectly alluded to, probably 
 •contributed to the same end : — 
 
48 
 
 Influence of 
 Rhymesters. 
 
 Germs of 
 disputes but no 
 land question 
 yet. 
 
 “ In those days every district had its bard, and the dread 
 of being satirised, in however doggerel a rhyme, often pre- 
 vented an abuse of power by the gentry or professional men, 
 who were then, owing to their knowledge of the Welsh 
 language, far more amenable to such influences than at pre- 
 sent. For example, Twin o’r Nant (1739-1810) frequently 
 directed his unrivalled satire against land agents, lawyers, 
 and clergymen ; but he held no brief for any particular class, 
 for he mercilessly scourged injustice and oppression wherever 
 he came across it.” 
 
 The great Welsh hymnist, “Williams Pantycelyn,” is 
 supposed to have escaped the persecution, meted out by the 
 gentry to his co-revivalists, owing to the fact that he was a 
 bard, while a striking illustration of the poet’s function is 
 quoted from an account of the “Old Rhymesters ( Prydyddion ) 
 of Cwmamman and Llanguick,” where, in the last century, 
 the inhabitants “ did not go to law~, but their rhymesters 
 settled all disputes and punished all offences.” * Public 
 opinion, in its own way, seems to have had a stronger deter- 
 rent influence than even at present, while the power of 
 the modern press, so far as rural districts are concerned, 
 appears almost small compared with that wielded by the 
 satirists of a hundred years ago. Like the Troubadours of 
 the loth century, these men were dreaded for their satire, 
 and, though in a less degree, courted for their eulogies. 
 There was, therefore, in those days no land question in our 
 modern sense, but that there existed “ germs of future 
 disputes ” is inferred from the following list of “ obstacles to 
 agricultural improvement,” given in 1809 in Davies’ “ Survey 
 of North Wales: — ‘Non-residence of proprietors; over- 
 valuing of land by strangers ; want of mutual confidence 
 between landlord and tenant ; contested county elections.’ 
 Nor was the sense of insecurity of tenure wholly absent : the 
 same writer says : — 
 
 “ That tenants who pay full rents for their farms, and, 
 in some instances, after having been induced by fair promises 
 to undergo great expenses in improvements, should after- 
 wards be forced to quit at six months’ notice, without equit- 
 able reimbursements, and without any other cause than the 
 whim of the landlord or the venom of his bailiff, are circum- 
 stances that must fill a benevolent mind with indignation.” 
 
 To these are added several other quotations, to a similar 
 effect, complaining of “high valuations ” and the absence of 
 compensation for tenants’ improvements, the result of the 
 “ war prices ” of this period being that “ rents in general 
 
 * See “ The Academy ” for 21st December, 1895. 
 
49 
 
 were much advanced,” and were said to be going up about 
 6d. per £ per year. 
 
 2. —THE COLLAPSE AND ITS RESULTS: 
 DISTRESS AND DISTURBANCES 
 ( 1815 - 1850 .) 
 
 In 1815, however, all this artificial prosperity came to an 
 end; then there commenced “ a prolonged period of the most 
 acute agricultural depression, and during such a time the 
 relation of landlord and tenant must necessarily have been 
 put to the test of a severe strain.” It was now that the lowest 
 depths of pauperism were touched by the labourers of the 
 country, and now, too (though a beginning had been made 
 in the previous period^, that the more substantial freeholders — 
 the grey-coated yeomanry of Wales — were practically swept 
 awa}", save for an occasional representative who survived to 
 tell the tale of their former strength and independence. This 
 period also witnessed the growth of tenancies from year to 
 year, as we know them at present, and their substitution for 
 the old leases for lives, or for terms of years under which 
 practically all land had been previously held for several 
 centuries in Wales. This change of tenure will, however, be 
 dealt with, at length, in our next chapter, and we simply 
 mention it here as belonging, in point of time, to the period 
 now under review. 
 
 “ The distress had made itself felt throughout the principality by the 
 opening months of the year 1816. The statements then made by corres- 
 pondents from various parts of the country, in reply to inquiries instituted 
 by the Board of Agriculture prove conclusively the reality of the agricul- 
 tural depression at that time. It did not, however, reach its lowest depths 
 in Wales until about 1817, when, owing to bad seasons and the disappoint- 
 ments of the crops, the country was reduced to a state of famine. The 
 farmers were obliged to sell away their stock at any prices they could get, 
 not only with a view to paying the rents but to get bread, and, as a result, 
 the country was quite thin of cattle for several years afterwards. The 
 gaols were filled with debtors, and subscriptions were set on foot among 
 the benevolent to provide them with occasional meals ; several landowners — 
 probably many more than we have any record of — met their distressed 
 tenants with generosity, by forgiving them their arrears, by allowing them 
 liberal abatements, or by permanently reducing rents which had been 
 advanced in the preceding period of high prices. So great was the actual 
 want in Carmarthen, for instance, that in September 1818 the yeomanry 
 cavalry had to be called out to quell the disturbances caused by the 
 attempt of the mob to prevent the exportation of cheese. But our infor- 
 mation as to this period is very meagre. It is true that between 1820 and 
 1840, numerous inquiries were made by one or other of the Houses of Par- 
 liament into the condition of the agricultural interests of the country; but, 
 unfortunately, Welsh-speaking Wales was absolutely unrepresented at 
 their inquiries. The only evidence relating to Wales was given by an 
 occasional witness from the border counties, or by some English immigrant 
 who had temporarily settled in the principality.” (p. 152.) 
 
 E 
 
 PankTand 
 
 Famine. 
 
50 
 
 Birth of 
 economic and 
 political 
 discussions 
 
 Popularity of 
 Reform. 
 
 “ Welsh journalism was also in its infancy. The general 
 discussion of political and economic questions in the Welsh 
 magazines did not commence till about the year 1832, and no 
 doubt the agitation in connection with the Reform Bill and 
 the other measures then before the country contributed 
 towards bringing these questions within the sphere of dis- 
 cussion. As early as 1819 the editor of Seven Gomer com- 
 menced to advocate a policy of free trade and the abolition of 
 the corn laws. The Rev. Samuel Roberts, of Llanbrynmair, 
 took up the question with great vigour in 1832, and in an 
 essay on ‘ Agriculture,’ published in that year, emphasised 
 the need of free trade as a condition precedent of all sub- 
 stantial progress. Mr. Walter Coffin (subsequently M.P. for 
 Cardiff) ‘ almost single-handed fought the battles of free 
 trade ’ at a later date in Glamorganshire. In support of the 
 same movement a conference of Welsh ministers, principally 
 of the Independent denomination, was held at Carnarvon in 
 August 1841” (p. 152). 
 
 The sphere of economic and political discussion appears 
 to have been further enlarged by a series of controversies, 
 which commenced about 1830, as to tithes and Church 
 establishments, and the Commissioners observe that “ the 
 question of disestablishment was widely taken up in Wales 
 many years before it attracted general notice in England. A 
 vigorous campaign against the connection of the Church with 
 the State was carried on from 1830 onwards. But one im- 
 portant religious denomination, the Calvinistic Methodists, 
 who had formally severed their connection with the Church 
 of England only in 1811, were so averse to this agitation that 
 they unanimously censured it at a General Assembly, held at 
 Bala in June, 1834. The controversy concerning tithes had 
 to some extent involved a consideration of the question of 
 rent, and the economic relation of one to another as charges 
 upon land ; but it appears that it was in connection with the 
 agitation for Parliamentary reform that rent came first to be 
 regarded as a question that might be discussed, like any 
 other question, in the magazines and on the platforms.” 
 
 So popular was the Reform Bill with Welsh farmers, 
 that even that doughty champion of Welsh Toryism, Sir 
 Wat kin W. Wynn, was said to have been re-elected by the 
 Denbighshire farmers only, after he had given a pledge that he 
 would support the Bill. The popularitjr of that measure was 
 largely due to the farmers’ belief that its passing would 
 result in a general reduction of rents. “ This erroneous 
 view the Welsh magazines had to combat, while at the same 
 time supporting reform in its proper meaning as a change in 
 
51 
 
 The Parliamentary machinery. ‘ As to rents/ one of those 
 magazines asks, ‘ who is it that have advanced them to their 
 present high pitch, and who is it that keep them np at snch 
 height ? When a farm was about becoming vacant eight or 
 ten or a dozen could be seen flitting, one after another, to the 
 landlord’s house, one offering more than the other, and to the 
 highest bidder it would be let. It is the tenants that have 
 raised the rents and still keep them up, for whenever one 
 leaves his farm because the rent is too high there are plenty 
 ready to take it at the same rent as he paid. No Reform 
 Act will mend those, but men must mend their own ways by 
 not undermining each other, and thirsting for their neigh- 
 bours’ farms.’ ” 
 
 The fact seems to be that, as has often been the case, 
 people believed that an improvement in the machinery of the 
 -Government would prove a panacea for all their troubles. 
 
 The disappointment which always attends such views was on 
 this occasion aggravated by the general and widespread dis- 
 tress which not only the agricultural interest, but the 
 industrial classes also suffered at this time, and the result is 
 described as follows (p. 153) : — 
 
 “In the industrial centres, Chartism was spreading with startling 
 rapidity, but it received absolutely no support among the purely rural 
 population of Wales, to whom the notorious Atheism of some of the more 
 prominent Chartist leaders was highly obnoxious. Thus early in 1839 
 Chartist meetings and demonstrations were held in Carmarthen, but its 
 chief supporters there would probably be those engaged in the hat industry 
 of the town. The weavers of the Montgomeryshire towns organised and 
 drilled themselves with the utmost secrecy ; but before their plans were 
 quite matured a riot broke out at Llanidloes, on the 30th of April 1839, 
 which resulted in the capture or dispersal of the leaders, and the effectual 
 suppression of all disloyalty. In the mining districts of Glamorganshire 
 and Monmouthshire the movement attained more considerable propor- 
 tions. In Merthyr Tydvil there had been terrible riots, accompanied with 
 much bloodshed, in 1831.* They were associated with the demand for 
 “ Reform,” but politics had little or nothing to do with them beyond the Spread of 
 fact that the ironworkers, like the farmers, believed that “ Reform ’’would Chartisni * 
 bring them better times. After this the workers commenced to hold 
 secret meetings and to organise themselves on trade union principles, and 
 in 1836 they seem to have openly declared for Chartism, apparently at the 
 instigation of Mr. Hugh Williams, a native of Machynlleth, who was then 
 practising as a solicitor near Carmarthen. 
 
 “ The movement spread to the Monmouthshire Valleys, but the 
 Chartists of Merthyr mainly belonged to the “ moral suasion '* party, while 
 those of Nantyglo and Blackwood advocated the use of physical force. 
 
 The sequel, however, was that the latter, to the number of several thou- 
 sands, armed with a variety of formidable weapons, marched on the town 
 of Newport on the morning of 4th November 1839 ; but, after a sharp 
 conflict with a small company of soldiers at the entrance to the town, they 
 were repulsed and dispersed and the ringleaders captured. 
 
 * Particulars are also given of similar riots, about 1830-2 in the colliery 
 districts of Denbighshire, at Newtown, in Montgomeryshire, and at Car- 
 marthen. 
 
Despair and 
 discontent of 
 Farmers. 
 
 Origin of 
 Rebecca Riots. 
 
 “ Neither this nor the earlier rising at Llanidloes was of a distinctively" 
 Welsh character, though there were many Welshmen undoubtedly 0011 " 
 cerned more especially in the Newport riots. The appeal to physical 
 force was, moreover, unequivocally condemned in the Welsh magazines of 
 the time. Even Udgorn Cymru (“The Trumpet of Wales ”) which was* 
 the vigorously-conducted organ of Welsh Chartism (from about 1836 to 
 1840) condemned all unconstitutional methods of agitation.” 
 
 Though Chartism was dead, its spirit was still in the air. 
 People in rural districts were led to think more than they 
 had previously done on the causes of the miser}^, a full sharer 
 of which they themselves had to bear. They had hitherto- 
 been a law abiding folk, though it is recorded (p. 154) that 
 “ earlier in the century there had been a few instances of 
 agrarian disturbance, but these had arisen from purely local 
 causes, and were mostly provoked by a curtailment of what 
 the people considered as their rights of common, for the 
 tenantry had been as a rule violently opposed to the whole- 
 sale inclosure of mountain wastes which was carried out in 
 the first three decades of the century.” 
 
 It is generally represented with reference to English 
 agriculture that it began to emerge from its state o 
 depression, towards the close of the third decade and some 
 writers point to the establishment in 1838 of the Boyal 
 Agricultural Society of England as marking the commence- 
 ment of a new era of further improvement in, and renewed 
 prosperity for this industry. Our own individual view is 
 that this ante-dates the end of the distress by several years r 
 and that the Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 marked the 
 real turning-point in British farming. In Wales, at all 
 events, matters continued to grow worse down to that date. 
 With the beginning of the forties the outlook became, in 
 fact, much gloomier for the Welsh farmer, who was then 
 entering on the second quarter of a century of this miserable 
 depression. The elements of discontent were at that time 
 far more widespread throughout the Principality than they 
 had ever been before, within living memory, and the result, 
 in the words of Harriet Martineau,* was “ the strangest' 
 series of riots that had occurred in our times.” 
 
 To rightly understand the meaning of this strange 1 
 upheaval, the history of which casts so lurid a light on the 
 condition of the people, we think it well to reproduce in 
 full what is said of it by the Commissioners (p. 154) : — 
 “ The farmers of Wales had experienced a series of wet 
 and unproductive seasons for a whole decade prior to 1841, 
 and it is stated that in 1839 and 1840 they had lost nearly 
 
 * See her History of England during the Thirty Years Peace , 1816 — 
 1,6 (ii. p. 523), -where also a succinct but graphic description of the Rebecca 
 riots is given. See also the Annual Register for 1843, pp. 257 — 262. 
 
53 
 
 all their harvests owing to the rains. This meant that, for 
 several } 7 ears, many had to purchase corn either for seed or 
 bread ; but money was scarce and the capital of farmers had 
 been already exhausted, for concurrently with these wet 
 seasons the price of sheep, cattle, and butter had fallen 
 greatly in value, prices being exceptionally low in 1836 and 
 1837 and again in 1840 — 43. At the same time, the tithe 
 rentcharge had considerabty increased after the commutation 
 of the tithe, rates and taxes appeared to become heavier 
 year by year,* the expenses incurred in carrying out the 
 provisions of the unpopular Poor Law Act were very 
 considerable compared with the cost of the contributions 
 formerly made in kind towards the support of the poor, and 
 over and above all, the rent of land continued practically 
 unchanged. There was also one other charge of a seemingly 
 trivial character. The tolls payable at the numerous gates 
 and bars set up on the turnpike roads had of recent years 
 become exceedingly vexatious, and even illegal practices had 
 been resorted to b} 7 some of the lessees of these gates with 
 the view of exacting payments. The last-mentioned 
 exactions, therefore, afforded something tangible for the 
 farmers, in their impoverished condition, to lay hold on, and 
 it was apparently an easier matter to relieve themselves of 
 the payment of turnpike tolls than of rates, of tithe, or of 
 rent. In other words, the property of the turnpike lessees 
 -could be attacked with greater impunity than that of the 
 landlord or tithe owner. The first overt act of revolt was the 
 destruction, as early as 1839, of the tollgate of Efailwen, in 
 the parish of Llandyssilio (near Clvnderwen) on the turnpike 
 road leading from Narberth to Cardiganshire. The gate was 
 not re-erected ; and the victory thus gained dwelt in the 
 minds of the distressed inhabitants of the district, with the 
 result that during the winter of 1842-3 a large number of 
 other gates and toll-houses, especially in the neighbourhood 
 of St. Clears and Whitland, were similarly demolished in the 
 dead of the night, by disguised parties of farmers and others. 
 
 Those who thus took part in these proceedings were known 
 as ‘ Rebeccaites,’ and the whole disturbances as the 1 Rebecca ’ 
 riots, owing to the fact that the originator of the movement 
 had assumed the name of Rebecca. 
 
 “Towards the end of May a determined attack was made its spread 
 by some 400 men (of whom about 100 carried guns) on a south'waies. 
 magistrate’s house near Carmarthen, and this was followed 
 
 * Elsewhere (p. 157) the Commissioners say : “ No doubt the serious 
 multiplication of rates which fell upon the occupier in the first instance 
 was an important element in this question.” 
 
54 
 
 Inquiry by 
 Royal 
 
 Commission. 
 
 Agrarian 
 character of 
 disturbances. 
 
 by numerous riots in the district, culminating in an attack 
 made by over 2,000 persons on the poorhouse at Carmarthen,, 
 on the 19th of June. Several companies of dragoons and 
 about 70 members of the London Constabulary were drafted 
 into the district ; but their presence by no means checked 
 the destruction of gates, which, being always effected by 
 night, proceeded apace during the succeeding months of the 
 year in the counties of Carmarthen, Pembroke, and Cardigan, 
 and in parts of Glamorganshire, and spread towards the end 
 of September and early in October to the counties of Radnor, 
 Brecon, and even Montgomery,” but, it should be added, did 
 not extend further into North Wales. 
 
 “ Immediately after the attack on the Carmarthen poor- 
 house a representative of the Times newspaper was despatched 
 to the district, and for the next six months contributed to 
 that journal a series of letters and reports which are excep- 
 tionally valuable owing to the light which they throw upon 
 the condition of the agricultural population at this period. 
 
 “ In October, a Royal Commission was appointed to- 
 inquire into the state of South Wales, and in their Report 
 (issued in March, 1844) it is stated : — 
 
 ‘ That at the time of their arrival in South Wales the excitement which 
 had prevailed respecting turnpike gates had in a great degree exhausted 
 itself . . . But the people having once felt their power and undertaken 
 
 to redress their grievances, had in some instances combined for the pur- 
 pose of regulating the tenure of land; threatening notices had been sent, 
 and more than one incendiary fire had taken place in cases in which land- 
 lords had made arrangements for uniting in one taking tenements which 
 had formerly been held separate. An anxious and discontented feeling 
 was said still to prevail, though the disposition to commit acts of outrage 
 and violence, which but a short time before our arrival had prevailed to so 
 great an extent, was at that moment held in check by the presence of a 
 military force. Great excitement, however, continued to exist ; large 
 assemblies of farmers and others took place in the daytime, at which 
 speeches of an inflammatory character were made, and resolutions in a 
 spirit agreed to.’ 
 
 “The evidence of several of the more responsible witnesses 
 clearly indicates also the agrarian nature of these disturb- 
 ances. Thus, Mr. J. Lloyd Davies, landowner, of Alltyrodiu , 
 who was subsequently M.P. for Cardigan, stated (Q. 53-4) 
 that he had foreseen trouble more than two years previously, 
 
 ‘ and I mentioned to a large body of magistrates, ‘ you must 
 all lower your rents.’ I began myself three years ago b} r 
 lowering some 30 per cent., others 25, and others 15, accord- 
 ing to the position of each farm. I have not a single com- 
 plaining tenant. The people were poor and were desperate, 
 they had often applied for a reduction, and it was real 
 poverty that drove them to this.’ 
 
 “ The Hon. Col. Rice Trevor, Member of Parliament for 
 Carmarthenshire (subsequently Lord Dynevor), also empha- 
 
DO 
 
 sised ( Q . 2608-2650) “ the very deep state of distress ” of the 
 farmers. “ There ha3 been a reckless bidding for land on 
 some occasions, but parties had no other means of livelihood 
 but by farming.” Then he proceeds to give an account of 
 acts of violence unconnected with the turnpike gates : — 
 
 “ It is only within these days that I received information of one in- 
 cendiary fire that was completed, and another that broke out and was 
 extinguished almost immediately ; and I am led to believe that those fires 
 were in consequence of the parties who owned the property having a farm, 
 and another portion of land which they held as well, and that fire was 
 supposed to be the visitation of Rebecca for that supposed offence. About 
 a fortnight or three weeks ago there was a threatening notice place on the 
 door of a farmer in the neighbourhood of Whitland, in the western part 
 of this county, and his offence was supposed to be that of holding three 
 farms, I think. It is, I believe known that a meeting was held at a place 
 called Cwmifor. in the neighbourhood of Llandilo, in the month of -July 
 last, at which some sort of resolutions were come to by parties who are 
 described as unknown, but who certainly were farmers; that amongst 
 other things people should not hold more than their single farms. Then 
 there have been interferences by those armed mobs, or disguised assem- 
 blages cf people, with the bailiffs who were in possession of farms where 
 there was a distress, in consequence of non-payment of rent, and there 
 have been some instances of threatening letters being sent where it was 
 known that a tenant was to be changed ; that an old tenant was to go ont, 
 and that a fresh tenant who was coming in received threatening notices 
 to prevent his taking the land ; and in some instances, in consequence of 
 those threats, they have been led to give up their taking. But besides 
 those outrages with regard to property, we have had a great number of 
 outrages of another description — of houses fired into, and robberies com- 
 mitted by gangs of persons, who, as far as we can trace, have not been of 
 the class of farmers ; at least, the ringleaders have not been of the class 
 of farmers, or even farm-labourers.” 
 
 ‘ My father’s ricks have been burnt,’ says another witness (Mr. 
 
 Chambers, junior, of Llanelly) ; ‘ in fact, there have been five fires in one 
 week on my father’s property, and a horse shot.’ 
 
 “ A very much fuller account of these agrarian outrages 
 may be obtained by a perusal of the letters of the Times cor- 
 respondent, who also repeatedly emphasised the fact that the 
 distress of the farmers was at the bottom of all the mischief.”* 
 
 1 Every inquiry I make, X and all information I receive, 
 confirms me in the view I have taken that the general and 011 
 
 great distress of the farmers is at the bottom and the 
 exciting cause of the disturbances which have taken place, 
 though there are other circumstances of aggravation. The 
 fact is, § with the present rents the farmers cannot live ; 
 they get deeper into debt every year/ . . . He 
 
 describes rents ‘ in Wales generally,’ as exceedingly high, 
 and not merely high but ‘ screwed up till they can be got 
 no higher.’ || Notwithstanding this, there was a great com- 
 
 * I have been at some pains to discover the identity of this correspon- 
 dent, and have come to the conclusion — though not wholly satisfied on the 
 point — that he was John Forster, the friend and biographer of Dickens. — 
 
 D. LI. T. 
 
 $ The Times , 27th July, 1843. §Ibid., 3rd August || Ibid., 7th August. 
 
56 
 
 petition for land, ‘ partly arising from the increase of popu- 
 lation, and partly from the pride of the people, who, being 
 farmers’ sons, wish to be all farmers themselves. The chief 
 cause of this is traced to the characteristics of the Celtic 
 races, a strong attachment to localities, to old customs and 
 habits, and a pride in doing as their fathers have done be- 
 fore them.’ The system of small farms let at rack rents 
 was similar in Wales and Ireland. Very little or no sympathy, 
 he asserted, had been shown by the landowners to their 
 tenants in their difficulties, and the result he describes thus:* 
 * It cannot be denied that the people look upon the landlords 
 and gentry and magistrates, as a class , with hatred and 
 suspicion, and if one quarter of the stories are true which I 
 have heard, not without just cause. That this arises from 
 no Chartist or political feeling, but solely from oppressive 
 and insulting, haughty, offensive demeanour 1 am con- 
 vinced, from the fact that whenever an individual of the 
 gentry has pursued an opposite course, he is beloved and 
 idolised.’ In short, the moral responsibility for these dis- 
 turbances was laid by the correspondent at the doors of the 
 landowners and magistrates. ‘ Let not those who know not 
 the depression caused by hopeless poverty undervalue its 
 temptation to utter recklessness. Let not the landlord who 
 screws the utmost shilling from his tenant and gets it 
 paid, flatter himself that he escapes the responsibility of 
 that temptation because his rent is paid. One certain 
 operation of such a system is to grind men down to depen- 
 dent serfs.’! 
 
 “ Before many of these letters had been published their 
 writer was welcomed with open arms by the farmers, who 
 eagerly told him the story of their grievances, admitted him 
 into their secret meetings, and tendered him votes of thanks 
 at their open-air gatherings. The following extract from a 
 letter by “an Irish landlord ” (published in the Times for 
 9th September, 1843), appears to represent the impression 
 created upon the public by these letters : — 
 
 ‘ In the history of the newspaper press of the world, 
 perhaps, such an event has never occurred as the late inter- 
 views between the reporter of the Times and the Welsh 
 farmers. [It is] the flattering spectacle of an entire people 
 coming forward to lay before its representative the grievances 
 under which they had so long laboured. They might have 
 complained to their natural protectors, the landlords and 
 gentry of the country, but they had done so too often already, 
 and it was in vain. They might have petitioned Parliament, 
 
 *The Times , 18th September. 1' Ibid., 30th September. 
 
57 
 
 Ibut their representatives were averse from their requests, and 
 the people were too humble and powerless to attract attention 
 to their statements. In their emergency they appealed, and 
 not in vain, to a journal of vast influence and circulation 
 . they have not brought their grievances before a 
 powerless tribunal. Already the whole country, while it 
 deprecates these outrages, sympathises with their wrongs, 
 .and public opinion will speedily insure that redress which 
 perhaps laws would be unable to accomplish.’ (jp. 157.) 
 
 “ Among the petitions which were adopted at the 
 numerous open-air meetings held in South Wales during the 
 disturbances of 1843, we find one containing the following 
 .clause* : — 
 
 £ The petitioners humbly conceive that it would be most desirable, in 
 order to restore harmony and good feeling between landlord and tenant, 
 that means should be devised by which occupancy of land should be 
 ^assured to the tenant, subject to a fair rent, assessed to cover the local 
 imposts of the county.’ 
 
 “ In other words, the petition recommended a system of 
 fair rents with fixity of tenure. What is most deserving of 
 .attention is the suggestion that tenants should be called upon 
 to make one payment only, the amount of which should be 
 fixed by a public authority (such as the justices of quarter 
 :sessions), and out of which gross sum there should be paid 
 rates and taxes, tithes, rent, and all other charges which are 
 ■ordinarily payable by the tenant. 
 
 “ The following remarks, extracted from a speech delivered 
 in support of the petition by Mr. Hugh Williams, f whose 
 
 * The Times , 28th September 1843. 
 
 t Hugh Williams, though most probably not the originator of the earliest 
 ;acts of lawlessness, was, in all probability, the inspirer and leader of the 
 “ Rebecca ” movement so far as it was at all organised. Williams who was 
 born at Gelligoch near Machynlleth, but early in the thirties settled as a 
 solicitor at St. Clears where his wife had some property, was undoubtedly 
 ..an active Chartist, and though living in South Wales, organised the 
 defence of the Chartist rioters of Llanidloes in 1839, a service which he 
 subsequently performed for the “ Rebecca ” rioters of South W ales. He 
 was probably the only Welshman of the time who was thoroughly versed 
 in the methods of English Chartists and was at the same time in touch 
 with the distressed farmers of the district where 11 Rebeccaism ” 
 •assumed its most formidable proportions. His sister was married to 
 Richard Cobden, who however, probably knew nothing of Williams’ secret 
 services to these movements. 
 
 It is only right to say that I have not discovered any published state- 
 ment attributing the leadership of the movement to Williams, but that this 
 is the conclusion which I have arrived at, after a diligent search into its 
 history. I am also permitted to state that Mr. Edward Davies, J.P., of 
 Dolearadog near Machynlleth, who knew Williams well and met him on 
 several occasions about this time, has communicated to me the fact that 
 Williams repeatedly told him in confidence that he was the organiser of 
 Ai Rebeccaism.” [D. LI. T.] 
 
 Security of 
 tenure and fair 
 rent demanded. 
 
58 
 
 Legislative 
 
 interference 
 
 discussed. 
 
 name has been already mentioned in connection with the* 
 Chartist movement, may, perhaps, make its meaning more 
 clear : — 
 
 1 A new topic, not very acceptable to the landed interest of the- 
 country, and which seemed to gain ground, related to tenure of lands. 
 The general complaint now was that competition for farms was so great 
 that they could not be procured at their fair value ; therefore the country 
 was desirous that the tenure should be more fixed than at present ; that 
 so long as the tenant could pay a fair rent he should occupy his land 
 without being subject to be dispossessed by his landlord. It was next 
 extremely desirable to do away with the disputes which continually pre- 
 vailed between landlord and tenant. It was suggested to them as ex- 
 tremely desirable that the gentry of the country should have an assessment 
 of the taxes, and have the power of assessing a fair rent on the tenant, so 
 as to cover this assessment. This would do away with no less than eleven 
 distresses for different rates to which the farmer was now liable.’ 
 
 “ That the proposal to establish a system of fair rents by 
 means of legislative interference was at this time being dis- 
 cussed by, and finding favour among, the agricultural popu- 
 lation of the district in question, is further corroborated by 
 many passages in the evidence taken by the Commissioners- 
 of Inquiry in 1843-4. We find the following, for instance, in 
 the evidence of Colonel G. Rice Trevor, M.P. (Qu. 2609) : — 
 Qu. : ‘ If the rents are higher than can well be paid at the 
 present scale of prices, does it appear to you that that can 
 be a subject for legislative enactment ? Must it not be left 
 to be adjusted between the tenants and the landlords ? — 
 Ans. : I should imagine so ; I have no idea how you could 
 bring any legislative enactment to bear upon contracts 
 between parties.’ 
 
 “Another witness, a small tenant farmer from near New 
 Quay, in Cardiganshire (Qu. 1263), in referring to the 
 numerous ‘ petitions about rent sent from Carmarthen to 
 London, to the Queen,’ expressed his dissent from the prin- 
 ciple on which the petitions were based, viz., that Parliament 
 should interfere for the purpose of fixing rents : - 
 
 1 They desire our gracious Queen Victoria to compel the landowners 
 to reduce the rents. I think that is a thing between the landowner and 
 the tenant only. Every landowner would like to have the highest price 
 for his land ; and suppose the Queen compelled every gentleman in the 
 kingdom to let their farms so and so, that would be as great a grievance 
 as can be. And suppose, on the other side, they compel us to give so-and- 
 so rent to the lan. i lords, the people would not like it. I look upon that 
 petition as very foolish. But I think the Parliament and the Queen have 
 nothing to do with the rent.’ ” (p. 159). 
 
 The important point to be noticed, however, is that the 
 question of legislative interference, with the view of settling 
 rents, was being discussed, even in the remotest parts of the- 
 country, and by simple-minded folk who had no knowledge 
 of political economy as such, but knew well enough where 
 the shoe pinched them. Most of them, like the witness first 
 quoted, may have shaken their heads sadly and said it was- 
 
59 
 
 all very foolish ; but the possibility of the proposal as a 
 remedy was nevertheless admitted before it could be seriously 
 discussed and made the subject of speeches and petitions. 
 Perhaps the expectations which had been raised by the 
 “Reform” Agitation of some 10 years previously may have 
 lingered among the people, but if so they were once more 
 doomed to disappointment. No such heroic remedies were 
 resorted to : As a result of the Report of the Commission, 
 the South Wales Turnpike Trust Act was passed, and to some 
 extent improved the administration of the highways. The 
 poor law was also slightly modified. 
 
 “These enactments, however, touched but the mere 
 fringe of a large and complicated question. Many land- 
 owners also gave temporary abatements in their rents, but it 
 is probable that an improvement in the seasons and in the 
 prices of produce contributed more than anything to restore 
 order in this part of the country. Hardly anything was, 
 however* done with the view of improving the social condi- 
 tion of the small farmers; the majority of landowners in 
 several of the counties of South Wales contributed nothing 
 towards providing elementary education, and the social 
 cleavage between landlord and tenant was yearly becoming 
 greater owing to the fact that the former was almost invari- 
 ably a member of the Church of England and the latter a 
 Nonconformist. The report of .the Commissioners of Inquiry 
 into the State of Education in Wales discloses the deplorable 
 condition of Welsh society in 1846. Mr. Yaughan Johnson, 
 in his report on North Wales (pp. 53-4), states : — 
 
 c The wealthy classes who contribute towards education belong to the 
 Established Church, the poor who are to be educated are Dissenters. The 
 former will not aid in supporting neutral schools ; the latter withold their 
 children from such as require conformity to the Established Church. The 
 effects are seen in the co-existence of two classes of schools, both of which 
 are rendered futile. The Church schools supported by the rich which are 
 thinly attended, and that by the extreme poor ; and private adventure 
 schools, supported by the mass of the poorer classes at an exorbitant ex- 
 pense, and so utterly useless that nothing can account for their existence 
 except the unhealthy division of society which prevents the rich and poor 
 from co-operating. The Church schools, too feebly supported by the rich 
 to give a useful education, are deprived of the support of the poor, which 
 would have sufficed to render them efficient. Thus situated the promoters 
 are driven to establish premiums, clothing clubs, and other collateral in- 
 ducements, in order to overcome the scruples and the reluctance of 
 Dissenting parents.’ 
 
 “ Elsewhere many landowners seem to have entirely 
 shirked the responsibility of giving any support whatsoever 
 to education. Mr. (now Lord) Lingen says with reference 
 to the counties of Carmarthen, Glamorgan, and Pembroker 
 (see his Report, p. 35) : — “ So far as the landed proprietors 
 ubscribe at all it is to the Church schools. There are, how- 
 
 Inclxfference of 
 Landowners 
 
60 
 
 Progress of 
 reform in 
 ^England 
 
 ever, large tracts in which thej^ neither reside nor subscribe,” 
 the whole of North Pembrokeshire being, perhaps, the most 
 notorious in this respect. 
 
 The third Commissioner (Mr. J. C. Symons), in con- 
 cluding his report on the counties of Brecknock, Cardigan, 
 and Radnor (p. 52), says: — 
 
 ‘It is impossible not to be struck, on visiting Dissenting 
 schools, with a desire to see a little more of the same atten- 
 tion, sympathy, and pains bestowed by the rich and educated 
 classes on those below them, which the better portions of the 
 working classes bestow on their poorer neighbours. It is 
 much to be feared that there are more Samaritans among the 
 poor than among the rich in these counties, and that the 
 remark of Mr. Phillips (of Abbey Cwmhir), a gentleman of 
 great benevolence and large property in Radnorshire, is very 
 just- -‘Until the landed proprietors and clergy take a much 
 greater interest in the conduct of the farmers and of the 
 labouring population little permanent good can be expected.’ ” 
 What changes was the relation of landlord and tenant 
 undergoing in England during this time ? It is difficult to 
 say ; the Commissioners do not attempt an answer. But they 
 point out that the relation in question had come to the fore 
 as a subject for discussion. In a brief note, which we repro- 
 duce, they sketch the history of the whole movement for 
 placing this relation on a satisfactory basis : — 
 
 “The first English Tenant Right Bill was introduced 
 into Parliament by Lord Portman in 1841, its object being 
 to give tenants a legal claim to the value of unexhausted 
 improvements made with their landlord’s consent. It was 
 re-introduced in 1843, and again in 1844. In the House of 
 Commons, Mr. Pusey brought in a similar Bill in 1847, and 
 he acted in 1848 as chairman of a Parliamentary Committee 
 appointed to inquire into the agricultural customs of England 
 and Wales, as to tenant right. It does not appear that any 
 ■evidence was taken relating to Wales. The only practical 
 result of Mr. Pusey’s efforts was the passing of the “Emble- 
 ments Act ” (14 & 15 Viet. c. 25), which gives tenants a 
 right to remove buildings and fixtures set up with the 
 •consent of the landlord. In 1873, Mr. James Howard and 
 Mr. Clare Sewell Read once more brought the question to 
 the notice of Parliament by the introduction of their Land- 
 lord and Tenant Bill, which may be said to have resulted in 
 the passing of the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1875, which 
 has been subsequently amended by the Agricultural Holdings 
 Act of 1883. So far as England is concerned this is briefly 
 the history of the movement for legislative interference with 
 the contracts of landlord and tenant.” 
 
61 
 
 Returning to Wales we have already seen that security And in wai«? 
 of tenure, fair rents and many other “ advanced ” reforms compared ' 
 
 — to be brought about by legislative interference — were 
 advocated during the “ Rebecca ” riots, but we hear little 
 of them for some time after the suppression of these dis- 
 turbances. In North Wales. Dr. William Rees ( Hiraethog ) 
 under the nom de guerre of Rhen Ffarmwr ( ‘ The Old Farmer’) 
 wrote to his Journal, Yr Amserau, a well-known series of 
 letters, dealing with the interests of the farming population, 
 to whose political education he thereby largely contributed. 
 
 But, the Report says, “the best-known advocate of the 
 rights of tenants in Wales at this period was the Rev. Samuel 
 Roberts, of Llanbiynmair.* In 1850 he published, in the 
 form of a story, a small work, the full title of which is 
 “ Farmer Careful, of Cilhaul Uchaf, a brief history of wrongs 
 done to his family, showing the necessity for reforms as to 
 land management.” In 1852 he published “Letters on 
 Improvements addressed to Landlords and Road Commis- 
 sioners,” and two years afterwards he published an account 
 of the experience of his own parents in “ Diosg Farm : a 
 Sketch of its History during the Tenancy of John Roberts 
 and his Widow.” These works, which were published both 
 in Welsh and English, had a large circulation throughout the 
 whole of Wales. The burden of Roberts’ complaint, in his 
 last-mentioned work, was the advancement of rent subse- 
 quent to, and, as he alleged, in consequence of a large ex- 
 penditure of capital by his father during the earlier years of 
 his tenancy. Despairing of obtaining any redress for his 
 own family, or of seeing any reform of land tenure, and also 
 believing that an attempt was being made on behalf of Welsh 
 landowners to crush freedom of action in religion and politics, 
 he emigrated in 1857 to the United States of America, 
 whither many hundreds of Welsh farmers had gone in the 
 preceding three or four years.” 
 
 He himself settled in Tennessee, joining a small Welsh 
 colony that had gone there the previous year. 
 
 3.- EMIGRATION AND RURAL DEPOPULATION 
 
 To this stage in the history of the land question we have Emigration 
 also assigned the consideration of one other important statistics, 
 phenomenon, namely, the depopulation of the rural districts, 
 inasmuch as it partly belongs to the foregoing period of 
 depression, and partly also to the periods that followed. It 
 
 * For a full account of Roberts’ life see an article by the writer in the 
 Dictionary of National Biography. 
 
62 
 
 Decline of 
 the Rural 
 population. 
 
 did not, however, make itself actually felt till almost the 
 close of the former period, but once it commenced, it could 
 not be checked even when prosperous times returned, and has 
 of recent years gone on at an alarmingly accelerated pace. 
 
 This would therefore, appear to be the most convenient 
 place to consider the facts which the Commissioners have 
 collected bearing on this subject, and on Welsh emigration 
 generally (chapter vi., p. 44-65). Precise statistics as to 
 the total number of Welsh emigrants they are unable to 
 give, as the emigration statistics published from time to time 
 by the Board of Trade do not record Welsh as distinct from 
 English emigrants, though Scotch and Irish are separately 
 enumerated. On this unfortunate omission the Com- 
 missioners severely comment, suggesting also that it should 
 be made good in future, 
 
 “We have, however, for one short period of a little 
 over five months what is probably a complete return of the 
 number of emigrants from Wales, for in the Census Returns 
 for 1841 are given the numbers of those who had emigrated 
 from each county to ‘ the colonies and foreign countries ’ 
 between the 1st of January and the 7th of June, 1841. It 
 is significant that the purely agricultural counties contri- 
 buted the largest quota, Cardiganshire sending as many as 
 283 persons, Montgomeryshire 162, and Merioneth 128, 
 while from the whole of Wales and Monmouthshire there 
 emigrated within that short period as many as 1,149 persons, 
 namely, 661 males and 488 females ” (p. 52). 
 
 We have already seen that during the first four decades 
 of this century the population of every Welsh county went 
 on increasing, but that between 1841 and 1851 a contrary 
 tide set in, with the result that the only counties which have 
 suffered no diminution in their population within some 
 decade or other throughout the 90 j^ears from 1801 to 1891 
 are those of Carmarthen, Denbigh, Glamorgan, and Mon- 
 mouth, which have important industries besides agriculture. 
 
 Moreover, the population in as many as four counties 
 was less in 1891 than in 1841 — by 16*7 per cent, in Mont- 
 gomeryshire, 14*4, per cent, in Radnorshire, 8 '9 per cent, 
 in Cardiganshire (three contiguous counties in Mid- Wales), 
 and 1J per cent, in Anglesey. In spite of a great develop- 
 ment in the industrial districts of East Carmarthenshire, 
 the five agricultural counties of South Wales (excluding 
 Glamorgan and Monmouth) show a net increase in their 
 aggregate population of only 5 per cent, during the 50 years 
 referred to. 
 
63 
 
 If, however, only the 10 years preceding 1891 be taken Greater^ 
 into account, it appears that the population of as many as England. 
 S' out of the 13 counties showed a decrease. This, moreover, 
 has been much greater in Wales than in England, as may be 
 seen from the following table, in which the counties are 
 arranged according to the extent of decrease in each : — 
 
 Welsh Counties. 
 
 Decrease. 
 
 English Counties* 
 
 Decrease. 
 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Montgomeryshire . . . 
 
 11-68 
 
 Huntingdonshire ... 
 
 . 5-51 
 
 Cardiganshire 
 
 9-20 
 
 Herefordshire 
 
 , 5-18 
 
 Radnorshire 
 
 7-58 
 
 North Riding 
 
 
 Flintshire 
 
 7-01 
 
 of Yorkshire . . . 
 
 , 4-62 
 
 Merionethshire 
 
 5-81 
 
 Shropshire 
 
 . 4-39 
 
 Pembrokeshire 
 
 3-59 
 
 Lincolnshire 
 
 . 4-29 
 
 Brecknockshire 
 
 3-44 
 
 Rutlandshire 
 
 . 3-84 
 
 Anglesey 
 
 2*57 
 
 Cornwall 
 
 . 3-76 
 
 As to this table the Commissioners observe : — 
 
 -“It thus 
 
 appears that it is in the Welsh counties that the rural 
 •depopulation has assumed the most notable proportions, and 
 with the Welsh counties may be classed the border counties 
 of Herefordshire and Shropshire. Of the remaining English 
 counties that have lost rural inhabitants, Huntingdonshire 
 and Rutlandshire are numerically insignificant, while in 
 Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, as in Wales, the agricultural 
 depression must probably be regarded as the chief cause.’’ 
 
 (p- 47 )- 
 
 A very curious fact is brought out by these statistics. 
 In periods of agricultural depression, those returned under 
 the title of “ farmers and graziers, &c.,” actually increase, 
 while in times of prosperitj 7 their numbers decrease. Is this 
 due to a tendency to consolidate farms so as to have big 
 holdings in prosperous times, and to the contrary policy of 
 sub-division, when depression comes ? Or does it show that 
 the depression itself is to some extent due to over competi- 
 tion among occupiers ? No answer is, however, given in the 
 Report. 
 
 Thus, the number of “ farmers, graziers, &c.,” remained 
 practically stationary from 1851 to 1871, decreased 7 per 
 cent, from 1871 to 1881, but actually increased 34 per cent, 
 between 1881 and 1891. There may have been some change 
 in the methods of taking the Census, but the Commissioners 
 do not appear to have been aware of any such change. But 
 on the other hand, “ the number of agricultural labourers has 
 
 * The only other English counties whose population decreased are 
 Bedford (2-55), York E.R. (2-41), Wilts (2T4), Norfolk (0*68), Suffolk (0-53). 
 
64 
 
 The United 
 States the chief 
 field for Welsh 
 Emigration. 
 
 decreased in each county within each decennium from 1851 
 to 1891, the total decrease amounting to close upon 40 per- 
 cent. The number of farmers’ sons or other near relatives 
 working at home on the family holding (if the expression 
 may be used ) has materially decreased in every county during 
 the same period, a fact from which we might infer that the 
 younger members of the agricultural community feel a 
 growing disposition to abandon farming for other occupations.^ 
 
 The question of the depletion of the agricultural counties 
 leads the Commissioners to inquire whither natives of Wales 
 have chiefly emigrated (p. 50.) 
 
 “ The one chief field of emigration for the people of 
 Wales has always been that portion of North America which 
 now forms the United States.” It is pointed out that the 
 early Nonconformists of Wales as well as of England turned 
 their faces to the New England as the future home of civil 
 and religious liberty. Large parties, if not whole congrega- 
 tions of Welsh Baptists and Quakers thus emigrated, and the 
 territory where the latter settled only narrowly escaped being- 
 called New Wales instead of Pennsylvania, while many of its 
 place-names still remain Welsh. There appears to have been 
 quite a rush from Wales to the States not long after the 
 declaration of Independence, or, more precisely, from 1795 to- 
 1800. Instances are given of parties thus emigrating from 
 Llanbrynmair in Montgomeryshire, while, in Carnarvonshire, 
 leaseholders threw up their leases on the Yaenol estate, so as 
 to try their fortune in the continent of the West. 
 
 It is also stated, with reference to the same period, that 
 “thousands were induced (apparently by American agents) 
 to emigrate from the rural districts of South West Wales, 
 notably from South Cardiganshire, owing to the conditions 
 of almost hopeless poverty into which a succession of bad 
 harvests and the pressure of taxation had brought them. 
 The gentry regarded such an exodus on the part of their 
 tenantry as highly detrimental to the country, and alarming- 
 reports, probably of a very exaggerated character, as to the 
 sufferings of the emigrants, were circulated and readily 
 believed in the Principality, with the result, it may be 
 assumed, of temporarily checking the free tide of emigration 
 which had then set in.” 
 
 We have seen that by 1841, emigration had once more 
 become popular in the agricultural counties, and from this 
 time down to about 1860 “we find” the Commissioners say 
 (p. 52) “that it was frequently discussed and advocated in 
 the Press and on the platform as the speediest solution of 
 the Welsh land question.” 
 
65 
 
 Llanbrynmair has just been mentioned above. Speaking 
 with reference to it, the Rev. Owen Evans, D.D., formerly 
 pastor of its Independent Church, stated before the Com- 
 missioners, that “ a far larger number of the agricultural 
 population of that neighbourhood has emigrated to the 
 United States of America and other foreign parts than has 
 gone from any other (agricultural) district of Wales.” 
 
 Samuel Roberts, who was a predecessor of Dr. Evans in 
 this pastorate, is also quoted as stating in June, 1852, “that 
 £ over 70 persons most ly young people, had left Llanbrynmair 
 that morning’ and that 5 or 6 large parties of the same kind, 
 not to mention lesser ones, had similarly emigrated during 
 the few preceding years. Those who had thus settled were 
 reported to be doing well and to be sending home money to 
 assist their poorer relatives to pay their passage out.” Else- 
 where it is mentioned that over 200 Welsh people left 
 Liverpool for the United States by the same steamer in May, 
 
 1855. 
 
 As to these facts, the following is the comment made 
 in the Report (p. 53) : — “ The significance of this constant 
 stream of emigration is due to the fact that high rents and 
 harsh conditions of tenancy were alleged to be the chief 
 causes of the great exodus. The depopulation of Llanbryn- 
 mair parish was, in Samuel Roberts’s opiniou, a “ sure sign 
 “ of some terrible injustice on the part of landowners and 
 “their agents, inasmuch as old Welsh families would not 
 “ thus leave the land of their fathers had they a hope that 
 “ they could earn a living at home.” 
 
 “ The great Mormon emigration, in which such large numbers of Welsh Welsh 
 people participated, between 40 and 50 years ago, was also more closely exulted” 1 
 connected with the agricultural and industrial depression of that time 
 than is generally supposed to have been the case. The propaganda of 
 this new faith appears to have been first taken up in W ales about 1845, 
 when the people generally were in a condition approaching despair ; the 
 Chartist movement in the mining districts and the Rebecca riots in the 
 agricultural counties had been alike suppressed, and those who took 
 prominent part in them had been sent to penal servitude. There was 
 little or no prospect of a real remedy, whether proposed by the State or 
 effected by the gentry, and there were no signs of any great improvement 
 in trade. At the time that Mormon leaders (chief among which in Wales 
 was Captain D. Jones, brother of the brilliant but eccentric “ Jones of 
 Llangollen) ”) held up to the people the prospect of a land “ flowing with 
 milk and honey,” a paradise on earth under the protection of a special 
 Providence, where all the faithful would live in peace and plenty, and, 
 according to some accounts, where death also would be unknown. As 
 this Utopia was located in the Far West of the United States — a country 
 whose resources were believed to be unlimited — large numbers of those 
 who regarded themselves as down-trodden in this country eagerly 
 embraced the new faith and emigrated to Utah. The movement culmin- 
 ated perhaps in Wales in 1852 — 3, though for many years afterwards 
 bands of Welsh emigrants continued to go to Utah from time to time, 
 and it should also be added that some also returned to the old country 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 Welsh 
 
 Americans. 
 
 in a disappointed mood. In the evidence given before us, the parish 
 of St. Bride’s, in South Glamorgan (which is wholly agricultural in 
 character), was specially mentioned as having suffered a serious 
 diminution in its labouring population on that account. In the neighbour- 
 hood of Pencader and Lampeter, also Mormonism obtained a strong foot- 
 hold, and many probably emigrated therefrom in consequence, though we 
 had no definite evidence on the point. It has been said — with what truth 
 we are unable to say — that South Wales (especially Glamorganshire) 
 contributed a much larger proportion of inhabitants to the ranks of 
 Mormonism than any other similar district in the Kingdom.” * 
 
 The stream of emigration from Wales to America has 
 never wholly ceased, though it appears to have slackened 
 during the last 20 years. The number of persons born in 
 Wales (excluding Monmouthshire), and enumerated in the 
 United States at the time of the last Census (June, 1890), 
 was returned as 100,079, but the total number of Welsh 
 settlers, including first descendants , has been estimated by an 
 American writer! — “with some exaggeration perhaps,” the 
 Report says — as close upon a million and a quarter. Poli- 
 tically they are almost wholly Republican, the percentage of 
 the Welsh Republican vote being, according to the same 
 writer, 39^ per cent, in Pennsylvania (which is still pre- 
 eminently the chief home of Welsh emigrants), 15 per cent, 
 in Ohio, 11 per cent, in New York, and 9 per cent, in 
 Wisconsin. 
 
 “ There is a very extensive Welsh-American literature ; 
 several magazines are published in the Welsh language, and 
 Eisteddfodau are in many districts as popular as in the 
 mother country. The religious denominations of Wales are 
 well represented in the States bjr flourishing churches, in 
 which the services are exclusively Welsh, and by organisations 
 that are in frequent communication with those of the Prin- 
 cipality.” 
 
 With reference to agriculturists, Mr. Thomas Darlington 
 (now H.M. Inspector of Schools) was assured that “ many of 
 the Welsh farmers in the district of Utica had little or no 
 acquaintance with English.”! Most of the Welsh agricul- 
 turists who emigrate go in the first instance to one or other 
 of the older and well-known Welsh localities, and after a few 
 years’ residence there they then push on to the Western 
 States. 
 
 * The following statement, made by Sir Charles Dilke in his Greater 
 Britain (1868, Vol. 1., p. 175) is also quoted in this connection: — ‘Tn every 
 10 immigrants (to Utah) the missionaries count upon finding that four 
 come from England, two from Wales, one from the Scotch Lowlands, one 
 from Sweden, one from Switzerland, and one from Prussia ; from Catholic 
 countries none ; and from all America, none.” 
 
 t Mr. John E. Owens in the North American Review for November, 
 1893. 
 
 J Wales for December, 1894 (p. 350). 
 
67 
 
 These last statements afford some cine as to why Welsh AtteniptB at^ 
 speaking and almost monoglot farmers and labourers emigrate settlements, 
 to the United States. It is really because they can get on 
 very well in many districts without much knowledge of 
 English being required. 
 
 In this connection, the Report thus proceeds (p. 54) : — 
 
 One great deterrent to emigration with Welsh-speaking 
 persons has always been the prospect that either they them- 
 selves or at all events their near descendants would inevitably 
 lose their distinctive nationality, and become merged in that 
 of the dominant race of the district or country of their adop- 
 tion. From time to time several projects have, therefore, 
 been mooted for the establishment of a colony or settlement 
 which should be exclusively Welsh, and where the Welsh 
 language should be not only the medium of ordinary conver- 
 sation and business, of its literature and religious worship, 
 but should also be the official language of its civil govern- 
 ment. The idea appears to have occurred somewhat simul- 
 taneously to more than one person towards the end of the last 
 century ; it was advocated by the Rev. M. J. Rhys, the 
 editor of the first Welsh magazine, who himself emigrated to 
 Ohio in 1796. A scheme for the same purpose was formed 
 by William Jones, of Garthbeibio (1729-95), but “it came 
 to nothing.” Independently of this, a “Cambrian Company” 
 was established in Philadelphia in 1796 with the object of 
 forming “a settlement of Welsh people in the most eligible 
 situation within the United States of America.” 
 
 “ In more recent times, John Mills, a Welsh missionary 
 to the Jews, urged the “ suitabilhy of Sj 7 ria for a Welsh 
 Settlement,” and about 1850, Evan Evans of Nantyglo, 
 advocated the establishment of such a colony in Brazil, and 
 a party of Welshmen, containing a few families from Bryn 
 Mawr and district, actually went and settled in the province Colonia del 
 of Rio Grande de Sul. About 1856, upwards of 100,000 chubut - 
 acres of lqnd was purchased in Tenessee by a few Mont- 
 gomeryshire men, with the view of establishing therein a 
 purely Welsh Colony, but most of the Welsh immigrants 
 were soon after scattered by the civil war between the 
 Southern and Northern States. Owing to the fact that 
 Admiral Fitzro} 7 in his narrative of “ Voyages of the 4 Adven- 
 ture ’ and 4 Beagle,’ ” had given a very favourable account* of 
 the Chupat Valley and New Bay, which he visited in 
 
 * See Vol. II., Proceedings of the Second Expedition , 1831 — 36 
 p. 306, et seq. : “ Part of the west shores (of New Bay) seemed to be 
 fit for cultivation. The river and the country round had a beautiful 
 appearance as seen from a rising ground on the south side, an excellent 
 position for a settlement.” 
 
68 
 
 Emigration to 
 Canada. 
 
 South Africa. 
 
 February 1833, that portion of Patagonia was suggested by 
 several persons as a suitable country, and finally, on the 28th 
 May, 1865, a small party of 153 persons left Liverpool with 
 the view of founding a colony at Cbupat. At the outset 
 the venture was anything but promising, and the numbers 
 diminished rather than otherwise. It was not till 1871 that 
 the little band was reinforced by new arrivals from Wales, 
 and since that time their prosperity as well as their numbers 
 has gradually but steadily increased. In ±876, the popula- 
 tion had risen to 690. in 1883. it had reached 1,286, in 1887, 
 2,300, and in 1893, Colonia del Chubut (which is Argentine 
 Territory, it should be said) contained about 2,500 Welsh 
 people, while it had sent a small offshoot of some 50 Welsh 
 settlers to the Andes, on the borders of Chili, some 320 
 miles beyond the original colony.* 
 
 There are two or three small groups of Welsh settlers 
 in other parts of South America, such as at Sance Corto or 
 Walsh Colony (with some 90 Welsh people), about 300 miles 
 from Buenos Ayres, at Las Flores, and in Buenos Ayres 
 and neighbourhood generally.! 
 
 These appear to be the only known attempts to found 
 distinctively Welsh settlements, but the Commissioners give 
 some further facts as to the emigration of Welsh people to 
 the British colonies and to foreign countries. 
 
 William Vaughan (1577 — 1640) of Golden Grove, the 
 author of the Golden Fleece, founded early in the 17th 
 century, a small colony first called Cambriol, then Britanniola, 
 in South Newfoundland. Canada, until quite recently, has 
 not attracted many Welsh colonists. 
 
 As to South Africa, two Welsh parties consisting of 
 some 32 persons under the leadership of Thomas Philipps, 
 (from Milford, Pembrokeshire) and Charles Griffith (of Pen- 
 pompren near Talybont, Aberystwyth) formed part of the 
 Albany Settlement in Cape Colony in 1819, but their descen- 
 dants have since been very much scattered. . Welshmen, 
 chiefly from the towns, have gone out to South Africa in 
 
 * An interesting account of this settlement is given in certain 
 c: Reports received by the Admiralty from Capt. Fairfax upon the con- 
 dition of the Welsh Colony of Chupat.” These were published as a 
 Parliamentary Paper (No. 18 of 1876). See also the account given by 
 James Cumming Dewar (who visited it in November, 1887) in chapter V. 
 (pp. 30 — 40) of his Voyage of the 1 Nyanza ,’ being the record of a 
 three years' cruise (1892, 8vo.). For the subsequent account of the 
 colony the Commissioners acknowledge their indebtedness to Mr. W. J. 
 Parry, of Bethesda, who visited it in 1893. 
 
 t See some very interesting Reports on Y Cymry ar Wasgar 
 (Welshmen in Dispersion), prepared for the General Assembly of the 
 Welsh Calvinistic Methodists in 1893 and subsequent years. 
 
great numbers of recent years. There are Cambrian Societies 
 at most of the chief towns. 
 
 Wales also sent an exceptionally large number of emi- Vugtralia 
 grants to the Australian Colonies in the time of the “ Gold 
 rush,” especially about 1852, but here ;; they become more 
 easily merged in the English speaking population than is the 
 case in the United States, and their distinctive nationality 
 almost invariably disappears in the first generation.” Reli- 
 gious services in Welsh are however regularly held in 3 or 4 
 of the chief towns and an Eisteddfod is also occasionally 
 kept. 
 
 As for the Continent of Europe, perhaps the best-known instance Russia, 
 of a Welsh settlement outside the British Isles is to be found in Southern 
 Russia, in the province of Ekaterinoslav, near MarioupoL, on the Sea of 
 Azov. Here, in 1869, Mr. John Hughes, a native of Merthyr Tydfil, was 
 instrumental in establishing very extensive coal and iron works. In the 
 first instance workmen from South W ales were introduced to carry on 
 the industries. The rapid development of the metallurgical and coal 
 industries of the basin of the Donetz of recent years has thus been 
 largely due to the strong initiative and practical skill of John Hughes, 
 ably seconded by his four sons, who have carried on the works since their 
 father’s death on the 29th June. 1889, in his 75th year. In other parts of 
 Russia, Welshmen have from time to time taken a prominent part in the 
 construction of railways and the development of the mineral industries 
 of the country, while there are also one or two instances of their settling 
 for the same purpose in other European countries.” (p. 56). 
 
 Turning to the question of emigration from Wales into migration 
 England, the Commissioners are able to draw some interest- London, 
 ing inferences from the statistics given in the Census 
 Returns. We shall first enumerate the facts. According to 
 the Census of 1891, there were enumerated in England (ex- 
 cluding Monmouthshire) 228,616 persons bom in Wales, 
 which amounts to a little over 18 per cent, of the total 
 natives of Wales (1,720,206) enumerated on the same date 
 in both England and Wales. As to the distribution of these 
 Welsh-born folk 31,292 were returned within the London 
 Registration District, while 14,828 more were resident in 
 outlying areas e.</. West Ham 961, Willesden 529. Tottenham 
 329 and Leyton 259, while a little further a-fiekl Croydon 
 had 856 natives of Wales. It is observed that it is the agri- 
 -cultural counties (more especially of South and Mid- Wales) 
 that send the largest number of persons, in proportion to 
 their home population, to settle in London, Cardiganshire 
 heading the list with a percentage of 525, while from the 
 point of view of actual numbers it stands third (with 3,299), 
 being preceded by the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth 
 with 5,446 and 4,551 respectively, and succeeded by Pem- 
 brokeshire with 3,195, while none of the other counties rise 
 above 2,000. As to the linguistic condition of this popula- 
 tion, it is mentioned that “ Mr. Thomas Darlington has 
 
70 
 
 Liverpool and 
 Manchester. 
 
 estimated that out of a total of 46,120 natives of Wales, 
 resident in London and outlying districts (in 1891), as many 
 as 23,954 were able to speak Welsh. At all events, there is; 
 the fact that religious services are conducted in Welsh every 
 Sun da}' at about 40 different centres in London,” while it may 
 also be added that the Welsh community has now a weekly 
 newspaper, printed almost entirely in Welsh. The chief 
 special industries which attract them to the metropolis are 
 the following : — 
 
 (1) Dairying . — “ The first perhaps in importance is the 
 milk trade, in which a very large number of Welsh people, 
 especially from Cardiganshire, and the Welsh portion of 
 Montgomeryshire are engaged. Curiously enough this trade 
 has for a long time been in the hands of Welshmen. With 
 reference to the very commencement of the present century, 
 it is stated* that ‘ the carriage and delivery of milk was 
 entirely in the hands of women, strapping country wenches, 
 principally recruited from Wales.’ ” (p. 58.) 
 
 It is, however, doubted whether the Welshmen now enjoy 
 so large a share of the London milk trade as formerly — owing 
 to the greater organisation of the business by the formation 
 of large English companies. 
 
 (2.) Domestic Service , the good qualities of the Welsh 
 servant girl being observed during the English visitor’s holi- 
 day at Welsh watering places. 
 
 (3.) The Drapery Trade, in which it is said that the 
 present style of window-dressing is largely due to the Welsh 
 taste for colours. 
 
 “ The comparative paucity of North Walians in London 
 is due to the fact that North Wales comes more within the 
 sphere of influence of Liverpool than of London, and that the 
 former town therefore stands for many purposes in the posi- 
 tion of a capital for North Wales, whence there is ready 
 access not only by rail, but by water also. In a lesser degree 
 and of more recent years Manchester has begun to compete 
 with Liverpool in this respect. In the chief towns of Lanca- 
 shire and Cheshire Welshmen are therefore to be counted by 
 the thousand. Liverpool in 1891 had 17,449 persons born 
 in Wales, Birkenhead 5,654, and St. Helens 1,393. The 
 number in Manchester was 6,764, and in Salford 2,699. The 
 total number of persons born in Wales and enumerated in 
 Lancashire amounted to 60,819, while the neighbouring 
 county of Cheshire had 21,379. But these figures give a 
 very inadequate idea of the total Welsh population of these- 
 
 * John Ashton, The Dawn of the XIXth Century in England, Pop.. 
 Ed. 1866, pp. 219-220. 
 
71 
 
 towns. Thus, as the result of a special inquiry conducted by 
 Mr. Thomas Darlington in connection with the Welsh con- 
 gregations of Manchester, it was estimated that 25 per cent, 
 of the 4 hearers ’ at these churches had been born outside 
 Wales, and would therefore not be included in the figures 
 quoted above from the Census. The proportion of Welshmen 
 resident in Liverpool but born outside the Principality is 
 stated to be much greater than in Manchester.” England towns. 
 
 As the milk trade in London is largely in the hands of 
 Welshmen, so also in Liverpool — possibty in a greater degree 
 — are the timber and building trades, the development of 
 several of its suburbs being — to their credit or discredit- — 
 largely due to the Welsh builders. 
 
 “ In the other counties of the north of England the two chief centres 
 of Welsh population are to be found on the banks of the Tees and the 
 Tyne respectively. Large parties of ironworkers from South Wales 
 were, many years ago, induced to emigrate to and help in establishing the 
 iron industry at Middlesborough, South Bank, and Stockton-on-Tees, and 
 the migration received special encouragement from the fact that several 
 of the officials connected with the chief iron firms of the district, 
 notably that of Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan, & Co., were themselves 
 Welshmen.* Thus Middlesborough, which has its Welsh chapels and 
 holds an occasional Eisteddfod, is stated in the Census Keturns to have 
 had 1,579 natives of Wales in 1891, but as the original migration occurred 
 many years ago, this figure necessarily represents a much larger Welsh 
 population. Similarly Newcastle and Gateshead had at the same date 
 680 Welsh-born persons, South Shields 275, and Sunderland 399. There 
 are many other smaller Welsh colonies scattered throughout the county 
 of Durham, such as at Kelloe (where the first Welsh Church in Durham 
 was established), Spennymoor, Bolden, Consett, Crook, Thornley, Trimdon, 
 
 Wingate, South Eaton, and Seaham. The total number of Welsh 
 immigrants in the county of Dui'ham (which does not include Middles- 
 borough) at the time of the Census was 6,957, of which more than one- 
 half had been born in Glamorganshire or Monmouthshire. Yorkshire, in 
 which Middlesborough is situated, had 10,785, of which the same two 
 Welsh counties contributed a little less than one-half” (p. 59.) 
 
 The Welsh population in the Midland counties is, with Midland towns, 
 one or two exceptions, considerabty more scattered, though 
 in the aggregate far more numerous than in the North of 
 England. The chief exception seems to be Hanley, with a 
 colony of 963 persons born in Wales, “ of whom as many as 
 353 hailed from Flintshire, where, as well as in East Den- 
 bighshire, there are several small potteries, a fact which 
 accounts for the immigration from that part to Hanley.” 
 
 * “ The Welsh element has been so important a factor in the develop- 
 ment of the iron industries of the North of England” that the Commis- 
 sioners print a very full account of the origin and progress of the migrations 
 from Wales to this district, as communicated to them by Mr. David 
 Evans, general manager of the Cleveland Iron and Steel Works (of 
 Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan and Co., Ltd.), at Grangetown, in Yorkshire. 
 Mr. Evans expresses the opinion that the number of Welsh natives, 
 especially in Middlesborough, is understated. 
 
Welsh Emigra- 
 tion to English 
 Agricultural 
 districts. 
 
 Explanation of 
 statistics as to 
 Radnor. 
 
 Anglesey. 
 
 The immigration to English towns in other parts does not 
 appear to require any special comment. 
 
 But what about immigration to agricultural districts 
 in England? This is not so easy to answer. However, a 
 table is first given showing the proportion per cent, of the 
 total natives of each Welsh county resident in England to 
 the number still resident in their native county. Arranged 
 in the order of their percentages they stand thus : — 
 
 Radnor 
 
 57T 
 
 Anglesey - 
 
 19-8 
 
 Merioneth - 
 
 13-9 
 
 Flint 
 
 48-9 
 
 Monmouth - 
 
 19-0 
 
 Cardigan 
 
 13-1 
 
 Montgomery - 
 
 40-2 
 
 Pembroke - 
 
 17*6 
 
 Carnarvon - 
 
 13*0 
 
 Denbigh 
 
 31-8 
 
 Brecknock - 
 
 16-5 
 
 Glamorgan - 
 
 7.3 
 
 
 
 
 
 Carmarthen - 
 
 5-9 
 
 Some of the border counties (which are also largely 
 English-speaking) naturally come first but (excepting 
 Denbighshire) these are also counties that have recently 
 diminished in their population. 
 
 The remarks of the Commissioners as to those counties 
 which have supplied the largest proportions of emigrants to 
 England may perhaps be quoted at some length : — 
 
 “ The result in actual numbers has been, that out of 33,046 natives of 
 Radnorshire enumerated in England and Wales, only 16,191 were in 1891 
 living in the county, that is to say, over one-half of those born in the 
 county had left their homes for England or elsewhere. That a very large 
 proportion of these were agriculturists, both before and after their 
 migration, may be seen from the fact that as many as 6,844 natives of 
 Radnorshire were enumerated in the West Midland counties of Glouces- 
 ter, Salop, Stafford, Worcester, Warwick, and Hereford, the last-mentioned 
 county alone having 3,933. Similarly, over 19,000 persons born in Mont- 
 gomeryshire had migrated to England, of which number Shropshire alone 
 had received as many as 6,716, most of whom we might assume to have 
 been agriculturists. 
 
 The counties of Flint and Denbigh, cannot be said to be so exclusively 
 agricultural, and as the migration has been for the most part to Cheshire 
 and Lancashire, where industries other than agriculture largely prevail, 
 we would not be justified in drawing any conclusion from these figures, 
 except to point out that the intercourse with English districts is not so 
 free as in the case of Radnorshire, so far as an inference may be drawn 
 from the population statistics. 
 
 What may be fairly considered as surprising in the preceding table is 
 the high place occupied by Anglesey, which, if the actual figures be sub- 
 stituted for the percentage, would stand thus : — Out of 60,348 natives of 
 Anglesey enumerated in England and Wales, 42,775 were enumerated in 
 their native county and 8,467 in various parts of England. Here, however, 
 we find that though the chief industry of Anglesey is its agriculture, still 
 most of those who left for England did not do so in order to follow an 
 agricultural occupation in their new homes. Out of the 8,000 odd who 
 were enumerated in England, over 5,000 were returned as being in Lanca- 
 shire, and we might also add a very large proportion out of that number 
 is settled in Liverpool itself. Long before Anglesey was connected with 
 the mainland by means of the tubular and suspension bridges, a free and 
 frequent communication existed between it and Liverpool by means of 
 coasting vessels, and many of the flourishing merchants on the banks of 
 the Mersey originally hailed from the island county. That connection, it 
 
73 
 
 is evident, has been maintained and extended, so that to Anglesey folk 
 Liverpool remains, as it has always been, so far as their business relations 
 are concerned, the metropolis of North Wales. 
 
 The much higher percentage of migration to England from the North 
 Wales counties generally is to be chiefly accounted for by the fact that in 
 South Wales the surplus population find remunerative employment in the 
 great mineral industries of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, and need not 
 therefore cross the border into England in such proportionately large 
 numbers as do the natives of North Wales, who, in the absence of similar 
 industries within their native area on anything like the same scale, flock 
 to the chief towns and industrial centres of Lancashire and Cheshire. 
 Of the agricultural counties of South Wales it is interesting to notice that 
 the number of emigrants to England have been proportionately greater 
 from those in which the knowledge of English most extensively prevailed. 
 
 The case of Radnorshire we have already dealt with. Brecknockshire 
 has also sent large numbers of its agriculturists to the adjoining midland 
 counties, 1,108 of its natives being enumerated in Herefordshire, and 
 about 450 in Gloucestershire. 
 
 Pembrokeshire in 1891 had 17'6 per cent, of its enumerated natives 
 settled in England. In other words, out of 115,013 natives of the county 
 enumerated in England and Wales, 13,217 were enumerated in various 
 parts of England. A large number of these were undoubtedly agricul- 
 turists if we might infer anything from the character of the English 
 counties in which they were enumerated. There were, for example, about 
 500 natives of Pembrokeshire in the eastern counties of Essex, Suffolk, 
 and Norfolk, over 400 in Somerset, about 160 in Wilts, and 100 in Dorset- 
 shire, not to mention Devonshire with 650, a number considerably swelled 
 by the presence of Pembrokeshire-born men at Devonport and Plymouth. 
 In the Midland counties there were also about 200 in each of the counties 
 of Stafford, Worcester, and Warwick, 154 in Herefordshire, 109 in Shrop- 
 shire, and close upon 900 in Gloucestershire, (p. 61.) 
 
 In the English-speaking districts of South Pembrokeshire a consider- 
 able replacement is quietly taking place in the agricultural population, in 
 fact, the Welsh people are gradually effecting a peaceful reconquest of the 
 southern half of the county ; the English-speaking farmers are migrating 
 to England in proportionately larger numbers than the farmers of any 
 other county in Wales are doing, while Welsh-speaking farmers from 
 North Pembrokeshire, and from the counties of Carmarthen and Cardigan, 
 are eagerly pushing down to take the place of the South Pembrokeshire 
 emigrants. Mr. W. Gibbs, speaking as to the Castlemartin district 
 around Pembroke, for example, said that farmers had gone thence into the 
 counties of Hereford, Wilts, Hants, Berks, Buckingham, and Gloucester. 
 On the other hand, a witness who was giving evidence with reference to 
 the Welsh-speaking portion of Pembrokeshire, said: “There are a few 
 “ instances of people going off to England — not a great number — but I must 
 “ say there is a good deal more Welsh going doAvn among the English of 
 “ Pembrokeshire than the English going among the Welsh. There is a 
 “ little of both.” He further added that “ the old Englishmen are going 
 from South Pembrokeshire ; they are losing ground.” The Welsh farmer 
 of the North goes down to the English-speaking part of the county when- 
 ever an opportunity offers ; “ when he can go he will go.” (p. 62.) 
 
 Further extracts are also given from the evidence to 
 illustrate the migration of farmers from one part of Wales to 
 another, or into England. A Montgomeryshire witness, the 
 Itev. Edward Griffiths of Meifod, is quoted (p.63), as saying 
 at Llanfair Caereinion, “ that Mr. Gee of Denbigh has been 
 “ recommending Welsh farmers to turn their faces towards 
 “ English counties, but thej^ - have a great reluctance to do 
 
 Pembrokeshire 
 
 Montgomery- 
 
 shire. 
 
74 
 
 Conclusion as to 
 agricultural 
 migration . 
 
 Difference of 
 “ customs.” 
 
 “ so, because they would lose tlieir religious privileges — their 
 “ chapels, the preaching, and so on, in their own language. 
 “ There are farmers present who have told me that they 
 “ would have gone to Shropshire but for that reason. They 
 “ have children there, and they complain of nothing but the 
 “ want of religious privileges as we call them.” On being 
 further questioned he said that though reports of financial 
 success came from those who had migrated, yet, “ in the other 
 sense they complain bitterly — they are like the Jews in 
 Babylon.” 
 
 The Commissioners, finally state their conclusions in 
 these terms (pp. 63-5) : — “ An expression used above seems 
 to represent very accurately the tendency of many Welsh 
 farmers of recent years : they “ turn their faces towards the 
 English counties,” in other words, many remove from the 
 western to the eastern counties, and eventually, after a few 
 years’ residence on the border, they, or at all events their 
 children, cross it to settle in England. Carmarthenshire far- 
 mers move on to Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire, as we 
 have already seen, and these, in turn, push further eastward 
 to the English counties. Similarly in Montgomeryshire the 
 upland farmers move down to the lowland districts of the 
 Severn and Yyrnwy valleys, where they replace other farmers 
 who had migrated to Shropshire or some other English 
 county. . . . “But the typical Welsh farmer feels the 
 utmost reluctance to emigrate to England, even though there 
 may be a pretty sure prospect of his being able to better his 
 circumstances by so doing. Very rarely does he make the re- 
 moval of his own free will. Practically in all the cases where 
 a tenant’s migration to one of the English counties was speci- 
 fically brought to our notice, it was subsequent to, and in 
 consequence of, what he considered as unfair treatment on 
 the part of his landlord. In many a case nothing short of 
 eviction and sheer inability to obtain another holding could 
 possibly induce the Welsh farmer to go beyond the limits of 
 the Principality. The most obvious cause of this reluctance 
 is the linguistic difficulty, very closely connected with which, 
 however, are the religious considerations referred to in the 
 evidence we have quoted. In fact, the Welshman’s attach- 
 ment to his home and native country is a very complex 
 feeling, which it would be extremely difficult to analyse 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 “ But in addition to this attachment, there is one other 
 very serious obstacle which deserves mentioning. The date 
 of entry and the custom of the country regulating the rights 
 of outgoing and incoming tenants respectively, differ in many 
 
75 
 
 of the border counties of England from the custom of parti- 
 cular districts in Wales. Thus in the greater part of South 
 Wales, especially in the Welsh-speaking counties, the ten- 
 ancy terminates at Michaelmas, while in most of the Midland 
 counties of England the entry to the land is in the spring of 
 the year, either at Candlemas or at Lady Day, while the 
 house is not vacated by the old tenant before May Day. 
 
 This makes it a matter of very considerable difficulty for a 
 farmer, from Carmarthenshire for instance, to remove to 
 Herefordshire, as he would be without a dwelling-house for 
 a period of 8 months, viz., from Michaelmas to May Day, 
 and for more than one-half of that time (from Michaelmas to 
 Candlemas) he would be without any occupation. 
 
 “ The alternative would be to enter on the Herefordshire 
 farm in the spring of the year and keep on his old farm until 
 the Michaelmas following, but this would require his atten- 
 tion to both farms at the same time for many months, and 
 would necessitate the possession of a larger capital than most 
 farmers are credited with. The custom of the greater part 
 of North Wales does not, however, differ so widely in this 
 respect from that of the adjoining English counties. 
 
 “ There is, therefore, one economic conclusion which we we^faJme^ 
 cannot help arriving at, after considering the small extent to capital, 
 which Welsh farmers migrate to England, and that is the 
 very great immobility of their capital. The labourer can and 
 does migrate without much reluctance to a district where he 
 thinks he can do better, especially as he need not, as a rule, 
 go beyond the borders of the Principality for the higher 
 wages which he seeks. Nor does the Welsh landowner either 
 experience any difficulty if he wishes to dispose of his pro- 
 perty, for if he offers it for sale in suitable lots, there is no 
 lack of competition for them. With the farmer, however, it 
 is different ; if he wishes to pursue the same calling in some 
 other part of the country, he finds it a matter of the greatest 
 difficulty to transfer his capital from one place to another, 
 and it is no wonder that under the circumstances he, there- 
 fore, prefers as a rule to remain on where he is, however 
 hard his lot and heavy his burden.” 
 
 4 .— THE PERIOD OF AGRICULTURAL PROSPERITY 
 AND OF POLITICAL EVICTIONS (1S50-1SS0). 
 
 The account which has been given above of the Rebecca 
 riots will have suggested to the reader that the low-water 
 mark ot’ Welsh farming was probably touched during the 
 early forties, and that soon after 1846 the tide began to turn. 
 
Repeal of the 
 Corn Laws and 
 its effect. 
 
 76 
 
 There occurred about this time many things which profoundly 
 affected the agricultural industry. These events form part 
 of the general history of the country, and therefore need but 
 a brief reference here. The year 1845 proved one of the 
 rainiest on record. In some districts the sun was scarcely 
 seen from the month of May till the following spring. A 
 terrible rot set in among potatoes, and every crop was more 
 or less blighted. All classes were, for once at least, brought 
 face to face with the prospect of a famine, which, in Ireland, 
 was allowed to sweep awa}" its thousands. Then people began 
 to realise on what precarious principles the food supply of 
 this country was obtained, and how much more secure 
 against famine we should be if foreign countries should raise 
 corn for us every year, instead of being called upon to suppty 
 us out of their own stock or from an accidental surplus. 
 When people were once brought to think in this manner, the 
 old system of trying to maintain the price of corn at a figure 
 satisfactory to the agricultural interests, by closing the ports 
 against foreign supplies, was at once doomed, and the Repeal 
 of the Corn Laws was carried in the summer of 1846. After 
 this year the seasons began to improve, but we would 
 probably be not far wrong if we say that it was about 1850 
 that this combination of circumstances commenced to w T ork a 
 marked change in the position of agriculturists. 
 
 Though at the time unpopular with the farmers, the 
 Repeal of the Corn Laws put an end to the great fluctuations 
 in the price of corn and other necessaries. But it also 
 wrought, gradually, a great iiolitical change in Wales. So 
 long as the Corn Laws were continued, both landlords and 
 tenants were bound together in the support of what they 
 believed to be their common interest. When the duties on 
 imported corn were abolished, beyond hope of re-imposition, 
 there remained no very obvious reason for maintaining the 
 alliance. The result was that the farmers of Wales drifted 
 away, politically, from their landlords, and ere long the 
 Parliamentary representation of the counties underwent a 
 striking change. This necessitates a considerable digression 
 on our part, so that we may follow the Commissioners in 
 their endeavour “ to trace briefly the history of the modern 
 political representation of Wales ” in so far as it throws light 
 on their inquiry (p. 159). 
 
 The most prominent fact in this connection appears to 
 be that it is only within a comparatively late period that the 
 Welsh people have commenced to take an intelligent and 
 absorbing interest in politics. Prior to the religious revival 
 of the last century the bulk of the people were content to 
 
77 
 
 leave the decision of political questions to the members of the 
 great county families, who, by tradition or accident, had 
 come to espouse one side or the other in politics, and held it 
 as a matter of hereditary honour to contest the representa- 
 tion with each other. £ Whatever enthusiasm the people 
 therefore felt in electioneering struggles was less that of 
 citizens contending for their rights than of clansmen 
 vehemently battling for their respective chieftains.’* 
 
 “During the 350 years or so of its Parliamentary repre- 
 sentation, Wales has, as may be expected, shown a remark- 
 able preference for members of its own nationality, scions of 
 its ancient county families. Nothing is more striking, per- 
 haps, than the way in which these families ‘ supplying the 
 Members of Parliament w r ere connected together ; not only 
 the same families representing the same constituency for 
 manj^ generations, as frequently happened, but also extending 
 their influence over several constituencies, in different coun- 
 ties, forming by ties of kindred or marriage a perfect network 
 of relationship.’ ”f 
 
 This state of things continued till well on in the present 
 century. The full effect of the Reform Act of 1832 was not 
 felt till many years after. The leaders of the Calvinistic 
 Methodists held aloof from, and even censured, political 
 agitation in the thirties. But by the middle of the century 
 their attitude had greatly changed, and that soon helped to 
 change the representation. 
 
 It was in 1852 that the first Nonconformist (of modern 
 time) was returned from Wales to Parliament, in the person 
 of Mr. Walter Coffin, who sat for Cardiff, but after his resigna- 
 tion in 1857 there were no further Nonconformists elected 
 until 1868, when, presumably as a result of the further exten- 
 sion of the franchise in 1867, three Nonconforming members 
 were returned from Wales. 
 
 The distribution of the representation of Wales between 
 the two great parties in the State, as the result of the general 
 elections which have occurred since 1859, may be seen from 
 the following Table : — 
 
 * Henry Richard’s Letters on Wales. First Ed. (p. 80). 
 t W. R. Williams, Pari. Hist, of Wales (p. 4). 
 
 Sketch of 
 Parliamentary 
 representation 
 of Wales 
 
78 
 
 Methods of 
 conducting 
 elections. 
 
 Politics of Welsh M.P.’s., 1859-1895. 
 
 — 
 
 1859 
 
 1865 
 
 1868 
 
 1874 
 
 1880 
 
 1885 
 
 1886 
 
 1892 
 
 1895 
 
 Cons. 1 Boro’s 
 
 n 
 
 U 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 6* 
 
 Mem. J Co.’s 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 Total Cons.... 
 
 18 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 19 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 Lib. 1 Boro’s 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 16 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 Mem. j Co’s 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 19 
 
 Total Lib.... 
 
 14 
 
 17 
 
 21 
 
 19 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 
 29 
 
 31 
 
 25 
 
 * One of these is described as a Liberal Unionist, having sat as a 
 Liberal in a former Parliament. 
 
 The Commissioners further observe that “ the extension 
 of the franchise of 1832, and still more so that of 1867, had 
 made some slight change in the character of the representa- 
 tion by the exclusion of members of the county families, 
 especially in the boroughs, while in the counties the abolition 
 of the Corn Laws had tended to a similar end. It remained, 
 however, for the General Election of 1885, following after the 
 third Reform Act, to complete the transformation in this 
 respect, with the result that since then it could scarcely be 
 said that at ary time more than five at most of the Welsh 
 M.P.’s were connected with the families of the great landed 
 proprietors of the country.” In the last Parliament (1892-5) 
 there was only one member returned from the whole of Wales 
 who could really be described as a representative of the old 
 county families, the great- majority being professional and 
 business men. 
 
 Turning from the general results of Welsh elections to 
 the methods of conducting them, the Commissioners begin 
 their review with the Reform Act. Two classes of people 
 were disappointed after its passing, viz. : — (1) Those who had 
 erroneous and exaggerated ideas as to its provisions, and 
 expected it to bring about reductions in rents ; and (2) The 
 more independent of the newly enfranchised who found, to 
 their dismay, that they were expected to vote with the land- 
 owners and not according to their own judgment. To illus- 
 trate the manner of conducting an election at this time, an 
 
79 
 
 account is given (p. 161), based upon Hansard, of an 
 election held in 1837 in Carmarthenshire, the circumstances 
 of which were shortly afterwards discussed in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 “ The two seats for the county in question were closely contested, Carmarthen- 
 and a very large proportion of the whole number of registered electors E 160 ^ 011 
 were polled. The Earl of Cawdor, who was the largest landowner in the 
 county had in former elections supported Sir J. H. Williams, of 
 Edwinsford, but his support was on this occasion withdrawn owing to 
 the fact that Sir James Williams had declared himself in favour of the 
 voluntary principle as applied to religious institutions. His lordship’s 
 chief agent sent out numerous letters, peremptorily ordering the tenants 
 to give “ a plumper for Colonel Trevor,” one of the other candidates. 
 
 After the election a petition was sent to the House of Commons com- 
 plaining of this interference on behalf of a peer, and on the 12th June, 
 
 1838, Mr. Warbuton brought forward a motion (which after considerable 
 discussion he withdrew) censuring this action as a breach of the 
 privileges of the Lower House. 
 
 “ The facts brought out in the discussion were as follows : Four 
 tenants in the district of Llandilo who happened to be in arrears with 
 their rent, declined at first to vote for Trevor, whereupon the agent 
 informed them 1 that as they were so very independant and so very 
 ungrateful for the indulgence and favour shown to them by their land- 
 lord, he hoped to receive their rente to Lady Day last on his return to 
 Llandilo, and then he should see what further was to be done in the 
 matter.’ Sir James Graham, who was then member for Pembroke Dock, 
 defended Lord Cawdor’s action. He admitted that the letter in question 
 contained ‘expressions of a very unguarded nature. It alluded to a 
 threat respecting rent, but .... most improper means had been 
 resorted to to swerve the judgment of Lord* Cawdor’s tenantry, and it 
 became indispensably necessary to take steps of a stronger nature than 
 were usually resorted to. But what had been the result ? Had any 
 parties suffered ? It was admitted that the tenants were in arrear of 
 rent, they continued so still ; they were tenants at will. Had they been 
 ejected? No such thing. One of them had been even rewarded — he had 
 been made an officer of excise in the neighbouring town.’ ” 
 
 From this statement it is concluded that most probabty 
 there was no well-authenticated instance of a tenant having 
 been evicted in consequence of his attitude in the preceding 
 election of 1837, or it would have been made public at the 
 time. But it is also inferred, from articles in the Welsh press, 
 that the possibility of eviction, or differential treatment was 
 present in the minds of the people at this time, a view deriving 
 support from the fact that Mr. Abadam, a Whig landowner 
 of Carmarthenshire, issued in 1835 a Welsh address in 
 support of the ballot which was also advocated by some of 
 the Welsh magazines. Nevertheless, there is some reason 
 for believing (the Report says) that the general use of 
 eviction as a weapon of political warfare was not suggested 
 till a few years after this date in the heat of the agitation 
 against the payment of Church rates. 
 
 “ But the Welsh people do not appear to have been fully 9 r t °'^ h t in 
 roused from their political torpor or indifference until quasi- politics, 
 religious questions were more or less involved in the larger 
 
80 
 
 Political 
 
 Evictions, 
 
 issues which were presented to them for decision, whether in 
 local or Parliamentary elections. Then their staunch Non- 
 conformity led them to support their cherished principles 
 even at the risk of incurring the displeasure of their land- 
 lords. Perhaps the first notorious example of this occurred 
 in connection with the election for Merioneth in 1859, when 
 the Conservative candidate (the late Mr. Wynne, of Peniarth), 
 w T ho received the fairly unanimous support of the land- 
 owning class, was obnoxious to many Nonconformists owing 
 to his alleged Puseyism. A more general issue, which 
 appealed with greater directness to the whole of the Welsh 
 people, arose in 1868, when the question of Irish Disestab- 
 lishment was before the electorate. On the former occasion, 
 in Merioneth, and on the latter in other parts of Wales, very 
 many tenants either abstained from voting or voted contrary 
 to the wishes of their landlords. That any landlord would 
 have gone the length of showing his displeasure, by evicting 
 his offending tenants, does not appear to have been regarded 
 by the tenants themselves as possible, far less as probable. 
 The latter, accustomed as they were to a system of hereditary 
 family succession in tenancies, felt themselves secure in the 
 occupation of their holdings so long as they could pay their 
 rents. If any one act or series of acts could be said to be 
 responsible for the changed relationship which now exists 
 between landlord and tenant in Wales as compared with 
 w r hat it was in the early part of the present century, it would 
 undoubtedly be the political evictions which commenced 
 in 1859. 
 
 The following are briefly the facts relating to the evic- 
 tions which occurred in Merioneth : — 
 
 “ Several Nonconformist tenant farmers in the district of 
 Cwm Tir Mynach on the Rhiwlas estate who remained neutral 
 at the election had to leave their farms. Two of those who 
 so suffered were recognised by common consent to be about 
 the very best farmers on that estate-. Ever since then the 
 residents of that district have acquired the reputation of being 
 more afraid of their landlord than perhaps any tenants in the 
 county. The example of the Rhiwlas estate was immediately 
 followed on Sir Watkin W. Wynn’s Glanllyn estate in the 
 parish of Llanuwchllyn . Here seven tenants, who were 
 nearly all “ leading men in the chapels,” and who had voted 
 for the Liberal candidate, had to leave their farms, some of 
 which were thereupon let to Churchmen and supposed Con- 
 servatives. One of the evicted was a widow then in her seventy- 
 sixth year, the mother of the Rev. M. D. Jones, Principal of 
 the Independent College, Bala, the supposed reason in her 
 
81 
 
 case being the fact that her son had taken an active part in 
 the election on the Liberal side. The eviction is popularly 
 believed to have hastened her death, which occurred some two 
 months after. On the same estate seven other Nonconformist 
 tenants who refrained from voting for either candidate had 
 their rents raised by sums of varying amounts. 
 
 In order to show the strong public feeling produced in JjjjJjJjJ of the™ 
 the neighbourhood of Bala by these evictions two resolutions evictions, 
 passed at a public meeting held at the Town Hall, Bala, in 
 August 1859, are then quoted by the Commissioners. The 
 first, which was moved by the Bev. Lewis Edwards of Bala, 
 
 “ perhaps the greatest Welsh leader of this century,” was as 
 follows : — “ That this meeting, having in view the harsh pro- 
 “ ceedings which the recent contest has given rise to in this 
 “ neighbourhood, and regarding the object thereof an attack 
 “ upon freedom of election, and to terrify tenant voters into 
 “ a slavish submission to the dictation of the landlord, pledges 
 “ itself to use every fair and constitutional means to defeat 
 “ those ends.” The second resolution ran thus : — “ That this 
 “ meeting, deeply and sincerely sympathising with those 
 “ tenant voters who at the late election nobly refused to de- 
 “ mean themselves by voting against the convictions of their 
 “ consciences, and who by so acting have incurred serious 
 “ material losses, resolves to set on foot a penny subscription 
 “ throughout the kingdom generally in order to mark the 
 “ sense of a free and enlightened British public of suchheart- 
 “ less treatment at the hands of their landlord.”* 
 
 * For fuller particulars of these evictions, see Report of Select Com- 
 mittee on Parliamentary Elections 1869 (Questions 6,541-6,816 ; 8,492-94) ; 
 Hansard, Pari. Deb., 3rd S., Vol. 197, p. 1316 ; Henry Richard’s Letters 
 on Wales (2nd Ed.), pp. 117-9; contemporary reports in Barter Cymru 
 summarised in Appendix C. See also the evidence of the Rev. Ivan T. 
 Davies at Qu. 6832 et seq . ; Mr. J. Thomas (one of the evicted tenants, 
 who 10 years after, was re-accepted as tenant on the Wynnstay Estate, on 
 which he still resides) at Qu. 7681 et seq . ; Mr. T. E. Ellis, M.P., at Qu. 
 16,910 et seq . ; and Mr. Thomas Gee, at Vol. IV., p. 461. 
 
 One or two further facts, not mentioned in the Report, may be here 
 added with reference to Merionethshire elections. Previous to 1859, 
 there had been no contest in the county — except in 1836 — since the middle 
 of the 17th century, a fact which may account perhaps, for the intense 
 party feeling exhibited in 1859. The seat was won by a majority of 38 
 by Mr. Wynne, the Conservative candidate, but a petition against his 
 return was promoted, and referred to the House of Commons Com- 
 mittee of Elections, but it was subsequently not proceeded with. In 
 the following election of 1865 Mr. Wynne’s son (the present Mr. 
 Wynne, of Peniarth,) was returned by a majority of 31 over the same 
 candidate, Mr. David Williams, a local solicitor. In 1868 Mr. Wynne, 
 junr., again came forward, but after a canvass he retired from the con- 
 test, and Mr. Williams was returned unopposed. Since 1868 the seat 
 has been uninterruptedly held by Liberals. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 Religious 
 
 evictions. 
 
 The Report then proceeds thus (p. 163) : — 
 
 “‘In the election of 1865 the landlords in this district 
 * stood in the Town Hall to watch their tenants vote ; all the 
 ‘ tenants (except one) on these two estates voted for the 
 ‘ Conservative candidate, and this decided the election.’ ” 
 Shortly after, petitions from Merionethshire electors were 
 sent to the House of Commons praying to be relieved of the 
 franchise, or to have the ballot adopted. A similar petition 
 had been presented by electors of Montgomeryshire boroughs 
 in 1852, complaint being made by them of the “habitual 
 and systematic terrorism” which they suffered. No well 
 authenticated case of political eviction or of the differential 
 treatment of tenants owing to their political or religious 
 opinions was, however, brought to our notice as having 
 occurred subsequent to the year 1865 in the neighbour- 
 hood of Bala, to which most of the foregoing remarks 
 refer. The former lucal sub-agent of Sir W. W. Wynn’s 
 estate in that district, in fact, informed us that in the 
 later period of 19 years, extending from 1869 to 1890, 
 out of about 27 complete changes of tenancies which 
 occurred on that part of the estate, Nonconformists followed 
 Nonconformists as tenants in 22 cases, while in one case, of 
 which, however, the agent was not quite certain, a Noncon- 
 formist followed a Churchman, but in the remaining four 
 cases the new tenants were Churchmen, their predecessors 
 also being, in at least two cases, Churchmen.” 
 
 This, therefore, was the first instance of political evic- 
 tions in Wales, on a sufficiently large scale to secure 
 general publicity. The Commissioners, however, observe 
 that there also occurred about the same time “ a few 
 evictions connected with religious conduct.” An ex- 
 treme example of the kind took place in North Cardi- 
 ganshire, where a Miss Mary Morice, the owner of the 
 Carrog Estate, Llanddeiniol, sent to her tenants, in April 
 1860, a circular letter containing these words : — “ 1 feel my- 
 “ self morally bound to set before you two alternatives, and 
 “ you are at liberty to choose for yourself, namely, to attend 
 “ our church service with your family and thus to support its 
 “ principles, or otherwise (if your conscience will not allow 
 “ you to comply with my request) you must quit the farm 
 “ which you now hold of me.” At that time there were on 
 the estate 14 families of farmers and 13 of cottagers, who 
 were all Nonconformists, there being only 2 families of farm- 
 ers and labourers respectively who were Churchmen. All 
 the former appear to have accepted the terms imposed on 
 
83 
 
 them by their landlady, excepting two farmers who had, 
 therefore, to quit their farms in September, 1861. 
 
 “But (the Report says) it is the general election of 1868 
 that is most notorions for its association with political 
 -evictions in Wales.” The account which the Commissioners 
 give of these evictions has all the appearance of a carefully 
 verified bit of history, based not only on the evidence of their 
 own witnesses, but also on the contemporary information 
 contained in the evidence given by Welsh witnesses before 
 the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Parlia- 
 mentary and Municipal Elections in 1869. 
 
 “ In addition to this, the allegations concerning these 
 evictions were publicly stated and allowed to pass unrefuted 
 in the course of a debate which took place in the House of 
 Commons on 6th July, 1869, on a motion introduced at the 
 request of the other Liberal members from Wales, and after 
 notice given, by Mr. Henry Richard, then M.P. for Merthyr 
 Tydfil, calling attention to “ the proceedings of certain land- 
 “ lords in Wales towards their tenants on account of the free 
 “ exercise of their franchise ” at the previous election. 
 From inquiries that had been instituted*, he stated that 
 “ there were 43 cases in Cardiganshire in which it had been 
 “ ascertained upon evidence which must satisfy any impartial 
 “ mind that (tenants) had received notices to quit, served 
 44 upon them for no other cause but that they voted according 
 ** to their consciences.” Among these was the case of one 
 tenant, who, seven years previously, had to leave a farm 
 which he then held on the Carrog estate already mentioned. 
 There were also 26 similar cases in Carmarthenshire, “ some 
 “ of which were of a most touching and heartrending charac- 
 “ ter. Many of the farmers had been long on the estate, and 
 “ some of their families had been in possession of the farms 
 “ for 200 years.” 
 
 “ These were followed by fresh batches of evictions in 
 1870 and 1871, which included five tenants on the Llanfair 
 estate and eight tenants on the Alltyrodvn estate.! 
 
 “It was alleged in evidence before us (the Commissioners 
 continue), that ‘ there was a widespread rumour ’ that a 
 meeting of landowners and agents for the county of 
 Cardiganshire, ‘was held at Aberaj^ron in the spring of 
 1869, at which it was agreed (1) that all tenants who voted 
 
 * Some further account of the inquiry set on foot by the Welsh 
 members may be found in an article written in 1888 by Mr. Richard, and 
 published in Cymru Fydd for February 1888. 
 
 t Speech by Mr. Henry Richard on the third reading of the Ballot 
 Act, 8th August, 1871 ( see Hansard Pari Deb., 3rd S., Vol. 208, pp. 1131-8, 
 and compare also the evidence at Qu. 44,274). 
 
 Evictions sub- 
 sequent to the 
 Election of 1868. 
 
 Henry Richard’s 
 statement. 
 
 Action of Car- 
 diganshire land- 
 lords. 
 
84 
 
 Cases in the 
 district of New- 
 castle Emlyn. 
 
 for a Liberal candidate on the November previous should 
 be evicted, (2) that all who remained at home that day 
 should have their rents raised, (3), that, where possible, no 
 farm should be let to Nonconformists, and (4) that new 
 churches should he built in several districts.’ 
 
 “ No positive evidence as to the holding of any such 
 meeting was given ; but we may mention that Mr. Morgan 
 Evans, of Oakford, a Justice of the Peace for the county of 
 Cardigan, told us that he had some direct information given 
 him as to the compact entered into by the landlords to evict 
 the Liberal tenants after the election of 1868 : ‘ Having to 
 call on business early in the spring of 1869 at Noyadd, 
 then occupied by Mr. Edmund Lloyd, he told me that if I 
 knew what was to take place I should be sorry for the part 
 I took in the late election. I asked Mr. Lloyd what he 
 was referring to, when he replied that many of the land- 
 lords had joined to evict those tenants who voted for 
 Mr. E. M. Richards, so as to stamp out this disobedience. 
 
 ‘ I hope,’ I said, 4 in the interest of the poor tenants, that 
 is not true,’ and also made the remark that politically it 
 would be the most foolish thing that the Tories could do. 
 
 4 It is,’ he replied, 4 a fact,’ and he named several estates in 
 the district where it was to take place.’ ” 
 
 “ The chief cases of alleged eviction or differential 
 treatment ” brought before the Commission in connection 
 with this election are then given, but we shall select only a few 
 of the more typical ones for reproduction. It is first stated 
 that Dr. Enoch Davies, of Llancfyssul, speaking on behalf of 
 the tenant farmers of the Newcastle Emlyn Union, furnished 
 a list of the 8 tenants on the Alltju’odyn estate, and of 9 
 tenants on other estates who were at the time evicted, as 
 well as of 7 tenants (all within the same Union) who had 
 suffered an increase of rent after the election. Two of the 
 last mentioned group of tenants, now in advanced years, told 
 the Commission 44 the story of their treatment and how the 
 notices to quit were withdrawn by their paying certain 
 advances in their rents.” 
 
 44 Some of the evictions, (according to Dr. Enoch Davies,) 
 were attended with exquisite cruelty. People who had spent 
 a lifetime on their farms were turned adrift ; young people 
 just started in life were made homeless. Women within a 
 month of their confinement had nowhere to lay their heads. 
 One case — that of David Jones of Efynon Llywelyn, on the 
 Alltyrodyn estate — was peculiar^ sad. After his eviction, 
 David Jones failed to get a farm anywhere, and having a wife 
 and three grown-up children, determined to emigrate to the 
 
85 
 
 States. Mr. and Mrs. Jones had buried four children in this 
 .comity.” “ On the voyage,” said another witness, (Dr. Pan 
 Jones) who had been to Liverpool to see them off, “ the chil- 
 “ dren were taken ill of the small-pox, they were confined to 
 u the hospital on board, and from there removed to the hospital 
 “ on Long Island, where in a few days the three died and 
 “ there buried unknown to their parents, who, when they 
 “ were informed of the fact, returned broken-hearted to Wales 
 “ by the first vessel,” and the mother died some three months 
 “ after.” The Commissioners here exhibit some little ner- 
 vousness, lest it should be assumed that they endorse, in 
 every detail, the tone and language of these statements, and 
 they therefore make the following reservations : — 
 
 (1) “ We have thought, in referring to this case by way 
 of illustration, that it would be better to give the exact words 
 -of the witnesses. We do so not with a view to its being 
 supposed that we endorse the terms of the evidence, but 
 because it appears to us to afford an illustration of the mental 
 attitude of the witnesses who appeared before us in regard to 
 these transactions.” 
 
 (2) “ We have been unable to verify the facts in every 
 •case, (cited by Dr. Enoch Davies) but while the evidence 
 appears to be accurate in regard to some, we think it right 
 to mention that as to others there is grave doubt as to 
 whether they were actually evicted in the sense of having to 
 leave their holdings.” 
 
 A large number of other Cardiganshire instances is 
 moreover given of tenants alleged to have been evicted on the 
 Pigeonsford, Pentre, Highmead, Nanteos, Crosswood and 
 Fronfraith estates (p. 166). 
 
 As to the district of Aberayron, it was stated that “ the 
 “ names of the Reverend David Evans, Penrhiwdrych ; 
 ■“ Messrs. William Richards, of Rhydalen, Morgan Jones, of 
 “ Cefngrugos, and John Davies, of Gofynach fach, are still 
 “ held in great respect, as they had to leave their holdings, 
 “ but they were not by any means the only sufferers in the 
 “ district on that memorable occasion.” The three last men- 
 tioned were tenants on the Llanina estate, and “ were as good 
 •“ farmers as any on the estate ; they had to leave without 
 “ any compensation for the improvements made by them. 
 “ In 1868 there were about 20 Nonconformist tenants on 
 “ this estate to five Conformists ; but (according to Mr. J. C. 
 “ Jones of Llanartb) the process of elimination had taken 
 “ place gradually but surely, until in 1890 there were eight 
 “ Nonconformists to 16 Conformists.” 
 
 And from other 
 parts of Cardi- 
 ganshire. 
 
86 
 
 Carmarthen- 
 
 shire, 
 
 Carnarvonshire. 
 
 The tenants of the Derry Ormond estate were, before 
 the election, threatened with eviction if they “refused to vote 
 according to Mr. Jones’s wish,” the agent’s circular letter to 
 that effect being produced in the House of Commons Debate 
 already mentioned. 
 
 Leaving Cardiganshire, which by no means stood alone 
 on that occasion, the Report proceeds thus (p. 166) : — 
 
 “ Instances of a similar kind might be cited from several 
 other Welsh counties, in which there were contested elections 
 in 1868. Among the 26 evictions which followed in Carmar- 
 thenshire, there were, for example, as many as five tenants 
 on the Falcondale estate who were turned away from their 
 farms in the small district of Ca}ro, in the north of the 
 county. ‘ These men were supposed to be leading Liberals, 
 
 ‘ and were replaced by Conservatives from the neighbour- 
 ‘ hood of Lampeter, most of whom, however, have by this 
 ‘ time retreated.’ It was also suggested that no compensa- 
 tion had been paid to any of these five tenants in respect of 
 their improvements ; but in reply thereto, it was stated as to 
 one of them, that he sold the crops of his farm for two years 
 running, while the Carmarthenshire custom allows only one 
 year’s crop to be sold. 
 
 “In Carnarvonshire, the Reverend John Owen, who, in 
 addition to being a well-known Nonconformist minister, and 
 a popular writer on agricultural matters, was probably at the 
 time unsurpassed in the whole of North Wales as a farmer 
 who combined practical with scientific knowledge, had to 
 leave his highly cultivated farm of Ty’nllwyn, on the Yaynol 
 estate, after he voted for the Liberal candidate. The ex- 
 planation given by the present agent, who, however, came to 
 manage the estate many years afterwards, was that Mr. 
 Owen’s holding was required as a home farm for the landlord, 
 but it appears that, as a matter of fact, he kept it on his own 
 hands for some 10 or 11 months only. ‘Public opinion,’ it 
 was said, ‘ clearly pointed out this as an instance of the 
 ‘ persecution that went on after the election of such farmers - 
 ‘ as had opposed their landlord’s will.’ Mr. Bryn Roberts, 
 M.P., in his evidence, endorsed this view by mentioning 
 this case as being decidedly a “ capricious ” eviction. 
 
 “ In many cases, however, the notices to quit which were served on 
 tenants soon after the election were subsequently withdrawn, but fresh 
 ones were given from time to time a few years after. ‘ Looking back 
 over that time to the present day, I find those who then received notices 
 have since, almost without exception, been cleared off the (Gwynfryn) 
 estate on some pretext or other.’ This was the statement made to us by 
 Mr. David Jones, of Brynllefrith, near Llangybi, who said that in common 
 with all other tenants in those parts who had voted for Mr. Jones Parry 
 (the Liberal candidate) he had himself received a notice to quit his farm 
 
87 
 
 The notice was, however, waived, the landlord telling him ‘ not to make a 
 fuss about the matter, as the notice was given only just to show who the 
 master was.’ Several years afterwards — about 1877 — the tenant had to 
 leave his farm after receiving another notice, no reason being assigned at 
 the time. £ Neither the public nor myself ever believed that my eviction,’ 
 said this witness, ‘ was due to anything but revenge for my action in the 
 election of 1868.’ Several cases of a similar character were alleged to 
 have occurred on the same estate, but the landlord, on being questioned 
 by us on the point, could not emphatically deny their political origin. 
 The only answer that he could make was that, ‘ to the best of his recollec- 
 tion,’ no such notices had been given, but that he left the details of such 
 matters to his agent to carry out, and, as the agent was dead, he himself 
 could not recollect. 
 
 “ In another part of the same county, namely, on the 
 Gwydyr estate, which was then the property of Lord 
 Willoughby de Eresby, notices were served upon several 
 tenants about 1869, and it appeared to be the ineradicable 
 opinion of the tenantry in that district that these notices 
 were given owing to the tenants having voted Liberal in the 
 election of the previous year. Five Liberal and Noncon- 
 formist tenants had to leave their farms, the matter obtained 
 much attention in the public press, and it is clear that these 
 evictions were regarded at the time as having a political 
 origin, inasmuch as the evicted tenants were assisted out of 
 an eviction fund which was raised by members of the Liberal 
 party. One other tenant, a Nonconformist minister, also 
 received notice, but he refused to leave his holding. At 
 least two of the farms so vacated were let to members of the 
 Church of England. As to one of the evicted tenants, 
 Mr. Elias Owen, who was described by the trustee (of 
 the property) as ‘ probably the richest and most in- 
 fluential man in the parish,’ it was stated that he held 
 three farms on the estate amounting to 1,876 acres, 
 and that he was re-offered the largest of these (measur- 
 ing 956 acres) at a rental of £50, but declined it ; 
 this farm was, however, described by Mr. Elias Owen’s son as 
 situated ‘ at the top part of the mountain and the top of the 
 £ parish, with no house fit to live in.’ One of the trustees 
 of the estate (Mr. Warren^) offered the explanation that these 
 notices were given with the object of revising the rents, and 
 asserted that ‘ though most of the tenants voted for the 
 ‘ Radical candidate, no notice was taken as to which way 
 ‘ they voted, so far as he was aware, after the election.’ A 
 circular letter sent by the trustee in question to each tenant 
 on the estate had, however, been quoted in the House of 
 Commons in course of the debate already mentioned : ‘ I feel 
 ‘ it necessary,’ so the letter ran, ‘ to explain that Lord 
 ‘ Willoughby d’Eresby is a Conservative, and gives all his 
 ‘ support to Mr. Pennant, and therefore does not consider it 
 
88 
 
 Reality of panic. 
 
 A National relief 
 fund raised. 
 
 ‘ right that you should allow yourself to be led by others to 
 ‘ vote against the interest of the estate on which you live 
 ‘ and against the wishes of his Lordship.’ 
 
 “The reality of the panic into which the Welsh tenantry 
 generally were thrown by these evictions is amply borne out 
 by those who took part in the debate. For instance, Sir 
 Thomas Llo 3 T d, of Bronwvdd, who described himself as one of 
 the four Whig landlords of Cardiganshire, stated : ‘ Many of 
 ‘the people of Wales dread the coming 29th of September, 
 
 ‘ but this debate would not have been in vain if it resulted 
 ‘ in the restoration of a more cordial relationship between 
 ‘ landlord and tenant in that part of the country.’ 
 Mr. Henry Richard, on the other hand, predicted that there 
 would arise throughout the Principality ‘ a cry loud, clam- 
 orous, and importunate, for a tenant-right law for Wales, 
 such as had been given to Ireland.’ 
 
 The sequel of these evictions was described by Dr. Enoch 
 Davies, of Llandj^ssul, as follows : — “ As a result a feeling of 
 “ indignation was roused throughout the country ; public 
 “ meetings were held to protest against the landlords’ con- 
 “ duct, and to express sympathy with the victims. One such 
 “ meeting was held in London on Februarj^ 7th, 1870, pre- 
 “ sided over by the late Mr. Samuel Morley, M.P., one of the 
 “ principal speakers being the late Serjeant Parry, the latter 
 “ remarking ‘ that it was almost incredible that the things 
 “ ‘ which had taken place in Wales could occur in the latter 
 “‘half of the 19th century.’ A conference had been pre- 
 viously held at Aberystwyth (on the 16th of November, 
 “ 1869), at which the following resolution was passed : — 
 “ ‘ That this meeting deeply sympathises with the anxieties 
 “ ‘ and sufferings of those who have been evicted from their 
 “ ‘ holdings, or otherwise injured in their circumstances 
 “ ‘ in consequence of the conscientious exercise of the fran- 
 “ ‘ chise at the late elections, and pledges itself to aid the 
 “ ‘ fund that is now being raised with the view of compen- 
 “ ‘ sating them, so far as possible, for the losses they have 
 “ ‘ sustained.’ ” 
 
 “ In the absence of any “ custom ” of the country, these 
 tenants were unable to claim any compensation for un- 
 exhausted improvements. With the view of assessing their 
 losses in this respect, assessors were appointed to act for 
 each county and to report on the cases of evicted tenants 
 to the association which had been formed at Aberystwyth, 
 and which succeeded in raising an “ eviction fund ” of 
 several thousand pounds. The sum of £150 was thus paid 
 to a tenant who had been evicted on the Nanteos estate 
 
89 
 
 and payments were also made to the five tenants who had to 
 leave their farms on the Gwydyr estate.” 
 
 5 .—AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION AMD AGITATION 
 FOR LAND REFORM . 
 
 The preceding section was devoted almost wholly to the 
 account which the Commissioners give of the political 
 evictions associated with the elections of 1859 and 1868. 
 
 This section on the other hand will be devoted, broadly 
 speaking, to the events that have happened subsequent to 
 1868. But the election of 1868, it may be remarked, took 
 place nearly a quarter of a century prior to the appointment Sese evictions, 
 of the Welsh Land Commission, and all the evictions that 
 could be directly attributed to it must have been carried out 
 fully 20 years, at least, before this inquiry. Moreover, in 
 1871, the Ballot Act was passed, and all the evils of open voting 
 were surely done away with by that Act. What is therefore 
 the use, and where is the relevance of recounting grievances 
 which have become impossible subsequent to the Ballot Act, 
 and therefore do not exist so as to require remedying at the 
 present time ? This is a view which many probably take 
 with reference to the events described in the foregoing w<*t?5inion! 
 narrative; in fact it was clearly and forcibly put before 
 the Commission by Col. Cornwallis West in the follow- 
 ing terms (p. 170): — “I consider the statements made 
 “ by Mr. Thomas Ellis, M.P. (that tenants are capriciously 
 evicted, and dare not appear on political platforms, and 
 “ that Nonconformist farmers have been got rid of simply 
 “ because they were Nonconformists), is utterly unwarranted 
 “ by facts, and, so far as the county of Denbigh is concerned, 
 
 “ 1 believe it would be absolutely impossible to find a single 
 “ well-substantiated instance of tyranny, either social or 
 4 ‘ political, in recent times, and I decline to go back 30 or 
 “ 40 years ago, as many witnesses have been allowed to do, 
 
 “ when a good deal may have been done which legislation 
 “ and the more enlightened opinion of society has long since 
 “ rectified or rendered impossible. Part of the charge, if 
 4 ‘ true, would make out the Welsh farmer to be what I, at 
 “ any rate, have never found him to be, both subservient 
 “ and cowardly.” 
 
 With reference to this the Commissioners observe: — Presumably 
 “ We may probably infer that this statement fairly repre- oTOCTsan? 08 * 
 .sents the views of most landowners and agents, of a ° ents - 
 whom but very few made any reference whatsoever to the 
 political evictions of former days. The representatives of 
 
90 
 
 But not 
 accepted by 
 Commission 
 
 the larger estates, without a single exception, preferred to 
 let ‘ the dead past bury its dead,’ and as we have repeatedly 
 referred in this portion of our report to the Wynnstay 
 estate, we may here quote the words of its present chief 
 agent on his first appearance before us at Bala : ‘ I wish to 
 ‘ confine, with your permission, what 1 have to say entirely 
 ‘ to what has happened during my time, when I am account- 
 ‘ able for it ; I do not want to make a remark or say a word 
 ‘ about the past. I have too great respect and veneration for 
 * the memory of the late Sir Watkin. Whatever I have done 
 ‘ 1 will account for. I will not go back.’ And later : ‘ I do 
 4 not wish to say a single word about anything except what 
 ‘ has happened during the time that Sir Watkin has thought 
 ‘ fit to entrust me with his confidence.’ The present repre- 
 sentatives of several other estates on which political evictions 
 were alleged to have occurred, assumed an attitude similar 
 to that of Colonel Hughes, and preferred not to offer us any 
 rebutting or explanatory evidence with reference thereto, 
 though they exhibited every disposition to give us all other 
 possible information, both as to the past history as well as 
 the present management of their estates. This attitude may 
 possibly be interpreted as implying a belief that the events 
 of 30 or 40 years ago have faded from the memories of the 
 present generation, or, at all events, have no practical 
 influence on the present-day relations of landlord and tenant.’ 7 
 The Commissioners, however, state that they had “deem- 
 ed it necessary to refer at some length to those circumstances 
 in the past which brought the tenantry, as a class, into 
 greatest antagonism with the landowners,” in as much as 
 the}'' had, in the first instance and as a preliminary to their 
 inquiry, to investigate historically the origin and subsequent 
 development of the land question. With this end in view 
 they verified their facts as far as possible, but nevertheless do 1 
 not vouch for the absolute accuracy of every statement repro- 
 duced by them. “ But it seems to us that the real importance 
 of the incidents referred to is not based so much on the ques- 
 tion whether an individual case was stated to us with absolute 
 accuracy in every detail, but on what was the honest belief of 
 the tenantry and the public generally with reference to such 
 a case. If a tenant had to leave his farm under such circum- 
 stances as would lead him and his neighbours honestly to* 
 believe that he was so treated owing to his political opinions, 
 even though the real reason in the mind of the landlord was 
 a wholly different and a perfectly justifiable one, still, in the 
 minds of the tenants, the event would be just as productive 
 of a sense of insecurity, and of a bitterness of feeling, as if 
 
91 
 
 the landlord had acted from the very motives attributed to 
 him by the tenants. Moreover, people have unfortunately 
 long memories for what they conceive to be their wrongs and 
 grievances. Hereditary feuds between families live longer 
 than similar ties of friendship. The result is that the beliefs 
 of the tenantry as to what they conceive to be their wrongs — 
 and no one wishes to deny or palliate the injustice and cruelty 
 of evictions that followed the elections of 1859 and 1868, — 
 those impressions have continued fresh in the memories of 
 the few surviving tenants out of the many who were so 
 evicted, while they have also been handed down as family 
 traditions to their descendants, in whose minds, our evidence 
 too clearly proves, they rankle with a bitterness that, unfor- 
 tunately, has hitherto diminished but little with the lapse of 
 time.” (p. 170.) 
 
 The Commissioners therefore express their inability to 
 accept Col. Cornwallis West’s view as to the irrelevancy of an 
 inquiry into the relations of landlord and tenant in Wales 
 more than 20 years ago. It may also be pointed out that the 
 Commissioners accepted another class of evidence of far 
 greater antiquity, namely, the statistics presented by land- 
 owners and agents showing the continuity of families in the 
 occupation of the same holdings for many generations and even 
 centuries, and as these statistics were put forward with the 
 view of illustrating the fixity of tenure which Welsh tenants 
 enjoyed, it probably appeared to the Commissioners only fair 
 and reasonable that they should also receive evidence showing 
 that unpleasant exceptions to this continuity had occurred 
 within the memory of many of the witnesses who spoke with 
 reference to them. But at the same time, there is not 
 exhibited in the Report any tendency to minimise the changes 
 that have occurred since 1868 : 
 
 “We felt (the Commissioners say) that the present posi- Effect of le^isia^ 
 tion of things could not be understood without reference to ^°J 8 g l g bseq " ent 
 the past, and though ameliorative legislation has in the 
 interval been passed which has materially changed the legal 
 and civic position of the occupier, yet it has not had the effect 
 of breaking entirely the continuity of historical development 
 in the relations between landlord and tenant. 
 
 “As to this legislation, which, after all, is but the reflex of 
 that ‘ enlightened opinion of society ’ alluded to by Colonel 
 Cornwallis West, two if not three Acts of Parliament deserve 
 to be specially mentioned as having contributed towards- 
 modifying the previously existing condition of things, under 
 which political and other capricious evictions were possible. 
 
 We refer to the Ballot Act of 1871 and the Agricultural 
 
92 
 
 Ballot Act, 
 
 Political inter- 
 ference subse- 
 quent to its 
 passing. 
 
 Holdings Act of 1875, as amended by the subsequent Act 
 of 1883, while the Tithe Rentcharge Recovery Act of 1891 
 should also perhaps be added.” 
 
 We shall first deal with the observations which the 
 Commissioners make as to the results of the Ballot Act of 
 1871, which also happens to come first in chronological order. 
 
 “ That Act, it is manifest, provided a very substantial 
 measure of protection to those in the position of } 7 early 
 tenants generally, and the strong public opinion which grew 
 into existence about that time, in Wales and elsewhere, exer- 
 cised a wholesome influence in preventing a repetition on any 
 large scale of the incidents that followed the elections of 1859 
 and 1868. But the impression left by them was deep and 
 lasting. The loss of several seats by Welsh Liberal candi- 
 dates at the General Election of 1874 was generally attributed 
 to a distrust of the ballot, while growing confidence in its 
 secrecy has been claimed as an explanation for the Liberal 
 gains in 1880, and at subsequent elections up to 1895. The 
 complaints of undue interference with tenants in the exercise 
 of their rights and duties as citizens tended therefore, from 
 1871 onwards, to become fewer and fewer ; but they did not 
 wholly disappear, for, subsequent to that date, there still con- 
 tinued to appear a few sporadic instances of owners or agents, 
 in some part or other of the country, overstepping the proper 
 limits of moral suasion, and, in extreme cases, resorting to 
 the reprehensible method of intimidation, and, on a few 
 occasions, even to eviction” (p. 168). 
 
 Several allegations of undue interference with the rights 
 of electors, subsequent to 1871 are then referred to. The 
 Rev. William Thomas, Congregational minister, of Whitland, 
 Carmarthenshire, was obliged (so he said) to yield up the 
 possession of some land he rented on a neighbouring estate 
 owing to his refusal to vote — or to promise to do so — accord- 
 ing to his landlord’s request in 1874. Mr. H. A. Jeremy, 
 who was formerly general Liberal organiser for the county of 
 Carmarthen, deposed that a system of espionage had been 
 resorted to at the time of elections, and “ was resorted to 
 even at the last election (? 1889), and tenants have had to 
 suffer. Some tenants were even intimidated at the last bye- 
 election in West Carmarthen (in 1889), and were asked not 
 to go to the poll. I have received scores of letters informing 
 me that they were afraid to attend a Liberal meeting, or to 
 call at that committee-room on the election day, and assuring 
 at the same time that they would vote straight. In the year 
 1880, I myself, at 1.30 a.m., met 39 voters in a disused 
 building in the middle of the country, and, in order to con- 
 
93 
 
 vince them of the secrecy of the ballot, conducted a sham 
 election. So much afraid were they of their landlords that 
 they dared not come to a public meeting or be seen with 
 me.” 
 
 Very similar evidence is quoted (p.169) with reference to 
 the county of Montgomery. Mr . F. E . Hamer, formerly a local 
 journalist in that county but now a sub-editor of the Man- 
 chester Guardian, said that it was a very common occurrence 
 at Liberal meetings (during the general election of 1885 and 
 1886) to have requests made to him by fanners to omit their 
 names from the list of those who were present, as they did 
 not wish their landlords or agents to know they had been 
 attending Mr. (now Lord) Kendel’s meetings. The Rev. 
 
 Owen Evans, D.D., formerly of Llanbrynmair, now of Lon- 
 don, mentioned that owing to his own activity in 1880 in 
 supporting the Liberal candidate just mentioned, he was 
 indirectly deprived of the use of some fields which had been 
 previously sub-let to him for a period of 13 years by a tenant 
 of Sir W. W. Wynn, while a Newtown witness (Mr. David 
 Hamer) alleged that abatements granted other tenants were 
 refused him owing to the part he took in the same election. 
 
 An Anglesey journalist, who also fills the post of Secre- 
 tary to the County Liberal Association, stated that he 
 knew of many tenants who dared not attend Liberal com- 
 mittees and public meetings at the election of 1892 for fear 
 of their landlords. Two instances of political evictions 
 which were said to have occurred after the election of 
 1874 were also cited from this county. 
 
 But, broadly speaking, these cases appear to be excep- ®ut m whole-’ ; 
 tional. In fact, referring to “ the very substantial measure sa e evic 10n3 ’ 
 of protection ” afforded by the Ballot, the Commissioners say 
 (p. 171) : — “ No more striking proof of this is required than 
 the fact, universally admitted before us, that nothing in the 
 nature of wholesale evictions had been carried out, or even 
 attempted by any Welsh landlord subsequent to the passing 
 of the Act. We have quoted so largely from Dr. Enoch 
 Davies as to the evictions of 1868, that we are glad to be 
 able to quote him once more as to the discontinuance, in his 
 district, of that method of dealing with tenants. On being 
 asked as to whether he considered the ballot a protection 
 against any political influence with regard to the tenants, he 
 promptly replied, ‘ Oh, yes ! the fact that we returned our 
 ‘member last time (1892) with 2,000 majority proves that/ 
 and he further added, ‘ I do not know of any political evic- 
 tions/ subsequent, we presume, to the Ballot Act, ‘ and I 
 doubt if there is a landlord that would really have the face 
 
94 
 
 to evict a man for it now ; ’ and though he added later on 
 that ‘ the same terror ’ still existed among the tenants, and 
 that he ‘ did not know when it would be obliterated,’ he 
 nevertheless characterised the Ballot Act as a “ great protec- 
 tion ’ to voters. 
 
 Opinions as to “We could adduce the statements of many other witnesses 
 
 Ballot Act. somewhat to the effect, but this is happily unnecessary, as 
 there can be no doubt that the Ballot Act so far as it went 
 did, as a matter of fact, render impossible most of the abuses 
 of power which characterised the days of open voting. But 
 we may pause for a moment to inquire whether the protec- 
 tion it afforded is adequate to the circumstances in which 
 tenant farmers are placed. Mr. Morgan Evans, of Oakford, 
 another Cardiganshire witness whom we have also quoted 
 before, expressed the opinion that the protection of the Act 
 is ‘ not sufficient at all, because, for one thing, they go in 
 4 now for keeping the voters at home. They know how they 
 4 would vote if they were allowed to go to the booth, and the 
 ‘ only secure way of managing it is to keep them at home.’ 
 
 A case from Carmarthenshire, which occurred in 1889, 
 is then quoted, so as to illustrate the application of this 
 method of electioneering. Five tenants, all known to be 
 Liberals, were asked by their landlord, a Conservative, to 
 abstain from voting. “ So great was the pressure brought to 
 bear upon them, that 4 of them acceded, while only one had 
 the courage to go to vote and so to disregard his landlord’s 
 request.” 
 
 “A Carnarvonshire tenant, who had himself received a 
 notice to quit in 1869 owing, as he alleged, to his political 
 opinions, would not give his assent to the suggestion that 
 there is no longer any great ground to be afraid of such 
 political interference in the future. ‘ The pressure on an 
 * elector in canvassing is so great that the Ballot Act is prac- 
 ‘ tically ineffective, and the belief is that the elector will not 
 1 derive that benefit from the Ballot Act until canvassing is 
 6 abolished.’ Mr. Bryn Roberts also alluded to the fact that 
 yearly tenants are ‘ not in a position to exercise their civic 
 
 How to improve rights without fear,’ and are consequently ‘ most of them 
 Liberals by conviction and Tories by profession,’ but he did 
 not, however, advocate the same remedy as the preceding 
 witness. The prohibition of all personal canvassing is, more- 
 over, not likely to commend itself to the wisdom of Parlia- 
 ment as a remedy for the evil in question, and the same may 
 perhaps be said also of the less drastic proposal to make it an 
 offence under the Corrupt Practices Act for any person to 
 ask an elector to abstain from recording his vote at an elec- 
 
tion, even though we may regard such abstention as a serious 
 neglect of that duty which every citizen owes to the State. 
 
 In fact whatever further protection against political inter- 
 ferences may be deemed necessary for tenant farmers should 
 probably be looked for in the direction of an ampler security 
 of their tenure rather than of any amendment of the law 
 relating to elections.” 
 
 “The second great legislative enactment which has modi- ^ r 1 ^ 1 gg. r 2 1 ct 
 tied the position of tenant farmers is the Agricultural 
 Holdings Act of 1875 as amended by the Act of 1883. 
 
 From one point of view it is difficult to exaggerate the 
 importance of the earlier Act of 1875. It was the earliest 
 legislative recognition of the principle that the tenant is 
 legally entitled to have either the repayment or the value 
 of the money spent by him on his holding. It was also the 
 first unmistakable precedent for legislative interference with 
 the so-called freedom of contract between landlord and 
 tenant. ‘As a foundation for future legislation — the 
 * thin end of the wedge — it was most valuable ; as a solution 
 ‘ of the question it was worthless.’* An honest attempt to 
 remedy its defects was made by passing the subsequent Act 
 of 1883, which, however, makes no alteration whatsoever in 
 the position of the sitting tenant, its benefits being wholly 
 confined to the outgoing tenant on quitting his holding. 
 
 For the unexhausted value of specific improvements effected 
 by such a person, the Act provides under certain conditions 
 a large measure of compensation. But as we shall have 
 occasion to point out later on when we come to consider the 
 provisions of the Act more in detail, it does not apply to the 
 ordinary acts of agriculture that the ordinary farmer, who 
 has little or no capital, does. ‘ It is the rich tenant who 
 ‘ gets the benefit of the Act,’ says the same authority! whom 
 we have already quoted, ‘ the poor tenant remains where he 
 6 was.’ The Act has, however, materially altered the legal 
 status of the quitting tenant, but unfortunately its direct 
 effect on the small occupiers who form the bulk of Welsh 
 agriculturists has been comparatively trifling. In most 
 Welsh-speaking districts the Act was described as a dead 
 letter, its provisions were unknown or misunderstood, and it 
 was a general belief, even among man} 7- of the better educated 
 
 . — . > 
 
 * Willis Bund’s Agricultural Holdings Acts (2nd ed.) p. 3. 
 t Ibid., p. 15. Writing immediately after the passing of the Act, Mr. 
 
 Bund said : “For the rich tenant who can afford to lay out money on 
 “ their farms it will certainly be a boon ; but for the poor tenant who 
 “lives from hand to mouth, who has no capital, who just struggles on 
 “ from year to year and can make no improvements, it is a very doubtful 
 “ benefit.” 
 
Tithe Recovery 
 Act. 
 
 The last stage in 
 the histor y of the 
 Rand Question. 
 
 Commencing 
 with Tithe Dis- 
 turbances. 
 
 96 
 
 that landowners could and did contract themselves out of it. 
 In all probability the greatest benefit which Welsh tenants 
 have derived from the Act is an indirect one, namely, that 
 on many estates fresh agreements have been drawn up and 
 adopted, containing provisions as to compensation more in 
 accordance with the spirit of the Act than those which were 
 previously in force.” 
 
 With reference to the third legislative change referred 
 to, viz., the Tithe Rentcharge Recovery Act of 1891 it is ob- 
 served (p. 172) that this also “has quietly effected a consider- 
 able improvement in the relations between landlord and 
 tenant. It has made clear to all parties the fact that the 
 tithe is the first charge on land and as such has precedence 
 of the rent payable to the landlord. By making the latter 
 responsible for its payment in the first instance, the tithe 
 has been in many cases practically merged in the rent, and 
 the tenant is therefore not conscious of its existence qua, 
 tithe, so that the inherent repugnance which most Non- 
 conformists felt towards such a charge is not now aroused, 
 owing to its indirect payment. One constant cause of 
 much friction and ill-feeling between many landlords and 
 tenants has thus been quietly, but, we trust, effectually 
 done away with through the instrumentality of this Act.” 
 
 After its passing, the tithe disturbances, which will be 
 referred to presently, “ were largely discontinued, except in a 
 few isolated districts, more particularly in Cardiganshire, 
 such as the parish of Pembryn, where forced sales and fre- 
 quent conflicts with the police occur even to the present day.” 
 
 The Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883 and the Tithe 
 Rent Charge Recovery Act of 1891 fall chronologically 
 within the Fourth (and last) of those periods into which we 
 have divided this history of the land question. This period, 
 which commenced about 1880, is coincident with the agricul- 
 tural depression, which manifested itself in — 
 
 (1) a resistance to the payment of tithes ; and 
 
 (2) the organisation of the demand for land reform. 
 
 As to the former, the Commissioners quote the dictum 
 of “a competent critic,” Professor Henry Jones, now 
 of Glasgow, who in 1888 said that “the tithe distur- 
 bances were just the first utterances of agricultural 
 distress ; and those who consider it to be merely the 
 outcome of dislike to the English Church simply mis- 
 understand its character.” The account which Sir John 
 Bridge gives of the origin of the anti-tithe movement is 
 also quoted as follows : “ There existed in Wales from old 
 times a strong feeling among the Nonconformists that the 
 
97 
 
 tithes were improperly claimed and taken by the Church of 
 England, and a desire has grown up, not that the tithes 
 should be abolished, but that they should be applied to some 
 lay purpose for the benefit of the nation. This feeling has 
 arisen from causes partly religious, partly social, partly 
 national, and partly political, and though it had formerly 
 been to a great extent passive, it became active and aggressive 
 when the demand of the farmers (made towards the end of 
 1885) for a reduction of the rentcharge was refused.” 
 
 As to the subsequent formulation of this demand, the Account of the 
 Commissioners give the following account : “ In September, movemen • 
 1886, a league called “The Farmers’ Tithe Defence League” 
 was formed. Its object seems to have been to compel the 
 tithe owners to make reductions, and the means they em- 
 ployed were to persuade the farmers not to pay the tithes 
 without being distrained upon, and if distrained upon, not to 
 pay until the goods distrained upon were sold. It was con- 
 sidered that the sale would operate as a protest against the 
 action of the tithe owner in distraining. The very fact that 
 the tithe payers asked for reductions in, and not total 
 exemption from, the rentcharge shows, however, that they 
 were not solely actuated by conscientious objections, but that, 
 suffering as they were from the agricultural depression, they 
 were eager to relieve themselves of at least a portion of that 
 burden which they thought they could throw off with the 
 greatest chance of impunity, and, at all events, without 
 jeopardising the security of their tenure or otherwise in- 
 juriously affecting their relations with their landlords. It is, 
 therefore, the fact of the existence of the depression that 
 alone explains the rapidity with which the policy of the 
 4 anti-tithers ’ was taken up throughout Wales.” 
 
 In one sense, the anti-tithe movement was the Rebecca 
 riots over again, but this time in North Wales. During the 
 distress of the forties, the South Wales farmers found it easier 
 to relieve themselves of the payment of the turnpike tolls than 
 of rates or rent ; the unpopular gatekeeper was more easily 
 combated than the rate-collector or landlord. In 1885-88, 
 the North Wales farmers regarded the tithe and the tithe- 
 owners in much the same way as the turnpike toll and the 
 gate-keeper had been regarded by their South Wales brethren 
 a generation previously. They could not relieve themselves of 
 a portion of the rent, their landlords were too strong for them, 
 but the ordinary tithe owner was less able to fight them, 
 and, moreover, payment of tithe had been always, more 
 or less, unpopular with the bulk of the people. On 
 this account, the non-payment of the tithe commended 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 itself very generally to the popular fancy) and once a League 
 was started, with that policy inscribed on its banner, “ it went 
 on establishing branches, and payment of tithes was in many 
 places refused, so that it became necessary to distrain, and 
 the police were called upon to protect the agents of the 
 tithe owners in carrying out the distresses. Much excite- 
 ment and some disorder prevailed at most of these sales, 
 culminating in considerable disturbances at Llangwm, on the 
 25th and 27th of May, and in still more serious riots at 
 Mochdre (both in Denbighshire), on the 27th June, 1887, 
 when the Biot Act had to be read, and in the subsequent 
 conflict, 50 civilians and 84 policemen were injured. 
 
 “After the latter event, a local inquiry was immediately 
 instituted by the Home Secretary ‘ into the origin, extent, 
 and character ’ of those disturbances, and the Commissioner, 
 Mr. (now Sir) John Bridge reported thereon under date of 
 19th August 1887. 
 
 “In the autumn of the same year it was decided to extend 
 the operations of the Tithe League, by including within its 
 scope the questions of ‘ (1) tithe (2) disestablishment and 
 disendowment of the Church of England in Wales ; and (3) 
 all the important questions connected with land.’ The re- 
 organised society assumed the name of ‘ the Welsh Land, 
 Commercial, and Labour League,’ and its President, Mr. 
 John Parry, of Llanarmon, was examined by us [the Com- 
 missioners say] with reference to its objects. These, briefly 
 stated, appear to have been (so far as land was concerned) 
 fair rents, fixity of tenure, full compensation for improve- 
 ments, land courts (or a system of arbitration) limitation of 
 mining royalties, abolition of State loans to landowners, but 
 the grant of such loans for the purchase of land by occupying 
 tenants and labourers, the abolition of all game laws, and the 
 throwing open of rivers to all fishermen. 
 
 “ The League also continued its former activity in resisting 
 the payment of tithe, for in its report for 1888, it is stated 
 that ‘ since the formation of the League (a little more than 
 two years ago), about 300 farmers who were members, have 
 had their stock distrained upon, and many actual sales have 
 taken place, in the different counties of the Principality, but 
 all the losses which have been suffered, and all the costs 
 which have been incurred, have been paid in full, including 
 the costs of our solicitors for attending sales, &c., for the 
 protection of our members.’ Probably the most serious 
 disturbance in connection with the distraint sales in 1888 
 occurred at Llannefydd, Denbighshire, on the 18th of May, 
 to which the attention of the House of Commons was called 
 
99 
 
 (on a motion for its adjournment^) on the 7th of June follow- 
 ing, when it was alleged that an indiscriminate attack had 
 been made ‘ by emergency men and police upon unoffending 
 men, women, and young persons ’ attending the said sales.” Landownsrs 
 
 In a later portion of their Report fp. 311), the Com- attitude towards 
 missioners, while discussing the question of insecurity 0 f Antl ' Tlthers * 
 tenure, refer to the attitude of some of the chief landowners 
 towards those tenants who adopted this policy of passive 
 resistance to the payment of tithes. “ It brought landlords 
 and tenants into sharp antagonism,” it is remarked, “ and 
 resulted even in a few evictions.” 
 
 “ With reference to the Wynnstay Estates, Col. Hughes 
 stated that ‘ the non-payment of tithe, shortly before the 
 passing of the Tithe Rent-charge Act, 1891, caused slight 
 friction on the Welsh portion, but the extreme cases in 
 question were, with one exception, amicably settled.’ 
 
 “ The exception was the case of Mr. Rowland Evans, now 
 of Eeniarth, Meifod, but, previous to the dispute in question, a 
 tenant of Farchoel, Llanfihangel, on the Llwydiarth estate of 
 Sir W. W. Wynn. Farchoel had been held by his family for* 
 about 120 years. Evans, being a Nonconformist, refused to 
 pay the tithe, and when pressed to do so by the agent simply 
 replied, ‘ I will die on the road before I pay a parson.’ The 
 result was that he had to leave. A notice to quit was also 
 served on a neighbour for the same reason, and after his 
 tenancy was thus terminated, the farm revalued, and the 
 rent raised, he was re-admitted as a tenant. 
 
 “ Early in the tithe controversy Sir W. W. Wynn adopted 
 a rule, which, in effect, was that tenants on his estate had to 
 choose between paying the tithe to whomsoever it was due, 
 or quitting their farms in case they refused to pay the tithe. 
 
 ‘ Sir Watkin put down his foot in the beginning, just before 
 I commenced my agency,’ said Col. Hughes, ‘ that tithe was 
 a part of the rent and it was to be treated as such.’ The 
 policy of the anti-tithe payers had, on the other hand, received 
 a kind of legal sanction from some statements made by Mr. 
 
 Justice Field in the course of his charge at the Montgomery- 
 shire Assizes, held at Newtown in July, 1888. His words 
 were interpreted to mean that the tithe-payers had a per- 
 fectly legal right to refuse to pay tithe except under distraint, 
 and to allow their goods to be sold in default of payment, so 
 long as they did not commit, or cause to be committed, any 
 act of violence. 
 
 “ Among many other instances, we might mention that 
 there was also considerable friction with reference to the 
 tithe on the Kinmel Estate, one tenant (Mr. David Edwards, 
 
100 
 
 Intensity of feel- 
 ing reflected iu 
 violence of Press. 
 
 Lord Penrhyn’s 
 view as to un- 
 reality of Land 
 Question. 
 
 who thereupon left for a farm near Esher, in Surrey) being 
 evicted for its non-payment, and several others being ‘ spoken 
 to ’ by the agent. Some landlords and agents in other parts 
 of the country appear to have expressed their strong dis- 
 pleasure if any of their tenants were members of the Tithe 
 or Land League. Mr. Walter Jones, in writing to a tenant 
 in February, 1888, said ‘ tenants will have to choose which 
 they will have as friends, the landlords or the Welsh Land 
 League.’ Its President (Mr. J. Parry), who had from 1879 
 to 1888 acted as local agent for the Gelligynan Estate in 
 Denbighshire, had to give up his agency and quit his farm 
 in November, 1888, owing to his connection with the League, 
 and other instances of a somewhat similar character could be 
 further adduced from the evidence tendered before us.” 
 
 One inevitable result of all this friction was that party 
 feeling ran high, as the Commissioners observe in the follow- 
 ing terms (p. 17b ): — 
 
 “During these years of agitation against the payment 
 of tithes, much ill-feeling was aroused, and the bitterness of 
 the conflict between the different parties unfortunately made 
 its way into the columns of the vernacular press. Several 
 examples were brought to our notice of the intemperate and 
 occasionally abusive language employed by anonjunous cor- 
 respondents in 1886 and the two succeeding years ; but it 
 appeared to us that the excesses of which such writers were 
 undoubtedly guilty must have been largely attributable to 
 the tension created by the public excitement of that period, 
 yet in some instances there may possibly have been an 
 intention of creating ill-feeling and hostility of interests for 
 political purposes.” 
 
 This pronouncement of the Commissioners has much 
 significance in view of Lord Penrhyn’s contention that “ the 
 agitation upon the Welsh Land Question was unreal in 
 origin, and had not its source in any genuine sense o± 
 grievance on the part of the agricultural community . 
 
 (but) was deliberately fomented by journalistic sensational 
 writings with the object of creating a feeling in the country 
 which would tend to the advantage of the proprietors of the 
 vernacular press and to the detriment of the Church and 
 landowners in Wales.” This view, it should be observed, 
 was put forward not as Lord Penrhyn’s private opinion 
 simply, but as the theory on which the landowners of North 
 Wales have based their defence for the last ten years and more. 
 
 Giving evidence in his official capacity as chairman of 
 the North Wales Property Defence Association which was 
 formed in December, 1886, Lord Penrhyn said (Q. 22,787) : 
 
101 
 
 From the foundation of this association and for some time 
 prior to that date, careful watch has been kept on the 
 publications of the vernacular press, and translations of 
 articles and letters affecting the interests of landowners have 
 been made for the association.” With the view of supporting 
 his contention, his Lordship then tendered to the Commission 
 extracts from these translations which extend to some eight 
 folio pages in the Minutes of Evidence. Similar extracts 
 were also handed in to the Commissioners by Mr. T. Prichard, 
 agent for the Bodorgan Estate in Anglesey, while Mr. 
 
 J. E. Vincent put questions, through the Commission, to 
 Mr. Gee, the proprietor of the Baner, so as to elicit an 
 acknowledgment of his authorship of some editorials pub- 
 lished in his paper and cited before the Commission. Broadly 
 speaking, the view of Lord Penrhyn and of his Association 
 is that the newspaper articles (coupled with other forms of 
 agitation) produced the so-called Land Question, while his 
 opponents’ view seems to be that the excesses of the Welsh 
 press were occasioned by the excitement of the anti-tithe 
 movement, which was the first utterance of agricultural 
 distress, and the first attempt at organising a previously 
 •existing demand for land reform. 
 
 “The anti-tithe feeling was strong in many parts of Anti mthe nt ° f 
 Wales, I know,” Lord Penrhyn himself admitted (Qu. 22,859), movement so as 
 “ and I have no doubt there was bad feeling on that account ; Reform de Land 
 but those people who were conducting the anti-tithe move- 
 ment, as is proved by those extracts which I have read, 
 thought it better to enlarge their anti-tithe league which 
 they had found, and to take in the land question as well.” 
 
 This exactly coincides with the account given above by 
 Mr. John Parry, as to the enlargement of the scope of the 
 Anti-Tithe League, which moreover a few years later — about 
 1890 or 1891 — appears to have been absorbed in the North 
 and South Wales Liberal Federations. 
 
 It is observed b}^ the Commissioners that these organisa- 
 tions* “from their first establishment in the winter of 
 
 * The Federations further contributed to the discussion of the question 
 by the publication, in 1887, of “The Land Question and a Land Bill with 
 “ special reference to Wales,” by the late Mr. R. A. Jones, barrister-at- 
 law, and of “ Landlordism in Wales,” by ‘ Adfyfyr.’ A reply to the latter, 
 written by Mr. J. E. Vincent, under the title of “Tenancy in Wales,” was 
 published by the North "Wales Property Defence Association. Welsh 
 translations of these three works were also published by the different 
 associations. A series of “ Letters from Wales, dealing with the state of 
 “ Wales in especial relation to the land, the Church, and the tithe, by a 
 “ Special Correspondent,” also appeared in the Times at various dates in 
 1887 and 1888, and were subsequently re-published in book form. 
 
 Numerous other publications dealing with the land question have since 
 been issued, both by the Associations mentioned as well as by private in- 
 dividuals, a complete list being given in the Bibliography printed in 
 Appendix B to the Report. 
 
102 
 
 Prominence 
 given to the 
 question in elec- 
 tions. 
 
 And conferences. 
 
 1886-7, had given considerable prominence to the Welsh 
 land question, and had, in October, 1887, at a joint con- 
 ferance held at Aberystwyth, declared that ‘ the enactment 
 of a measure which should confer upon the tenant reasonable 
 security of tenure at a fair rent, with full compensation for 
 improvements, was absolutely necessary in order to avert the 
 threatened ruin of the peasantry of the Principality.’ ” 
 
 But before the Welsh land question had finally reached 
 this stage, it had occupied a conspicious position before the 
 public in connection not only with the Anti-Tithe League,, 
 but with most of the contested county elections of the last 
 15 years. Though the account which the Commissioners 
 give of this stage in the growth of the land question is some- 
 what detailed (see pp. 173, 175-6), it deserves to be re- 
 produced at length, as it brings the history down to the 
 present time. 
 
 “According to the former Liberal agent for Carmarthenshire (Mr. H_ 
 A. Jeremy), ‘ temperance, church, and land questions were the three 
 prominent local questions that have influenced the elector in all the 
 elections since 1880. Special prominence was given to the land question 
 in all the addresses of Liberal candidates ; so much prominence was given 
 to the land question during the contest between Powell and Emlyn in 
 1885 that a leaflet was issued from the Central Liberal Committee con- 
 trasting the votes of the two, re the Bill (the Agricultural Holdings Act of 
 1883) and its amendments. After the distribution of that leaflet the re- 
 sult of the poll became a foregone conclusion. I heard Mr. Powel^ 
 attributing his grand success at the poll of 1885 to his being in touch on 
 the land question with the farmers.’ “ The desire of a land court or its 
 equivalent has been over and over again most emphatically expressed by 
 an overwhelming majority of the Carmarthenshire peasants.” 
 
 “ In North Wales also, the land question appears to have been one of 
 the issues of the election of 1885. The prominence which the movement 
 acquired from that time onwards was more immediately due to the fact 
 that the agricultural depression, which (subject to some fluctuations) had 
 existed since 1879, assumed towards the end of 1883 far more serious and 
 alarming proportions, increasing in intensity in 1886 and lasting to the 
 present time, with the exception of a temporary improvement in 1889-90. 
 
 “ It appears that at the commencement efforts were made, at least in 
 some districts, to have the situation discussed on non-political lines. 
 Mixed conferences of landlords and tenants were thus held “about 1886.” 
 At Newtown, in Montgomeryshire, the way in which they originated 
 deserves to be mentioned : 
 
 “ 1 An advertisement, with no name attached, was inserted in the paper 
 convening a meeting of farmers at the Public Rooms for the following 
 Tuesday, When the farmers met, there was a letter on the table 
 addressed to the chairman of the meeting. Mr. S. Miller, a well-known 
 farmer, was, if I remember rightly, elected to the chair. After some 
 demur he opened the envelope, and it contained a statement pointing out 
 the farmers’ difficulties and suggesting that landlords and tenants should 
 be asked to consult together. The suggested conferences were held, they 
 attracted the notice of the principal London aud provincial papers, and 
 this friendly method of consulting together was unanimously commended 
 by all parties. But the farmef who really initiated the movement was 
 extremely anxious that the part he had taken should not be made public, 
 and to this day, I believe, there are only a few who know the author of 
 those conferences.’ 
 
103 
 
 Mr. F. E. Hamer, who gave us this account of the proceedings, then 
 went on to say ; — 1 1 asked him the reason for his reserve, and he 
 explained that he had a hot-headed landlord, and that if he were turned 
 out of his farm it would be the ruin of himself and his family.’ 
 
 A more general conference of farmers from different origin of the 
 parts of North Wales was held at Rhyl in June, 1886. It ^JJj5£. BlU 
 appointed a committee to draw np proposals for some 
 remedial legislation, and by the end of August a ‘ Bill for 
 amending the Law relative to Agricultural Holdings in 
 Wales’ had been drafted by the committee. Its -proposals 
 were considered at a private conference held at Denbigh on 
 28th October, followed, on the evening of the same day, by a 
 public meeting, attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Denbigh- 
 shire (Col. Cornwallis West) and several members of 
 Parliament. The Bill was subsequently entrusted to Mr. 
 
 J. Bryn Roberts, M.P., and after being somewhat remodelled 
 was introduced by him into the House of Commons in 
 January, 1887, under the short title of “ Land Law (Wales) 
 
 Bill.” In a memorandum which preceded the Bill, its chief 
 objects were stated to be — 
 
 (i a ) “ To enable a tenant to refer to arbitration on land- its objects, 
 lord’s refusal to consent to ‘ first class ’ improvement, and to 
 extend the right to compensation. 
 
 ( b ) “ To enable a fair rent and reasonable conditions of 
 tenancy as to cultivation to be fixed by arbitration. 
 
 (c) “ To give the tenant greater security of tenure by 
 restricting the right of capricious eviction.” 
 
 It was re-introduced in each of the four succeeding 
 sessions (1888-91), but no opportunity was found for moving 
 its second reading, or for otherwise discussing its provisions.” 
 
 In the meantime, however, “the parliamentary represen- And subsequent 
 tatives of Wales had been collecting information respecting Instory * 
 the circumstances of W elsh farmers by means of a schedule of 
 questions which, in 1887, they addressed to correspondents 
 in Wales from whom they appear to have received numerous 
 replies. Moreover, the attention of the House was on several 
 occasions incidently drawn to the Welsh land question in the 
 course of other debates, * notably on the 29th of June, 1888, 
 when the agricultural depression in Wales was the subject of 
 
 * For example, the debate on the second reading of the Mountains, 
 Rivers, and Pathways (Wales) Bill, introduced by Mr. Thomas Ellis 
 (April, 1888) ; the debates on proposed amendments of the Local Govern- 
 ment Bill of 1888 (e.g . , an amendment moved on 22nd of June, 1888, “ that 
 the power now vested in the Woods, Forests, and Land Revenue Com- 
 missioners should be transferred to the County Councils ”) ; and the 
 prolonged debates on the Tithe Rentcliarge Recovery Bill. 
 
104 
 
 Appointment of 
 a Commission 
 urged by Mr. 
 Gladstone. 
 
 And by North 
 Wales Land- 
 owners. 
 
 a motion * made by Mr. Thomas Ellis, the member for 
 Merioneth, who also re-introduced the Land Bill (in a modi- 
 fied form), and moved its second reading on the 16th of 
 March, 1892. Practically the only change in the new Bill, 
 as compared with that of Mr. Bryn Roberts, was that the 
 procedure of the Highland [or Crofters] Act was more closely 
 followed, so that a land court was substituted for arbitrators 
 as the authority to fix fair conditions of tenancy and rent, and 
 provisions were also introduced for regulating mountain sheep 
 walks. In the course of this debate the Bight Hon. W. E. 
 Gladstone urged upon Her Majesty’s Government [of which 
 Lord Salisbury was then Prime Minister], the desirability of 
 instituting an inquiry into the Welsh case. 
 
 “ A similar recommendation was also made from another 
 quarter. The North Wales Property Defence Association 
 which had been formed at a meeting held on the 11th Dec- 
 ember, 1885, at Chester, passed a resolution ( See Qu. 22, 
 787), on the 27th April, 1882, to the effect that ‘the time 
 ‘ had arrived for the appointment of a Royal Commission 
 ‘ to inquire into the relations between landowners and 
 ‘ tenants in Wales in consequence of the grave charges 
 ‘ brought forward in the press and in Parliament, against 
 ‘ owners of land in the principality, and that the Government 
 ‘ be requested to take' steps for the appointment of such a 
 ‘ Commission at the earliest possible opportunity.’ This 
 request was, however, not granted. 
 
 “ After the general election, which took place in July, 
 1892 [and which resulted in the return of the Liberal party to 
 power], Mr. Gladstone in a speech which he delivered at 
 Cwmllan, near Beddgelert (on the side of Snowdon), on the 
 13th of September, indicated his intention to institute an 
 inquiry into the Welsh land question, with the result that on 
 the 27th March, 1893, a Royal Commission was issued to us 
 ‘to inquire into the conditions and circumstances under which 
 land in Wales and Monmouthshire is held, occupied and 
 cultivated.’ 
 
 * The terms of this motion were 'as follows : — “That having regard to 
 the special circumstances of Wales and the prevailing agricultural depres- 
 sion, and their effect upon the welfare of the Welsh people, this House is 
 of opinion that Her Majesty’s Government should pay immediate atten- 
 tion to the subject, and take the necessary steps to provide a measure of 
 relief which shall secure fairer conditions of tenure, and a re-adjustment 
 of rent more equitably corresponding to the fall in prices, and make such 
 other provisions as will enable the cultivators of the soil to meet the try- 
 ing circumstances in which they are placed.” It was moved by Mr. 
 Thomas Ellis, and seconded by Mr. A. H. D. Acland, but rejected by a 
 majority of 18, the votes being, for 128, against 146. 
 
105 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SECURITY OF TENURE AND LAND HUNGER. 
 
 1 — THE SUBSTITUTION OF YEARLY FOR 
 LEASEHOLD TENANCIES. 
 
 The facts which are collected in the preceding chapter 
 appear to show that there has existed for a very considerable 
 period, among the tenant farmers of Wales, a feeling of dissatis- 
 faction with their position ; that this has manifested itself from 
 time to time and with varying intensity; bnt that it was greatly 
 accentuated by the depression of their industry which com- 
 menced about 1880. It is necessary now to investigate more 
 minutely the causes of this dissatisfaction, and the Commis- 
 sioners therefore pass on, in Part III. of the first “book” of 
 their Report (p. 277 et seq .), to consider the system of tenure 
 according to which the agricultural area of the country is 
 occupied. 
 
 The first observation which they make is that “in Wales, 
 as in England, by far the greater proportion of the land is 
 occupied by tenants as distinct from owners,” but that “ the 
 proportion is however slightly higher in Wales than in the 
 other two parts of Great Britain.” Taking the Agricultural 
 Returns for any recent year — it is not essential that it should 
 be the last for which statistics have been published, — it is 
 found that, for example, in 1892, “ of the total extent of cul- 
 tivated land, the respective percentages of land occupied by 
 tenants and by owners severally were in Wales (excluding 
 Monmouthshire) 88*4 to 11*6, in Scotland 87'4 to 12’6, in 
 England (including Monmouthshire) 84*9 to 15T, the average 
 for the whole of Great Britain being 85’6 to 14*4. The 
 Welsh counties which show the highest percentage of tenanted 
 land are Merioneth (92-5), Glamorgan (92‘2), Carnarvon, Flint, 
 and Montgomery (91*8 each), while at the bottom of the list 
 are those counties in which occupying freeholders are notor- 
 iously most numerous, viz., Cardigan (79*4), Pembroke (85T), 
 Carmarthen (86'2), and Anglesey (86*9). Midway between 
 these two groups come the remaining counties of Monmouth 
 (89 - 5), Radnor (89*7), Brecon (90'3), and Denbigh (90*7).” 
 Practically the same proportions are, obtained by comparing, 
 
 Tenants about 
 six times as 
 numerous as 
 occupying- 
 freeholders in 
 Wales. 
 
Table showing the extent of Cultivated Land occupied by Tenants and Owners respectively, with the 
 Percentage of each Class to the Total for Great Britain, England, Wales, and Scotland, and for each 
 County of Wales, in 1892. 
 
 10(5 
 
 Percentage (to Total Occupiers) of 
 
 Occupiers who 
 Rent and Own 
 land. 
 
 hhhhhoi^^ohoin 
 
 QtNIH'X) 
 r— lO iO O 
 
 
 Occupiers who 
 Own land, i.e. 
 Freeholders. 
 
 cb 6i o bi if. 6i do if. if. if. 03 rH 
 
 i — 1 03 rH rH i—l 
 
 NOHN 
 
 OrHCON 
 rH rH rH 
 
 11-9 
 
 Occupiers who 
 Rent land, i.e. 
 Tenant 
 Farmers. 
 
 (^(^lscpcpooo^wioipic 
 
 bbNbHODOOOJHHib'O 
 
 ooooisooaioooooooiajoooo 
 
 Y< GO I>- rH 
 J>» CO rH 03 
 
 ooooooai 
 
 0 
 
 r? 
 
 GO 
 
 Percentage (to Total) 
 of Land occupied by 
 
 Owners. 
 
 rHi^oroj^coi^cpioi^oco 
 
 cboocbcbocbiLj^cb^o 
 
 rH 03 rH rH 1 — 1 
 
 0 O rH 0 
 rH O O Ol 
 rH 1 — 1 rH rH 
 
 'd 
 
 rH 
 
 Tenants. 
 
 ©CO^OlOTJNCO^iOCCHN 
 ooaoHOHNciHiia 
 OOQN0005C505050iC100 00 
 
 rjf 10 Oi ^ 
 00 O H? 
 
 00 CO GO GO 
 
 O 
 
 id 
 
 GO 
 
 Total Acreage 
 of 
 
 Cultivated 
 
 Land. 
 
 NiOONTJHHOiCOCNlNOOOO 
 ON^J-OCO^OOiCtMOOCO 
 HON00»0O03HHNO03 
 o' r-T of H CO 03 " o' of of of o' J>f 
 iOON^ONOIOOCONHCO 
 1—1 03 03 1 — ( 03 1 — 1 03 rH 03 CO rH 
 
 2.859.803 
 
 244,607 
 
 24,924,204 
 
 4,901,543 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 00 
 
 0 ^ 
 
 03 " 
 
 CO 
 
 Acreage of Land occupied 
 
 h y 
 
 Its Owners. 
 
 T?TflCO01SO5NiOCO^HO3 
 OOXClH^OOr IQOICDOO 
 ©lOOOO.OOTflOOlHCOOW 
 
 of of o' 0 o' iof 1 — T h of cb' i>f jof 
 
 1 — 1 1 — 1 1 0 CO 1 — 1 03 rH 03 rH 03 XjH rH 
 
 331,678 
 
 25,639 
 
 3,759,161 
 
 615,840 
 
 4,706,679 
 
 Its Tenants. 
 
 COHr?HT?C301C005CONCD 
 (MO^^iriOCJHNCOCON 
 r? (O CO^ rH rH H00010 
 
 o' of o' h o' id id' o' o' of of o' 
 
 COQOHCON^HOiO^OiO 
 
 HHC1C0HIMH03HO1C3H 
 
 2,528,125 
 
 218,968 
 
 21,165,043 
 
 4,285,703 
 
 27,978,871 
 
 K 
 
 £5 
 
 ::::::::: : : : : : : £ 
 
 ’ * * " Q Ph 
 
 © H r r* CD Q) r-^ Jgr ^ 
 
 |||! IS- 1.111 8 Jill I 
 
 g S § - = ! J J ® 
 
107 
 
 not the extent of land occupied by each class, but the relative 
 numbers of tenants to freeholders. According to this prin- 
 ciple those who are wholly tenant farmers amount, in Wales, 
 to 87*4 per cent, of the total number of occupiers of farms, 
 the occupying freeholders form 10*7 per cent., while those 
 who are partly tenant farmers and partly freeholders amount 
 to 1*8 per cent. 
 
 These results may, perhaps, be more easily apprehended 
 by reference to the table which is printed opposite. 
 
 Having thus ascertained that the overwhelming majority 
 of Welsh farmers are tenants, who are about six times as 4nSs°hoid the 
 numerous as all the freeholders, the Commissioners next a nd ® r ^ e e *£ y and 
 observe that such tenants are nearly all holding under agree- not under 
 ments from year to year and not under leases ; in fact leases are leases ' 
 said to be at the present time “ so exceptional in Wales that 
 they form but an infinitesimal element in the consideration 
 of the question of land tenure. This, however, has not 
 always been so. We have already noticed the general 
 prevalence, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, of a system of 
 leases for terms or for lives, renewable in the original 
 intention, but in practice for some reason or other allowed to 
 lapse. In cases of non-renewal, the tenants often became 
 tenants-at-will protected by the custom of the country, and 
 there is reason to believe that at one time the more 
 independent tenants preferred the greater freedom of the 
 tenure at will to the more binding and permanent leasehold 
 system. With the commencement of this century, however, 
 the tendency of events was in the direction of substituting 
 yearly tenancies in the place of the then existing leases.” 
 
 The important point which the Commissioners seem to 
 emphasise here is the fact that less than a hundred years ago The year-to-year 
 the ordinary typical tenancy in Wales was a leasehold one, and, invention of the 
 if we may paraphrase their statements, that tenancies from fea^hoiSTeing- 
 year to year, so far at least as Wales is concerned, are formerly the 
 inventions or the 19th Century. tenure. 
 
 “ In the original Reports of 1794,* there is no mention in the ease of 
 several Welsh counties of anything but a leasehold tenancy of farms. In 
 Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire ‘the term of the leases commonly 
 granted upon lands is for three lives and the life of the survivor.’ In 
 Cardiganshire ‘ the leases granted are usually for three lives,’ but leases 
 for a term of years were also not unknown, for it is further stated that ‘ if 
 the tenure is in years, the three or four last may be employed to the great 
 injury of the land.’ The significance of these remarks is derived from the 
 fact that no mention whatsoever is made in these reports of yearly 
 tenancies, which we might probably infer on that account were far from 
 numerous. 
 
 *Original Reports on the Agriculture of the Welsh counties: 
 Pembrokeshire, p. 33; Carmarthenshire, p. 49 ; Cardiganshire, p. 17 ; 
 Monmouthshire, p. 21. 
 
108 
 
 The leases for 
 lives and for 
 years were not 
 generally 
 renewed after 
 1815 
 
 “ Turning to the eastern part of South Wales we find that the 
 leasehold system there was already on the wane. In the report on 
 Monmouthshire it is stated that ‘ leases for fair periods of time are 
 liberally granted by proprietors to deserving tenants. Twenty-one years 
 is the most general and usual term granted. There are, however, several 
 estates held by tenancy at will, and some few by lease, but the latter 
 tenure is getting out of practice.’ 
 
 “As to North Wales the following is the statement of the Rev. 
 Walter Davies in 1810 : — £ In Anglesey the Earl of Uxbridge has granted 
 some leases ; Lord Viscount Bulkeley a great many ; O. P. Meyrick, Esq., 
 as far as £5,000 per annum ; Sir Hugh Owen’s estate is all under lease. 
 Most of these leases are for lives ; and the term adopted in those which 
 Sir John Stanley granted to his tenants about the year 1798 is the longest 
 life, landlord or tenant. Half-a-dozen estates more might be particularised 
 within the island, under lease, but these are enow.’* [It has been 
 suggested (Qu. 19,487) that these leases were granted for the express 
 purpose of enabling the tenants to erect buildings, &c., on their holdings, 
 but there does not seem to be any ground for supposing that they only 
 applied to such limited cases.] ‘In Carnarvonshire almost all the tenants 
 on the Vaenol estate, consisting of about 28,000 acres, had leases for 21 
 years, which expired in 1799, and the land as unimproved as ever ; the 
 proprietor, Thomas Assheton Smith, Esq., then determined not to repeat 
 the lease experiment. . . . Lord Viscount Bulkeley has leased a great 
 
 part of the Vale of Aber, opposite Beaumaris, to his tenants, for lives. 
 In Merioneth and Carnarvonshire, the father of the late Mr. Price, of 
 Rhiwlas, granted a great many leases for lives ; but hitherto not one 
 tenant has taken the opportunity of benefiting by them. Mr. Probert, in 
 managing the Halston estate at Mawddwy, granted leases for 21 years, to 
 be renewed at the expiration of the term provided the tenants benefited 
 by their leases and improved their respective farms. Some of them were 
 lately deemed worth}^ of new leases, and the rest were discarded. In the 
 other three counties (viz., Denbigh, Flint and Montgomery) leases are 
 entirely out of repute,’ though it is stated further on that in ‘ Montgomery- 
 shire some landlords grant leases for a few years — three, seven, nine, 
 seldom fourteen, and very rarely, if ever, twenty-one.’ 
 
 But the same writer, in referring to South Wales about the same 
 period, states that there ‘ leases were much more numerous and much more 
 in credit than in North Wales ’t Some of those mentioned by him were 
 practically leases in perpetuity, as, for example, some on the Glamorgan- 
 shire estate of the Marquis of Bute, which were renewable for ever on 
 paying certain fines. In the parish of Llangynidir, in Breconshire, many 
 leases were for as long as the river Crawnon flows, and this may have 
 been not an uncommon form of lease in other parts of the country, if we 
 may draw any inference from the universality of a popular description of 
 some tenancies as being held for as long as neater flows and the sun rises 
 (W. ‘tra bo dwr yn rliedeg a haul yn codi ’).$ In the same county of 
 Brecknock, the parish of Crugcadarn, or, according to another authority,^" 
 that of Gwenddwr, was mostly, if not wholly, under leases for 999 years. 
 
 “ But the more common form of lease was that for lives, 
 which is said to have prevailed in most, if not all, of the 
 
 * Davies, Agriculture of North Wales , 98-100. 
 
 t See the section on leases in Davies’s South Wales, ii., 166-177. 
 
 + Thus, Wilkins, in his History of Merthyr Tydfil (1867), after giving a 
 list of the chief farms in that neighbourhood in 1769, proceeds as follows : 
 “ Most of the farms were held at a low rental, many from £3 to £4 per 
 annum, and this at long leases. The wording of the old leases was 
 generally eccentric. There was one near the Bargoed and the Gothy 
 streams which was to hold good for £3 per annum as long as there were 
 stones in one and water in the other ” (pp. 130 1). 
 
 •[ Jones, History of Brecknockshire, ii., p. 297. 
 
109 
 
 South Wales counties between 1800 and 1815, the date of 
 the publication of Davies’s General View of the Agriculture of 
 South Wales. The Duke of Beaufort’s estate in Gower is 
 specifically mentioned as being let on such leases. Some of 
 the leases for lives on the Breconshire and Glamorganshire 
 estates of the Duke, and of the Marquis of Bute, and Sir 
 Charles Morgan of Tredegar, had particular clauses 4 according 
 to the custom of the manor.’ As already seen, leases for 
 lives were probably the general rule in the western counties-, 
 and a Welsh ballad-writer of the time [Amnon] has testified 
 to their great popularity with the tenantry.* 
 
 44 But the life leases were in South Wales being largely 
 replaced by leases for terms of years, chiefly for 21 years, 
 but terminable at the end of every seven years. 4 These 
 leases,’ says Davies, 4 are now becoming more common than 
 any,’ and he gives numerous instances of them from each 
 county, specifying variations in the conditions as to repairs 
 and course of cultivation. The period of which he wrote was 
 one of transition in agriculture. 
 
 44 This view is borne out by another writer, who, in 
 speaking of Carmarthenshire in a work published in 1815,f 
 states that 4 the landlords have no uniform system in the 
 letting of their estates. Leases for short terms of years are 
 common, but the greater proprietors usually grant leases for 
 lives in order to acquire an influence in the return of the 
 county representative.’ 
 
 44 The growing tendency of landowners was, however, to 
 shorten the tenancies until at last they arrived at leases or 
 agreements from year to year, which appear to have been Butwere ^ 
 regarded, in South Wales at all events, as innovations intro- yearfy^grJe- 
 duced over the heads, and somewhat against the will of the ments - 
 tenants. Once more we have to quote the remarks of Walter 
 Davies in his Survey of South Wales (p. 175) : — 
 
 4 Leases from year to year. — In many places the tenants 
 are summoned together to re-take their farms, and sign 
 printed leases, which are only from year to year, containing 
 prescribed rules of management for all kinds of farms and 
 soils without distinction. The tenant pockets the lease, pays 
 for it, and then never troubles himself about it until he is 
 summoned again, after having notice to quit, to advance his 
 rent, and sign another lease of the same edition, for the same 
 purpose, and to the same effect.’ 
 
 44 Before the middle of the century a great change had 
 taken place in the tenure of the occupiers. In Anglesey, 
 
 * Qu. 43,477 ; the ballad itself, in which a Cardiganshire tenant is made 
 to ask for a “ lease for three everlasting lives,” is printed in vol. III., 
 
 Appendix, p. 1034. 
 
 Rees’s Beauties of South Wales , p. 276. 
 
110 
 
 which was the county where leases were most prevalent in 
 North Wales, they do not seem to have been renewed from 
 1830 onwards. With reference to this county, Mr. J. E. 
 Vincent quoted (at Qu. 76,547) the following extract, written 
 about 1830, in a commonplace book, by his grandfather, a 
 sometime Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, and Dean of 
 Bangor : ‘ A great proportion of tenants were occupying 
 under old leases granted when the spirit of election ran high, 
 many of which have only very lately expired, and some of 
 which even now exist.’ 
 
 “ In South Wales also leases had become by 1843 much 
 rarer, if they were not almost the exception. This explains 
 a recommendation then made by Mr. John Harvey of Haver- 
 fordwest,* a land agent of large experience, in favour of a 
 4 more extended system of granting leases on proper principles.’ 
 That the disappearance of the leases for lives was not a thing 
 of the forgotten past, but had been taking place within the 
 memory of persons then living and was still going on, is 
 amply testified by several witnesses from the three western 
 counties before the Commissioners of Inquiry for South 
 Wales. 4 Leases for three lives have been very much given 
 up in my time, and are not resorted to now in the way that 
 they formerly were,’ was the statement of Mr. William Tudor, 
 J.P., of Tenby. In the course of the examination of the 
 Hon. Col. G. Bice-Trevor, M.P. (afterwards Lord Dvnevor), 
 there occurs the following (Question 2610) : — 4 Some of the 
 4 renters of land who have been before the Commissioners 
 4 have stated that they held leases upon three lives, which 
 4 were taken when prices were very high. Do you think 
 4 there are many instances of that kind ? — I am not able to 
 4 say ; upon Lord Dynevor’s estate I do not think there are 
 4 any left. It was formerly a very general mode of tenure in 
 4 this county ; in all Wales, I believe, either three lives or 
 4 99 years. I know that the greater part of my father’s 
 4 tenants are tenants at will.’ Still there were many leases 
 for lives in the district of Llanelly ( see evidence of Mr. 
 Chambers), and in 1846 it was stated that the miners of 
 Begelty and the surrounding districts in Pembrokeshire held 
 under leases for lives which 4 had been granted them, in 
 former times for electioneering puposes by the landowners.’ 
 
 44 Another witness to the great change in tenancy is to 
 be found in the person of Mr. Clare Sewell Bead, who wrote 
 in 1849 on the Agriculture of South Wales.f He repeats the 
 
 * Report of Commissioners of Inquiry for South Wales, 1844. 
 t Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. x., p. 147. 
 
Ill 
 
 statement as to the existence of some few leases granted for 
 999 years, and others for as long as snn rises and water flows. 
 
 He further states that generally the leases were for lives. 
 
 4 The lease in the western counties is often granted for three 
 lives and may include that of the occupier and two of his 
 children,’ and these do not as a rule contain any restrictive 
 clauses. 4 Leases for the life of the tenant only and for a 
 term of years are more common in the east, and these are 
 more particularly framed. Many landlords have entirely 
 dropped the practice of granting leases, and let all their 
 farms from year to year.’ 
 
 44 As to what happened in North Wales, the evidence is 
 scantier. By 1857-8 the larger number of farms were held 
 by the year, and the absence of leases was a matter of com- 
 ment.* In the first edition of Dixon’s Law of the Farm, 
 published in 1858, it is stated as to North Wales that : — 
 
 4 Generally speaking, all farms and lands were then held 
 under a yearly tenancy.’ In Cardiganshire and Pembroke- 
 shire 4 leases for one or two lives are not uncommon, also for 
 7,14, and 21 years ; but the leases for lives are not so general 
 as they formerly were,’ the usual tenancy being from year 
 to year. In Glamorganshire, East and South, ‘the tenure of a 
 7 or 14 years’ lease ’ was 4 pretty common,’ but in West Gla- 
 morgan, leases were rather the exception, those in existence 
 at the time being chiefly the remnants of the old system of 
 leases for three lives. Leases had, however, become ‘un- 
 common ’ in Carmarthenshire, were ' the exception ’ in 
 Monmouthshire, and are nob mentioned at all in the counties 
 of Kadnor or Brecon. 
 
 44 According to the statement made in 1880 by a large 
 land agent in Denbighshire and adjoining counties, the 
 farms under his management were then, with few exceptions, 
 held on yearly agreements :f 4 Where there is a lease, it is 
 generally either for 7 or 14 years — that is the custom of the 
 country; the last lease is just up and all the others have 
 fallen out and have not been renewed,’ but whether owing to 
 landlords or tenants the witness was unable to say” (p. 281). 
 
 Ample as is the foregoing testimony to the former pre- The gradual^ 
 valence of leases in Wales, it is, however, supplemented by non-reriewal of 
 the evidence of witnesses before the Commission. Thus, as to mustrated. 
 Glamorganshire, it was said that 44 almost the whole of the 
 Dunraven estate was let out on long leases for a period of 
 three lives,” which were not renewed on their expiration 
 
 * Barter Cymru 7th Oct, 1857. 
 
 f Mr. R. C. B, Clough before Royal Commission on Agriculture (1880). 
 
 Qu. 47,311-7. 
 
owing to the dilapidated state into which the buildings were 
 allowed to fall. As for the Yale of Glamorgan generally, Mr. 
 W. V. Huntley said : — “ There is not one lease now where 
 there were 20 when I knew it 20 years ago. A good many 
 leases for lives which had been granted 50 or 60 years ago 
 have fallen in the last 5, 6, or 10 years on one estate (that of 
 Mr. Aubrey ) in this district.” 
 
 In Gower, too, “ most of the old leases have fallen in 
 now,” and, in this respect, Llanmadoc was specially men 
 tioned as being a parish where “ most of the tenants were 
 formerly leasehold tenants on the three-life system.” 
 
 “ The whole of the Rheola estate, now measuring 5,800 
 acres, in the counties of Glamorgan and Brecon, was held on 
 leases for lives when purchased, in 1815, by the predecessor 
 of the present owner. Several of these old leases were handed 
 in to us for inspection by the present agent. These leases 
 fell in between 1823 and 1858, and we believe that the whole 
 estate is now let on yearly tenancies.” 
 
 “ It may be worth mentioning,” said Sir Joseph Bailey, 
 with reference mainly to Breconshire, “ that at the begin- 
 ning of the century nearly all farms were let on lease.” 
 
 The Bev. R. Morgan, of St. Clears, spoke of the existence 
 in that part of Carmarthenshire of “leaseholders who had leases 
 50 years ago, and above,” and he stated that their “ condition 
 is much better, though their farming, as a whole, is not 
 superior to yearly tenants.” 
 
 Prior to 1830 most of the farms on the Edwinsford 
 estate in the same county were also let on leases for three 
 lives, but, as they fell in, the tenancy was changed into a 
 yearly one. 
 
 The statement of Mr. Schaw-Protheroe of Dolwilym, as 
 to his estate of 1,600 acres in Carmarthenshire andPembroke- 
 shire, was that in his grandfather’s time farms were on lease 
 of three lives, and these fell in, in the time of his mother, who 
 succeeded in 1841. The present owner succeeded in 1872, 
 and, soon after, the only (remaining) lease for lives fell in and 
 was apparently replaced by a yearly taking. 
 
 The old leases on Canon Allen’s estate (750 acres) fell in 
 about 1850. Some old leases on the Trewern estate of Mr. 
 T. E. Lloyd of Coedmore have fallen in subsequent to 1864. 
 Mention is made of old leases as formerly existing in the 
 parish of Carew (Pembrokeshire) and on the property of Mr. 
 Carver, Blaencorse, of Mr. Gower of Castle Malgwyn, and of 
 Mr. Baugh Allen of Cilrhiw. 
 
 In South Cardiganshire and North Pembrokeshire there 
 are still some leases “generally for 21 years, and occasionally 
 
113 
 
 for lives and a long term, 60 or more years, the tenants in 
 such cases doing the permanent improvements, but these 
 leases are now very rare.” But in South Pembrokeshire they 
 have practically died out, the last of Lord Cawdor’s leases, 
 which were for 21 years, having expired in 1894. 
 
 The whole of the Bodorgan estate (in Anglesey) was on 
 long leases for lives and years ; they began to expire in 1842 
 and they kept on expiring until 1860, and were, presumably, 
 not renewed. 
 
 But there are a few survivals of leases still to be found 
 in this County. Lord Stanley of Alderly stated : — “ I have 
 inherited a few leases, that is to say, I have inherited land on 
 which leases had already been given.” And from a subse- 
 quent reference it appears that some of these are leases for 
 life or lives. At least three specific instances of leases in this 
 county were brought to our notice, one for the life of the 
 tenant and his wife, the second for a term of 45 years, and 
 the third for 40 years. There are also a few farms on lease 
 on the Llysdulas (Lady Neave’s) and Baronhill (Sir B. 
 
 Bulkeley’s) estates. 
 
 There are three leases on the Gwynfryn estate (of Mr. small 
 
 Ellis Nanney) in Carnarvonshire, one for 60 years (20 of however’ not yet 
 which are still unexpired). wholly extmct. 
 
 But though the granting of leases has practically died 
 out so far as ordinary-sized farms are concerned, it is not 
 wholly extinct in the case of small holdings, especially such 
 as appear to have originated in squatter enclosures, and on 
 which “ the buildings are to be erected or kept in repair by the 
 tenants themselves. Thus on Lord Penrhyn’s estate, on 
 which all the farms are held from year to year, * several leases 
 for holdings of three or four acres have been given on con- 
 dition of building houses and improving the land.’ There 
 are as many as 108 such leases on the estate of the Earl of 
 Powis, though in that case also the ordinary agricultural 
 tenancy is an annual one. These ‘ have been granted for a 
 term of years and for lives, for cottages and small holdings 
 where buildings have been erected by the tenant, but, so far 
 as my experience goes,’ says the agent, ‘ in 90 per cent, of 
 such cases the houses or buildings, on the expiration of the 
 lease, are in bad and poor condition, and the cultivation of 
 the land would not very favourably compare with land ad- 
 joining let from year to year . . . The case generally is 
 
 that the original tenant has sold his lease, the immediate 
 holder is dead, and his relatives not able to do anything, 
 even if they were called upon, which has never been the case 
 on this estate.’ 
 
 J 
 
114 
 
 The old leases 
 were generally 
 held at rack- 
 rents, without 
 “fines” or 
 premiums. 
 
 A similar custom prevails on at least one large estate in 
 South Wales The farm takings on the Duke of Beaufort’s 
 Monmouthshire estate are all yearly takings, but according 
 to Major Lister ‘ we sometimes, in small instances, grant 
 leases for lives, but those are principally small houses and 
 places like that.” 
 
 Having established the fact that the prevailing form of 
 tenure in Wales at the commencement of this century was a 
 leasehold one, the Commissioners (at pp. 382-6) raise two 
 important questions with reference to the conditions on 
 which these leases were granted, viz. : — 
 
 (1) Were they accompanied with a system of fines or 
 premiums, payable by the tenant when receiving the lease, 
 so that the rent thereby reserved was something less than the 
 rack-rent ? 
 
 (2) Did the burden of improvements, new buildings, 
 repairs, &c., fall on the landlord or on the tenant under these 
 leases ? 
 
 The first question has naturally an important bearing on 
 the rental statistics of the first half of this century, and Mr. 
 J. E. Vincent, assuming the prevalence of fines, suggested 
 that “if we had the history of the rental without the fines, 
 we could not compare the past and present rentals with any 
 precision, or so as to reach any significant conclusion.” 
 
 By a long array of quotations from works on Welsh 
 Agriculture, written between 1794 and 1850, the Commis- 
 sioners prove, at least to their own satisfaction, that the 
 old leases were, in general practice, held at rack-rents, and 
 that the only notable exceptions to this rule were to be 
 found in the case of some two estates in Glamorganshire, 
 and of ecclesiastical property generally, — subject, in the 
 latter case, to a qualification to be presently explained. We 
 shall make a few extracts from the Report as to this question. 
 
 “ The following definite statement is made in 1794, with reference to 
 Pembrokeshire : The lands are always let at a rack rent, there being no 
 
 instance that I know of, of leases granted upon fines, except church lands.’ 
 In his report on Carmarthenshire, the same writer also repeats the state- 
 ment, using identical words in doing so. 
 
 “ In none of the other reports of the same date which we have been 
 able to consult, is there any reference to fines, except in the ease of 
 copyholds, the amount of which in Wales is almost inappreciable. 
 
 “ Indeed, as to the whole of South Wales, we have the very definite 
 testimony of the Rev. W. Davies in his ‘Agriculture of South Wales,’ 
 published in 1815 : f Leases upon fines are few in number, and those be- 
 longing to church lands, or life estates. In Glamorganshire there are 
 
 *Hassall, Agriculture of Pembrokeshire , p. 33. An interesting account 
 s given by George Owen (in his Description of Pembrokeshire , pp. 190-1, 
 written about 1600), of the then recent introduction into that county of a 
 practice of levying fines on the renewal of the leases, but the practice was 
 unpopular, and was strongly condemned by the author. 
 
115 
 
 some leases for three lives — half-fine, half-rent ; for instance, a farm of 
 100 acres, value £100 a year, the reserved rent to be £50, and the fine at 
 twenty years’ purchase (the present average value of a three-life lease) 
 reckoning it as an annuity certain, at the discount of five per cent, com- 
 pound interest, to be £623. Aiter the expiration of these kind of leases, 
 they are seldom renewed ; they partake too much of the nature of a 
 lottery, and the calculation of the amount of the fine is, in general, too 
 intricate for a farmer’ (I., 171). 
 
 “ As to North Wales . . . though Davies gives a very detailed 
 
 account of the prevalence of leases, especially in the three Western 
 counties, and, in enumerating the chief obstacles to improvement, gives a 
 prominent places to long leases, he nowhere mentions a single fine. His 
 section on ‘ Rent,’ moreover, goes far to exclude the probability of his 
 knowing of any instances of the kind. 
 
 “ Nor can we find any references to fines in the works of others who 
 have written, during the last 50 years, on agriculture in Wales. We may, 
 moreover, point out that the system of fines, which necessitates the 
 accumulation of a comparatively large capital on the part of the tenant, 
 was incompatible with the chronic impecuniosity and want of capital from 
 which, as we know, the Welsh farmers have suffered more or less 
 throughout the century. 
 
 u Had this system existed, or if even a tradition of it survived, in 
 Wales, it would scarcely have escaped the attention of so acute an 
 observer as Mr. Clare Sewell Read, who, writing in 1849, points out that 
 ‘ one of the evils of the life leases of South Wales was the large amount 
 of capital the tenant sets fast on his entry by building, &c.’ A statement 
 which has much significance when we come to consider our next point 
 — the liability for buildings. 
 
 “ Turning from works of authority on agriculture to the 
 evidence tendered before the Commission, it is observed that 
 there is a similar absence of any proof that the payment of 
 premiums formed part of the old leasehold system except on a 
 few estates in Glamorganshire and on church lands. As to 
 the latter the following is the statement of the present 
 Secretary to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as to the way 
 church lands had been managed by the bishops, deans, and 
 chapters, prior to the establishment of the Ecclesiastical 
 Commission (Qu. 76,206) : — 
 
 “ It had been the practice to continue the ancient custom of renewing 
 the leases from time to time by payment of a fine for the insertion of new 
 lives or the addition of years to the term of the lease. Assuming the 
 property might be held on a 21 years’ lease, subject to the payment of 
 a small reserved rent at the death of a life, or at the expiration of one of 
 the periods, say 7 or 14 years, they would renew on payment of a fine. 
 
 “ The agricultural tenant was very seldom the lessee. The large 
 landowners were the lessees, and they let these lands with their other 
 lands, only paying an acknowledgment to the bishop and paying a fine 
 when the term arrived, either by the death of a life, or effluxion of time. 
 
 “ The actual tenant of the bishop, or dean and chapter, was usually a 
 kind of middleman ; the agricultural tenant knew nothing, perhaps, about 
 the tenure, because a great many of the large landowners in Wales had 
 these leases from the church, and in very many cases they were intermixed 
 with their own freehold estates, and in a number of cases the 
 Commissioners have sold their reversionary interests in those properties 
 to landowners.” 
 
 The Commissioners observe that “ according to this 
 statement it is evident that it was not the agricultural tenant 
 
 ‘•Fines ” 
 exacted only for 
 leases of Church 
 lands. 
 
116 
 
 And on the 
 Dunraven and 
 Rheola estates 
 in Glamorgan. 
 
 Tenants liable 
 for all building 
 and improve- 
 ments under old 
 leases. 
 
 that paid the fine, but that in all probability he held his farm 
 on exactly the same tenure and the same conditions as to 
 rent (including the freedom from fines) as the ordinary 
 tenants of the landowner, who was the direct lessee of the 
 Church authority. Where, however, Church property was 
 let directly to a cultivating occupier, and not to a middleman, 
 it is probable that a fine was levied, but we may assume from 
 Mr. Porter’s evidence that such cases were comparatively 
 few.” 
 
 The Glamorganshire instances, to which reference is 
 made, are those of the Dunraven and Eheola Estates, but it 
 appears that in these two cases there were special circum- 
 stances which, for once, necessitated a departure from the 
 general practice. The Dunraven instance, according to the 
 present agent, was probably an expedient to raise money 
 other than by way of mortgage, but the exceptional nature of 
 these transactions is fairly apparent. 
 
 The next question in connection with the old leasehold 
 tenure is one of more practical importance — What part was 
 borne by landlord and tenant respectively in the execution 
 and maintenance of the permanent improvements, especially 
 the buildings, under the leasehold sj^stem ? The reply of 
 the Commissioners to this question deserves to be reproduced 
 in full. 
 
 “ What chiefly deserves our notice in connection with 
 the old leases is, that in most cases they placed the burden 
 of all repairs upon the tenants. Nor was the liability 
 always confined to leaseholders, as tenants-at-will — the pre- 
 decessors of the modern tenants from year to year — were also 
 in many districts held responsible for all repairs. In Pem- 
 brokeshire, towards the close of the 16th Century* tenants-at- 
 will, according to the custom of the country, £ were chargeable 
 to the repair of their houses, hedges, &c.,’ and the peculiar cus- 
 tom of the country in this respect was that ‘ if the tenant 
 suffer his houses, hedges, or buildings to grow ruinous, the 
 landlord useth to swear a jury of six of his tenants of the like 
 tenure and custom to viewe the decaye,’ and assess the 
 amount of dilapidation, but we are further informed that 
 £ this custome of repare held onelie for thach’t houses, but for 
 slate houses the landlordes were to repaire them except yt 
 were by speciall covenante.’ 
 
 “ With reference to the same county, we have a definite 
 statement as to the practice that prevailed in the matter of 
 repairs some centuries later, and a little over a hundred years 
 
 Owen’s Pembrokeshire (pp. 191-2). 
 
117 
 
 ago. A resident in the county* writes thus in 1794 : “ The 
 present method of binding tenants by these leases to keep 
 the building in repair at their own cost, and to find all the 
 materials for the purpose .... may probably be one 
 of the principal causes of the inferiority of most of our farm 
 structures.’ The covenant by which the whole repairs are 
 thrown upon the tenant, occasions our farm buildings to be 
 very generally neglected.’ The writer unsparingly condemns 
 the system, and, frankly adding that 4 not one tenant in ten 
 will keep his buildings in proper repair, or erect such new 
 ones as his business requires,’! he suggests, as an alternative, 
 that landlords should undertake the repairs, charging a 
 percentage of interest on their capital. 
 
 “ The old system, however, lived on, and the following is 
 the statement made on the point in 1815 : — 4 Repairs are, by 
 a clause in the lease, or by a general usage of the county, 
 laid upon the landlord in Radnorshire and Glamorganshire. 
 In the counties of Carmarthen and Pembroke they are 
 commonly and imprudently laid upon the tenant. In 
 Brecknockshire and several parts of other counties they have 
 begun to compromise matters by dividing the expenses ; the 
 landlord to find materials, and the tenant carriage and work- 
 manship.’! 
 
 44 As late as 1849, we find it statedlF with reference to the 
 leases for lives, wdiich still continued numerous in the western 
 counties of South Wales, that the tenant was 4 bound to 
 keep the house and all buildings in proper repair.’ These 
 leases, it is further stated, were liked by the tenantry as 
 giving ample security for their outlay, while the landlords 
 wore relieved from all burdens but the taxes. That the 
 system prevailed to a large extent in the district, and was, on 
 the whole, rigidly^ carried out, may be inferred from the 
 criticism w T hich the writer levels against it, and which, in 
 
 * Charles Hassall in his Agriculture, of Pembrokeshire , p. 32 et seq 
 The same writer in his Agriculture of Carmarthenshire , p. 47-9, makes 
 an exactly identical statement as to the practice in that county. 
 
 f Cf. also as to North Cardiganshire : “ As the repairs and similar 
 expenses are too often the burden of the farmer, it is no wonder that 
 present conveniency should be so often sacrificed to any distant profit.” 
 (. Agriculture of Cardiganshire , p. 32). 
 
 } Davies, Agriculture of South Wales , I., p. 173. The author makes 
 the following significant comments on this “ compromise ” : “ This is still 
 too heavy upon the tenant, especially if he be poor, and the carriage of 
 materials from a distance. All new buildings or even parts thereof, should 
 be completed entirely by the proprietor, carriage excepted, and the tenant 
 to be charged a percentage on the amount, as an addition to his rent. He 
 can afford to pay interest when he cannot possibly procure the principal 
 requisite to be expended in making the buildings either comfortable or 
 convenient.” 
 
 *11 By Mr. C. Sewell Read, in Journal R. A. S. E., vol. X., pp. 148 
 156-7, 163. 
 
 But, with dis- 
 continuance of 
 leases, landlords 
 assumed this 
 responsibility. 
 
118 
 
 The rapid 
 change from 
 leases to 
 year-to-year 
 tenancies due to 
 
 1. Great fluc- 
 tuations in 
 prices after 
 1815 . 
 
 part, has been quoted above. ‘ One of the evils of the life 
 leases,’ he says, ‘ is the large amount of capital the tenant 
 
 sets fast on his entry by building, &c There 
 
 can be no doubt that landlords should raise the farm build- 
 ings, and the lease tenants would cheerfully keep them in 
 repair ; but the repairs in this country are so heavy that it 
 is not fair to burden them entirety.’ 
 
 “ In turning to North Wales, we unfortunately find 
 scarcely a single statement in the works of the various 
 agricultural writers as to what was the practice in their time 
 in the matter of erecting and repairing buildings. As to 
 the eastern counties of Denbigh, Flint, and Montgomery, we 
 have, however, reason to infer that at the commencement of 
 this century the landowners had taken on themselves the 
 burden of all new buildings, for the author of the ‘ Agricul- 
 ture of North Wales ’ (published in 1810), after stating that 
 ‘ seven in every ten (of the farm buildings) were still in a 
 most wretched state,’ makes the following further 
 remark : * ‘ Many proprietors who have lately built seem to 
 have had too great a predeliction for the old sites.’ He is 
 unfortunately even less explicit on the subject of repairs, and 
 contents himself with saying that there was c no general 
 system adopted,’ excusing himself on the ground that ‘ the 
 contracts and methods, being so various, rendered them too 
 tedious to be reported.’ As to the Anglesey and the Menai-side 
 district of Carnarvonshire, we shall see when we come to 
 deal with the custom of the country, that ‘ the tenants had 
 formerly been in the habit of erecting new buildings 
 themselves at their own expense, and that this custom was 
 subsequently replaced by an arrangement according to which 
 the landlord provided all the materials, but the tenants paid 
 the masons and the joiners for the building, and did all the 
 haulage ; but during the last 30 years efforts have been made 
 to suppress the custom owing to the assertion of a tenant 
 right on the part of the occupiers.’ 
 
 But if the prevailing form of tenure in Wales at the 
 commencement of this century was a leasehold one, how 
 came it, within so short a space of time, to be replaced 
 almost entirety by year-to-year tenancies. The answer to this 
 appears to be that those great and sometimes sudden fluc- 
 tuations in prices (which have been so marked a feature of 
 this century but were previously almost unknown) have been 
 the chief, though not the only, means in killing the leasehold 
 system. 
 
 By Mr. C. Sewell Read, in Journal R.A.S.E ., vol. X., p. 81. 
 
119 
 
 “The first great blow which the old system suffered was 
 from the prolonged and acute depression of the agricultural 
 interests which followed the close of the Napoleonic wars. 
 All the leases which had been renewed between about 1790 
 and 1815 were, no doubt, for rents which were based upon 
 the abnormally high prices which then ruled for agricultural 
 produce, but the subsequent great fall in prices, which was 
 probably the first and greatest of modern fluctuations of the 
 kind, must have taught tenants, by the bitter experience of a 
 general bankruptcy, that, in the case of leases, the rents were 
 fixed for too long a term, having regard to the probable re- 
 petition of such fluctuations. But there was another non- 
 economic factor at work during the same period. One reason 
 for the popularity of leases for lives — which reason ceased to 
 exist with parliamentary reform — was that the lessee, being 
 in the eye of the law a freeholder, had fuller electoral privi- 
 leges than a yearty tenant, or even than a lessee for a term of 
 years. The granting of such leases therefore meant an 
 increase in the number of voters which a landlord could 
 command. But after the extension of the suffrage in 1832 
 it was, politically, to the interest of landowners to discon- 
 tinue these leases and substitute for them yearly tenancies, 
 which would enable them to wield greater power over their 
 tenants at election times. The political motives which 
 helped to preserve the old system of leases as the best means 
 of increasing political influence operated also, under an 
 altered electoral law, to hasten its discontinuance, and pro- 
 bably to prevent any considerable recurrence to it, even as 
 an experiment, at a later date ” (p. 286). 
 
 The result is that leases have by this time become 
 extremely rare in the case of agricultural holdings in Wale3. 
 
 Moreover it appears that though mo3t landowners would 
 readily grant leases at the present time, there is in fact no 
 demand for them, and farmers generally fight shy of them. 
 The following are among the reasons which the Commis- 
 sioners suggest for this disinclination for leases. 
 
 1. The rent under a lease is fixed for too long a term, 
 have regard to fluctuations in the price of produce and of 
 labour. 
 
 2. The reductions or abatements in rent3 granted to 
 yearly tenants are not usually given to leaseholders during 
 their term. 
 
 3. It is customary in the case of leases to place the 
 burden of repairs and additional buildings on the lessee, and 
 the covenants are more strictly enforced than in yearly 
 tenancies. 
 
 2. Political 
 necessity, after 
 Beform Act, 
 1832, of having 
 tenants more 
 under control. 
 
 Objections 
 leases at 
 present. 
 
120 
 
 Prevalence of 
 verbal agree- 
 ments 
 
 and dangers 
 arising there- 
 from. 
 
 Some witnesses, however, suggested that on the largest 
 estates, at least, the tenants feel such perfect security, as yearly 
 tenants, that they have not the least desire for leases, and 
 that in fact the yearly tenancy is more lasting and unchange- 
 able in its incidents than a lease, which from its very nature, 
 renders necessary some reconsideration of the situation at the 
 end of its term. 
 
 Other witnesses, however, explained this absence of any 
 desire for leases by saying that when they came to an end, 
 the landlords took the whole of the improvements and 
 enhanced the rent. 
 
 The Commissioners, however, sum up the position by 
 saying that “ behind these objections to leases, there seems 
 to be an inherent aversion on the part of both landlord and 
 tenant to make the relationship between them a matter of 
 strict contract or a mere business arrangement, in other 
 words, to let their relationship be governed solely by com- 
 mercial principles based upon a rigid interpretation of a legal 
 document operating for a long period and couched in formal 
 language which the tenant does not understand, and in his 
 own construction of which he has not full confidence ” (p. 285). 
 
 This feeling is in many cases carried too far by the 
 neglect of reducing into writing ordinary agreements in the 
 case of yearly tenancies. Thus verbal agreements are the 
 rule for the most part throughout the whole of Breconshire 
 and West Glamorgan, also on the estates of Lord Dynevor, 
 Sir Arthur Stepney and Mr. Bowen, of Llwyngwair, in South 
 West Wales, and, so far as the last few years are concerned, 
 on the Cawdor and Edwinsford estates in Carmarthenshire. 
 Written agreements were first adopted on the Vaynol estate 
 of Mr. Assheton Smith in 1869, and in many other cases they 
 are quite of a recent introduction. 
 
 “ But [the Commissioners remark] there is considerable 
 danger (of which we had a painful illustration in the case of 
 Earl Windsor* estate) in trusting merely to the memory 
 where special terms varying the custom are imported into the 
 agreement, or where, in the absence of a custom, rules are 
 laid down as to cultivation and improvements. In such cases, 
 the superiority of a written agreement is always recognised 
 once the misunderstanding has arisen, but in transactions 
 where the parties are personally in constant touch with each 
 other, the necessity of committing to writing what is agreed 
 upon is not always realised at the time of contracting.” 
 
 * The reference is to the case of Mr. T. Evans of Penhefyd. See Qu. 
 1164-1411, and 4811 et. seq. 
 
121 
 
 Even when the agreement is reduced to writing it ^ 
 
 appears to be “ far from an invariable rule to give a copy of it ments copies 
 to the tenant,” or if he wants one, he has, not infrequently to f ^^^to ljnot 
 pay for it, while it was only in the case of 5 estates that tenants 
 Welsh translations of the agreements were found to be in use. 
 
 As to these points the Commissioners make the follow- 
 ing remarks (pp. 288-290) : — 
 
 “We realised at an early stage of our proceedings that 
 the unconscious remissness and the lax practice of some 
 owner 8 and agents in this respect must be a source of numer- 
 ous differences between landlord and tenant, and a cause of 
 grave inconvenience, and conceivably, at least, of much 
 hardship to the party that was bound by an instrument of 
 which he had not a copy. We therefore thought it our duty, 
 even at that stage, to express publicly at one of our sittings 
 ‘ a strong recommendation that agreements should in all 
 cases be printed in Welsh, and copies given to the tenants, 
 and that these copies should be invariably given in all cases 
 where the agreements are signed.’ 
 
 “ Scarcely any complaint was brought before us from the ^reiTm?*’ 0113 
 English-speaking districts as to the non-posession of a copy with - 
 of the agreement, or as to any misunderstanding arising 
 between a tenant and his landlord through ignorance of its 
 contents, while on the other hand such complaints were 
 painfully numerous in Welsh-speaking districts. Many Recommenda- 
 bitter disputes and much chronic friction could be easily 1 n ’ 
 prevented if the landlord or agent took care (1) that the 
 selected applicant for a farm should be thoroughly informed 
 as to the conditions of tenancy, and this could be most 
 effectually secured in Welsh-speaking districts by having the 
 agreement translated into Welsh ; and (2) that a copy of the 
 said agreement should invariably be given to each tenant, so 
 as always to remain in his possession, accessible for purpose 
 of reference in case of any doubt or forgetfulness as to the 
 terms agreed upon.” 
 
 It is also pointed out that it is a highly desirable 
 practice to give to each tenant a map of his holding — 
 which can now be done at small cost owing to the com- 
 pletion of the Government Ordnance Survey for Wales. 
 
 On the Margam estate every gate is marked on these maps, and 
 duplicates of them appear to be utilized by the Agent for 
 keeping a record of his valuation of each field at the 
 commencement of the tenancy. 
 
122 
 
 What measure 
 of security of 
 tenure does the 
 average year-to- 
 year tenant 
 enjoy ? 
 
 Continuity of 
 tenancy. 
 
 On the estates of 
 Sir W.W.Wynn, 
 
 8.— CONTINUITY OF TENANCIES UNDER THE 
 YEARLY SYSTEM . 
 
 It has now been seen that year-to-year tenancy is — 
 at the present time, and leaving aside historical considerations 
 — the prevailing form of tenure for agricultural land in 
 Wales. 
 
 Theoretically, and in the strict legal sense, the yearly 
 tenancy is a short and uncertain, if not precarious, tenure for 
 an agricultural occupation, but the practical question which 
 the Commissioners had to ask was : What measure of 
 security does the average occupier actually, and as a matter 
 of fact, enjoy in the occupation of his holding as a yearly 
 tenant ? To enable them to answer this question the Com- 
 missioners had to take into consideration a large number of 
 facts relating to — 
 
 1 . The length of tenancies in the past ; 
 
 2. Changes of tenancy in recent years — have they 
 become more or less frequent ? 
 
 3. Land hunger, its causes and effects, especially its 
 influence on the security of the sitting tenant. 
 
 No more striking evidence was perhaps tendered to the 
 Commission throughout the whole inquiry, than that sub- 
 mitted, chiefly by owners and agents, in illustration of the 
 continuity of the tenancy of families on the same farm or on 
 the same estate. Thus Colonel Hughes, in giving evidence 
 as to the 6 estates which belong to Sir Watkin W. Wynn, 
 made the following statement (p. 290) : — 
 
 “The custom of continuous family succession in tenancy 
 has always been a predominant feature on this estate, in 
 fact, on the Welsh portion it is and has been the invariable 
 rule to accept a member of a deceased tenant’s family as his 
 successor. When there is a member of the family eligible to 
 succeed, the preference is given to him or her ungrudgingly, 
 and I cannot record any case where the widow was not 
 allowed to succeed her deceased husband as tenant if she so 
 wished, or, failing her, the son or other near relative. This 
 continuity of tenancy is more in evidence among the Welsh- 
 speaking tenants . . . who take as much pride in their 
 
 heritage as if they were fee-simple owners of their holdings.” 
 
 He then proceeded to give some “ noteworthy instances ” 
 of this family succession, taking, apparently, 100 years as 
 the minimum term to take into consideration, and leaving 
 unaccounted for a large number of tenancies which pre- 
 sumably fell beneath that limit. His statistics on the point 
 are thus summarised in the Report (p. 292) : — 
 
123 
 
 44 Out of 154 holdings on the Glanllyn estate (chiefly in 
 the parishes of Llanuwchllyn and Trawsfynydd in Merion- 
 eth), two have been held by the same family for 400 years, 
 five from 300 to 400 years, and three from 150 to 200 years, 
 making an average in those 10 cases of about 286 years per 
 family. Out of 200 holdings on the Llanbrynmair estate, 
 five have been held hereditarily for 300 years or more, five 
 from 250 to 300 years, and four from 100 to 250. Out of 
 111 holdings on the Llwydiarth estate, one has been held by 
 the same family from 300 to 400 years, 11 for ‘about 200 
 years,’ 12 from about 150 to 200 years, and five from about 
 100 to 150 years. 
 
 The three preceding estates are situated in what may be 
 fairly described as the most thoroughly Welsh districts in the 
 whole of the principality, and more than half the tenants on 
 them are 4 monoglot Welshmen, unable to transact business 
 or to converse in the English language.’ 
 
 The three remaining estates are situated near the Eng- 
 lish border and were designated the 44 English ” portion of 
 the property. On the Llangedwyn estate of 103 tenants, 32 
 families have been on their respective farms for ‘ not less 
 than three and many for seven generations,’ nine families 
 have been between 100 and 200 years, five for about 200 
 years, one for 300, one for 400, and one, 4 the Foulks family, 
 are supposed to have occupied Gartheryr for quite 1,000 
 years.’ On the Llanforda estate of 52 tenants, one family 
 has occupied the same farm for 150 years, five for 200 years, 
 one for 250, and one for five generations. On the Wynnstay 
 estate (proper), which has 108 tenants, 4 there is compara- 
 tively little continuity of tenancy to record, as there is but 
 one instance of a family having occupied a farm for more 
 than 100 years.’ 
 
 In comparing these three estates it is to be observed 
 that the continuity is greatest in those districts where Welsh 
 is still most largely spoken. Thus, out of the 103 Llanged- 
 wyn tenants, 11 are monoglot Welshmen, and the family 
 surnames, in the examples given of continuous succession, 
 suggest that it is the Welsh-speaking tenants who have 
 clung with the greatest tenacity to their holdings from 
 generation to generation.” 
 
 The evidence with reference to some other estates was 
 almost equally striking. 
 
 Thus, a detailed account of the approximate duration of ^wfo^dMr 
 the tenancy of 751 holdings (out of a total of 960, the re- Assheton Smith, 
 maining 209 not having been ascertained) on the Mont- 
 gomeryshire estates of the Earl of Powis, and of 660 out of 
 
124 
 
 Lord Penrhyn, 
 
 And other North 
 Wales owners. 
 
 Similar evidence 
 as to South 
 Wales.} 
 
 700 selected tenants on the Yaynol estate of Mr. Assheton 
 Smith, were presented in classified tables, of which the 
 following is a digested summary : — 
 
 Duration of Tenancy. 
 
 Number of Holdings accounted for on 
 
 Powis Estate. 
 
 Vaynol Estate. 
 
 Between 1 and 40 years 
 
 387 
 
 118 
 
 „ 40 and 100 years 
 
 242 
 
 292 
 
 ,, 100 and 200 years ... 
 
 99 
 
 144 
 
 ,, 200 and 250 years ... 
 
 16 
 
 68 
 
 ,, 250 and 400 years ... 
 
 7 
 
 38 
 
 
 751 
 
 660 
 
 On the Penrhyn estate, out of 618 farm tenancies, 
 “there are about 167 farms which have been held by the 
 same families for 50 years and upwards, and there are some 
 tenants who claim that their families have been on the 
 estate for upwards of 200 years.” 
 
 Somewhat similar statements were made with reference 
 to the estates of Lord Stanley of Alderley, the late Sir 
 George Meyrick, and others in Anglesey, and as to the 
 Garth-Meilio and Hafodunos Estates in West Denbighshire, 
 while examples extending from 100 to 200 years were also 
 said to have been formerly common in the Yale of Conway. 
 
 General statements to a like effect were made as to 
 several large estates in South Wales also. For example, the 
 Earl of Cawdor’s “ desire has .always been to keep as much 
 as possible the old families in the tenancies.” Sir James 
 Hills- Johnes spoke of “ old tenants who have gone on from 
 generation to generation,” on the Dolau Cothy Estate, in 
 Carmarthenshire. Colonel Turberville, of Ewenny Priory, 
 in the Yale of Glamorgan, stated that on his estate “ farms 
 generally remain in the same family for generations.” 
 
 Instances are also given from the estates of the Earl of 
 Lisburne, of Mr. Harford (Falcondale), and of Captain Jones 
 Parry, Tyllwyd, in Cardiganshire, and the statement of 
 Mr. J. Gi.bson, of Aberystwyth, in his essays on Agriculture 
 in Wales (1879, p. 5) is quoted to the following effect (p. 
 293) : “ some estates are virtually, from inter-marriages, in 
 the occupation of one family ; these inter-marriages go on 
 from generation to generation, and owners of estates in 
 Wales rather than rudely break up these clans put up with 
 the losses and inconveniences of a low state of cultiva- 
 tion.” 
 
125 
 
 In those cases in which the preceding statements were 
 entirely based on the tradition of the tenants themselves a 
 little scepticism might possibly be wholesome, as family pride 
 might have contributed to the length of the succession, as 
 it sometimes does to the length of pedigrees. In was only 
 in one case, however, that the Commissioners appear to 
 have betrayed their suspicion, if thej^ felt any, on this score, 
 namely, when a witness in Welsh Gower asserted that he 
 had at home a printed rent receipt showing that his present 
 holding had been in the occupation of his family since 1500 
 odd. Making due allowance for a few possible exceptions of 
 this kind, the evidence may undoubtedly be accepted, as it 
 was by the Commission, as showing a most remarkable 
 family succession in tenancy. A point that deserves to be 
 noticed is that by far the bulk of the instances quoted refers 
 to Welsh-speaking districts, — most of them in fact being in 
 the Western Counties of Wales. 
 
 But in the light of their historical investigation as to 
 the comparatively recent origin ot year-to-year tenancies, 
 the Commissioners are unable to ascribe the whoie credit for 
 this continuity to that form of tenure, owing to the very 
 obvious reason that four, three, or even two centuries ago the 
 yearly tenant was practically unknown. 
 
 “ Though most, if not all. of these examples of a conti- This family 
 
 ,. succession dates 
 
 nuous lamiiy succession are round m connection with what back far beyond 
 
 are at present yearly tenancies, still such succession is by no towMchit?s Cies 
 
 means due to any superior qualities which the yearly p^oniy aU 
 
 possesses over other forms of tenancies. In fact, as most of 
 
 the agricultural land of Wales was, prior to this century, 
 
 held either at will (under the custom of the country) or on 
 
 lease, and as the most striking examples of continuity date 
 
 back to a period far antecedent to the general adoption of 
 
 yearly agreements, it is clear that the explanation for the 
 
 permanence of occupation is to be sought not so much in 
 
 the nature of the instrument that creates and governs the 
 
 tenancy as in the habits and characteristics of the tenants 
 
 themselves. Probably the chief element in the national 
 
 character which has influenced the duration of tenancies in 
 
 Wales is the remarkable attachment felt by the people for 
 
 their ancestral homesteads, for their birth-places, and for old 
 
 associations generally. This is probably more accentuated 
 
 among Welsh people than among the members of any other 
 
 European nationality owing to the survival in Wales to a 
 
 much later date than elsewhere of the tribal organisation of 
 
 society in which the hearth was, as has been aptly said, ‘ the 
 
 focus of the rights of kindred.’” 
 
126 
 
 A typical 
 instance of a 
 Welsh, farmer s 
 attachment to 
 his home, 
 
 In this respect the Welsh farmer, it is remarked, bears 
 a very close resemblance to the Scotch crofter. 
 
 “ But in addition to this attachment to the home, 
 Welsh tenants have also exhibited a strong personal affection 
 for and loyalty towards the owners of their farms, in all 
 cases where such owners are descended from a Welsh stock 
 and have given proofs of their sympathy with Welsh ideas. 
 
 The personal relationship which existed in the past 
 between landlord and tenant bore a close resemblance to the 
 family, or at least a tribal, tie. ‘ As a rule it is easier to let 
 farms on a large estate,’ said an agent, 4 as the same farms 
 have been kept by the same family for generations. There 
 is a sort of a family feeling between the landlord and tenant 
 on the whole estate.’ 4 Nothing is to me more remarkable,’ 
 said Mr. Llewelyn Williams, 4 than the loyalty which is 
 expressed towards the old Welsh families, such as the Rices, 
 of Dynevor ; the Lloyds, of Glansevin ; and the Johnes, of 
 Dolau Cothy. The tenants have certainly never shown any 
 lack of respect, loyalty and even affection for their landlords’. 
 
 An instance which illustrates both forms of attachment, 
 that is to the ancestral home and to the owner’s family, may 
 be reproduced in full from the Report (p. 294). It 
 refers to the case of Mr. Benjamin Davies, of Llettyderin, 
 an aged tenant on the Llwydiarth estate of Sir W. W. 
 Wynn 
 
 “ He was 76 years of age, and had lived for 42 years at Llettyderin, a 
 small holding let at £10 10s. He gave a most deplorable account of the 
 buildings, which he was unable to induce the owner to repair. ‘ The 
 buildings at the present time are not fit to put a beast in. I had a calf 
 last winter which I was keeping for rent, and through the state of the 
 buildings the calf took cold and died. I have had several similar losses. 
 The roofs of the house and buildings are of old thatch. The place at 
 times is swarming with rats and mice. They get into the thatch and bore 
 holes, through which the water pours on the bed. I have reared eight 
 children. There is only one bedroom in the house. While my children 
 were at home, myself and wife and the children all slept in the one room. 
 The floor of the whole house is merely earth. I am afraid of the house 
 being burnt as the chimney often catches fire on account of its being 
 made of wood. I put the fire out by means of a long stick.’ 
 
 Colonel Hughes, the estate agent, at once stated that he admitted 
 witness’s description of the buildings, but neither the quantity nor the 
 quality of the land was such as to justify the necessary expenditure in 
 building a proper farmhouse there. 
 
 ‘ It is on the very extreme end of the estate down towards Meifod, 
 and a more wretched place I never saw in all my life. When I got there 
 (in 1888) I considered all about it, and decided at once that it was to be 
 taken down, and I told the tenant so. I told him I was very sorry for 
 them leaving there, and if I could do anything I would, but they clung to 
 the old place. In 1891 I took Sir Watkin and Lady Williams Wynn there 
 myself, and Sir Watkin said exactly the same as I did. He said: ‘You 
 cannot build there ; he cannot carry to that place, and it is out of the 
 question for him to help in any way,’ and he was given distinctly to under- 
 stand this there and then. However, he clung to the place.’ 
 
127 
 
 On being asked whether the place could not be ‘ patched up a bit ’ so 
 as to put an end to the danger of fire, Col. Hughes stated that it had gone 
 beyond that. He had also tried to get him some other place. ‘ We have 
 not had anything yet, but he would not go. He stuck to the old place. I 
 really was astonished. I was very sorry for it, but Sir Watkin said we 
 had no alternative. If it had been a conscionable place to live in, we 
 should have done it at once, but it was the very outside of the estate, as 
 you go down the river.’ 
 
 The proposal of the agent was to attach the land to another small 
 place close by, but he ‘ had nothing else to suggest,’ though he once more 
 reiterated that he was ‘very, very sorry’ for him. In this ease there was 
 no question of any ill-feeling on either side : ‘we had a joke together only 
 the other day at a dinner to which Sir Watkin came,’ said the agent, ‘ and 
 I think he (the tenant) turned out the smartest of the whole lot.’ ” 
 
 Though there are no means of ascertaining statistically changes of 
 whether changes of tenancy are now “ more frequent than tenancy more 
 than they were at the commencement of the century, still it recent years, 
 is only natural to assume that, in common with almost all 
 classes, the agricultural population were more stationary 
 prior to the great industrial development which has been so 
 marked a characteristic of the last hundred years. All the 
 evidence tendered seems to be confined to the last 40 years, 
 and in many cases to a much shorter period. In so far as 
 the changes in question were entirely voluntary, they were 
 the natural result of economic forces, and indicated a 
 widening of ideas and the growth of a spirit of enterprise 
 among the tenantry, but wherever they have been com- 
 pulsorily effected they indicate an injurious antagonism of 
 interest between landlord and tenant, which produces in the 
 mind of the latter a sense of the insecurity of his tenure, 
 and ends by paralysing all agricultural enterprise.” 
 
 Apart from the so-called political evictions which have 
 already been dealt with, perhaps the chief cause of involun- 
 tary changes on the part of tenants of recent years has been 
 the sale of estates or detached portions of estates — which has 
 lately been of very frequent occurrence. Apart from the 
 question of sales, however, it is stated that changes of 
 tenancy do not appear to have increased on the larger 
 estates, and perhaps we should add, even on many small 
 estates when managed by agents w r ho have supervision over 
 arge areas. 
 
 “ ‘ I do not think,’ said the Earl of Cawdor’s agent, 
 
 ‘ that in the 30 years of my management we have had an aver- 
 age of one change a year, — not an entire change of tenancy.’ 
 
 ‘ Scarcely ever a change of tenant ; there have been 
 hardly any changes at all for years ’ was the experience of 
 Mr. J. M. Davies of Froodvale, who acts for several estates 
 in South Wales.” 
 
 “ But in many parts of the country, especially on the 
 smaller and more scattered estates (with the exception 
 
128 
 
 mentioned) changes of tenancy are greatly on the increase. 
 They were stated to be 4 very much more frequent’ in the 
 Vale of Glamorgan, and the Vice-chairman of the Cowbridge 
 Farmers’ Club attributed this increase to a very common 
 want of consideration on the part of landlords in not making 
 timety reductions of rent to the sitting tenants. 
 
 1 1 attribute it to the fact of land having risen in rent from the year 
 1875, or thereabouts, or prior to that, 1872 or 1873, and since 1875 I think 
 a general depression has set in and necessitated the existing tenant 
 either having a reduction or being unable to pay his rent. Where appli- 
 cation was made to his landlord, as a rule he scarcely saw the necessity 
 until unfortunately the tenant was unable to pay the existing rent, and in 
 some instances it led to the tenant having to give up his farm. The hard- 
 ship I would complain about is this, that the new tenant not only would 
 have the farm at a very considerable less rental than his predecessor, but 
 that he would have all improvements or very many improvements of his 
 farm that the late tenant had asked for in vain, and that has been the 
 cause of the change.’ ” 
 
 Similar statements are quoted with reference to certain 
 parts of nearly every county in Wales — Welsh and English- 
 speaking districts alike — and specific instances relating to 
 individual holdings, “ some of them admittedly of an excep- 
 tional character, but others of more typical nature,” are cited 
 in illustration. 
 
 Chief causes of 
 involuntary 
 changes of 
 tenancy. 
 
 1. Friction in 
 civic work and 
 local govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Thus, “the Rev. W. Thomas, of Whitland, said that he ‘knew a small 
 land tiller years ago, whose tenancy was under 20 years ; yet he had in the 
 house 16 notices to quit.’ He also mentioned the case of a farm whose 
 tenants had been changed 10 times in 32 years. 
 
 Mr. T. Phillips, of the Stores, Llangadock, produced a table giving, 
 for two hamlets in the parish of Llangadock, the names of the farms, the 
 acreage of each, the number of notices served, and the number of tenants 
 who had successively occupied each during the last 25 years. 
 
 £ From this table it will be seen,’ said Mr. Phillips, ‘ that the number 
 of holdings is 97, the number of notices I have traced is 145, while the 
 probability is that a considerable number remain yet unaccounted for; 
 the number of occupiers during that period is 184 ; in other words, taking 
 the whole of these 97 holdings, each has had on an average two tenants in 
 25 years.’” 
 
 In view of these and like statements, the Commissioners 
 therefore proceed to inquire what were the causes and 
 circumstances which, broadly speaking, are at the root of most 
 of the notices to quit given. The evidence which is sum- 
 marised under this head suggests the following as being, at 
 present, the chief causes of what may be described as in- 
 voluntary changes of tenancy. 
 
 1. Friction between landlord and tenant in connection 
 with the work of local government, and the performance of 
 civic duties. 
 
 2. Disagreement between landlord and sitting tenant 
 as to any proposed variation in the conditions of the tenancy, 
 e.g., re-settlement of rent after re-valuation. 
 
 3. Sales of property. 
 
129 
 
 As to the first-mentioned cause (which, however, comes 
 last in order in the report itself), very little need be said, as 
 the kindred subject of political interference has been full 3 " 
 dealt with alread}\ 
 
 There are, however, a few points of difference : First, 
 practical^ all the political evictions that came before the 
 Commissioners belonged almost to a previous generation, * 
 and owing to that remoteness their influence on current 
 events was questioned by many witnesses. On the other hand 
 the cases referred to here are of recent occurrence. 
 
 Moreover, most of the evictions, which formerly resulted 
 from parliamentary contests, “were almost invariably associ- 
 ated with the largest, and in some respects, the best managed 
 estates, while on the other hand, the landowners who 
 exhibited most partisan feeling in local and parochial matters 
 belonged, for the most part, to the class of small proprietors, 
 who owned a few farms onty. 
 
 Thus, in one such case it was alleged that a tenant had 
 been compelled to leave his farm in 1888, ‘because he voted 
 for a guardian at the election of guardians, against the will 
 of the owner , 5 who, however, absolutely denied the allegation. 
 
 In another case which occurred about six years ago, two 
 old tenants were evicted from their holdings for having voted 
 in the parish vestry on some parochial affair against their 
 landlady, Mrs. Morgan, late of Capelhir, in the parish of 
 Talley, Carmarthenshire . 55 (p. 310.) 
 
 The management of educational matters has also been 
 the source of much friction in many cases. Thus Mr. John 
 Pariy, of Llanarmon, took a prominent part in favour of 
 forming a school board in his district, but after the vestry, 
 which decided in favour of the movement, he experienced a 
 marked change in his landlord’s attitude towards him, which 
 ended in his giving him (Mr. Parry) a notice to quit. 
 
 “ The county councils have introduced a new sphere of 
 local activity, but, they have also in their elections, produced 
 a new source of friction,” — and it is therefore no wonder 
 that several allegations were made of the differential treat- 
 ment of tenants, and even of evictions in connection with 
 such elections. It is unnecessary to reproduce the details of 
 these various cases, but they illustrate along with other facts 
 the extreme sensitiveness of the Welsh farmer’s feeling as 
 to the security of his occupation. In fine, the Commissioners 
 quote (p. 312) the conclusion arrived at by a journalist who 
 claimed that he had for many 3 ’ears closety followed public 
 movements in the county of Montgomery (Mr. F. E. Hamer, 
 now sub-editor of the Manchester Guardian ) : — “ From a 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 long and intimate acquaintance with tenant farmers I have 
 come to the conclusion that there is among them, as a 
 class, a greater sense of insecurity and dependence, and a 
 larger measure of fear in making known their opinions, 
 where these are at variance with those of their landlords, 
 than among any other class I know. ” 
 
 The question therefore arises, the Commissioners observe 
 (p. 310), “as to how far a tenancy from year to 3 r ear, as it 
 stands at present, is compatible with the unfettered and 
 conscientious performance of the other manifold duties of a 
 citizen, which, especially with the extension of local govern- 
 ment, must natural^ devolve upon the agricultural classes.” 
 va/in^condi- The second main factor in producing a sense of 
 
 tions of tenancy insecurity of tenure arises from disputes between landlords 
 tenants!^ and sitting tenants as to variations proposed in the conditions 
 of tenancy. Extracts from the evidence illustrating such 
 disputes are quoted at much length in the Report, but one 
 fairly typical specimen will perhaps suffice for reproduction 
 here. It shall be given in the actual words of the Report 
 (p. 300) : — 
 
 Agricultural “ The keynote of most of the tenants’ complaints in this respect was 
 
 Holdings Act struck by Mr. Daniel Roberts, an aged retired tenant, who had once held, 
 noproteftioii 1 "” perhaps, the best and largest farm in the Vale of Clwyd. 
 for sitting “ ‘ There is nothing in the Agricultural Holdings Act, as far as I can 
 
 tenant. see,’ he said, c to protect the sitting tenant without his being an outgoing 
 
 tenant,.’ My landlord could say to me this : ‘ You must do so and so,’ and 
 after he got me on the farm, and I had spent a lot of money there, he 
 could say, ‘ You must sign this agreement or take notice.’ 
 
 “ In the year 1856 I took a farm called Bacheirig, in the parish of 
 Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, on the Bathafarn estate. We were for four 
 or five weeks discussing the agreements. I then considered myself quite 
 free. I had nothing to lose. However, we at last agreed, and I took the 
 farm at a rent of £200 per annum, and we both signed the agreement, and 
 I took possession at once. In 1859 (three years after I took the farm) the 
 landlord required another agreement to be executed by all his tenants. 
 He sent for three of his largest tenants (I was one of them), thinking if 
 he could obtain the signatures of us three that the others would do so. 
 We had been with him three or four times before we gave way, but I 
 found myself then in a very different position to what I was in 1856. 
 
 “ ‘ I found myself fastened as sitting tenant, having spent £200 or 
 £300 on the farm, and so was compelled to sign the new agreement or 
 leave the farm. Two of us signed it on the 28th May, the very day to give 
 notice. The other refused, and consequently received a notice to quit on 
 that day. However, I did go on improving my farm as fast as I could. 
 In the year 1863 (seven years after I took it) I entered it for competition 
 in the Denbighshire and Flintshire Agricultural Society, and got the first 
 prize. In November 1869, a farm adjoining mine became vacant, and as 
 I kept my children at home, and found my eldest son would want some- 
 where before long, I took the farm, notwithstanding the bad state it was 
 in. I was for three years without receiving a shilling towards the rent, 
 which was £232 per annum. In the year 1875 all the tenants received a 
 notice to quit, as the estate was to be re-valued by a London valuer. The 
 object of the valuation was to raise the rent if possible all round. In the 
 meantime, I arranged with my son that he should take Bacheirig and I 
 take Bathafarn, considering at the time that it would be a good start for 
 
131 
 
 him with £500 or £600, which I had left for him in the farm. After the 
 valuation had been completed, both of us consulted the landlord, with the 
 result that my son was compelled to pay £29 more rent, and by doing so 
 the landlord pocketed what 1 expected my son would have. The whole 
 improvements on the farm had been done by myself. 
 
 “As to my own case at Bathafarn, only five years after I took it I 
 had to pay £19 10s. more rent, and the landlord told me then that if I 
 would not agree to pay £19 10s. more, there would be plenty who would 
 like to have the farm, when I had £500 or £600 in it. Between my son 
 and myself, he took at least £1,000 of my capital. However, both of us 
 carried on as well we could, and in the year 1877 I took the first prize for 
 Bathafarn in a competion in connection with the Denbighshire and Flint- 
 shire Agricultural Society, and to get the farm into that condition cost a 
 •deal of money. I am prepared to say that the sitting tenant is still at the 
 mercy of his landlord.’ We should add, however, that the rent of Batha- 
 farn farm was reduced about 1890, from £220 to £180 for Mr. Roberts’ 
 son who succeeded him in its occupation. 
 
 “ Mr. Roberts then proceeded to point out his objections to the new 
 .agreement. Under it the tenancy was terminable by a six months’ notice 
 to quit. ‘ You have to keep (the farm) in a regular and progressive state 
 of improvement, and to be subject to that notice after all, without any 
 •compensation or anything ; it is very much against good farming in my 
 opinion.’ To illustrate this last contention, the witness, with the utmost 
 •candour, further stated what he, himself, had done, after his rent was 
 raised, ‘Four years after I took Bathafarn, that was in 1874, I sowed 16 
 acres of grass field for permanent pasture. It cost me 30s. an acre. 
 After I found I was obliged to raise the rent in 1876, I ploughed that up 
 in a year or two after, because I got uneasy. After that, I had no 
 •confidence to go on as I did before.’ Mr. Roberts’s final words as to his 
 own case seem to represent so admirably, and in such characteristic 
 language, the feeling and opinion of the tenants generally that we cannot 
 do better than quote him once more : — 4 1 have had, all my life, a great 
 faith in the landlords. I would not have expected what I have had from 
 .anybody, but still we do not know who will be the landlord in another 
 year. We ought to be protected as well as the landlord. They do prepare 
 in the agreements for themselves, but nothing for the tenants.’ ” 
 
 The Commissioners in conclusion observed that “ the 
 case of Mr. Roberts by no means stood alone. Many another 
 instance was given of the notice to quit being used as a means 
 of obtaining the assent and signature of a sitting tenant to 
 •an agreement which contained some modification of the 
 original contract in the form of clauses which the tenant 
 considered objectionable. In some instances the new or 
 modified agreement would be submitted to the tenant only a 
 short time prior to the usual date for giving notices, and the 
 coincidence, whether intended or not, would be readily inter- 
 preted by the sensitive tenant as an act of intimidation on 
 the part of landlord or agent.” 
 
 Thirdly, another cause of “ a very deep-rooted and wide- 
 spread sense of the insecurity of a tenancy from year to year” 
 is to be found in frequent sales of property. This is, more- 
 over, a cause which no one appears to deny or wishes to 
 minimise its injurious effects. In the view of the Com- 
 missioners (p. 304), 44 those tenant farmers who have ex- 
 pressed themselves as satisfied with the present state of 
 
 3. Frequent 
 sales of property 
 — a cause of 
 much insecurity 
 
132 
 
 things, seem to place their confidence in the personal honour' 
 of their landlord or agent, and not in the nature of the- 
 tenure under which tlie}^ hold. They do not anticipate any 
 change in the ownership nor in the long-established principles- 
 which have governed the management of the estate in the- 
 past. But in the words of Adam Smith, 4 confidence in a- 
 landlord attaches to himself only, and not at all to his 
 successor.’ And as property after property comes into the- 
 market, the tenant, too late, discovers that his confidence- 
 has been misplaced, and the feeling of insecurity, of which 
 his case is but an object lesson, spreads contagiously among - 
 other tenants, friends, and neighbours, who had previously 
 shared a similar sense of fixity in the occupation of their 
 holdings.” 
 
 In fact 44 the mere prospect of such a sale wholly un- 
 settles the tenants, producing in them feelings of distrust and 
 alarm, while the general sequel takes the form of more fre- 
 quent changes of tenancy, the confiscation of tenant’s im- 
 provements, an increase of rent, and the introduction of new 
 conditions, possibly good in themselves, but none the 
 less distasteful to the sitting tenants, as being superimposed 
 on them by a new-comer.” 
 
 A few facts are then given so as to show the extent to 
 which land has been placed in the market of recent years,, 
 statements being also quoted as to the effect of such trans- 
 actions on the tenantry. 
 
 In Anglesey 11,553 acres have been sold by five owners 
 between 1889 and 1893, and it was repeatedly stated that- 
 44 the chief cause of changes of tenancy at present is that 
 much land is sold,” similar statements being also made? 
 as to the Lleyn portion of Carnarvonshire, the Yale of Con- 
 way, as well as many other districts. 
 
 “ One witness said that the whole of the Yale of Conway had been 
 sold and much of it several times over between 1850 and 1892. At the- 
 earlier date it was a common thing for farms to have been held continu- 
 ously by members of the same family for 100 to 200 years, but that is not 
 the case at present. In the ease of one of the estates sold in the district, 
 that of Bodnant Hall, we are able [the Report says] to trace the effect of 
 the change in its ownership on the tenants. It was purchased about 
 1873 by Mr. H. D. Poehin, who thereupon had it valued, with the result 
 that the rents in many cases were advanced. The total number of tenants 
 were 25, but in 1S93 only four of the original tenants were still on the 
 estate, ail the others having left owing, according to one witness, to the 
 increase in rent. The landlord’s version was that the tenants had •“ dis- 
 missed” or “ got rid of themselves” owing to their improvidence in 
 becoming security for other tenants. The history of the Hirnant estate 
 in Merioneth is somewhat similar. It consisted of 15 or 16 tenancies, and 
 the owner, Mr. Richardson, tried, about 1870, to advance his rents, but all 
 the larger tenants left. Some Scotchmen were introduced into the dis- 
 trict to replace the Welsh tenants, but these failed. In about a year 
 afterwards the estate was sold and relet, but again the new tenants found 
 
133 
 
 "the rents too high, and all of them gave notice with ihe view of obtaining 
 .-a redaction, which in at least some cases was secured. 
 
 “ A tenant from the parish of Pembryn, in South Cardiganshire, said 
 with reference to his holding on the Gogerddan estate : ‘ We have lived 
 in such suspense the last twelve years that Ave have no fair play to make 
 the most of the land. I remember six notices to quit, but my mother 
 remembers from 15 to 20. Our farm has been in the market for the last 
 12 years. In 1890 Ave received the last notice to quit, and the farm was 
 again put up for sale, £1,800 being the highest bid. We then rented it 
 .again for three years.’ ” 
 
 According to Mr. Gwilym Evans, of Llanelly (who chase^omeSmes 
 mentioned the sale of 32 farms near Llandovery in May, offered to 
 1884), “one of the complaints frequently heard,” is, that mo re often not. 
 farms are sold over the heads of the occupiers not only with- 
 out offering them an option of purchase, but also without 
 informing them of the intention to sell. Several instances 
 of this practice are given, in some, though not all, of which 
 the sitting tenants were said to have suffered owing to the 
 change of ownership. But such cases of private sales are, 
 according to the Commissioners, of an exceptional character, 
 and “ b}’ far the greater proportion of the land sold in Wales 
 of recent years has been disposed of by public auction, but 
 without the offer of pre-emption to the sitting tenants. So 
 far as the evidence tendered goes, it appears that the 
 instances where such an offer was made are extremely rare. 
 
 The best known example is that of the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners, who within the last ten years have thus sold 
 9,500 acres for £153,000, the holdings being first offered to 
 the sitting tenants on a system of deferred payments. On 
 one estate, belonging to the Commissioners in Pembroke- 
 shire, the whole of the tenants bought up their farms under 
 this system.” (p. 306). The first refusal of their farms 
 Avas said to have been similarly offered to the occupying 
 tenants, when portions were sold of the estates of Lord 
 Boston, Sir R. Bulkeley, of Baron Hill (both in Anglesey), 
 of Lord Ashburnham, in Carmarthenshire, Mr. Harford, of 
 Ealcondale, and one or two others. 
 
 But “judging from the tone of surprise with AA r liich 
 several owners and agents answered our questions as to 
 whether such an offer had been made (in the case of other 
 sales) we may reasonably assume that in the majority of 
 cases the tenants are not given an opportunity of privately 
 purchasing prior to the public sales. 
 
 For example, Mr. A. C. Bruce-Pryce, who sold a small 
 estate of 1,700 acres in the Yale of Glamorgan in 1893, 
 stated that he ‘ had no idea of anything of the kind — not 
 the least in the world,’ adding that he might just as well 
 have offered his property to his servants.” 
 
134 
 
 Tenants invari- 
 ably served with 
 notices to quit, 
 which are often 
 almost, expiring 
 before the sale. 
 
 With reference to other grievances connected with sales,, 
 the Report proceeds thus (p. 306) : — “ Nor is this all. 
 When farms are advertised for sale the first and almost only 
 object of the vendor is to secure the best possible price for 
 his property, and the particulars of sale are framed with that 
 object in view. The condition of the farm as to cultivation 
 and improvements is naturally emphasised, and the rent is 
 almost invariably described as low or moderate, though some 
 cases were mentioned where the rents had been, even raised 
 prior to the sale, so as to show the briers that the rents- 
 were so much. To enable the buyer to have the purchased 
 property in hand almost immediately after the sale, notices- 
 to quit are, according to the testimony of Mr. J. E. Vincent, 
 
 ‘ invariably given by the vendor’ prior to the sale. This he 
 described as a 4 formality which was considered necessary,’ 
 adding that ‘at the same time that that is done, you will 
 invariably see in the auction bills that the inducement is 
 held out to the purchaser that there are so many good 
 tenants, so that it is apparent! y not intended to get rid of 
 them.’ The intention of the vendor, unless made legally 
 binding on the purchaser,* is worse than useless for the 
 occupiers, especially when the purchaser pays a higher price 
 for the property in respect of their good character and settled 
 habits. 
 
 So that tenants 
 are thereby 
 driven into a 
 corner. 
 
 “ But one unobserved hardship of this system is that 
 the usual length of the notice to quit, whether it be six or 
 twelve months, is in effect often seriously curtailed to the 
 much shorter time that intervenes between the sale and the 
 customary date for giving up possession. Until the tenant 
 discovers, at or soon after the sale, who his new 4 master’ is 
 going to be, he cannot ascertain whether it is intended that 
 he should continue in his holding, and, if so, whether the 
 conditions for re-letting it to him would be such as he could 
 accept. At all events, owing to the reduced period of time 
 at the disposal of the tenant to negotiate the terms of the 
 re-letting with his new landlord, and on failure thereof, to 
 find, treat for, and take another suitable holding elsewhere, 
 a tempting opportunhy might be afforded a speculative and 
 unscrupulous purchaser to extort from the helpless tenant 
 almost any terms that he might see fit to impose. 
 
 “ One landowner — Mr. Vaughan Davies, of Tan-y-bwleh, Cardiganshire, 
 actually provided, by a clause specially inserted in his agreements by his 
 legal advisers in 1888, that if the premises were sold in any year prior to 
 
 * In the case of the recent sale of the Wrington Estate, in North 
 Somerset, the vendor (Captain Forester) is reported to have made it a 
 condition of the sale that no old tenants should be disturbed so long as 
 they chose to remain in possession (The “ Times ” for 2nd May, 1895). 
 
the month of July the tenancy should expire in the Michaelmas following, 
 so that if such a clause were legally valid, as the tenant fully believed, 
 the notice to quit implied by the sale would be reduced to one of three 
 months only. The farms to which these agreements referred have, 
 according to the owner, been in the market ever since 1888. As they are 
 mountain holdings with sheep walks there may be some difficulty in 
 disposing of them at prices that Avouid satisfy the owner, but so long as 
 this state of things is prolonged the tenants have practically no security 
 of tenure, and are but little removed from tenants holding at the mere 
 will of the owner. 
 
 44 There is one other point that deserves mention in 
 this connection. There is no need to emphasize here the 
 intense anxiety felt by most tenants to purchase their own 
 holdings, unless there is reason to believe that they will be 
 purchased by some landowner whose reputation for fair deal- 
 ing with his tenants is well established. Many are the 
 heroic efforts made to secure that the family home be not 
 disturbed owing to a change of ownership. With such an 
 object in view, the tenant is blind to the identity of those 
 who bid against him, but if in the long run he is out-bidden 
 by another, the very fact of his opposition in the auction 
 room is likefy to tell against him with his new 44 master,” 
 even though that opposition was prompted by the laudable 
 desire for securing his own tenure and protecting his family .” 
 
 An aged tenant told the Commission how his holding 
 was put up for sale and that he bid for it : 44 However, (the 
 late) Mr. Price, of Rhinlas, was the purchaser, and he refused 
 to let me the farm, giving as his reason that I bid against 
 him.” 
 
 The opinion is expressed (p. 307) that 44 cases of this 
 kind are probably rare, but they illustrate the embarrassment 
 caused to the tenant, whatever line of action he may take to 
 protect his interests. But though instances of the actual 
 displacement of the tenant directly in consequence of the 
 sale may be rare, yet the instances in which rents have been 
 raised subsequent to such sales are exceedingly numerous.” 
 
 A landowner who purchases a farm by bidding against 
 the sitting tenant might reasonably argue — the Com- 
 missioners point out — that 44 if it be worth the penultimate 
 bidding to the sitting tenant, who would have to borrow, 
 perhaps at a high rate of interest, it would surely be worth 
 the final bid, a further £5 or £10 at most, for himself who 
 could borrow if necessary at easier rates. When, therefore, 
 on re-letting, he fixes the rent on the basis of a percentage 
 on the purchase money he practically accepts the sitting 
 tenant’s own valuation of the farm, reserving to himself 
 the decision as to the rate of interest thereon. Never- 
 theless, though the tenant’s own conduct may be taken 
 as justifying every subsequent act on the part of his new 
 
136 
 
 The sense of 
 insecurity thus 
 produced— a 
 most important 
 factor 
 
 landlord, still, that very conduct is in the first instance refer- 
 able to a sense of the insecurity of tenure and to that land 
 hunger which is inseparably bound up with it.” 
 
 Some typical statements are quoted illustrating how 
 tenants had been induced to spend freely on improvements 
 without any guarantee for repayment beyond such a verbal 
 assurance on the part of the owner or agent as — “ once on 
 our estate always there,” or “ my word is as good as a lease;” 
 and how, suddenly a few years’ after, the property is put on 
 the market and knocked down to the highest bidder. 
 
 Nothing that the Commissioners heard or saw appears 
 to have impressed them, one and all, much as this form of 
 insecurity, and they observe that “ so many witnesses — 
 representatives of various interests in every county — have 
 laid the utmost stress on the insecurity resulting from the 
 breaking up of estates, that it is impossible to exaggerate its 
 importance as a factor in the Welsh land question 
 
 “ Perhaps the most striking testimony ” received under 
 this head, the Commissioners say (p. 309) “ came from the 
 mouth of Mr. J. Bryn Roberts, M.P., whose words we shall 
 therefore quote here at length : ‘1 practised for many years 
 — for 19 years - in this country as a solicitor, and being a 
 liberal solicitor, of whom there were not many at the time I 
 commenced practice, my assistance was generally sought in 
 cases where tenants came to difficulties with their landlords, 
 and I got a considerable knowledge then of where the shoe 
 pinched, and I found it was alwa 3 T s in a case of this kind. It 
 rarely occurred, in fact, I may say never, on these large 
 estates, unless they were sold. As long as a place continued 
 on these large estates there was no difficulty ; of course the 
 difficulty remained of their being completely under the thumb 
 of the landlord, of whom they were not much afraid, of the 
 agent, of whom they were a bit more afraid, and of the 
 game-keeper, of whom they were very much afraid ; but 
 when some of these estates were sold, then the purchaser 
 naturally said : — 4 1 have paid for this place as I have got it ; 
 I have paid for it as it stands ’ ; and he would not be dis- 
 posed to give much consideration to the tenant. All the 
 cases, very nearly without exception, in which my assistance 
 was sought for, were cases arising in that way, where 
 properties had been sold, and very, very cruel injustice had 
 been done.” 
 
 In fact Mr. Bryn Roberts regarded security of tenure of 
 so great an importance as to make it the main provision of 
 the Welsh Land Bill, which he introduced into the House of 
 Commons. 
 
137 
 
 “ If I were asked,” he said, “ whether capricious or vin- 
 dictive eviction is often resorted to I should say no, it is not, 
 but the power to resort to it is enough, and a great deal 
 too much. It destroys all independence in tenants, and 
 makes them totally unable to resist the will of the landlords 
 on any subject whatsoever.” 
 
 3.— THE LAND HUNGER : ITS CHARACTERISTICS 
 AND EFFECTS. 
 
 The various circumstances which have been hitherto Land hunger the 
 dealt with may be said to be, broadly speaking, the occasions EeStyof 
 rather than the ultimate causes of any real insecurity of tcnure * 
 tenure. 
 
 The Commissioners, therefore, proceed to ask themselves 
 what is the primary cause or causes of this alleged feeling 
 of insecurity considering that, after all, most of the large 
 estates as well as many other small ones also, are able to 
 show a remarkable record of family succession in the occu- 
 pation of holdings. Their reply is— Land Hunger ; and 
 the following are their remarks on the point (p. 312) : — 
 
 “ The two main causes productive of this sense of 
 insecurity among tenants — so far as we have yet considered 
 the evidence — are, first, the power possessed by every land- 
 lord (but rarely exercised by the good one) of capriciously 
 evicting a tenant or of threatening to do so, and, secondly, 
 the change in the ownership of a holding by its sale over 
 the head of the sitting tenant — a cause which is now 
 becoming more frequent than formerly, and has therefore to 
 be regarded as a possibility in connection with every estate. 
 
 The initiative in both these causes lies on the owner’s side. 
 
 But there is another cause which precedes and renders 
 possible, even if it does not directly produce, the two causes 
 which we have mentioned. This lies wholly on the side of 
 the occupier. It is not spasmodic or intermittent as the 
 other causes, but is an ever-present element which is at the 
 very root of the land problem in Wales, and is certainly far 
 more productive of a sense of insecurity than sales or capri- 
 cious evictions. This is the great craving for land which we 
 found to be a most marked characteristic of the Welsh in 
 common with other branches of the Celtic races. That a 
 land hunger of the most insatiable type exists throughout 
 Wales, and that excessive competition and a reckless bidding 
 for farms are its inevitable results were but too clearly 
 demonstrated to us by the unanimous testimony of all the 
 witnesses, whether landlords, agents, or tenants, or whether 
 
138 
 
 A characteristic 
 of Celtic races. 
 
 Facts illustra- 
 ting this hunger. 
 
 1. No derelict 
 land in Wales. 
 
 they were independent observers not so directly connected 
 with agriculture. With what is probably the originating 
 cause of this passion for land, we have already dealt briefly 
 in the course of our remarks on the length of tenancies. We 
 then found that it was the sacred attachment for the ances- 
 tral home that could alone account for the remarkable 
 duration, in many cases, of the family connection with the 
 same holding. But only one member of the family — 
 generally the youngest or the member that remains longest 
 unmarried — can hope to succeed the parent in the occupa- 
 tion of the old home. For the others, other holdings would 
 be required, and for these they must wait. One of our 
 number is personally acquainted with a case in which the 
 grandfather, parents, and three married sons and great- 
 grand-children reside in the same farmhouse, while another 
 Commissioner is acquainted with an instance somewhat 
 similar in the case of a small freeholder. ‘ The sons and 
 daughters married have to wait for a farm, sometimes two or 
 more families live in one house . . . . many newty- 
 
 married couples cannot get farms.’ To attain this end, all 
 considerations are set aside, and the result is therefore an 
 unbridled competition for land, a craving to be satisfied at 
 almost any cost, whether material or moral, regardless of the 
 prior claims and interests of existing occupiers or their 
 relatives. It is the knowledge of this that makes it possible 
 for a landowner, should he so desire it, to evict one tenant 
 whether with or without a reasonable cause, and to substi- 
 tute another in his place, without the slightest difficulty, 
 however great the agricultural depression may be at the time. 
 Or, to put it from the occupier’s point of view, it is because 
 the sitting tenant is too well aware that there are many who 
 are ever ready to step in and take his holding on any terms- 
 that he is afraid of doing anything against his landlord’s- 
 interest, or of bargaining with him so freely as he would 
 otherwise do. 4 How can we press and insist upon a thing 
 which we cannot demand ?’ asked a tenant farmer, ‘ for,’ he 
 added later on, 4 a new tenant is almost always ready to give 
 an}^ rent for his holding the first time. ’ ” 
 
 The Commissioners then proceed to mention 44 a few of 
 the more salient points deducible from the copious mass of 
 evidence” illustrating the existence of this land hunger. 
 
 1. Derelict farms are unknown in Wales ; nor so far as- 
 it is possible to ascertain, has there been during the present 
 century any appreciable quantity of the cultivable land of 
 the country out of occupation. 
 
139 
 
 “ On the other hand there are undoubtedly scores of mountain farms 
 of all sizes, which consist only of land that, according to the opinion both 
 of the expert and the ordinary observer, cannot possibly be beneficially 
 occupied as separate and self-contained holdings. Colonel Hughes re- 
 ferred sympathetically to the struggles of the occupiers of such land, 
 
 ‘ with their mud hovels and the defective buildings, where even in the 
 good times, they were able to exist with infinite difficulty, eking out a. 
 miserable and laborious life.’ 
 
 “ If, therefore, there is no prospect of a remuneration proportionate 
 to the joyless and unattractive nature of the life which these mountain 
 farmers have to lead, we may very well ask why are they there ? Why 
 are there in Wales so many holdings with inhabited homesteads, at. 
 extreme altitudes, where, owing to the variations of the climate and the 
 sterility of the land, the remoteness of the situation, the badness of the 
 roads and the consequent inferiority of the buildings, their occupiers have 
 but little share in the comforts and amenities which science and civiliza- 
 tion have placed at the service of the humblest and most laborious toiler 
 in almost every other sphere of life ? 
 
 Surely there is nothing but the consuming passion, the leech-craving 
 for land, that can account for such a state of things. These men and 
 their families would not persist in prolonging this miserable existence 
 unless they were wholly possessed with the feeling that they must at all 
 costs have a little holding under whatever circumstances, and that without it 
 life for them would not be worth living. To this end, it is true, a strong 
 attachment to their own form of religion, and also to their native 
 language, has undoubtedly contributed, by preventing their migration 
 to England or elsewhere” (p. 313). 
 
 “Another circumstance which indirectly proves the 2 - No trade 
 existence of a land hunger in Wales is the fact that there is Son among 111 
 not, nor has there ever been — at least for any length 0 f farmers > 
 time — among tenants and applicants for farms any sort of 
 combination in the nature of a trade union, nor any such 
 concerted action as is generally associated with that form of 
 organisation. Even after the most reprehensible and un- 
 justifiable evictions, the holdings thereby vacated have been 
 invariably relet to new tenants without any difficulty what- 
 soever. However emphatic may be the condemnation of 
 ai^ given eviction, or of the treatment of an outgoing tenant 
 by his landlord, the force of such public opinion has never 
 been strong enough to restrain applicants from eagerly 
 competing for the evicted tenant’s holding. What is known 
 in Ireland as the system of “ boj^cotting ” has, we believe, 
 never been adopted or even tried by Welsh tenants in 
 their dealings with their landlords, except, perhaps, in South 
 Wales at the time of the “ Rebecca Riots ” in 1843. It was 
 only in one case that it was stated in evidence that a 
 combination, bearing an affinity to that which we have 
 referred to, was ever successfully resorted to by the tenants,” 
 
 The combination referred to (p. 31 4 ) occurred on the 
 Aberhirnant estate in Merionethshire. All the tenants, a few 
 j r ears ago, giving notices to quit simultaneous^ with the view 
 of obtaining a reduction of rents. 
 
140 
 
 Who, owing to 
 suspicion and 
 treachery, are 
 incapable of 
 successful 
 combination. 
 
 Collective action on the part of the tenants of an estate 
 or district in the adoption of a petition asking for reductions 
 or abatements in rents has, as a rale, proved anything but 
 successful on the apparently rare occasions when it has been 
 tried. Thus in 1891, the landowners of South Pembrokeshire 
 declined to treat with the tenants as a body, but when 
 approached by each tenant individually they granted 
 abatements. In 1886, many tenants on the Rhiwlas estate 
 signed a petition asking their landlord for abatements. 
 Those who signed the petition received an abatement of 5 per 
 cent., those who did not. were granted 10 per cent, A 
 former tenant of the Nannau estate, alleged that after he 
 had been concerned in the preparation of a similar petition, 
 his signature being placed first on it, all the tenants, with 
 the exception of himself, received an abatement of 10 per 
 cent. But when tenants meet together with a view to 
 privately discussing proposals for united action, their con- 
 fidence appears to be in danger of being betraj^ed by 
 members of their own body. Thus the agent for Miss 
 Talbot’s Gower estate asserted a knowledge of what had 
 occurred at a strictly private meeting of the tenants, and 
 “ the obvious inference,” according to the Report, “ was that 
 one of the tenants had either betrayed the confidence of his 
 fellows, or had made a false statement as to the proceedings 
 at the meeting.” 
 
 Mr. T. Prichard, the agent for the Bodorgan estate in 
 Anglesey, in fact asserted that “ there is no real spirit of 
 honest combination and co-operation among farmers, and no 
 mutual confidence. They will not stick to any rules, and, 
 on principle, each man fights for himself.” “ In other 
 words,” the Commissioners observe, “ the spirit of competi- 
 tion for the acquisition of land has hitherto been too universal 
 among: them to render possible any real, lasting, and 
 
 effective combination.” 
 
 A North Cardiganshire tenant referred to “ farmers 
 going and trying to cut one another’s throat” by competing 
 and bidding against sitting tenants when they try to get 
 their rents reduced. ” The following reference to some 
 Pembrokeshire evidence is typical of many of the statements 
 made under this head : — 
 
 “Mr. Benjamin Perkins gave, at Letterston, an account of a meeting of 
 farmers held at Maenclochog, to select and instruct a delegate to give 
 evidence before the Commission. ‘ There were several complaints as to 
 high rents 5 he said, 1 but there were only a few who blamed the landlords 
 or their agents ; they greatly blamed those who were ready to take a 
 holding should a tenant threaten to give up his place in order to try to get 
 the rent reduced. There was no sympathy shown by competing tenants 
 to one another.’ ” 
 
141 
 
 Some further light on the extent and character of the 
 land hunger is obtained by considering the evidence as to 
 the number and qualifications of applicants for vacant 
 farms. 
 
 As to qualifications or competency, it is stated that “ as 
 a rule the applicants for farms are not possessed of capital 
 proportionate to the size and nature of the holding for which 
 they are applying. In too many cases there would appear 
 to be hardly any capital at all, but even insolvency and 
 indebtedness do not deter people from eagerly taking — if 
 they can — holdings which they know they cannot profitably 
 work, and which they must ultimately relinquish with their 
 credit and reputation seriously impaired, and themselves 
 involved in difficulties that will perhaps cripple them for the 
 rest of their lifetime and be a ruinous inheritance to their 
 children. ” 
 
 According to the Inspector-General in Bankruptcy, the 
 most frequent cause of agricultural failures in Wales is, 
 admittedly, want of original capital. A farm when taken 
 is consequently understocked, or the deficiencj^ has to be 
 made up by borrowing, but “ the interest on the borrowed 
 capital becomes of course an increase of rent,” so that, 
 according to the Report, “ it would almost appear that agents 
 had been so long accustomed to a state of impecuniosity on 
 the part of applicants (especially considering that the 
 interests of their own employers are adequately protected by 
 the preferential right to rent) that they had at last accepted 
 want of capital as an inseparable condition of most lettings.” 
 
 As to the numbers of those applying for farms, the 
 Report says (p. 318) that “ according to the statements of 
 owners and agents there is at all times, however great the 
 agricultural depression, an abundance of applicants for any 
 farm that may be to let. This competition is keenest in 
 Welsh-speaking districts, but is never wholly absent in 
 English-speaking localities as well.” 
 
 Thus, the agent for Mr. Assheton Smith’s Vaenol es- 
 tate said it is quite a common thing to have 20 or 30 
 applicants even for a poor farm, while as many as 45 were 
 said to have applied for a Baron Hill farm in Anglesey 
 “ some 6 or 8 years ago.” 
 
 The late Mr. H. D. Pochin, of Bodnant Hall, said that 
 there was a great difference in this respect between Wales 
 and England : “ Lord Spencer had recently had a great deal 
 of his property in Northamptonshire on his hands unlet, but 
 in Wales there are a number of applicants, some of them 
 being without a penny in the world.” 
 
 3. "Want of 
 capital no check 
 upon the passion 
 for land. 
 
 4. Super-abun- 
 dance of appli- 
 cants for farms, ( 
 whether vacant^ 
 or not. 
 
142 
 
 The same eager demand for farms is noticeable in the 
 border districts, but here the applicants are as a rule less 
 impecunious. Lord Kenyon’s agent said that he had on his 
 books 30 or 40 names of eligible men, whom he would put 
 into any farm that might become vacant, but “ the moment 
 a farm is to let it is snapped up and the agent for some other 
 estates in the same district said that onty a week prior to the 
 Commission’s visit in August 1894, three men of capital had 
 applied to him at Wrexham market for farms, though he 
 had none vacant ; while a tenant from near Newtown said 
 that in 1858 his father was selected tenant of a farm (pre- 
 viously held by his uncle) out of 35 candidates, adding that 
 * l the farm was only open from half day on Saturday until 
 Monday afternoon.” 
 
 A similar state of things prevails in South Wales also, 
 and the Commissioners appear to think that Carmarthen- 
 shire, Cardiganshire, and the Welsh-speaking part of 
 Pembrokeshire, are “ notoriously pre-eminent ” for the land 
 hunger which is described as being, within that area, “ un- 
 questionably of the worst type.” 
 
 There is, however, no scarcity of applicants in the eastern 
 counties, where the demand for farms is, moreover, generally 
 increased owing to the competition of men following other 
 occupations in towns and industrial centres. For example, 
 on the Glanusk estate in Breconshire, when a large farm 
 was expected to become vacant through the tenant’s death, 
 over 20 applications were received for it from first class 
 farmers in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The Margam agent referred to a recent vacancy near 
 Cowbridge for which he had 24 applicants, and Mr. Edward 
 John, a seed and implement merchant of that town, spoke of 
 20 or 30 applicants competing for a farm as a matter of 
 common occurrence, while a responsible witness, from Gower, 
 asserted that “ if there were 100 farms in Gower to let next 
 week, there is no doubt they would all be taken.” His own 
 family circumstances went far to prove his assertion. “ I 
 have seven sons,” he said; “at present I want five or six 
 farms. I have applied for farms to Sir John Llewelyn and 
 his agent here, and many other gentlemen, but there is not 
 a farm to be got. We have no land in the country to spare.” 
 
 As to Pembrokeshire, the Rev. G. Bancroft, of East 
 Williamston, said that “ people will take farms even if they 
 are ruined — and they do so. To me,” he added, “it is a 
 mystery, but they will do it ; they will take land although 
 they know it will not pay.” Referring to the same thing, a 
 witness from the Fishguard district said “ people had got 
 drunk on land.” 
 
143 
 
 About 60 applicants recently tendered for Posty farm, 
 near Maenclochog, while about 30 competed in 1893 for a 
 compact little farm near Myddfai in North Carmarthenshire, 
 and 31 for a small farm of 62 acres near Abergwili, although 
 the sitting tenant was not under notice to quit and in 
 fact still in occupation. 
 
 A very injurious effect is naturally produced upon the 
 character of the tenantry by this reckless competition, to 
 which reference is made as follows (p. 322) : 
 
 “One result of this excessive competition is, that the Effect of 
 applicants, in their race for priority, are driven to do things on^orai 031 
 of which, in their saner moments, they are heartily ashamed, character of 
 so that a serious loss of self-respect is the natural conse- 
 quence. It is by no means an unknown thing, in fact it 
 is one of too frequent occurrence, for applications on the 
 death of a tenant to be lodged with a landlord before the 
 funeral is over. Public opinion and the moral conscience of 
 the tenantry at large, it is true, most emphatically condemn 
 such indecent haste, but the individual is too often ready to 
 repeat it under slight pressure of circumstances.” 
 
 “ Dr. Rhys Jones, of Cardiff, in speaking of his father’s holding in 
 South Cardiganshire, said that his father had to go to his landlord the 
 .afternoon of his father’s funeral, because others had been before him. 
 
 ‘ He, however, had to deal with a landlord less hungering and more 
 honourable than his neighbours. I believe,’ he added, ‘ the evil is much 
 aggravated since that dark summer day for my father in 1832.’ In wit- 
 ness’s opinion ‘ the farmers, of all men, are the worst to outbid each other.’ 
 
 “ From the neighbourhood of Newcastle Emlyn, Captain Jones-Parry 
 of Tyllwyd gave some recent instances. ‘ There has never been a death 
 vacancy that has not been immediately applied for by several people ; 
 more than that, when people have been lying dead, before they have been 
 buried, applications have been made for the farm, and I may say that 
 before they have been dead I have had applications. It is a scandalous 
 fact.’ 
 
 “ Mr. J. Emlyn Jones, discussing the land hunger in the district of 
 Tregaron, in North Cardiganshire, said that ‘the present conditions 
 affect the character of the farmers as well as their circumstances. There 
 is a tendency in them to be hypocrites at the present time. They are 
 .afraid, and so they pretend to be what they are not. There is a tendency 
 t that way, and they betray each other by bidding against each other for 
 farms, and so on.’ 
 
 “ According to Mr. Llewelyn Williams 1 this keen competition for 
 land has not only had the effect of lowering the character and destroying 
 the manliness and independence of spirit of the farmers, and of causing 
 them to plot and scheme one against the other in order to win the land- 
 lord’s favour, but it has, in too many instances, made landlords arrogant, 
 unsympathetic, and harsh in their dealings.’ 
 
 There were two or three witnesses, it is true, who did 
 not take so serious a view of this competition. The Pro- 
 prietor of the Aberystwyth Observer , while admitting its 
 keenness, doubted “ whether it is keener among farmers than 
 amongst tradespeople,” and a similar doubt was also expressed 
 by Mr. W. S. Miller, a large Breconshire farmer. 
 
144 
 
 Effect of the 
 competition on 
 rent. 
 
 Especially of 
 small holdings. 
 
 Major Price Lewes, a Cardiganshire landowner, though 
 admitting that “ there may be a good many competitors for 
 a farm when it comes up,” denied entirely, so far as his 
 experience went, that “ one man goes over another’s back to 
 bid a higher price.” The Commissioners, however, observe 
 that, “taking Wales as a whole, it seems to us a most 
 exceptional course for one applicant to wait until the land- 
 lord is ‘ clear of the other man.’” 
 
 But what is the effect of this competition on rent ? 
 “ The majority of witnesses agreed in exonerating land- 
 owners, as a class, from blame in connection with this 
 competition” — a view which the Commissioners, with certain 
 reservations, also endorse in the following terms (p. 323) : — 
 “We may certainly acquit most of the larger landowners of 
 consciously taking any unfair advantage of this excessive 
 competition for land with the view of doing what has been 
 here described as ‘ screwing up the rents. ’ But landowning, 
 like every other industry, is necessarily subject to and 
 influenced by the economic law of supply and demand, even 
 though it be further admitted that the estates of the larger 
 hereditary landowners are not wholly managed on purely 
 commercial lines. 
 
 “ But barety one-third of the whole area of Wales can 
 be accounted for as belonging to the great landowners, by 
 which we mean those who own estates of at least 3,000 acres 
 each, so that it remains for us to ask what effect this compe- 
 tition must produce on the smaller owners. Competition is, 
 of course, greatest and keenest for farms of a small size : it 
 is least for the largest holdings. Everyone thinks he can 
 take a small farm, whether he has capital or not ; there are 
 labourers who are ascending the social ladder, ready to com- 
 pete for such farms with farmers whose course is financially 
 a downward one. There are those who follow other occupa- 
 tions than that of agriculture, and others who have no 
 occupation at all but are possessed of independent means, 
 there is the young farmer’s son who is commencing life, and 
 the more elderly farmer who wishes to lessen his burden of 
 cares — all these and many more look upon the small, or at 
 least the moderate-sized farm as just the kind of holding to 
 suit them. ” 
 
 Is it, then, the competition or is it the actual value that 
 is the chief and governing factor in determining the rent at 
 which a holding is let ? The best test is said to be furnished 
 by comparing the rents of the larger and smaller tenantry 
 in the same districts, making due allowance for other factors 
 that would necessarily influence the rent. “ Having accord- 
 
145 
 
 ingly weighed the evidence on this point to the best of our 
 ability, we are impelled to the conclusion that competition is 
 one of the reasons for the proportionately higher rent of 
 small holdings, but it is not, on the other hand, the sole 
 reason. . The other chief cause is that the expenditure on 
 buildings on a small farm is heavier per acre than on a larger 
 holding, both in the case of original erection and of subse- 
 quent repair. The cost of management is also a trifle 
 higher, as it is usually easier to deal with one large tenant 
 than with half-a-dozen small ones. Still we are inclined to 
 think that, be it right or wrong, the preponderance of opinion 
 was that competition was a more important factor than the 
 cost of buildings in deciding the higher rentals of the smaller 
 tenantry. ” 
 
 In concluding, it is observed (p. 325) that the foregoing jj 1 a o < J d hun&er ’ 
 phenomena — “ land hunger, excessive competition, lack of phenomenon, 
 capital and the like — are not the result of any very modern 
 conditions, though economic changes and other circumstances 
 may have tended to aggravate and intensify their injurious 
 effects. There can, however, be no doubt that this land 
 hunger with its attendant evils has been, probably in varying 
 degrees of prominence, a salient characteristic of rural life 
 in Wales for at least a century past.” 
 
 It was mentioned in 1794 as “an old error in this 
 country” — the reference being more particularly to Cardigan- 
 shire ; while the Rev. Walter Davies dwells repeatedly on 
 the inadequate capital of applicants for farms in the first 
 decade of this century, showing that “ then, as now, men 
 applied for farms quite regardless of the consideration 
 whether they had sufficient means to work them properly, 
 and they not only applied, but they were also accepted as 
 tenants.” 
 
 It is, however, in the account which we have of the 
 state of South Wales at the time of the Rebecca Riots in the forties. 
 1843, that w T e discover to what alarming extremes this land 
 hunger had driven the tenantry. The Times correspondent 
 of the period repeatedly refers to the “ competition for land 
 at any price,” and describes how the tenants would frequently 
 go behind each other’s back to the landlord or agent and say, 
 
 “ I will give you £10 a year more for such a farm than the 
 present tenant (pp. 325-7). And was aggra,- 
 
 It may be here pointed out -though it is not directly 
 mentioned in the Report — that the substitution of yearly yearly for lease- 
 for leasehold tenancies which had been carried out through- hold tenancie3- 
 out Wales in the generation or two prior to 1843 had 
 undoubtedly aggravated competition by making it possible 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 Extent of com- 
 petition largely 
 dependent on 
 size of holdings 
 
 Wales and 
 England com- 
 pared as to siz< 
 of holdings. 
 
 for tenants thus to go “ behind each other’s back to the 
 landlord.” When a farm was held under a lease for lives or 
 for a term, there was no room for this underhanded form of 
 competition, except, perhaps, near the end of the term. 
 With his leasp, the sitting tenant in fact enjoyed an immu- 
 nity from having his occupation undermined, but it would 
 appear as if immediately leases were abandoned, the hunger 
 and passion for land were also let loose, and no man was 
 thereafter safe from the treachery of his neighbours. 
 
 It is no wonder, therefore, that the Commissioners 
 regard “ a right appreciation of the nature and extent of this 
 so-called land hunger as the main clue for unravelling all the 
 more serious difficulties of the land problem in Wales. It 
 largely accounts for the sense of insecurity which prevails 
 among the tenantry, while it is also obvious that unless 
 checked or regulated by some moral force or legislative 
 enactment, its direct economic result would be a system of 
 competition rents. ” Its effect upon rent is, however, a ques- 
 tion which will be dealt with more at length in a later 
 chapter. 
 
 I— THE SIZE OF HOLDINGS : A FACTOR IN DE- 
 TERMINING THE EXTENT OF COMPETITION 
 
 There is one other question closely connected with that 
 of “ land hunger.” “We have just seen that the size of 
 farms has an important bearing on the extent of the com- 
 petition which, owing to a general dearth of capital and for 
 other reasons, is keenest for holdings of comparatively small 
 rental and acreage, and we have also seen that with most 
 landowners, except possibly a few of the largest, this com- 
 petition is consciously or unconsciously a factor in fixing 
 rent. It is therefore, necessary in this connection to ascer- 
 tain as far as possible the general or average size of holdings 
 in Wales.” 
 
 This can best be done by means of 2 tables giving a 
 complete classification into groups of the total number of 
 agricultural holdings in each county throughout Wales, and 
 also in each part of Great Britain, in 1885. 
 
 These tables show that the holdings in Wales are con- 
 siderably smaller than in England or Scotland. The dis- 
 parity between the mean size of holdings in Wales and in 
 other parts of the kingdom would, moreover, be much greater 
 than is represented in these tables but for the larger number 
 of small takings under 5 acres (such as market gardens) in 
 England, and to a lesser degree in Scotland also. In other 
 
Classified Table showing the Size of Welsh Holdings in 1885, 
 
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149 
 
 words (p. 344), “ the very lowest class of agricultural hold- 
 ings, namely, those under one acre, are, in proportion to the 
 total number, about three times more numerous in England 
 than in Wales ; the next class of holdings (namely, those 
 between one and five acres inclusive) are also more numerous 
 in the former country, though the difference in the numbers 
 is not so great as in the previous class. 
 
 On the other hand, small holdings above the five-acre 
 limit and up even to 100 acres are, in proportion, considerably 
 more numerous in Wales than in England, while of the total 
 cultivated area of the two countries the proportional acreage 
 of agricultural holdings of this class in Wales is double what 
 it is in England. 
 
 Large holdings (above 300 acres of cultivated land) are, 
 in proportion, about five times more numerous in England 
 than in Wales, and their proportional acreage is about four 
 times what it is in Wales. 
 
 The great preponderance in England of the lowest class 
 of agricultural holdings (which are practically not distin- 
 guishable from allotments except that they are not detached 
 from cottages), and the equally marked preponderance in 
 Wales of all other kinds of small holdings is chiefly due to 
 the different physical characteristics of the respective coun- 
 tries : Wales, being mainly a pastoral and grazing country, 
 is unsuitable for the arable cultivation of small allotments 
 on a large scale, but for holdings beyond the minimum (say 
 three acres) required for grazing a cow it is well adapted, 
 while, broadly speaking, the contrary is the case in England, 
 especially its corn-growing counties. 
 
 Though small holdings are, however, fairly numerous in 
 most parts, still the demand for them is greater than the 
 supply, and everywhere they are let far more easily than 
 large farms are. 
 
 We need scarcely add (the Commissioners observe) that 
 whatever tends to limit or diminish the supply of separate 
 holdings is always regarded with considerable jealousy on the 
 part of the agricultural population.” 
 
 The result, in the words of the Commissioners, (p. 345) Smsutterfy of 
 is that — “ there is perhaps no policy connected with the weSsenti° 
 whole management of Welsh estates in the past that was ment. 
 so utterly antagonistic to the general sentiment and tradi- 
 tions of the agricultural population at large as the consoli- 
 dation of farms. Mr. Thomas Ellis, M.P., gave expression 
 to Welsh public opinion on this question, when, in his 
 evidence before us, he characterised this policy as one 
 diametrically ‘ contravening the whole spirit of the old 
 
150 
 
 Celtic tenures of Wales. Whether that be so or not, or 
 whether a system of small farms is best from the economic 
 standpoint or otherwise, we had ample evidence to show that 
 the great mass of the tenants regarded consolidation as very 
 injurious to the best interests of the country. 
 
 Long as we found to be the memories of the tenantry 
 in keeping alive recollections and traditions of evictions, 
 and other acts which had been regarded as grievances, still 
 it was a subject of no little surprise for us to find that in 
 dealing with the question of consolidations the witnesses 
 that came before us penetrated considerably further back 
 than they were able to do with reference to any other matter. 
 The existence of concrete material objects in the form of 
 the ruined dwellings or even the unrased sites of what were 
 once separate and independent holdings would keep alive the 
 tradition as to their existence far better than the mere 
 verbal account, or even the written record of Other events, 
 however great an impression they might have created at the 
 time of their occurrence. But the care and labour that had 
 obviously been bestowed— often bj T comparatively uneducated 
 witnesses — upon the preparation of lists recording the names 
 of each holding that had disappeared as the result of con- 
 solidation, afforded us very striking and convincing proof of 
 the general hostility felt against such a policy. To join 
 two small farms into one may appear as a very harmless 
 act in itself, but that is not the light in which it is regarded 
 by the tenantry and the agricultural population at large. 
 Actually or potentially, they are all candidates for farms, 
 so that a reduction in the number of lettable holdings 
 diminishes the supply of such holdings, and lessens the 
 chance of success for the individual applicant. 
 
 But for the existence in Wales of the universal land 
 hunger, the only point of view from which we need, perhaps, 
 have considered consolidation would have been that of its effect 
 on production. It would have been scarcely necessary to 
 consider its effect upon rent, inasmuch as landowners could 
 be assumed to be, in the long run, sufficiently alive to their 
 own interests, and sufficiently amenable to the influence of 
 economic laws. But as we have already seen that land 
 hunger is at the very root of the land problem in Wales, and 
 as the consolidation of farms has naturally aggravated the 
 consequences of that hunger, it therefore seems to be a 
 Subject that ought by no means to be lightly dismissed.” 
 About a dozen pages (345-357) are then devoted to a review 
 of the evidence on this point, but it is scarcely necessary to 
 reproduce any of it here. Briefly put, it is shown that a 
 
151 
 
 policy of consolidation was very universally carried out in 
 connection with the chief estates down to about 20 or 25 
 years ago, and its adoption was chiefly due to the opinion 
 then prevailing among most agricultural experts that large 
 farms were absolutely essential to the advancement of agri- 
 culture, but that “ within the last 20 years, at all events, the 
 number of small farms in Wales has, instead of decreasing, 
 showed a marked upward tendency. Even the economical 
 view has also been largely modified, as many now base their 
 hopes for the future of our agriculture, not upon a system 
 of large farms, but upon the more thorough cultivation of 
 small holdings — on intensity rather than extensity in agri- 
 culture.” 
 
 In conclusion the Commissioners express the opinion 
 that “ in general, there exists in Wales no necessity for con- 
 solidating farms in order to raise them to the size required 
 for the maintenance of a single family, as is so often the case 
 in the congested districts of Ireland.” 
 
 What the great mass of evidence here summarised, how- Ste/senti- 
 ever, seems to show, is that there exists among the cultivators ment compared, 
 of the soil in Wales, as among the crofters of Scotland, a 
 traditional belief that those who have been brought up on 
 the land have a kind of moral right to make their livelihood 
 therefrom throughout life, or, in the words of Sheriff Brand as 
 to the crofters, that they have “ an inherited inalienable title to 
 security of tenure in their possession, while rent and service 
 are duly rendered.” The result is that consolidation of farms 
 is regarded by the Welsh tenants as a distinct breach of the 
 moral order. 
 
 “ There is a curse, a curse hanging over (such) people 
 in the Holy Book,” said one witness : “‘Woe to him who 
 annexes field to field.’” “ When I see people who do not re- 
 quire more than one (farm) — who have no family, nor 
 children growing up — taking two or three and four holdings 
 — which I now see in my district — when other people cannot 
 get' any,’ said a Pembrokeshire witness, ‘ I say they are against 
 the moral law, that is the moral law of ‘Woe unto them that 
 join land to land’ ; that is a thing that the moral law con- 
 demns,” but he added ironically, “ it is reckoned a glorious 
 thing under this dispensation.”* 
 
 It may be gathered from the preceding remarks that the 
 policy of sub-dividing holdings appears to have been more 
 in favour of recent years, though not much has yet been 
 
 * The quotation referred to by these witnesses is from Isaiah v., 8 : 
 
 “ Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there 
 be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth.” 
 
152 
 
 The practice of 
 sub-letting small 
 holdings result- 
 ing in exorbitant 
 rents. 
 
 effected in that direction, the cost of erecting buildings being 
 regarded as a serious obstacle. There are certain exceptions 
 however — chiefly in the quarry districts of North Wales, 
 where several farms have been cut up by various owners 
 as small holdings for quarrymen, e.g., on the Penrhyn and 
 Yaenol Estates, on the property of Mr. Roche, near Port- 
 madoc, and also, to a lesser extent, in parts of Glamorgan- 
 shire (pp. 340-4). “ Where there are large farms in the 
 
 immediate neighbourhood of ‘ works ’ or industrial centres, 
 their sub-division into small holdings for occupation by the 
 employees of such ‘ works ’ might be an advantageous and 
 remunerative policy. In other words, the system of small 
 holdings now prevailing in the quarry districts might, 
 perhaps, be profitably extended.” 
 
 In very many rural districts where small holdings 
 happen perhaps to be abundant enough, a somewhat repre- 
 hensible practice has arisen of letting them with the larger 
 farms and allowing the tenant-in-chief, so to speak, to sub- 
 let to others generally, as it is observed, “ at a much higher 
 rental per acre than that which he himself pays for his 
 own holding.” 
 
 The Commissioners observe (p. 358) that they “ received 
 abundant proofs of the very manifold evils which result from 
 the practice of permitting the tenant farmer to become a 
 middleman with the power of retailing small plots of land, 
 part of his holding, at greatly advanced prices, generally to 
 persons who are not in a position to make the best bargain 
 with him.” 
 
 “ Perhaps the most notorious instances that came under our notice 
 were on the estate of Sir J. H. W. Drummond, of Edwinsford, whose 
 brother, the agent for the estate, referred to the matter as follows : — 
 
 ‘ Sub-letting by the tenants has been and is being carried out to a con- 
 siderable and dangerous extent, cottages let with farms being converted 
 into small holdings and being sub-let by the tenants at from 40 to 60 per 
 cent, increased rent over and above what the landlord is receiving. The 
 occupiers are frequently in addition bound to work for the tenant when 
 required in the summer and are not employed in winter, and great 
 injustice and rackrenting is the result.’ ” 
 
 Several other cases are also cited from different parts of 
 Wales, and the Commissioners conclude by saying that 
 “ blameable as are the tenants who sub-let, their responsi- 
 bility must be shared by the agents and owners who wink 
 at the system, or, as one of their class said, take no notice 
 of it. For ourselves we cannot condemn the practice too 
 severely, and we trust that the publicity given to the more 
 notorious instances brought to our notice will produce such 
 a wholesome effect on public opinion as to render it impossi- 
 ble even for isolated cases of the kind to continue much 
 
153 
 
 longer in existence, unless there be special circumstances 
 justifying such an exception.” 
 
 5 .— SUMMARY OF THE HISTORICAL RESULT. 
 
 So far, we have dealt with the more general — rather than 
 the specific — conditions of tenancy and occupation, and have 
 endeavoured to follow the Commissioners’ history of the 
 origin and growth of the present system from the far distant 
 past. It is seen that they have shown no tendency to mini- 
 mise the extent to which the still lingering instincts and 
 traditions of Welsh tenants have their roots in the past, and 
 yet be important factors in modern economic problems. 
 “ Their existence is one of the present facts which have to be 
 acknowledged,” but beyond this the details of the remoter 
 historical problems need not be investigated so far as this 
 inquiry is concerned. 
 
 We may, therefore, pause here with the view of summing 
 up the practical result of the historical survey of land tenures, 
 which is so valuable a feature of the Report, and which has 
 been briefly referred to in a preceding chapter. This, in 
 short, will enable us to see, with greater clearness, to 
 what extent present conditions are due to the historical 
 causes, which have been touched upon from time to time. 
 
 The Commissioners state their conclusions, under this 
 head, in the following terms (pp. 148-9) : — 
 
 “ Many causes have combined in producing and after- 
 wards perpetuating what is the marked and peculiar feature 
 of rural economy in Wales, viz., the prevalence of a large 
 number of small separate farms of what may be described as 
 the peasant and family type. So that on the one hand the 
 year-to-year tenancy in Wales has not become generally 
 associated, as in England, with the system of large farms of 
 the more commercial type, nor, on the other hand, has it 
 been associated, as in Ireland and the crofter districts of 
 Scotland, with that excessive subdivision and subletting which 
 leads to the congestion of a rural population upon holdings 
 too small to maintain the occupiers. Had the system of 
 renewable leases continued it might easily have led to the 
 Irish system of throwing upon the tenant the obligation to 
 make and maintain the buildings, and this in its turn might 
 have introduced into Wales the complications of divided 
 ownership. 
 
154 
 
 The natural inherited instinct to live by the land, and 
 the consequent competition for farms in Wales as in Ireland, 
 furnished all the necessary factors for producing these 
 results. But somehow or other the transition from tribal to 
 modern forms of tenure in Wales has been accomplished 
 without them. 
 
 No doubt the mountainous character of the country, the 
 large areas of land under common grazing and the pastoral 
 character of the farming have had something to do with it, but 
 much also must be attributed to the hereditary instincts and 
 traditions of both landlords and tenants, and to the customary 
 relations which grew out of them. 
 
 The relation of landlord and tenant in Wales, gradually 
 passing through the stage of leases for years or lives into a 
 year-to-year tenancy has made possible the continuance of a 
 useful control on the part of the landlord combined with a 
 large measure of permanence in the tenure of the tenants, 
 but it can hardly be doubted that the traditional element has 
 had a great deal to do with the customary relations which 
 have existed for generations on some estates. 
 
 It is important before leaving this part of the subject 
 that the full extent of some of the before-mentioned peculiar 
 results of Welsh economic history should be adequately 
 realised as far as possible in actual figures. 
 
 These, the census of 1861 enables us to trace with 
 remarkable clearness. 
 
 First, the comparative smallness of the farms is shown 
 very clearly bj r the statement of the number of labourers 
 employed upon them. The annexed map No. 1 shows the 
 number of labourers to each farmer and grazier in the 
 various counties of England and Wales. It will be seen that 
 if a line be drawn from the Wash to the Axe there would be, 
 roughly, about 10 labourers to each farm in the Eastern 
 Counties. If a line be drawn from the Humber to the Dee 
 and from thence to the Severn, the average for Middle 
 England would be about five to each farm ; whilst in Wales 
 the number would not exceed 1 J to 2 labourers per farm. 
 
 The other counties of England nearly approaching 
 Wales in this respect are Cornwall, Lancashire, Westmoreland, 
 Cumberland, Durham, the West and North Ridings of 
 Yorkshire and Derbyshire, all of which resemble Wales more 
 or less in being hilly and chiefly pasture. 
 
DIAGRAM No. 2. DIAGRAM No 
 
 155 
 
 CENSUS OF 1861 CENSUS OF 1861. 
 
 Average number of OuT-door agricultural labourers to Average number of labourers to each “farmer and grazier.” 
 
 each In-door labourer. 
 
156 
 
 Again, the number of farmers and graziers according to 
 the Census of 1861 was as follows : — 
 
 
 North Wales. 
 
 South Wales. 
 
 England. 
 
 
 Males 
 
 14,660 
 
 18,102 
 
 194,193 
 
 Females 
 
 2,202 
 
 4,862 
 
 15,714 
 
 Total 
 
 16,862 
 
 22,964 
 
 209,907 
 
 It will be seen that the proportion of women for the 
 time being returned as occupying farms is roughly as one to 
 five in Wales, while it is only as 1 to 12 in England. This is 
 more than a slight indication that the continuance of farms on 
 the death of the occupier as family holdings was more general 
 in Wales than in other parts of the kingdom. But the family 
 or household character of the Welsh farms is still more clearly 
 shown by a comparison which the same census enables us to 
 make between the indoor and outdoor character of the labour 
 employed upon them. 
 
 Map No. 2 gives the proportion of outdoor labourers to 
 indoor labourers according to the same census. The figures 
 show that whilst in England the great mass of the farm 
 labourers are outdoor labourers, it is quite the reverse in 
 Wales and the analogous counties of Cumberland and West- 
 moreland. Whilst about one-half of the agricultural labourers 
 in Wales, Cumberland and Westmoreland are indoor labourers, 
 the proportion becomes less and less towards the east, till in 
 Essex the proportion is only 1 to 80. 
 
 Adding the number of indoor labourers in Wales to the 
 number of farmers and their sons, &c., the total of household 
 indoor labour as compared with the outdoor was as follows : 
 
 — 
 
 Wales. 
 
 England. 
 
 Household and indoor 
 
 82,291 
 
 428,166 
 
 Outdoor 
 
 35,775 
 
 902,085 
 
157 
 
 So that whilst in England not quite one-third of the labour 
 was household and indoor labour, and more than two-thirds 
 outdoor, in Wales less than one-third was outdoor, and more 
 than two-thirds household and indoor. 
 
 These figures from the census of 1861 supplement the 
 foregoing survey of historical causes by giving a practical 
 view of their results. They throw inferentially a strong 
 light upon the peculiar economic process by which the 
 Welsh peasantry have passed from the primitive patriarchial 
 conditions of the tribal system into their modern conditions 
 under year-to-year tenancy.” 
 
158 
 
 Legal conditions 
 of tenancy — 
 customary, 
 contractual, or 
 statutory in 
 their origin. 
 
 ‘ ‘ An agricultu- 
 ral custom” — 
 What is it ? 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 CONDITIONS AND INCIDENTS OF TENANCY. 
 
 We have now to pass on from what we have described 
 as general conditions of tenancy so that we may next 
 consider those special conditions — in the stricter legal 
 sense — which govern the occupation and cultivation of the 
 land of Wales by year to year tenants. 
 
 Considered from the point of view of their source and 
 origin, these conditions are, broadly speaking, of three kinds, 
 viz. : — 
 
 1. Customary, or based upon “the custom of the 
 country” (see Report pp. 477 — 488); 
 
 2. Contractual, or dependent upon agreement between 
 landlord and tenant (pp. 488— 496); 
 
 3. Statutory, or imposed upon the parties by Acts of 
 Parliament, chiefly the Agricultural Holdings Acts of 1875 
 and 1883 (p. 496 et seq.) 
 
 In addition to these conditions there will remain for 
 consideration some few incidents of tenancjq such as the 
 landlord’s reservation of game, and his right of distress, and 
 the tenant’s liability to pay rates and taxes ; and these we 
 propose disposing of in the latter part of this chapter, leaving, 
 however, for a separate chapter, our consideration of the most 
 important incident of every tenancy — Rent. 
 
 l.—“ CUSTOM OF THF COUNTRY” AND THE COM- 
 PENSATION OBTAINABLE UNDER IT. 
 
 An “ agricultural custom ” differs from a legal custom 
 in the strict sense, in that “ it does not require the proof of 
 immemorial usage to support it : like the custom of the Stock 
 Exchange or of any other trade, it may be of modern origin, 
 and may also change from time to time. All that is required 
 to establish a custom is that a certain usage be proved to 
 generally exist among the agriculturists of the neighbour- 
 hood where the farm is situate. If so, the landlord and 
 tenant are bound by this usage, unless they make a bargain 
 that expressly or impliedly excludes the general usage; if 
 they do not, their relations are governed by this usage or 
 custom, and the courts of law will enforce the customs.” 
 
t 
 
 159 
 
 The common law of England, which, since the time of 
 Henry VIII., has also been the common law of Wales, is that 
 whatsoever improvement is made to the soil, accrues entirely 
 to the benefit of the owner of the soil. 
 
 “ With reference to crops, however, an early departure 
 from the old common law doctrine was established in favour 
 of tenants at will who were held to have a right, after the 
 Sudden termination of their tenancy, to enter on the premises 
 and reap the corn they had sown, and generally to harvest 
 their crops, which were known at law as emblements. In 
 several respects the provisions of the ancient Welsh laws 
 were more liberal than the English laws by which they were 
 superseded. For example, according to the Gwentian code, 
 any person who, with the permission of the owner, had 
 reclaimed land by clearing a wood, or had carried and laid 
 dung on a field, or had folded his cattle on another’s land, 
 was allowed the enjoyment of the same for periods of five, 
 three, and two years respectively, before the owner could 
 resume possession of it.* Ordinary tillage also gave a right 
 of enjoyment for two years to the occupier. Whether these 
 provisions may have been the germ from which the custom 
 of Glamorgan was subsequently developed, ifc is difficult to 
 say, but it is noticeable that these rules were formulated 
 with more precision in the code which applied to the 
 counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth than in the Venedotian 
 code of North Wales, or the Demetian code of South-west 
 Wales. . . . 
 
 It was not, however, until the earlier half of the present 
 century that it first became customary, in certain parts of 
 England, to pay compensation to tenants for their improve- 
 ments, but this custom was of a very partial nature, and so 
 far as Wales was concerned appears to have been recognised 
 only in one or two districts, while the greater part of the 
 country could be said to be practically without any custom 
 at all, except as to the date of entry and a few minor matters 
 of a similar kind. 
 
 Many of the differences in “custom” are due to the 
 difference in the dates for the commencement of tenancies in 
 various districts — as everything almost depends whether a 
 tenancy commences at Michaelmas when the outgoing 
 tenants’ crops have all been harvested, or on the 1st of May 
 before the harvests are commenced. 
 
 The great variety which exists in this respect can 
 perhaps be most easily appreciated, if we give a calendar, so 
 
 * Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales , ed. Owen, i. p. 767 ; com- 
 pare also p. 181. 
 
 The origin of 
 “customs.” 
 
 Great variety as 
 to dates of entry 
 and allowances 
 to out-going 
 tenants. 
 
160 
 
 to speak, of the various dates, specifying the districts in 
 which each prevails. 
 
 One obvious result of this great variety in the rules of 
 local “ customs ” is that it greatly increases the difficulties in 
 the way of a free and unfettered migration on the part of 
 farmers from one part of the country to another, and especially 
 from Wales to England — a point which has already been 
 mentioned in dealing with Welsh emigration. 
 
 Candlemas (2nd February) is the customary date for the 
 commencement of the tenancy in the following parts of North 
 Wales : the parishes of Llanefydd, Nantglyn, Llansannan, 
 and the greater part of Llanfair Talhaiarn in West Denbigh- 
 shire, throughout the Hundreds of Bromfield and Yale in East 
 Denbigh, as well as the Hundred of Maelor or the detached 
 portion of Flintshire, The custom as to the allowances in the 
 three hundreds just mentioned is that “ the out-going tenant 
 is paid the invoice cost of all clover and grass seeds sown in 
 the last year of the tenancy, but some landlords in their 
 agreements provide an allowance of 2s. per acre for labour of 
 sowing. The tenant also takes one half-share of an away- 
 going crop of wheat if sown after clover seeds or fallow crop, 
 and two-thirds if after a bare fallow. Manure is always left 
 without any compensation at the expiration of the tenancy, but 
 no produce unless (as is often the case) it is stipulated in the 
 agreements ; but according to another witness, the custom is 
 or, was that all produce is left at a consuming price. The 
 custom does not provide any compensation for the unexhausted 
 value of purchased manures, but on the Gredington, Chirk, 
 and possibly other estates in the border district adjoining 
 Shropshire, the scale of allowances fixed by the Shropshire 
 Chamber of Agriculture has been adopted, while in the 
 district bordering on Cheshire the schedule of the Cheshire 
 Chamber of Agriculture is incorporated in agreements.” 
 
 Candlemas takings also prevail in South Wales — in the 
 lower part of Radnorshire, namely, the district on the Here- 
 fordshire side in the direction of Hay, and possibly also in 
 that part of Brecknockshire ; in Central, South, and East 
 Glamorganshire (that is wherever the “ Custom of Glamorgan ” 
 prevails) and in the greater part of Monmouthshire. The 
 allowances to outgoing tenants, so far as the counties of 
 Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, will be explained more in 
 detail presently. 
 
 Lady Day (or the 25th of March) is the customary date 
 of entry in the whole of Eifionydd and in the upper portion 
 of the district in East Carnarvonshire and West Denbighshire 
 drained by the river Conway ( e.g . on the estates of Lord 
 
161 
 
 Penrhyn and Col. Wynne Finch), throughout the whole of 
 Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire, and across the borders 
 of these two counties on the N.E., so as to include most of 
 that portion of Denbighshire lying east of the river Dee, 
 particularly the Ceiriog valley. 
 
 Also in South Wales — in the greater part of Radnorshire 
 ( e.g . the districts of Rhayader, Disserth, Knighton and Builth), 
 the northern part of Breconshire (as on the Llwynmadoc 
 estate), in the whole of West Glamorgan excepting Gower. 
 
 In the case of Lady Da}^ takings the outgoing tenant 
 retains the use of the dwelling-house and out-buildings, and 
 the field next thereto, or some other field selected by him, 
 until the 1st of May (or in some parts the 12th or old May 
 Day). The incoming tenant generally makes some arrange- 
 ment so as to come on the land to commence cultivation from 
 about the beginning of February. 
 
 “As to allowances, &c., it is usual for the outgoing 
 tenant to have his interest in the growing crops of wheat, 
 viz., two-thirds, and be allowed for clover or grass seeds sown 
 the preceding year if not grazed. This latter allowance is 
 only for the cost price of the seeds, and does not include 
 anything for the labour of sowing and ploughing. As to the 
 wheat if it be not sown in the autumn, it is believed that the 
 old tenant has no claim to the crop. 
 
 According to the custom the tenant has, unless restrained 
 by agreement, the right to sell all produce, such as 
 unconsumed ha^ and straw, but if he himself on entering the 
 holding bought hay and straw at a consuming price (i.e. 
 two-thirds of their market value), he has to leave them on 
 the farm to the incoming tenant on the same condition. 
 
 There is no winter tillage to pay for as the incoming 
 tenant has early access to the farm to commence his spring 
 cultivation.” 
 
 Michaelmas Day (29th September), or Old Michaelmas 
 Day (11th October). In North Wales: — Lleyn, or the 
 Western peninsula of Carnarvonshire, and the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Rhyl, in the Yale of Clwyd ; and in South 
 Wales : — The counties of Pembroke, Cardigan, and Carmar- 
 then, and the district of Gower (with the exception of Miss 
 Talbot’s estate in Glamorganshire). 
 
 In all the preceding districts, the incoming tenant takes 
 possession of the whole of the holding at Michaelmas, and 
 there is no over-lapping, but in the districts of Crickhowell, 
 and Talgarth in Breconshire, the outgoing tenant grazes the 
 land to the 30th November, and occupies the house and 
 buildings (with boosy pasture) for the purpose of consuming 
 his crop, up to the 1st of the following May. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 The custom of 
 Anglesey. 
 
 If the outgoing tenant removes to another farm he may 
 take the crops with him, but if he does not, the usual custom 
 is for him to sell, generally by public auction (or, less 
 frequently, to the incoming tenant at a valuation) all his crops 
 such as hay, corn, straw, &c. If there are any roots such 
 as turnips they are also sold, and it is customary to allow 
 them to mature on the land before they are taken away after 
 being sold by auction. The manure, if stacked, is also sold 
 in the same way. The incoming tenant buys such things as 
 he thinks it would be to his advantage to buy, and sometimes 
 endeavours to do so by valuation previous to the sale, 
 especially so in the case of the manure. 
 
 In Pembrokeshire an outgoing tenant is allowed for 
 growing clover and for seeds sown with barley in the 
 preceding spring, the value of the seed and labour being 
 paid him, or in some districts he receives a lump sum 
 of 10s. per acre, and he is also given an allowance for summer 
 fallows, if there be any, which is rare of recent years. 
 Generally he is also paid one-half the value of lime applied 
 during the preceding year, but as a rule tenants abstain from 
 liming in the last year. In Gower a proportion of the cost 
 of artificial manure and cake consumed is also paid for. 
 
 The 12 th or 13th November is the customary date in the 
 whole of Anglesey, and also in Arvon or the low-lying 
 Menai-side district of Carnarvonshire. The custom of this 
 district will be explained later. 
 
 St. Andrew's Bay (30th of November). In that portion 
 of Flintshire West of Mold (though in some exceptional cases 
 the tenancy appears to date from Michaelmas), on the upper 
 slopes of the Hiraethog range ( e.g ., on Lord Bagot’s estate), 
 and in the whole of the Yale of Clwyd, except the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Rhyl. The old custom in this district was 
 for the outgoing tenant to sell all his crops, and he was un- 
 able to claim anything for improvements ; but some allowances 
 for tillage, &c., have of recent years been acknowledged, and 
 a full account of them, as stated by a Yale of Clwyd valuer, 
 is given in the Report. 
 
 Christmas (25th December). The only county where 
 there are any Christmas takings is Monmouthshire, in which 
 their number is not, however, large. 
 
 The customs of Anglesey, Glamorgan, and Monmouth- 
 shire deserve separate treatment. 
 
 As to Anglesey, it is observed, “ that freedom of 
 cultivation and the free sale of all produce appears to be the 
 custom, but the exercise of those rights is now generally 
 restricted or prohibited by agreements. Beyond this there 
 
163 
 
 is no established custom, though in practice the incoming 
 and outgoing tenants generally sign an agreement appointing 
 valuers, &c., to value seeds, manure, hay, straw, and green 
 .crops, but there is no payment in respect of tillages and 
 cultivation, of which there is little or none to claim for as 
 tenancy terminates in November and as summer fallowing 
 has been largely given up. 
 
 “ Writers on customs* refer to an attempt to establish a custom of 
 tenant-right in Anglesey. This has been done by the tenants erecting 
 houses and buildings upon their lands at their own expense, and claiming 
 in consequence either an equitable right for themselves or successors to 
 stay upon the farm, or compensation in respect of their improvements.’ 
 The agent for the Bodorgan Estate, in his evidence before us (Qu. 19,428) 
 stated that 1 the tenants have got into a bad habit of doing improvements 
 without informing the landowners,’ and Lord Stanley of Alderley also 
 stated (Yol. II., p. 72) ‘ if these tenants are allowed to make improvements, 
 ss they call them, without any check, they will be overbuilding all over the 
 place.’ A third witness also stated (Qu. 20,006) that, ‘ generally speaking, 
 the tenants used to make all improvements at their own expense ; when 
 buildings were necessary the landlord sometimes (not always) allowed 
 timber, slates, and lime. Fences, gates, and posts were invariably made 
 by the tenants.’ ” 
 
 A natural consequence of the tenant-right claimed in respect of these 
 improvement was an attempt on the part of outgoing tenants to dispose 
 of the goodwill of their holdings, a practice which some landowners 
 appear to have sanctioned.t 
 
 With the view of suppressing this custom and the accompanying 
 assertion of a tenant-right, it has become the practice in almost all 
 agreements to exclude the custom either by prohibiting the tenant from 
 erecting new buildings without the landlord’s sanction, or by limiting the 
 period of exhaustion, and, consequently, the amount of compensation 
 claimable in respect of the improvements. Thus on the Bodorgan Estate, 
 where all the buildings, it is said, are now erected by the landlord, the 
 tenants still doing the haulage, the former arrangement (which was itself 
 a modification of the custom) was that the landlord provided the materials, 
 but the tenants paid the masons and the joiners for the building and did 
 all the haulage, and ‘ it was always more or less a custom on the estate to 
 give them (the tenants) as good as a 21 years’ lease,’ at the end of which 
 time it was considered that the value of their contribution towards the 
 improvement was exhausted. On some other estates the period of 
 exhaustion appears to have been reduced to 14 years, and on at least one 
 estate to 7 years. 
 
 As to the low-lying Menai-side district of Carnarvonshire, it is said that 
 in the parish of Llanddeiniolen, on the Vaynol Estate, there was formerly 
 recognised a tenant-right of even a more distinct nature than that which 
 it was attempted to set up in Anglesey. It appears that in the early part 
 of this century a large number of working men, who were for the most 
 part engaged in Mr. Assheton Smith’s quarries, reclaimed land which was 
 previously unenclosed, and built homesteads thereon entirely at their own 
 ■expense. ‘ In this way,’ according to Mr. Assheton Smith’s biographer, 
 nearly 200 acres of land are now under cultivation which formerly were 
 covered with furze and heather. The occupiers are allowed to sell their 
 estate to their fellow-labourers.’ and so to receive large sums equivalent to 
 the value of their improvement in the shape of goodwill from the incoming 
 tenants. 
 
 * Dixon’s “ Law of the Farm,” 5th Edition, p. 650 ; see also Willis 
 Bund’s “ Agricultural Holdings Acts,” p. 130. 
 
 t See Statement of Mr. Roberts, of Trefarthen, quoted in Vol. I., p. 803. 
 
161 
 
 The custom of 
 Glamorgan. 
 
 This was recognised on the estate until about 1869, when it was put* 
 an end to, by having all the tenants placed for the first time under- 
 written agreements by which permanent improvements in the nature of 
 buildings are taken to be exhausted at the end of 30 years, and works of 
 reclamation and the making of new roads and fences at the end of 20* 
 years. The former custom is still further excluded by means of a clause 
 prohibiting the tenants ‘ to erect any cottages or other dwellings, nor con- 
 vert any of the buildings into a dwelling-house, without leave in writing of 
 the lessor or the estate agent.’ The prevalence of this clause in other- 
 estate agreements in Anglesey and Carnarvonshire seems to indicate that- 
 formerly it must have been a general practice on the part of the tenantr y' 
 in these counties to erect buildings at their own expense and without con- 
 sulting the owner. 
 
 Similarly on the Penrhyn Estates, attempts were said to be constantly 
 made by tenants to dispose of their goodwill in their holdings, ‘ especially 
 when rents are low.’ It is usually attempted by introducing a tenant with 
 whom an agreement has been 1 made to take the stock at a sum above its- 
 value ; ’ but no right of the kind is recognised by the estate. Mr. Darbi- 
 shire spoke of this sale of the goodwill as a common practice and a 
 matter of general notoriety on the Glynllivon Estate. 
 
 Beyond this former tenant-right, which existed, perhaps, in its most 
 definite shape in Llanddeiniolen, there does not appear to be any custom, 
 in this part of Carnarvonshire (which is generally known as Arfon) provid- 
 ing allowances to outgoing tenants in respect of growing crops, tillage,, 
 manure, or improvements, matters which are therefore governed entirely 
 by agreements on the different estates to the exclusion of any custom that, 
 may have existed.” 
 
 “ The only district in Wales where there is, however, at 
 the present day, a definite, well-ascertained custom, whick 
 entitles a tenant to compensation for unexhausted improve- 
 ments done by him on his holding, is in Central and East 
 Glamorganshire, or that portion of the county lying between 
 the River Avon (whose estuary is at Aberavon) on the west 
 and the River Rumney, which forms the eastern boundary 
 of Glamorganshire. The fact that the district where this, 
 custom exists roughly corresponds to the shire-fee or body of 
 Glamorgan which was that portion of the country most 
 completely settled by the Normans has suggested to some* 
 the view that the custom is perhaps of ancient origin, but on 
 the other hand we have to bear in mind that no reference to 
 the custom is found in the works of any writer prior at least 
 to the middle of the present century, while similar customs- 
 in different parts of England (e.g., the Lincolnshire custom) 
 are known to be of comparatively modern growth. More- 
 over, it is only when agriculture has been considerably 
 improved and advanced that many of the rules of the 
 Glamorgan custom could possibly have come into existence, 
 and this especially applies to the principles of paying com- 
 pensation after cultivating turnips and for the making of 
 drains. The probability, therefore, is that at most the 
 custom dates no further back than the opening years of the 
 present century.” 
 
165 
 
 Owing to its being almost the only well-established 
 agricultural custom of a comprehensive nature in Wales, and 
 owing also to the fact that its operation results in a very 
 general satisfaction throughout the district where it applies, 
 :it seems desirable that the account given of it in the Report 
 <(p. 483) should be reproduced without any abbreviation. Its 
 main features are stated to be the following: — 
 
 “ The yearly tenancy begins and ends on the 2nd of February, and is 
 Ysubjeetto six months’ notice on either side, to be given on the 2nd day of 
 August. There is reserved for the outgoing tenant the use of the farm- 
 -house and a pasture field, the nearest to the house, till the first of May 
 following. Before the expiration of the tenancy of the outgoing tenant a 
 valuation of the unexhausted improvements takes place. Although the 
 ^custom of the district makes the landlord technically responsible for the 
 •compensation due to the outgoing tenant, the arrangement is, in practice, 
 .always with the incoming tenant, who really pays the compensation due, 
 ;and between whom and the outgoing tenant the valuation is made. The 
 outgoing and the incoming tenant sign a document appointing two valuers 
 — one to represent each of them — and they give them power, in the event 
 •of their being unable to agree, to appoint an umpire, whose decision is 
 final. If the incoming tenant (or the landlord) refuses or neglects to 
 appoint a valuer, the valuer of the outgoing tenant may fix the amount of 
 .compensation for which the landlord can be sued in the county court. If 
 the sum awarded by the valuers or by the umpire be not paid, the outgoing 
 tenant can sue his landlord for the amount. 
 
 The valuers are limited to such evidence as is admissible in a court 
 of law, though it is quite competent for them to call and consider any 
 .evidence that the outgoing tenant may be able to produce as to money 
 .expended and labour bestowed upon his holding; but they are guided 
 mainly and in many cases entirely by ocular proof and personal inspection 
 of the condition of the land and of the value of the improvements to the 
 incoming tenant. 
 
 The amount of compensation ordinarily payable upon a well-cultivated 
 -farm of mixed arable and pasture is from one to two years’ rental. In 
 exceptional cases it may amount to as much as three years’ rental with a 
 heavier labour bill. It was naturally less in former years, varying (it was 
 stated some ten years ago) from 20s. to 60s. per acre according to the 
 .state of cultivation and cleanliness of the farms. The following are the 
 principles on which the compensation is assessed : — 
 
 In the case of turnip land, allowance is made for the manures and 
 tillages : * If you consume all the roots, you are allowed the full tillages 
 
 .and the full manure, and in some districts if you consume two-thirds of 
 the crop (provided it be a fair crop) you get just the same amount for 
 tillages and manure, perhaps 51 . or 61 . per acre.’ 
 
 A quantity not exceeding one-third is allowed to be taken off the field 
 for consumption in the yards. The exact price to be paid is arrived at by 
 estimating the weight of the turnip crop, the cleanliness of the land, and 
 taking evidence as to the quantity of corn and cake consumed therewith, 
 by means of which the manurial value left in the ground is increased. If 
 the turnips or swedes are sold off the land, the price per acre allowed to 
 the outgoing tenant would be from £2 to £3 according to the condition of 
 the land. 
 
 ‘ The next year, after taking a crop of corn out, you are allowed a 
 moiety of that. If you take what is called a legume crop afterwards, 
 there is something allowed afterwards, perhaps a moiety, but if you take 
 two crops of clover and one crop of corn there is no claim.’ 
 
 Another authority has stated the latter rule thus : In the case of 
 land in seeds following one crop of corn after swedes or turnips, the price 
 paid as compensation for the condition of the land would be half the 
 
166 
 
 The custom of 
 Monmouthshire. 
 
 original payments (that is to say, £2 to £3 if the turnips are continued on 
 the land, and £1 to £1 10s. if carried off) plus the price for seeds sown and 
 the labour of sowing and harrowing and rolling the same. 
 
 For summer fallow the incoming tenant has to pay twelve months’’ 
 rent, rates, and taxes, in addition to the labour of ploughing, not exceeding, 
 three times, according to Mr. Daniel Owen, but four ploughings am 
 allowed according to Mr. G. Thomas ; dragging not exceeding three times,, 
 rolling twice, and harrowing and chain harrowing. If the fallow be sown 
 in wheat, the cost of seed and sowing to be paid in addition. As to fallow 
 after seeds, if ploughed in August, the incoming tenant must pay six 
 months’ rent, rates, and taxes, and also for ploughing, dragging, rolling, 
 harrowing, &c., as in the case of summer fallow. 
 
 When lime is used on arable land the full value is paid by the 
 incoming tenant the first year, and one-half the value the second year. 
 When two crops of corn have been grown after the application of lime, the 
 claim for compensation ceases, but in some cases where only one crop of 
 corn has been grown, followed by a crop of seeds, one-third is allowed for 
 the third year. When lime is applied to grass land, a decreasing proportion 
 of the value is allowed up to the end of the fifth year. 
 
 The value of farm land manure applied to grass land extends over five 
 years, and when applied to arable land extends over three years. Full 
 value is allowed for the first year, at from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. per cartload, 
 according to its quality arid distance of hauling ; and in the case of arable 
 iand, two-thirds of the value is allowed for the second year, and one-third 
 for the third year, but if two straw crops which have been taken out of 
 the manured field there is no compensation. 
 
 Rents, rates, and taxes are paid by the incoming tenant for stubbles 
 from the time they were ploughed in the autumn to the 2nd of February ; 
 also for land in which young seeds are grown that have not been fed off 
 after the corn is cut. If, however, they have been fed off up to the 1st of 
 October, three months’ rent, rates, and taxes must be paid by the incoming, 
 tenant. For trimming hedges compensation is allowed for one year only, 
 but for laying hedges, or for making ordinary hedges and ditches, the 
 compensation runs over three years. In the hilly parts of the country, as 
 in the neighbourhood of Pontypridd, where dry wall fences are built about 
 five or six feet high of stones without mortar, the compensation extends- 
 over 14 years. Drainage, of which, however, very little is done, also 
 extends over 14 years.” 
 
 Such then is the “ custom of Glamorgan,” which though 
 greatly praised by all the witnesses who spoke of it, appears 
 to be capable of improvement in a few respects. It is to be 
 specially noticed that no compensation is allowed by it for 
 the construction, enlargement, or repair of buildings, or for 
 haulage towards such purposes, and a tenant cannot remove 
 any machinery which he may have put up on his holding. 
 Nor is there any allowance made for laying down permanent 
 pasture. 
 
 The custom of Monmouthshire is less definite and far 
 less comprehensive than that of Glamorgan. Its most con- 
 spicuous feature perhaps, is the outgoing tenants’ right to a. 
 “ land-share ” of the off-growing crop of wheat, but the 
 amount of this varies greatty under different circumstances, 
 not only in different parts of the country but even on 
 contiguous farms. The consequent uncertainty led to an 
 attempt on the part of the farmers and landowners of the- 
 
167 
 
 parish of Mynyddislwyn to fix and codify the prevailing 
 custom of their parish, and the principles which were said to 
 have governed the valuation of the interest of outgoing 
 tenants on several farms in the parish from 1854 to 1866 
 were formally adopted in 1867 as the “custom” of the 
 parish.* While the general custom of the county provided 
 no compensation whatsoever for unexhausted improvements, 
 the custom of this extensive parish approximates somewhat 
 to the custom of Glamorgan, which county it adjoins on the 
 west. Compensation is provided on similar principles for 
 manure and lime, and for mixtures of lime and earth applied 
 to arable and grass lands, varying according to the number 
 of crops taken subsequent to their application, and payment 
 is also allowed in respect of ditches and fences. It was not, 
 however, till after the passing of the Agricultural Holdings 
 Act, 1888, that compensation for unexhausted improvements 
 was pretty generally adopted as a custom throughout the 
 county. A scale of compensation, drafted by Mr. R. 
 Stratton, of Duffryn,f was approved by the Chamber of 
 Agriculture for the county in February 1884, so that partly 
 by its being incorporated in agreements, and partly by being 
 followed by valuers, it may be said to be likely soon to 
 become the legally valid and recognised “ custom ” for the 
 county. 
 
 Under this title of “agricultural custom” are also in- 
 cluded in the Report (pp. 486-8) certain points relating to 
 the erection and repairs of buildings, and especially the ques- 
 tion of haulage. We have already seen that under the lease- 
 hold sj^stem, formerly prevalent in Wales, “the burden of 
 erecting and maintaining in repair all necessary buildings 
 was cast upon the tenants.” But with the substitution in 
 the course of the present century of yearly for leasehold 
 tenancies, “ landowners gradually assumed the responsibility 
 for the erection of all new buildings, and indeed for repairs 
 also, though the tenants are even still legally bound by most of 
 the existing agreements to keep the buildings in sufficient 
 repair, for which purpose they are allowed timber in the 
 rough and the necessary purchased materials. In re-build- 
 ing, as distinct from repairs, the practice appears to be for 
 the landlord to supply all the material and pay for all the 
 
 * The “ code ” thus adopted was published in book form : The Custom 
 in Mynyddislwyn parish respecting unexhausted tillages , &c. (Ponty- 
 pool, 1867, 8vo), and is reproduced in Appendix to Vol. II. (pp. 955-6) of 
 the evidence of the Commission. 
 
 t See Qu. 35,229-35,231. The scale is printed in the Appendix to Vol. 
 II., p. 955. 
 
 Custom as to 
 haulage by 
 tenants towards 
 permanent im- 
 provements. 
 
168 
 
 skilled labour, while the tenant does all the haulage and sup- 
 plies the unskilled labour. 
 
 Subject to a few trifling exceptions, which are always 
 recognised as such, it may be laid down that the universal 
 custom in Wales is for all the horse and cart haulage to be 
 done by the tenants. The cost of conveying any purchased 
 materials by rail or ship, whenever that happens, is on the 
 other hand borne by the landlord.” 
 
 It is moreover, observed that “ during the continuance 
 of the turnpike system, the tenants often paid the tolls at the 
 gates through which they passed with their carts in doing the 
 haulage, and the out-of-pocket expenses in this respect would 
 frequently appear considerable in a county where money is 
 so scarce as in Wales. 
 
 It is obvious that owing to the mountainous character of 
 much of the surface of Wales, and also to the remoteness of 
 some parts of it from railway communication, the burden of 
 cartage is necessarily a very considerable item in the pro- 
 vision of new buildings. 
 
 Thus, Mr. Henry Roberts, an auctioneer of Portmadoc, referred to a 
 case in that neighbourhood which well illustrates this point. A tenant 
 had taken a farm called Erw Suran in 1883, ‘ it is an upland farm about 
 700 feet above the sea level. What he complains of is the haulage, the 
 cartage of the materials for building. He went there in 1883 ; and in 1885 
 they built a house there, a new roof to a stable, a new house for chaff- 
 cutting, a new roof for a cart-house, and in 1890 they built a new cart- 
 house there ; and all the carting is done by the tenant, which according to 
 his estimate was fully £100. He has given notice to quit. . . . Be- 
 
 cause the rent is too high and he said he could not pay. Then he leaves 
 all that haulage behind him. . . . And gets no compensation for it.’ 
 
 Though it is thus the custom of the country for tenants 
 to do the haulage, still the custom nowhere (not even in Gla- 
 morgan) provides for compensating tenants, provided they 
 leave their holdings before the value of their work is ex- 
 hausted.” 
 
 Private arrangements have been occasionally made 
 between outgoing and incoming tenants in respect of haul- 
 age, but whatever payment is actually made by the latter, 
 appears to be not so much for the haulage specifically, as for 
 the goodwill or general tenant right of the out-going party. 
 
 “ In a few of the more equitably drafted agreements, pro- 
 vision is made for the payment of compensation for haulage 
 done by outgoing tenants, but it is not too much to say that 
 in the great majority of estate agreements, no pajmient of 
 the kind is provided for.” 
 
 But the haulage done by the tenant for permanent 
 improvements executed on the holding by his landlord, is 
 curiously enough not included in the schedule of the Agricul- 
 
169 
 
 dural Holdings Act of 1883, as one of the items in respect of 
 which compensation might be claimed. 
 
 “ Underthe circumstances ” — the Commissioners observe 
 it is not surprising that we received a large number of 
 -complaints either of rents being raised immediately after the 
 performance of such haulage, or of tenants not receiving 
 -compensation therefor in cases were their holdings have been 
 sold or they themselves have quitted them soon after the 
 •completion of the buildings.” 
 
 Some of these will be referred to later on, but the subject 
 has been mentioned here as illustrating the results of the 
 general custom. 
 
 But in addition to the haulage — considerable as that in 
 itself is, on many an upland or remotely situated farm, — it is 
 further stated (p. 487) that “ the tenants in some parts 
 of the country do all the unskilled labour in connection with 
 Buildings, and also provide for the partial board of the skilled 
 labourers, such as the masons and carpenters. This is 
 especially the case in Cardiganshire, and we believe in parts 
 •of Carmarthenshire and North Pembrokeshire, but we have no 
 evidence as to the existence of this custom beyond those 
 limits. 
 
 A few extracts from the evidence will perhaps render 
 the nature of this custom more clear. 
 
 A former tenant of the Gogerddan Estate in the parish 
 •of Pembryn in South Cardiganshire gave the following account 
 of his contribution towards the erection of buildings on his 
 holding : 
 
 ‘ The total number of perches built are 654. Two loads, at least , of 
 stones will go to each perch. Therefore I hauled 1,308 loads of stones 
 “When the barn and cow-sheds were built I had to carry water half a mile 
 away to mix all the mortar, owing to drought. I hauled 10 loads of pebble 
 stone from the beach, 11 miles aw r ay, for flooring stables ; 10 loads of sur- 
 face-stones for cow-sheds ; 30 loads of flagstones (paving) from Kilgerran, 
 a distance of nine miles ; 12,000 slates, hauled from Aberporth and Llan- 
 granog, the former three miles away and the latter five miles ; lime was 
 hauled from Aberporth : all the timber was from Cardigan, a distance of 
 nine miles ; and the sand was a mile distant. 1 had to pay all the turnpike 
 gates out of my own pocket. It took me and my men two weeks to open 
 up the quarry.’ 
 
 According to the custom of the district, he also provided 
 a contribution of food (or “ gwlyb”) for the labourers paid by 
 his landlord. “ Gwlyb,” we should explain, is the Welsh 
 expression used for all “ liquid” food, which in cases of this 
 kind would probably mean broth, tea or coffee and milk, 
 while the workmen would bring with them meat or cheese 
 (which go by the generic name of enllyri) and bread to eat 
 with it. 
 
 Tenants some- 
 times supplying 
 all unskilled 
 labour and the 
 partial board of 
 skilled men 
 required for 
 buildings. 
 
170 
 
 Several other instances of this kind were brought to our notice in the- 
 neighbourhood of Aberayron. The widow of a tenant on the Llanina. 
 Estate referred to the re-erection, about 1871, of the buildings on a hold- 
 ing occupied by her. She said — ‘ The expense of pulling the old buildings 
 down was incurred by my husband, and we lived in the old dwelling house, 
 which was leaking fearfully, whilst the new buildings were being put up. 
 He carried all the stones and the materials towards the new buildings, 
 besides giving the masons their food as well as the carpenters, according, 
 to the old custom which was in vogue at this time. The only things which 
 the workmen brought with them were their bread and meat ( enllyri).’ > 
 
 Another witness at the same place gave the following account of his 
 parents’ experience in connection with the rebuilding on a holding called 
 Blaenclettwr : — ‘ All the buildings were in a pretty bad state, and in the 
 year 1854 Captain Saunders (the owner) came down and offered to make 
 arrangements with regard to putting up new buildings. It was arranged 
 that they should be removed entirely from the place were they were then 
 about 120 yards higher up the hill. The conditions were that my father 
 was to haul everything, and to provide ‘ gwlyb ’ for the masons and 
 carpenters, and then he was to be undisturbed in his holding whilst he 
 lived for a rent of £60. The stones were about 3| miles away, the timber 
 and slates 7 miles. The work of building continued for three summers . 
 
 . . but about three years after finishing the buildings he received a- 
 
 notice that he would have to pay £10 increase in the rent, or to leave.’ 
 
 Dr. Garrod Thomas of Newport, in referring (Qu. 48,045) to his 
 father’s tenancy of a large holding near Aberayron, gave a similar account' 
 of the work done in connection with rebuilding on the farm, when his 
 father “ partly boarded” the masons and carpenters, and supplied all the 
 unskilled labour in attending on the masons and so on. 
 
 In numerous other instances it was alleged that tenants 
 had, at their own expense, made large structural alterations 
 in or additions to their farm-buildings, or had even built 
 entirely new buildings, without any agreement providing 
 compensation for them. 
 
 Such work could not always be allowed to go unrecog- 
 nised and without some compensation on the part of the more 
 liberal landowners, and we therefore find that in Cardiganshire^ 
 and West Carmarthenshire a custom had begun to grow up, 
 similar to that which existed in Anglesey, according to which 
 the tenant had a claim for some compensation for his build- 
 ings.* But this incipient custom never seems to have 
 acquired the force of law in these districts, and it was probably 
 excluded altogether when new agreements came to be made 
 after the passing of the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1875.” 
 
 * “ The following are the statements of Mr. Willis Bund (a gentleman 
 well acquainted with North Cardiganshire) in his work (published in 1883) 
 on the Agricultural Holdings Act (pp. 133-135) : ‘ A custom has arisen in 
 ‘ Cardiganshire that the tenant should be paid a certain proportion for 
 ‘the buildings erected and the drainage done by him.’ ‘In West 
 ‘ Carmarthenshire a custom has been growing up for buildings or drainage 
 ‘ done by the tenant to be paid for, and also an allowance for liming ; ’ 
 while as to East Carmarthenshire he says that ‘ even if he (the outgoing. 
 ‘ tenant) has expended money on draining or farm buildings, &c., he is very 
 rarely remunerated by his landlord.’ 
 
171 
 
 8.— AGREEMENTS.— CLAUSES REGULATING 
 CULTIVATION 
 
 Vague and inadequate as is the custom of the country in ^5^1— 
 many districts, especially by way of providing any compensa- compiexandi 
 tion for improvements, it has, of recent years, been very 
 largely excluded and superseded by special agreements be- 
 tween landlord and tenant. In some cases the best rules of 
 the custom have been embodied in such agreements, while 
 in others, provision has been made for circumstances which 
 were not covered by the custom at all. But one chief aim of 
 all formal agreements was to have the relation of landlord and 
 tenant, in all possible emergencies, strictly defined ; and the 
 result of these endeavours is well described by the Commis- 
 sioners (p. 488) when they say that — 
 
 £ * One striking feature of the majority of modern estate- 
 agreements is the length and number, the elaborateness and 
 complexity of their conditions as to cropping and cultivation 
 generally, and as to the disposal of the produce raised on the 
 demised holding. Agreements of this type simply bristle 
 with a series of penal clauses, which the legal draughtsman’s 
 ingenuity has devised for the protection, it is supposed, of 
 the interests of the landowner. 
 
 In fact, the covenants which the landlord enters into 
 usually bear a very small proportion, both in length and 
 number, to the tenant’s covenants. In some cases, almost 
 the only covenant on the part of the landlord is one for quiet 
 enjoyment ; mothers, this is allowed to be implied, so that 
 practically all the expressed covenants are in favour of the 
 owner. This disproportion was exhibited to us in the form 
 of an interesting object lesson by Mr. Thomas Halford, of 
 Newtown, a gentleman who has had over 50 years’ experience 
 as a land agent in Mid- Wales. He produced to us printed 
 copies of two agreements, in which the landlord’s and tenant’s 
 clauses had been coloured pink and yellow respectively. In 
 producing the first, he said : ‘ You see the only clause in 
 favour of the tenant was that the landlord had to find materials 
 for all principal repairs of buildings. Here is another one, r 
 he added, in producing the second, ‘ which I have coloured in 
 the same way, and there is about the same proportion. 77 to 1, 
 
 44 to 1.’ Mr. Halford, further said that ‘ of late years some 
 agents have made attempts to improve the agreements for the 
 tenants, but they invariably adhere too closely to the line of 
 old agreements, and generally end by little more than increas- 
 ing the length of them.’ ” 
 
172 
 
 Modem origin But the restrictive conditions referred to here are of com- 
 
 •covenante. paratively modern origin, and it is observed that down to the 
 very commencement of this century “ there were practically 
 no restrictions either on cropping or on the sale of produce in 
 the case of most Welsh tenancies. Nor was there any 
 need for such restrictions prior to the commencement of the 
 Napoleonic war, which so greatly stimulated, and in fact 
 necessitated, the growth of corn in this country, as the 
 importation of all grain from the Continent became impossible.” 
 
 But with “ war prices,” and even the opening up of 
 markets in industrial centres during peace, farmers found it 
 profitable to bring more and more land under the plough, 
 while many of the ignorant and unscrupulous probably showed 
 a tendency to exhaust the land by growing a long series of 
 grain crops, without doing anything to restore fertility 7 ' to the 
 soil. It was under such circumstances as these, that land- 
 owners found it necessary, for the first time, to lay down 
 conditions restricting the number of crops that should be 
 consecutively taken from the land, or otherwise regulating 
 the rotation of crops. Such restrictive conditions were, of 
 course, primarily intended for the protection of the landlord’s 
 interests, but they were also regarded as counsels of perfection 
 for the guidance of tenants, who had previous^ followed 
 simply traditional rules in their methods of farming. 
 
 The substitution of yearly for leasehold tenancies, is a 
 subject which has been already fully dealt with, but the Com- 
 missioners express an opinion — based on statements made in 
 Davies’s Agriculture of North Wales (published in 1810) — 
 that “ restrictive covenants were introduced for the first 
 time into that part of Wales in connection with the substitu- 
 tion of ‘ leases from year to year ’ for the leases for lives and 
 for terms of years. This, Davies says, had of late become the 
 general practice, but ‘ the advantages of these kinds of con- 
 tracts are apparently all on the landlord’s side, excepting a 
 supposition that the several obligations upon the tenant to 
 fulfil the respective covenants for the management of his farm 
 be productive of mutual benefit.’ 
 
 “As to South Wales, however, the general introduction 
 of restrictive covenants was undoubtedly the work of a some- 
 what later period,” though an early example of an excep- 
 tional character is quoted with Carmarthenshire as far back 
 as 1794. “ Davies, in his report on Sputh Wales, published in 
 1815, leaves no room for doubt as to the general existence in 
 his time of a system of free cropping, restrictions on which 
 
173 
 
 were, however, being introduced by an occasional landlord 
 here and there.* 
 
 But such restrictions on tillage and cropping as were 
 being introduced in Davies’s time were “ £ as differently re- 
 ceived by different tenants as they were variously planned 
 and put in force by various proprietors or their agents. 
 
 . . . Innovations of every kind are easier accomplished 
 
 gradually than all at once. Farmers of the peasant caste y 
 who have been accustomed, and their fathers before them, to 
 take five to seven or eight corn crops in succession, may be 
 reconciled to a medium restriction of three corn crops with 
 apparent satisfaction ; whereas by binding them all at once 
 to one corn crop and another green in perpetual alternation 
 they never set about it cordially.’ ”f 
 
 “ The ‘ innovation ’ certainly took time to be accom- 
 plished, for even as late as 1849 we find the following state- 
 ment made by a careful agricultural observer :J ‘ As few of 
 the leases of South Wales contain restrictive clauses, each 
 farmer crops as he thinks best, and probably no two men in 
 one parish pursue a precisely similar plan. ’ 
 
 This unrestricted freedom of cropping, accompanied with 
 an almost equally unrestricted freedom in the sale of produce, 
 naturally resulted in the extreme exhaustion of the soil and 
 in the impoverishment of its cultivators ; so that in the pre- 
 scientific days of agricultural education, restrictive covenants 
 and penal clauses had their use in forcibly guiding along a 
 better course farmers who had previously been accustomed to 
 follow blindly the old traditional system of their ancestors. 
 A considerable remnant of the old freedom in both respects 
 has, however, survived in many parts of the country in the 
 readiness which many tenants show (in the last year of their 
 tenancy, and in the absence of restrictive agreements) to crop 
 a much larger extent of land than they were accustomed to ; 
 and it also survives in the form of an acknowledged right of 
 
 * The following statement is quoted from Davies’s Agriculture of 
 South Wales (i. 176) as an instance of many others that support this view : 
 
 “ Penry Williams, Esq., of Penpont, in Brecknockshire, in a set of 
 leases newly granted, has resorted to the coup de main (to try whether 
 an improved system of tillage can possibly take place) of restricting his 
 tenants from taking two white crops in succession ; but always to 
 introduce an ameliorating or green crop after every crop of grain. His 
 tenants in the valleys of the Usk, the Bran, or the Esgair will, in a given 
 number of years, have occasion to thank their landlord for imposing this 
 restriction ; but whether it can be able to overcome not only the preju- 
 dices of the oat-cropping farmers, but also the peculiarities of soil and 
 climature in the uplands of Llywel, time will discover.” 
 
 f Work cited, i. 363; and see generally the section on Courses on 
 Crops , i. 505 — 83. 
 
 J Mr. C. S. Read in Journal of B.A.S.E. for 1849 (x. p. 132) 
 
174 
 
 Course of 
 cultivation 
 prescribed 
 in agreements 
 
 selling all the produce by public auction immediately before 
 quitting.” (p. 490.) 
 
 The more important of the restrictive clauses found in 
 most modern agreements fall into two main classes, viz. : — 
 
 I. Conditions limiting freedom of cultivation and 
 II. Conditions limiting the disposal of produce. 
 
 I. As to the first mentioned, it is observed that most 
 agreements prescribe a certain rotation of crops (generally a 
 four-course one) or limit the tenant to certain alternative 
 rotations, heavy penalties being reserved for cross cropping. 
 But in this respect public opinion appears to have experienced 
 a change, and such restrictions are said to be now “contrary 
 to modern ideas.” “ The old rotations have of recent years 
 fallen into great discredit with the more intelligent farmers, 
 and even cross-cropping is now regarded as highly beneficial 
 under certain circumstances, but this change of opinion has 
 not yet resulted in having the restrictive clauses struck out 
 of very many estate agreements. The course of farming 
 prescribed by the agreement may therefore be found, in many 
 cases, to be contrary to that suggested by the experience and 
 intelligence of the tenant as the most suitable for the im- 
 provement of the land. Thus ‘where land is clover-sick 
 under the four-course system, and it fails to come up, the 
 tenant dare not sow a substitute, nor must he plough a field 
 of clover that has been laid down three years or more.’ ” 
 
 As to the number of corn crops which can be taken in 
 succession, the provisions of various agreements differ greatly. 
 “ Thus in a part of Carnarvonshire, as, for example, on the 
 Yaynol, Glynllivon, and Nanhoron estates, tenants are not 
 allowed to take even two white straw crops in succession. 
 A similar restriction was quoted from a South Glamorgan 
 lease, and it was characterised by the tenant as a hardship 
 that he should have to ask his landlord what he should put 
 in the land.” In a South Pembrokeshire case the tenant had 
 recently been allowed to disregard this covenant. 
 
 “ According to the majority of agreements throughout 
 Wales, tenants are, however, allowed to take twx> corn crops 
 in succession, but are usually restricted from exceeding that 
 number, while it is also stipulated that before a third corn 
 crop can be taken the land should in the interval be fallowed, 
 or be well manured, or that a green crop be taken from it. 
 
 In parts of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire the 
 maximum limit of successive corn crops allowed is, however, 
 raised to three, as, for example, on the Edwinsford, Pantglas, 
 Tregib, and Pentre estates. 
 
175 
 
 In parts of Brecknockshire and Radnorshire absolute 
 freedom of cultivation appears to be enjoyed on several estates, 
 mid in at least one instance it was stated that there was no 
 restrictive clauses whatever in the agreements.” 
 
 A point of some interest in connection with arable culti- 
 vation generally is that “ man}? - of the old agreements prescribe 
 ..an excessive use of lime, and though perhaps these covenants 
 .are not alwaj^s enforced at present, still they have the effect 
 of causing many tenants to neglect a proper use of purchased 
 manures, which in many cases would, if properly selected, 
 prove most suitable to the soil. The application of lime is also 
 very expensive at present, owing to the large amount of 
 labour which its use involves. ” 
 
 As to hay, the taking of two successive crops in different 
 years is frequently prohibited unless the land has been pre- 
 viously top-dressed with a specified quantity of farmyard or 
 .artificial manure. More common, perhaps, is the prohibition 
 of two crops in the same season, — and on this point the Com- 
 missioners observed that “ the lower average yield per acre 
 of hay in Wales as compared with England is probably due to 
 the fact that in many parts of the latter it is customary to cut 
 a second crop instead of grazing the aftermath, in which case, 
 of course, a more liberal allowance of manure is given to the 
 land. Under similar conditions the practice may, we think, 
 be resorted to with advantage on lowland farms in Wales also, 
 especially when the first crop proves scanty owing to a droughty 
 spring, but a dressing of nitrate of soda or other suitable sub- 
 stitute should be applied to the land between the two crops. 
 On highland farms, however, we do not think it practicable to 
 take a second crop with advantage.” 
 
 II. Covenants restricting the sale of produce — especially 
 of hay and straw have been described by the “ Special 
 Correspondent ” of the Times , as “ almost universal in Wales,” 
 and the Commissioners remark that they are to be found “ in 
 almost every Welsh agreement,” and that a very serious and 
 widespread objection is felt against them. This feeling can 
 perhaps be best appreciated by quoting the Commissioners 
 summary of some of the evidence on the point. 
 
 “ Thus with reference to the Vale of Glamorgan the vice-chairman of 
 the Cowbridge Farmers’ Club (Mr. D. J. Jenkins) characterised it as ‘ a 
 very considerable hardship ’ that a tenant was not allowed to sell any hay 
 or straw ; ‘ because the tenant might import or bring on to his farm very 
 considerable manurial value, and yet he is restricted from selling.’ He 
 added that in days gone by, this clause was very stringently enforced and 
 was very generally inserted in leases in the district, though he did not 
 know that it was so general latterly : ‘ landlords find that land has so 
 depreciated in value that they are glad to get a good tenant without 
 putting those restrictive clauses in the agreement.’ An illustration of the 
 hardship caused by a clause of this kind was furnished us by a neighbour 
 
 Sale of produce 
 prohibited by 
 agreements. 
 
176 
 
 of the preceding witness, Mr. Rees Thomas, of Boverton. Referring to a 
 former tenancy of his, he said : ‘ I was not to sell any straw, any hay, or 
 any roots, or anything whatsoever but wheat, barley, oats or stock. I 
 remember an instance very well, when I was offered £6 10s. a ton for a 
 rick of hay on the premises. I asked my agent to consent to sell that one, 
 and he said he could not do it. The result was I could not sell it.’ This 
 was said to have occurred a few years prior to 1884. 
 
 A retired tenant farmer from the same district stated his objection 
 to these restrictions on the sale of produce as follows : — 
 
 1 1 thought it a great hardship for me to pay perhaps from £20 to £30 
 a year for bone manure to go to the land to improve the crops, and I 
 should not have the benefit of selling any produce from the crops for which 
 
 I had bought the manure The manurial value 
 
 of hay is about 30s. per ton ; straw, say 10s. ; swedes, say 5s. ; whereas 
 you can sell hay sometimes for, say, £6 to £7 a ton,’ and at the time of our 
 visit in November 1893 for even more. ‘ If you were to sell the hay, and 
 buy the equivalent, say in manure, I should think you would buy at a 
 profit of, say, 200 per cent., because you could have every property that 
 contains the manurial value of hay in manure. Especially so with swedes, 
 again, I think in these days if you could sell swedes and buy corn, and 
 feed the sheep on the fields with corn, and sell some swedes, you would 
 profit very much indeed.’ 
 
 While urging freedom of sale the witness, however, thought that in 
 fairness to landowners there should be some check on the farmer to see 
 that he brought on sufficient manure, though in his experience he did not 
 know of any instances requiring such a check. 
 
 Several other Glamorganshire witnesses advocated the abolition of 
 all restrictions on the sale of produce by tenants subject, however, to the 
 requirement of introducing on to the land the equivalent in manure.” 
 
 The occupier of an arable farm in South Cardiganshire complained 
 that it was impossible for him to farm his land and make it pay “ with, 
 such a strict and severe agreement,” which of course prohibited the sale 
 of produce. His landlord prevented him from selling some surplus hay 
 a few years ago, though he bought hay and straw from tenant farmers of 
 other estates. 
 
 “ Mr. C. F. Priestley, who is one of the largest farmers in North 
 Wales, described it as a ‘ stupid arrangement ’ to prohibit tenants from 
 selling hay, straw, and roots. 4 If the tenants are good they ought to be 
 allowed to do it ; if they are bad the more they are looked after the 
 better.’ He himself had objected to such a clause being inserted in the 
 lease of a farm which he held on his own cousin’s estate, and it had 
 accordingly been struck out. The sale of turnips and potatoes is pro- 
 hibited by a clause in the estate agreement of Lord Stanley of Alderley. 
 
 A Radnorshire farmer holding over 500 acres of land in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Knighton said that though he was prohibited by his agree- 
 ment from selling hay and straw, he had, nevertheless, done so on occa- 
 sions, without obtaining his landlord’s consent. As he received about £5 
 a ton for the wheat-straw so disposed, he found it to his advantage to sell 
 it and then purchase bone manure, which he could get conveyed on the 
 hill-side land of his farm much easier than he could cart farmyard manure 
 to the same position. This advantage would, we think, apply to a very 
 large proportion of Welsh holdings, as, owing to the unevenness of the 
 surface and the badness of farm roads in most hilly districts, the cartage 
 of farmyard dung entails much drudgery to man and beast, and 
 frequently necessitates the keeping of an extra horse on many a farm, 
 while, on the other hand, the more portable nature of artificial manures 
 reduces almost to a minimum the labour which their use involves.” 
 
 “In some cases it is, however, specifically provided that 
 tenants may sell their produce by replacing the same with 
 artificial manures or feeding stuffs, and such freedom is for 
 
177 
 
 the most part eagerly availed of. in suitable seasons, by 
 many tenants if the manurial equivalent required in substi- 
 tution is not fixed too high. ” 
 
 Among the more obvious circumstances under which it 
 is of the greatest benefit for tenants to enjoy freedom as to 
 the disposal of their produce, is that of a farm near some 
 considerable centre of population. A Monmouthshire land 
 agent, for example, observed that “ with a farm near iron 
 works or a town, a farmer can sell his hay and straw for a 
 much better value than he could get out of it by consuming 
 it. He can also recoup the farm by hauling from the iron 
 works, or the coal works, or the town — he can haul far more 
 manure than he could make of the hay or straw if it were 
 consumed. ” 
 
 The evidence disclosed a tendency on the part of 
 owners and agents to relax the stringency of restrictive 
 clauses of recent years and to connive at breaches of their 
 provisions. Several cases of the kind were mentioned but 
 need not be reproduced here. It was, moreover, frequently 
 stated that such clauses were hardly ever enforced except 
 in the case of a bad tenant over whose head they were held 
 in terrorem. 
 
 The question which, therefore, seems to arise is whether 
 these various kinds of restrictive covenants protect the interest 
 of the landlord in a way that it could not be otherwise 
 protected, or whether they are not real substantial obstacles 
 in the way of the improving farmer. According to the 
 Report (p. 494) “ Several of the most practical and 
 
 experienced witnesses expressed the opinion that such clauses 
 should be entirely swept away from all agreements,” which 
 should be made much simpler than at present, and should 
 allow tenants a liberal discretion to cultivate their farms in 
 the manner they think best. “ For example,” the Report 
 continues, “ Mr. Bowen Woosnam, a barrister-at-law, who is 
 also a practical farmer (in the neighbourhood of Builth), on 
 being asked whether he would not favour the insertion of a 
 clause requiring tenants who sold their crops to bring back 
 their equivalent in manure, said that he would not put it in 
 any agreement though he was in favour of free sale : * I 
 would leave it to the discretion of the tenant and the landlord. 
 Of course, in speaking of yearly tenancies, if the landlord 
 sees his tenant is habitually selling off his produce and doing 
 nothing in the way of putting manure in the place of it, I 
 think he would be in a position to remonstrate ; but I think 
 the restriction in farm agreements, the hard-and-fast rule 
 that is laid down, that he must not do this and must not do the 
 
 N 
 
 Restrictive 
 clauses 
 condemned, 
 by experienced 
 witnesses. 
 
178 
 
 other with regard to produce, is a very great drawback in 
 some instances to the tenant realising the best price for his 
 farm produce.’ 
 
 Major Birch was still more emphatic in his condemnation 
 of penal clauses and restrictive covenants in the agreements 
 which he produced to us, and which he regarded as ‘ simply 
 waste paper.’ ‘ The penalising clauses and the course-of- 
 cropping clauses are never acted upon. I would not be 
 interfered with as regards my course of cropping (I am 
 speaking as a practical farmer now), and I would not sign 
 any agreement that would interfere with me if I did not 
 know that it was going to be a dead letter. But I think 
 myself, that with a very little consideration, an Agricultural 
 Holdings Act might be made, beginning with full compensa- 
 tion for all improvements made by the tenant — full 
 compensation. An Act might be made applicable to England 
 and Wales that should take the place of agreements, and we 
 should have no agreements of any kind or shape, except a 
 few reservations that you might wish to put in. Of course, 
 as regards the minerals and as regards game too, you must 
 put in reservations. I am not giving a lawyer’s opinion, 
 only what my experience is. I hate the sight of these 
 agreements myself because they are of no use.’ Major Birch 
 subsequently added that such an Act of Parliament should — 
 and could in his opinion — provide not only full compensation 
 to the tenant but also full protection to the landlords that 
 their farms should not be run out.’ The agent for the 
 Bodorgan Estate, in referring to the ‘ oppressive clauses ’ in 
 his own agreement, said that they were never used, and they 
 might as well go out ; they were only an encumbrance. 
 
 Mr. 0. S. Wynne, the former head agent of the 
 Wynnstay Estate, in referring to penalising clauses, said : 
 ‘ There is not an agreement on any estate in the country, I 
 think, which cannot be remodelled, I think, to very great 
 advantage . . . and if I were to take up an agency 
 
 again, I believe I could write a perfectly satisfactory 
 agreement on a sheet of note paper.’ ” 
 
 And by the The Commissioners in conclusion express their own 
 
 commissioners, opinion (p. 496) on the use of restrictive clauses. They 
 point out that landlords should at the outset look for 
 “ reasonable intelligence and honesty ” among applicants 
 before they are accepted as tenants, “and assuming that 
 they find such qualities, then tenants should be permitted to 
 exercise an unfettered discretion in the matter of cropping 
 and in the disposal of their produce. . . . By prescribing 
 
 what a tenant should and should not do with reference to 
 
179 
 
 every crop, and by limiting his choice of rotation, they leave 
 very little room for that free play of intelligence which is so 
 necessary to encourage in agriculturists. The result is that 
 farmers are not able to make the best of their holdings in 
 view of the changed conditions of their industry, they are 
 not permitted to adapt themselves to the changing require- 
 ments of the market with sufficient promptitude as to profit 
 thereby. For example, an intelligent tenant might easily 
 have foreseen that the hay crop of 1893 would be so scanty 
 that in the ensuing winter any hay which he might be able 
 to sell would bring him a most remunerative price, even £10 
 per ton being, it was alleged, paid in South Pembrokeshire 
 for foreign hay. Most probably, his agreement would not, 
 however, permit him to take a second crop, or to sell any 
 surplus quantity that he might have unless he asked for a 
 special permission, which might be refused him. That these 
 clauses have in the past seriously hampered tenants, and 
 have tended to perpetuate old-fashioned methods of farming 
 seems only too clear from the testimony of our witnesses. 
 
 The very fact that of recent years they are relaxed and 
 overlooked so as to give the tenants a better chance of 
 combating the depression proves that when they are enforced 
 the tenant is handicapped in his pursuit. One witness 
 bluntly stated that landlords now allow the tenants to break 
 through agreements — ‘ anything, sir, only not come down 
 with the rent ; that is about the fact of it.’ If the depression 
 results in the sweeping away of the majority of these penal 
 clauses and restrictive covenants, agriculturists will be able 
 to console themselves that it brought them one important 
 blessing, namely, the liberation of farming from a cast-iron 
 system which could not easily and promptly be adapted to 
 the changing conditions of their industry.” 
 
 3. — STATUTORY CONDITIONS OF TENANCY : — THE 
 AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS ACTS AND 
 THE GROUND GAME ACT. 
 
 But agriculture in England and Wales has not been left statutory 
 to be entirely governed either by custom, however long es- condltlonB - 
 tablished, or by private agreement between landlord and 
 tenant. In the interests of the agricultural industry at large, 
 as well as of that larger community which is only indirectly 
 interested in agriculture, the Legislature has, however, 
 stepped in — tardily, and after long agitation — to impose 
 certain general conditions which shall apply to every agri- 
 
180 
 
 cultural tenancy, and shall in every such case, unless other- 
 wise provided, over-ride such conditions as are based solely on 
 custom or contract. 
 
 It was in the year 1875 that the principle of legislative 
 interference with the absolute freedom of contract in the 
 matter of agricultural tenancies was first clearly recognised 
 and acted upon by the State, and the Agricultural Holdings 
 Act of that year was “ the thin edge of the wedge,*’ which 
 has, since then, made possible the passing of two other im- 
 portant Statutes, viz., The Ground Game Act of 1880, and the 
 Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883. 
 
 Contracting G ut It is not intended in this section to give any detailed 
 
 ox Agricultural o •/ 
 
 Holdings Act of account of the provisions of these three Acts. All that we shall 
 do here is to inquire how far they have been generally accepted, 
 and to what extent have attempts been made to exclude 
 their operation. 
 
 1. The Agricultural Holdings Act of 1875. — As to the 
 extent to which this Act was adopted in Wales, we shall 
 quote the observations of the Commissioners at length 
 (p. 496) : 
 
 “ As to the earlier Act of 1875, which was entirely a per- 
 missive Act, we find that the great majority of Welsh land- 
 owners immediately excluded its operation by means of a con- 
 tracting-out agreement. We received very ample testimony 
 on this point, and we observed that one marked result of this 
 contracting out of a legislative enactment was to produce in 
 the minds of the tenantry, especially in Welsh-speaking 
 districts, a firm impression that the agreements which were 
 made after 1875 had the force of over-riding all future Acts 
 of Parliament of a similar character, and therefore that they 
 themselves were excluded from all benefit under the subse- 
 quent Act of 1883. Most landowners, in fact, aimed at such 
 a prospective exclusion of all amending Acts, forgetful of the 
 omnipotence of Parliament in this respect, or, perhaps, only 
 determined to make the attempt for what it might be worth. 
 At all events, we find that the contracting-out clause was 
 generally couched in the following, or some other like form : — 
 “ This contract of tenancy shall not be affected by the Agri- 
 cultural Holdings (England) Act, 1875, or any statutory 
 modification thereof.” 
 
 As to the small extent to which the Act of 1875 was 
 adopted in Wales, we have contemporary evidence of an 
 unimpeachable character in the replies which were sent to a 
 circular issued by the editor of the Mark Lane Express, a 
 well-known agricultural newspaper, in which they were 
 
181 
 
 published on the 1st May, 1876.* Returns were thus obtained 
 from several districts of every English county, and from eight 
 of the Welsh counties, including Monmouthshire. In answer 
 to the question, “To what extent has the Agricultural 
 Holdings Act been adopted ? ” the reply from Anglesey was, 
 “To no extent that I have heard of;” from Cardiganshire, 
 “Not a single case, to my knowledge in this county” from 
 Pembrokeshire, “ I believe the Act has been adopted by Lord 
 Kensington ; ” from South Carmarthenshire, “ Not at all.” 
 From North Carmarthenshire “ The Act has been adopted by 
 the Earl of Cawdor, Mr. John Jones, M.P., and Mr. Charles 
 Lloyd (? of Brunant) ;” while negative replies were given for the 
 whole of Glamorganshire, the Wye district of Radnorshire, 
 East Montgomeryshire, and West Denbighshire. Four replies 
 were received from Monmouthshire, and according to these the 
 only estate which was specifically mentioned as having had 
 the Act applied to it was that of Lord Tredegar. 
 
 In answer to the inquiry as to the “ party by whom 
 notice of exemptions from the Act was given,” the reply in all 
 the Welsh cases without exception was “ the landlord.” 
 This was supplemented by the addition of the word 
 “invariably” in the Cardiganshire reply, while that for 
 North Carmarthenshire took the form “in no single instance 
 the tenant.” The replies to some further questions contained 
 in this circular were, so far as Wales was concerned, of a 
 significant character. Thus, the question, “ Do the tenants 
 generally desire to come under this Act ? ” elicited from 
 Anglesey the ambiguous reply of “ somewhat ; they do not 
 feel strongly about it, knowing it to be a double-edged kind 
 of Act that will cut either waj^.” Perhaps the lukewarmness 
 of the tenantry in this county was due to the fact that they 
 had at that time a pretty generally acknowledged custom 
 which has subsequently been suppressed to a large extent. 
 This explanation at all events accounts for the Glamorgan- 
 shire reply, which was to the effect that the tenants were 
 believed not to feel any general desire for seeing the Act 
 adopted inasmuch as “ the custom of the county is fair and 
 generally satisfies the tenants.” Most of the replies from 
 Monmouthshire partook of the same nature ; in the west of 
 the county, where the chief estate is Lord Tredegar’s, the 
 tenants were said to be “ indifferent — they hold under good 
 landlords, on whose estates a liberal custom prevails.” In 
 the Wye district of Radnorshire the tenants were said to 
 favour the adoption of the Act “ as far as they took interest 
 
 * These replies were subsequently reprinted in the Appendix to Mr. 
 W. E. Bear’s Relations of Landlord and Tenant (1876). 
 
182 
 
 and understood it,” but they were characteristically described 
 as slow improvers and “ therefore rather indifferent — though 
 the more intelligent had accepted it.” 
 
 In most of the Welsh-speaking districts of the country 
 there was, however, a general eagerness to come un,der the 
 Act. As to Cardiganshire it was said that the tenants “ dare 
 not express a wish to that effect,” though unexhausted im- 
 provements had previously not been paid for. In North 
 Carmarthenshire the tenants “ were so much under the screw 
 that they did not feel inclined to stir in the matter — though 
 frequent complaints were made by outgoing tenants that 
 they were dealt hardly with in respect of their unexhausted 
 improvements.” The tenants of the Northern part of the 
 same count} 7 - were described as “ very passive, but more in 
 favour of the Act than otherwise,” though they considered it 
 very defective as being merely permissive. The tenants in 
 West Denbighshire and East Montgomeryshire “very much 
 desired ” the adoption of the Act, but “ the landlord simply 
 gave them notice that the Act was not to be adopted.” 
 
 This contemporary evidence is supplemented with 
 reference to the estate of Mr. Assheton Smith by the state- 
 ment of the Agent, according to whom, the tenants, on being 
 invited to consider the question, “ came to the conclusion 
 that all things considered, they were better off under the 
 agreement ” than under the Act. 
 
 There were probably a few other instances where the 
 tenants felt some reluctance to come under an Act, the pro- 
 visions of which they only vaguely understood, but in the 
 great majority of cases, the initiative in excluding the Act 
 was taken by the landlords themselves. 
 
 One indirect result, of a beneficial character, resulting 
 from this Act will be noticed later, — viz. : the impulse it 
 gave to many landowners to remodel their agreements, and 
 bring them more into line with the principles which were 
 embodied in the Act itself. 
 
 oi“Lr 2. The Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883 . — The case as to 
 Holdings Act of this Act is entirely different from that of the preceding one, 
 1883 attempted. w p’ c | 1 was p Ure ]y permissive, while this is, with one or two 
 exceptions, compulsory — one of its provisions being that any 
 agreement inconsistent with the Act, “ be void both in law 
 and equity.” A tenant therefore cannot, by means of any 
 agreement with his landlord, deprive himself of his right to 
 compensation under this Act — the only exception being that 
 if “ fair and reasonable compensation, having regard to the 
 circumstances existing at the time of making such agree- 
 ment,” be provided “by any particular agreement in writing,” 
 
183 
 
 the compensation referred to will be deemed to be substituted 
 for compensation under the Act, and as such will be recognized 
 as legally valid. But by this provision the spirit, if not the 
 letter, of the Act is strictly adhered to, and the only point in 
 respect of which contracting-out is allowed is as to the length 
 of the notice to quit. The Commissioners refer, however, to 
 the prevalence of a very general belief, not only among 
 tenants, but agents and owners also, that the Act of 1883 
 could be wholly excluded by private agreements. Owing to 
 “ the promptitude with which landowners, especially in the 
 Welsh speaking counties, had excluded the Act of 1875,” this 
 misconception on the part of the tenants is said to be “ under 
 the circumstances, easily understood, but,” the Commissioners 
 add (p. 497), “we w~ere not prepared to discover that many 
 large landowners and their agents also shared in such an 
 erroneous view of the Act. At all events several agreements 
 which were produced before us contained clauses purport- 
 ing to exclude the Act of 1883, and the more charitable view 
 to take is that such clauses were inserted owing to the ignor- 
 ance of the owners or agents concerned. Thus in the case of 
 the Pentre Estate, in south-west Wales, a clause contracting 
 out of the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883 was inserted in 
 two sets of new agreements made in 1885 and 1889 re- 
 spectively ; owing, in the first instance (according to a state- 
 ment of the agent’s), to ignorance of law on his part, and 
 on the second occasion owing to a printer’s error. The error 
 had not, however, been rectified, by having an amended agree- 
 ment printed, up to the time of our visit to that part of the 
 country. In 1885, a tenant who declined to sign the agree- 
 ment, owing partly to this clause, was given a notice to quit, 
 which was, however, subsequently withdrawn on his signing 
 it. Four years afterwards his holding was sold, and purchased 
 by himself ; the purchase money being, it was alleged, higher 
 than it would otherwise be on account of his own improve- 
 ments. 
 
 On the Peterwell Estate, near Lampeter, new agreements 
 were made with all the tenants in September 1891, and both 
 the Ground Game Act and the Agricultural Holdings Act of 
 1883 were excluded; the landlord, who himself produced the 
 agreement before us, being apparently under the impression 
 that it was permissable by law so to do. 
 
 In the copies produced before us of the agreements in 
 use on three other estates in the same neighbourhood, namely, 
 Pigeonsford, Derry Ormond, and Glandenys, there are similar 
 clauses contracting out of the Act of 1883. In the last- 
 mentioned case, the agreements were sent out to the tenants, 
 
184 
 
 Substituted 
 compensation 
 provided in 
 agreements. 
 
 for signature as late as September, 1892, but it appears that 
 the tenants, for the most part, did not sign them, but con- 
 tinue in their holdings as tenants-at-will. 
 
 In North Wales, again, we found that the agreement in 
 use on such a well-conducted estate as that of Lord Penrhyn 
 contained the following clause : ‘ None of the provisions of 
 
 the Agricultural Holdings (England) Act, 1883, shall apply 
 to this agreement, or to the tenancy thereunder.” What was 
 probabty in the mind of the agent or draughtsman in this case 
 was that the clauses in the agreement providing compensation 
 were a fair substitution for the compensation provided by the 
 Act, but we need hardly point out that, even assuming the 
 superiority of the substituted compensation it was ultra vires 
 to attempt to exclude the Act altogether. Similar clauses 
 excluding the Act are also found in the estate agreements of 
 Lady Neave of Llysdulas, Mr. Ellis Nanney of Gwynfryn, and 
 of Mr. E. V. Kyrke of Mold.” 
 
 “ With reference to section 33 of the Act, namely, that 
 as to the length of the notice to quit, we find that the great 
 majority of landowners exercise their right to exclude the 
 clause, and so make the tenancy determinable on a six 
 months’ notice. This is not so, however, on the estates of 
 Lord Kenyon, Lord Mostyn, Sir Richard Bulkeley (of Baron 
 Hill), Colonel Wynne Finch (of Yoelas), and Sir Joseph 
 Bailey (of Glanusk), but with these few exceptions, we may 
 safely say that on nearly all the larger estates, concerning 
 which evidence was given us, the notice to quit is shortened 
 to one of six months. 
 
 “ In very few cases indeed is the Act of 1883 adopted 
 in its entirety, and without any reservations whatsoever. 
 The only instances that occur to us at present are the 
 agreements on the Baron Hill and Voelas estates. 
 
 “ In the former case the tenancy is declared to be 
 * generally subject to the provisions ’ of the Act, but the 
 Yoelas Estate agreement is still more explicit on the point, 
 declaring the tenancy to be ‘ subject [without any qualifica- 
 tion] to the Ground Game Act, 1880, and the Agricultural 
 Holdings Act, 1883.’ 
 
 “ In many cases, however, no new agreements have 
 been made subsequent to the passing of the Act of 1883, 
 though it appears that soon after the Act of 1875 most of 
 the then existing agreements were modified in a more or less 
 degree, according to the views of the different landowners. 
 On a few of the best managed estates, though the Act of 
 1875 was excluded, liberal provisions were introduced into 
 the agreements for the purpose of compensating tenants for 
 
185 
 
 their improvements. This appears to have been done on the 
 estates of Lord Penrhyn, Sir W. W. Wynn, the Earl of 
 Lisburne, and probably others, but it was nevertheless the 
 exceptional course. These provisions have subsequently 
 been retained, possibly with slight modifications, as affording 
 compensation in substitution for that provided by the 
 amending Act of 1883. In other cases new schedules have 
 been framed and adopted, and ‘ substituted compensation ’ 
 is provided for on a considerable number of the larger 
 estates, more especially in North Wales. 
 
 “ In East Denbighshire and part of Flintshire, the 
 schedule of the Shropshire Chamber of Agriculture has been 
 adopted on several estates. Monmouthshire has framed a 
 schedule of its own, while South Glamorgan has its custom. 
 Schedules of compensation are, on the other hand, practically 
 unknown in the agreements which are in use in the south- 
 western counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan, and Pembroke, 
 except perhaps on one or two estates in South Pembrokeshire. 
 
 “ In order to be valid, the compensation provided in 
 substitution for that of the Act, must be ‘ fair and reasonable, 
 having regard to the circumstances existing at the time of 
 making the agreement.’ In the cases where schedules have 
 been adopted by chambers of agriculture, there can be no 
 doubt, we think, that this condition is satisfactorily fulfilled, 
 but it is a task of much more difficulty to pronounce upon 
 ‘ the fairness and reasonableness ’ of schedules which have 
 been specially framed for individual estates or individual 
 tenancies. In such cases there is a tendency to introduce 
 conditions which circumscribe and limit the advantages of 
 the Act, and which the tenant is very often likely to neglect. 
 
 “For example, the tenant is usually required to produce 
 vouchers showing his outlay on lime, artificial manures, or 
 feeding stuffs, but in many cases this is not deemed enough. 
 On the Nant Olwyd estate, compensation according to a 
 substituted schedule is to be paid ‘ provided that vouchers 
 have been produced to the landlady or her agent and en- 
 dorsed by either of them at the time when such expenditure 
 shall have been incurred in respect of which a claim is in- 
 tended to be made, and a written certificate be given of 
 the amount of claim to be allowed, and all such allowances 
 shall take effect from the date of such afore-named certificates.’ 
 
 “We can easily believe that it would be extremely 
 distasteful for most tenants to be perpetually obtaining 
 certificates of this kind, whenever they limed or manured, or 
 did any other act of husbandry for which they might 
 ordinarily be entitled to compensation. Nor would it always 
 
186 
 
 be very convenient to apply for such certificates, as the agent 
 in this particular case lives, we understand, at Chester, while 
 the estate, which is owned by a lady, is situated in the Yale 
 of Clwyd. 
 
 “ Another illustration of the kind of conditions to which 
 we are referring may be taken from the agreement of Mr. W. 
 E. Oakeley of Tanybwlch. In this case, it is specially agreed 
 that at least one week before the tenant commences to apply 
 any bone manure to his land, written intimation of his in- 
 tention to do so must be given to the landlord or his agent. 
 A similar clause, but extending also to the application of 
 lime, was also found to be included in the Gwydyr agree- 
 ment. 
 
 Agreements “ Conditions of this kind, in effect, contravene the 
 
 Ground 11 lime spirit of the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883 by com- 
 Act - pelling the tenant to give notice before executing improve- 
 
 ments which under the Act he is entitled to do without any 
 such notice. This whittling away of the advantages of the 
 Act is also another reason for the very general belief among 
 tenant farmers that their tenancies are excluded from its 
 operation.” The Commissioners in conclusion observe that 
 it would greatly simplify matters if no contracting-out what- 
 soever were to be allowed, but the practicability of such a 
 policy is a question which will more conveniently come under 
 consideration when dealing, later on, with the recommenda- 
 tions of the Commission. 
 
 3. The Ground Game Ad, 1880 . — In some of the Agree- 
 ments which have just been mentioned as containing clauses 
 excluding the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, the Ground 
 Game Act is also added. More often, however, the Game is 
 reserved — hares, rabbits, and all — without stating that such 
 a reservation is subject to the Act. We extract the following 
 from the Report (p. 512) on this point : — 
 
 “In the case of Mr. John Jones, a tenant farmer of Pontneath 
 Yanghan, Vale of Neath, an agreement was handed in in which the ground 
 game was reserved to the landlord, and in his district it was said there 
 was in some cases a similar agreement, so that the tenant farmers dare not 
 put the Act in force. Mr. Jones, however, said he was not aware of any 
 cases in which a landlord had interfered with the right of the tenant, 
 though the agreement was taken as a basis. 
 
 Mr. Owen Williams, a tenant farmer of Anglesey, stated that in the 
 agreements of Lord Stanley of Alderley and Sir George Meyriek, the 
 landlord reserved to himself the ground game as well as the winged game. 
 The witness further said : ‘ The tenants knew very well this was illegal, 
 but they would not like to kill a rabbit or a hare because if the keepers 
 saw them they know the consequence, although they know they have a 
 right to it by law.’ 
 
 With reference to this statement Mr. Thomas Prichard, agent to Sir 
 George Meyriek, said : ‘ The game is preserved, but as a rule — in fact I 
 may say everywhere, except near the covers — the tenants are allowed to 
 
187 
 
 catch all rabbits in any manner, but they prefer to keep up the stock and 
 catch them in the season when prices are highest, and convert the farms 
 into rabbit warrens. Hares are almost extinct on the Bodorgan Estate.” 
 
 The Chairman of the Carmarthenshire County Council, Mr. Gwilym 
 Evans, referring chiefly to North Carmarthenshire, remarked : ‘ One 
 landlord, to my knowledge, has it printed in all his agreements that hares 
 and rabbits are included with other game. There are scores of similar 
 agreements still in existence.” The agreement referred to was produced, 
 the clause in question reading thus : “ The landlord reserves .... 
 also all game, wild fowl, and fish (inclusive of hares and rabbits), and nest 
 and eggs of game, with the right for himself, his friends, and servants, at 
 all times to enter the farm for the purpose of sporting and preserving the 
 same, except that the tenants shall have such right concurrently with the 
 landlord to kill and to take hares and rabbits as is given to the tenant by 
 the Ground Game Act, 1880.” 
 
 Another witness brought to our notice a poster published by Colonel 
 Lewis, of Llvsnewydd, in which it was stated that he held from Lord 
 Cawdor the exclusive right of shooting all game, hares, rabbits, and wild 
 fowl in certain parishes in the manor of Emlyn Ueh Cveh, in the county 
 of Carmarthen. He pointed out that such was illegal, and in consequence 
 of it the tenants were afraid to assert their rights. 
 
 Colonel Lewis stated, in explanation, that the notice was an exact 
 copy of the deputation he had received from Lord Cawdor ; he admitted, 
 however, that the tenants had a right to the ground game, and the word 
 concurrent ” right should have been used instead of - exclusive ” right. 
 
 Mr. John Bowen, of Llwyn Einon, in the parish of Cilrhedyn, put in 
 an agreement in which there was an attempt to contract out of the Ground 
 Game Act. In the agreement also of Mr. J. C. Harford, of Falc-ondale, 
 were these words : ‘ The tenant shall not hunt, shoot, or destroy hares. 
 
 Mr. Harford, however, exeused*himself on the ground that the clause was 
 not insisted upon. ” 
 
 A few other laudowners have endeavoured to limit the ° r ll ™4 tin ff it3 
 
 t operation. 
 
 tenant’s rights, as to the method of killing game. One example 
 of the kind will suffice. Mr. R. J. Lloyd Price, of Rhiwlas, is- 
 sued in 1885 a circular to his tenants stating that they might 
 kill rabbits with ferrets and nets only ; as to this Mr. Price 
 remarked, 41 Yes, I consider that is the proper wav to kill 
 rabbits. I do not allow my underkeepers to kill them in any 
 other way, and what is the best way for the keeper to kill 
 a rabbit is best also for the farmer.” He added that he was 
 aware that under the provisions of the Ground Game Act 
 fire-arms might be employed. 
 
 On the other hand it should be stated that on a few 
 estates the tenants had been allowed to kill rabbits prior even 
 to the passing of the Ground Game Act. This was stated 
 to be the case, for example, on the Yaynol estate, while on 
 the Hafodunos estate similar permission was given for two 
 months every year — between February and 1st April. 
 
 b* — GAME. 
 
 -r\ • i i . « . Game at com- 
 
 Hassmg on to the general question ot game, it is to be mon law beion*- 
 noticed that at common law all wild game belongs to the 
 tenant and not to the landlord — by virtue of the tenant’s b7 
 
188 
 
 possession of the land. It has, however, long been the practice 
 for landowners in their agreements with their tenants, to reserve 
 for themselves the right to the game, and, referring to 
 the numerous agreements produced during the inquiry, the 
 Commissioners observe that “ in nearly every instance, in all 
 parts of Wales, the reservation is made in favour of the land- 
 lord in the fullest possible manner allowed by law. 
 
 “We received,” the Commissioners say, “ a very large 
 mass of evidence in nearly every place at which we sat con- 
 cerning the operation of the law relating to game and the 
 effects of the exercise of sporting rights, 
 piaintf as to™" The principal complaints came from tenant farmers, and 
 
 game' witnesses on their behalf, who alleged that game preservation 
 
 summarised. an( j exerc i se 0 f sporting rights did great damage to crops, 
 and in many ways hindered cultivation, while the arbitrary 
 conduct of gamekeepers, the selfish and careless conduct of 
 sporting tenants, and in some cases of the landlord and his 
 friends, was a perpetual source of friction between landlord 
 and tenant, and it was therefore urged either that all special 
 statutory restrictions should be abolished, or at any rate the 
 Ground Game Act of 1880 extended to winged game, even if 
 such a policy resulted in the cessation of game preservation, 
 or the extinction of winged game in the whole country. On 
 the other hand, estate owners, agents and others, argued that 
 any substantial change would lead to the landlords giving up 
 any attempt to preserve, and that the consequence would be 
 the disappearance in a very short time of all pheasants, 
 partridges, grouse, etc., and the consequent loss of an agree- 
 able source of food supply. Moreover, that this result would lead 
 to the estate owners and their friends ceasing to reside for a 
 large part of the year upon their estates, and to a large num- 
 ber of persons being thrown out of employment. 
 
 It was alleged that sporting brought into the different 
 districts numbers of wealthy persons to whom otherwise the 
 country would present small attraction, and that much money 
 now brought into rural districts would be spent in other 
 countries. 
 
 It was contended that these consequences were of so 
 serious a character, especially at the present time, that only 
 the very strongest evidence that real loss is sustained by the 
 cultivators of the soil could justify any substantial alteration 
 of the law. It was denied that any considerable damage is 
 done by game preservation, that there was gross exaggeration 
 in reference to the matter, and that, when damage is shown 
 to have been done, adequate compensation is made. These 
 witnesses also stated that it is untrue to allege that sporting 
 
189 
 
 gives rise to ill-feeling between landlord and tenant as a 
 general rale. Several witnesses too urged that the punish- 
 ments for offences connected with game were unduly harsh 
 and out of proportion to the gravity of the offences. But 
 assuming that it is necessary to legislate upon the matter at 
 all, no objection of any serious kind was made to what may 
 be called the general scheme of the legislation upon the 
 matter.” 
 
 “ Such,” the Commissioners say, “is a fair summary of the 
 views and contentions of the two important classes whose 
 opinions and grievances were laid before us.” 
 
 Some idea of the prominence given by witnesses to this 
 question may be formed when it stated that 20 pages of the 
 Report (pp. 501 — 521) are devoted to selected extracts from 
 the evidence under this head ; but we shall notice only two 
 or three of the more salient points thus brought out. 
 
 Chief among these, perhaps, is the tenants’ abnormal 
 dread of — and, to put it plainly, their unmitigated hatred for 
 — the Gamekeeper. Statements made by several responsible 
 witnesses are quoted to illustrate this feeling, but a saying of 
 Mr. Bryn Roberts (Mot quoted in the Report) will, perhaps, 
 best serve to explain what is meant. Speaking as to the in- 
 security of the sitting tenant, he referred to “ their being 
 completely under the thumb of the landlord, of whom the} r 
 were not much afraid ; of the agent, of whom they were a bit 
 more afraid ; and of the gamekeeper, of whom they were very 
 much afraid.” (Qu. 15,171.) 
 
 Many of the witnesses exhibited a feeling of much dis- 
 satisfaction with a clause, common enough in most agree- 
 ments, requiring their active co-operation in preserving game, 
 and in warning off, and if necessary, prosecuting poachers. 
 Some put their views briefly by saying that they objected to 
 acting as gamekeepers for their landlords. It seems evident, 
 however, that the majority of tenants feel no little pleasure in 
 being able to provide their landlords with a reasonable amount 
 of sport, and the soreness only appears either in the case of 
 over-preservation — which on the whole, does not now appear 
 to be so common as formerly — or of letting the game to 
 sporting tenants. 
 
 It was in this latter respect that the gravest complaints 
 were made and the Commissioners refer to the matter thus 
 (p. 517) : — “ The impression left on our minds is that sport- 
 ings tenants, being generally strangers, do not get on as well 
 with the tenant farmer as the landlord himself. Often they 
 appear to behave with insufficient consideration for the feel- 
 ings of the tenant of the land, and we fear that in some cases 
 
190 
 
 Conclusions 
 and Recommen- 
 dations as to 
 Game; 
 
 they exercise their rights in a careless and arbitrary manner. 
 The misunderstandings that arise may be due to ignorance 
 of the Welsh language on the part of sporting tenants and in 
 other cases may be attributed to ignorance of the conditions 
 of country life and farming operations.” 
 
 In the Majority Report the question of game is further 
 dealt with — the Minority also approving the remarks there 
 made ; it may, therefore be convenient to dispose of the 
 matter finally here. Briefly put, the abolition of the game 
 laws which was urged by so many witnesses is not only not 
 endorsed by the Commission, but is in fact deprecated, and 
 no legislative action whatsoever is suggested except the codi- 
 fication of the numerous Acts of Parliament relating to the 
 subject. Moreover, the preservation of game is actually 
 encouraged “ under proper mananagement and with proper 
 regulations,” and the belief is expressed that if complete 
 security of tenure be conferred on the occupier the game 
 question will settle itself. 
 
 Having said so much we shall quote the Commissioners’ 
 observations in full (p. 929) : — 
 
 “ Making every allowance for the grievances caused to 
 tenant faiuners in the past, and in a less degree at the present 
 time by the existing system, fully alive as we are to the 
 friction caused by the arbitrary interference and the some- 
 times arrogant behaviour of gamekeepers, and to the natural 
 irritation of the occupier of the soil at the oftentimes careless 
 exercise of the reserved rights of the landlord to re-enter for 
 sporting purposes, but, on the other hand, taking into 
 account the physical and economic/ circumstances of Wales, 
 we cannot recommend the changes in the law advocated by 
 many witnesses. We think that in the present circum- 
 stances and those of the immediate future, the extension of 
 the principle of the Ground Game Act, 1880, to winged game 
 would lead in a measurable distance to the practical disap- 
 pearance of pheasants, partridges, and grouse ; it would 
 throw a considerable number of persons out of employment ; 
 it would cause many persons who now frequent the Welsh 
 counties for sport to discontinue their visits. The dimuni- 
 tion of any agreeable kind of food supply is, in our view, a 
 misfortune ; and it follows from our general recommendation 
 that agriculturists should change their methods and concen- 
 trate their attention upon the great towns that we should be 
 inclined rather to encourage than discourage the production 
 in Wales of kinds of food which command high prices. 
 We have more than once emphasised our opinion than an 
 
191 
 
 estate should be looked upon as an economic unit. How 
 far the preservation of game can be made to pay we cannot 
 say with any certainty, but we are inclined to think that under 
 proper management it might be lucrative, and that with 
 proper regulations, conceived in a business-like spirit, it 
 might be carried on without offence to the tenants. 
 
 We have no doubt that in the past, and occasionally 
 at the present time, the statutes as to offences connected 
 with game have operated with undue severity and been 
 applied with considerable harshness, and have in many 
 places been a source of much friction and unhappiness. At 
 the present time we believe, speaking broadly, they are 
 administered throughout the principality in a more en- 
 lightened manner. We think that it would be very desirable 
 that the statutes dealing with these offences, or making 
 special enactments extending the law of trespass for the 
 purpose of protecting sporting rights, should be simplified 
 and consolidated into an intelligible code. 
 
 We are convinced that the real root of the mischief 
 created between landlord and tenant by the exercise of 
 sporting rights has been the insecurity of tenure under the 
 prevailing system. The real grievance is that the tenant, 
 knowing his defenceless position in regard to his holding if 
 he should incur the displeasure of his landlord, feels himself 
 unable to claim adequate compensation for any damage to 
 his crops, or any grievances due to the arbitrary or violent 
 action of gamekeepers, or the careless and discourteous 
 exercise of sporting rights by sporting tenants. 
 
 If the recommendations of the majority (the effect of 
 which would be to confer complete security of tenure on the 
 tenant farmer) be adopted, we think that the game question 
 will settle itself. The tenant will be placed in such a 
 position as will enable him to take a firm stand against any 
 improper exercise of sporting rights, or any damage that he 
 may sustain by game or otherwise. The question of the 
 landlords reserving the exclusive right in regard to winged 
 game would become a matter of adjustment between landlord 
 and tenant subject to the control of the court. If the 
 reservation be insisted upon by the landlord, or conceded by 
 the tenant, that would be a circumstance to be taken into 
 account by the court in fixing rent. And so, on the other 
 hand, if the tenant insists on the omission of any reservation, 
 and seeks for himself the sporting rights of a holding, the 
 rent would naturally be increased.” 
 
192 
 
 The Right of 
 Distress at pre- 
 sent much 
 curtailed. 
 
 But landlord’s 
 position 
 strengthened t 
 special clauses 
 in his agree- 
 ments. 
 
 5.— THE RIGHT OF DISTRFSS. 
 
 In addition to the ordinaiy means at the disposal of 
 every man of business for the recovery of debts and the 
 protection of his interests generally, a landlord has a right 
 of taking, without legal process, goods belonging to his 
 tenant in satisfaction of arrears of rent and certain other 
 dues. This, in short, is the right of distress which formerly 
 extended to six years’ rent, but was limited by the Agricul- 
 tural Holdings Act of 1883 to one year’s rent. 
 
 A landowner, moreover, possesses certain exceptional 
 r rights as against execution creditors, and in case of his 
 tenant’s bankruptcy as well as in regard to certain preferen- 
 tial charges on goods distrained upon. But his position is 
 generally further fortified by means of clauses inserted 
 in his agreements, providing for the immediate deter- 
 mination of the tenancy and for the landlord’s re-entry 
 in case the tenant becomes bankrupt, or an execution be 
 levied against him, &c. Most of these provisoes are 
 characterised by the Commissioners as “ undoubtedly very 
 stringent,” but, on the other hand, “ the evidence shows 
 that such powers of re-entry are rarely exercised, and if 
 exercised, are put in force rather with a view of defeating or 
 delaying creditors than with hostility towards the tenant’s 
 interests, and, in fact, the main body of opinion adverse to 
 the exceptional right of the landlord to distrain, and his 
 favourable position as against execution creditors and the 
 other creditors in case of bankruptcy, relied not on any 
 hardship to the tenant as on the injustice and inequality of 
 the existing law in not treating a landlord like any other 
 creditor. Many of the witnesses evidently were not aware 
 how very greatty the rights of the landlord have been 
 limited by the legislation briefly explained above.” 
 
 The Commissioners report (p. 542) that as to distress 
 generally and the preferential position of the landlord, the 
 principal questions on which the witnesses dwelt, one way 
 or the other, were “whether the right to distrain for rent 
 should be maintained; whether its abolition is or is not 
 expedient in the interests of the tenant as well as the land- 
 lord ; whether its effect is to render the landlord careless in 
 choosing a new tenant as to whether he had adequate capital ; 
 and whether the landlord’s exceptional right in case a tenant 
 gets into difficulties have not the effect of limiting the credit 
 of the tenant as well as if he gets credit of unfairly defeating 
 and delaying his creditors.” 
 
193 
 
 Every landowner and agent who expressed any opinion 
 at all on the question appear to have advocated the reten- 
 tion of this right of distress — one witness observing that 
 44 it is far better for the tenant to fall into the hands of his 
 landlord than into the hands of a body of angry creditors.” 
 
 Most, though not all, witnesses of the tenant farmer 
 class, however inclined to its abolition — a course also strongly 
 recommended by witnesses engaged in business, and having 
 transactions with farmers, e.g., auctioneers, and general 
 merchants in country towns. 
 
 The most important evidence in support of the abolition ^cutwn of 
 of distress was that given, in his official capacity as repre- preferential 
 senting the Board of Trade, by Mr. John Smith, Inspector- nsrhtesrag?ested * 
 General in Bankruptcy, who said : 4 1 rather think it has a 
 tendency to protect the landlord and the farmer against the 
 creditors of the latter. Therefore it has a tendency to 
 encourage the landlord to take an impecunious tenant, 
 knowing he can protect himself at the expense of the tenant's 
 creditors, by seizing the stock which remains upon the farm 
 when that tenant becomes bankrupt. 5 He also said : 4 1 
 think it is detrimental to all concerned: it is demoralising 
 because it is unjust. 5 Further, that 4 It incites an unnatural 
 competition for land. 5 
 
 The following statement, made by Mr. Thomas Davies, 
 of Fedwlwvd, Bala, is also sufficiently startling to deserve 
 reproduction : 44 The preferential claim for rent always 
 means that the landlord gets what is due to him in full 
 and generally in good time. In times of depression the 
 effect of this is that tradesmen suffer greatly, as tenants are 
 unable to meet all their creditors, but they have always to 
 be careful to see their landlord paid. I have taken the 
 trouble to call on all the leading tradesmen in the town of 
 Bala, and a sum not far short of £10,000 is owing to them 
 from farmers of the district. I can produce letters from 
 a large number of tradesmen showing how much they have 
 on their books. In many cases, again, the fear of distress 
 compells farmers to borrow money for the purpose of paying 
 the rent. 55 
 
 The Commissioners, however, do not think it expedient mendS b^the 
 to recommend the abolition of the right of distress : 4 ‘ It commission, 
 should be observed that the landlord’s right to distrain is now 
 very limited, and we are of opinion that its operation by 
 way of protecting the landlord against other creditors of a 
 bankrupt tenant is very slight ; while we cannot assent to 
 the proposition that it affords any effective inducement to 
 the landlord’s taking an impecunious tenant on a farm 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 holding. We confine onr remarks on this head to agricul- 
 tural tenancies, as we recognise that other considerations 
 have to be borne in mind in regard to mere dwelling-houses.” 
 (p. 928.) 
 
 6.— CHARGES ON LAND. 
 
 No opinion ex- 
 pressed as to in- 
 cidence of taxa 
 tion, 
 
 The principal charges on land are (i.) the land tax ; (ii.) 
 chief or quit rents payable to the Crown or some mesne lord ; 
 (iii.) rates ; and (iv.) tithe. In regard to these charges the 
 Commissioners received a large amount of evidence, a 
 consideration of which shows that there is much difference 
 of opinion and some confusion of thought as to the first 
 principles of State taxation. “ Most of the witnesses who 
 came before us,” the Commissioners state, “ complained of 
 high rates and were of opinion that they had increased 
 during the last few years, but so far as we can obtain exact 
 figures they hardly support the views urged in evidence.” 
 In one sense the rates may be said to have increased, that is 
 in their aggregate amounts, because the assessments and the 
 value of property have increased, but it is pretty conclu- 
 sively proved that on the whole the rate per £ of all local 
 payments has not increased in the course of the last 50 
 years. 
 
 but statistics Moreover, where witnesses referred to the increase in 
 
 rates have local rates they spoke only of particular parishes or unions, and 
 decreased. their evidence is not necessarily inconsistent with the view 
 that the local rates, as a whole, throughout the agricultural 
 districts of Wales, have decreased and not increased. To 
 endeavour to determine this question, the Commission 
 obtained from the Local Government Board a return of 
 the rates levied in six selected unions for the years 1868 and 
 1893. If this return can be accepted as fairly typical of the 
 proportion between the rate in the pound in 1868 and the 
 rate in the pound in 1893, it will be observed that there 
 is an average reduction of 3Jd. (See Table opposite). 
 
 As to the wider question “ whether realty is unfairly 
 taxed as compared with personalty,” the Commissioners 
 observe that it is a matter which can only be properly 
 discussed when first principles are agreed upon, and that its 
 proper solution requires the ascertainment of the value of 
 property of all kinds in the United Kingdom, the determi- 
 nation of the real incidence of the different kinds of taxes, 
 and, possibly, adjustment of the financial relations of the 
 different parts of the kingdom. 
 
Return of the Rates levied in six selected Unions for the years 1868 and 1893 : 
 
 195 
 
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196 
 
 Suggestions by 
 witnesses. 
 
 On this ground the Commission has abstained from 
 expressing any opinion as to the re-adjustment of taxation — 
 a course which, however, differs from that adopted 
 by the Royal Commission on Agriculture, whose recom- 
 mendations formed the basis of the Agricultural Rating 
 Act of this year. But a large mass of evidence was never- 
 theless tendered on the point, and the majority of agricul- 
 turists appear to be under the impression that land is over 
 burdened — or, at all events, was so prior to the recent Act. 
 A suggestion which many witnesses appeared to favour was 
 that the poor should be maintained out of an Imperial levy 
 and not from local rates, while others (such as Col. Hughes, 
 the Wynnstay agent) were inclined to urge that roads and 
 highways should be maintained wholly by Government out 
 of the Imperial Exchequer. 
 
 Among the most well-considered opinions on this ques- 
 tion appears that of Sir Joseph Bailey, of Glanusk, who 
 expressed himself as follows : — 
 
 “ I consider that the mode of collecting income-tax, Schedules A. and 
 B., on land is not fair. It is collected on the gross income; while pro- 
 prietors of railway and other property are allowed to deduct all outgoings 
 and pay only on the net cash paid into bank. An owner of land is charged 
 on the full rental, though he seldom receives more than three-quarters of 
 that income. It has happened to me in two succeeding half-years that 
 the sum spent on my estates in Breconshire and Radnorshire for repairs, 
 new work, &c., was as much as the entire rental. I had, nevertheless, to 
 pay income-tax on the full amount, approximating to £20,000. Schedule 
 B. — This taxation is reflected on the tenant farmer, because his income- 
 tax is calculated on the same basis as that of the landowner, though it 
 differs in amount. Local rates press more heavily on the classes who 
 live by agriculture than upon other people. A general rate upon all 
 property is, in my judgment, as one who has had a good deal of political 
 experience, absolutely impracticable, but the Exchequer contribution 
 might be further increased for main roads, highways, and education. 
 The Poor Law requires re-consideration, both in the interests of the 
 ratepayer and of the aged poor, and the police should perhaps be made 
 one body and a national charge. The excessive charge for rates on poor 
 districts with dense population might be alleviated by enlarging the area 
 of taxation, if that could be managed without encouraging extravagance.” 
 
 Lord Stanley, of Alderley, suggested that Schedule B. 
 should be altogether abolished — a course which would be 
 very acceptable to the Board of Inland Revenue. Another 
 witness referred to the fact that cottagers have frequently 
 to pay a heavy quota of land tax. No reference is made 
 to the proposal for Tithe Redemption which is apparently so 
 popular among many English landowners. 
 
 The Commissioners recommend that an inquiry, by a 
 Royal Commission or otherwise, be made into the whole 
 subject — a suggestion which, so far as local taxation is 
 concerned, was put into effect prior to the issue of their 
 
197 
 
 Report by the appointment of Lord Balfour of Burleigh’s 
 Royal Commission on the Incidence of Local Taxation, 
 which has been charged with the duty of “ inquiring into 
 the present system under which taxation is raised for local 
 purposes, and of reporting whether and how far all kinds 
 of real and personal property contribute equitably to such 
 taxation ; and, if not, what alterations in the law are desir- 
 able in order to secure that result.” 
 
198 
 
 The Relation of 
 Landlord and 
 Tenant — what is 
 it according to 
 political econo- 
 my ? 
 
 A joint] partner- 
 ship in a com- 
 mercial under- 
 taking. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ECONOMIC RELATION BETWEEN LANDLORD 
 AND TENANT. 
 
 1. — THE PARTNERSHIP OF LANDLORD AND 
 TENANT IN THE BUSINESS OF FARMING. 
 
 The preceding chapters have been devoted to a con- 
 sideration of the relation of landlord and tenant — first, in 
 its more general aspects, and, secondly, in the stricter legal 
 sense. But this relationship has next to be considered from 
 the economic or business point of view, and here the Com- 
 missioners’ analysis of the existing system revolves largely 
 round the question of rent, and its relation to improvements. 
 
 The subject is dealt with in its economic aspect in two 
 separate parts of the Report, viz., in connection with estate 
 management (at pp. 262-273), and more fully among the 
 recommendations of the Majority (at pp. 879-896), while 
 the more concrete facts and statistics as to variations in rent, 
 &c., are given at great length in still another connection 
 (viz., at p. 361 et seq). 
 
 The economic question shall first be dealt with here. 
 Briefly put, the view expressed in the General Report (p. 262) 
 is that from the political economist’s point of view, landlord 
 and tenant are joint partners in a commercial undertaking — 
 the landlord being in fact as much engaged in the business 
 of farming as the tenant, though the fact is obscured by the 
 use of the ambiguous term “ rent.” 
 
 When the landlord spends money on improvements he 
 is simply investing money in the joint concern and expects 
 interest on his outlay — or speaking more correctly “ profit ” 
 from the undertaking. So long as the business pays, all may 
 go well, but when it does not — in other words, when depres- 
 sion comes, how is the loss to be borne ? Is the landlord 
 still to receive interest on his outlay, or should the tenant, 
 as being the partner who runs the greater risk, have the 
 prior claim to interest on his capital ? This brief summary 
 will enable the reader to understand more clearly why so 
 much prominence is given in the Report to what may appear 
 as an academic discussion of the principles of political 
 
199 
 
 economy, and he will also perhaps be better able to follow the 
 more detailed explanation of the whole argument which we 
 have just outlined, and which we now proceed to quote. 
 
 “ We find that in Wales, as in England, the method. 
 theoretically in use may be thus described : The estate owner 
 provides the farm-house and requisite buildings, makes the 
 necessary fences, roads, and permanent improvements. The 
 tenant does the haulage of materials, provides the necessary 
 tools and implements, stocks the farm and finds seeds, 
 manure, and so forth, and engages and pays for the labour 
 required from day to day on the farm for the continuous 
 operations of agriculture. 5 ’ That is the theory which best 
 explains the present system though (1) it may not have been 
 applicable to Wales prior to this century, and (2) is even 
 now subject to “ considerable variation in practice.” 
 
 “ The effect of this system is obviously that the estate 
 owner becomes a partner in the business of agriculture,” but 
 this — the true economic aspect — is obscured by the use of 
 ambiguous terms such as 44 rent” and 44 capital.” 
 
 44 Rent,” strictly speaking, i.e. 44 economic rent,” mean3 
 the money payment made by a tenant to the owner for the 
 use of a natural agent of production, or, to employ a 
 well-known phrase, 44 the use of the natural and indestruc- 
 tible properties of the soil. 5 ’ In common parlance, however, 
 rent means the periodical payment made by a tenant to his 
 landlord ; but this amount is really not simply 44 rent ” in 
 the economic sense, it includes the interest or profit on 
 the capital invested by the landlord on the land. Hence 
 the ambiguity referred to. 
 
 To further explain the position, the Commissioners 
 put this hypothetical case : A person buys an estate of 
 1,000 acres of land upon which there are no buildings or 
 fences, and which is in wild, waste, virgin condition — in 
 fact is 44 prairie land. 55 
 
 How is he to get any profit out of his bargain while 
 retaining his ownership ? He may adopt one of 3 courses : — 
 ( 1 ) He may let the land a3 it is, without himself doing 
 anything to it, but leaving his tenant to erect what build- 
 ings, and make what improvements he may deem necessary ; 
 whatever payment he therefore receives for the land under 
 such conditions is 44 economic rent ;” 
 
 or (2) He may farm the 1,000 acres himself, i.e., 
 provide all the necessary capital and labour ; 
 
 or (3) He may adopt a middle course : he may provide 
 some of the capital and labour, and others may provide 
 the rest of the capital and labour. There are no instances 
 
 This fact ob- 
 scored by the use 
 of the term 
 “ rent ” in two 
 
 senses. 
 
200 
 
 Money spent on 
 improvements is 
 capital put into 
 the business. 
 
 But landlords 
 unconscious of 
 this fact. 
 
 of the first in Wales ; the second is the method of the small 
 occupjdng freeholders and of landlords who cultivate home 
 farms, but no large Welsh estate — owners carry on their 
 whole estate on that plan, so that the system which chiefly 
 prevails in Wales is the third. 
 
 “ The universal method is that of apportioning the 
 estate into holdings of varying sizes, and letting them to 
 tenants upon different terms and conditions, with farm 
 buildings and all the appurtenances in a state suitable (or 
 assumed to be suitable) for the proper and profitable cultiva- 
 tion or user of the land, or, to put the matter in another 
 way, the holding or farm is let to any new tenant as a 
 “ going concern he finds the buildings erected, he pays 
 the outgoing tenant for any stock, implements, or produce 
 left upon the farm, and he finds any additional implements 
 and stock that he may deem necessary for making his 
 tenancy pay.” 
 
 But in this hypothetical case, it is assumed (inasmuch 
 as the landlord is dealing with a “ prairie” area) that “ the 
 apportionment of the farms and the equipment of the 
 holdings is a conscious or intentional act on the part of the 
 owner performed at one time. But this theory does not 
 square with the facts, because we are dealing, in Wales, with 
 an area that has been occupied for many centuries and an 
 economic situation which has not been produced at one time 
 and by contemporaneous acts, but is the result of a series 
 of independent acts, or a continuous and lengthy develop- 
 ment.” But even so, “ the landowner who spends money upon 
 buildings or permanent improvements (such as buildings) in 
 accordance with the prevalent practice is, in fact, whether 
 he realises it or not, putting capital into a business — he is 
 becoming a partner with his own tenants— and the nature 
 of the transaction is only hidden by the wrong use of terms, 
 or by the survival of feudal sentiments as to the relation 
 between landlord and tenant.” 
 
 But landlords are unconscious of this fact. Like 
 Moliere’s “ Gentleman,” who had been speaking prose all his 
 lifetime, without knowing it, every Welsh landowner has 
 been engaged in a speculative business without having ever 
 realised the fact. It is not therefore to be inferred that they 
 have thus laid out their money on improvements or (to use 
 the Commissioners’ expression) “ embarked in business” 
 from merely selfish motives, or as a result of profound 
 calculation as to the course they should adopt. 
 
 “ They have, in making expenditure upon their estates, 
 in erecting new buildings or repairing old ones, been 
 
201 
 
 actuated by several motives. They have felt that 4 property 
 had its duties as well as its rights they have experienced 
 some feeling of compunction at the wretched lives their 
 tenants led in insanitary and inadequate houses ; they have 
 found a natural satisfaction in beautifying their estates, or 
 at any rate in making the buildings compact and modern, 
 in improving the fences, and in giving to their property a 
 trim, neat, and 44 model” appearance. Most of them have 
 become possessed of the estate on the death of a relative 
 (generally near) and found the estate a 44 going concern,” 
 with the management of which they found it difficult to 
 interfere without raising complications which would add to 
 the troubles of life, and so have blindly or apathetically 
 acquiesced in a method that has become traditional. Few, 
 if any, have sat down and examined the situation ab initio, 
 or exhaustively considered the first principles on which they 
 should carry on the business of land-owning. They have 
 been the obedient followers of the family solicitor and the 
 family agent. They have, without independent investigation, 
 upon their stepping into the places of their predecessors, 
 allowed things to take their course. The improvement of 
 the estate, meaning by that the erection of new buildings of 
 better plan and the repair of old buildings, fences, roads, &c. 
 (and in many cases drainage), has been held out as a desir- 
 able object.” 
 
 Economically analysed, the relation of landlord and 
 tenant is, therefore, a business partnership. Some owners, 
 it is true, expend a larger proportion of the revenues in 
 improving the estate than others — or, in other words, the ratio 
 of the capital so put into the business to the total capitalised 
 value of the estate in the market is very different in different 
 cases ; but in spite of such variations, the relation is every- 
 where, in Wales, capable of the same analysis. 
 
 Having thus laid bare the very foundations of land- 
 ownership and tenancy by means of what may appear as 
 a purely academic disquisition, the Commissioners proceed to 
 ask themselves two practical questions : — 
 
 (1) . 44 Can we ascertain, with any approach to accuracy, 
 the amounts contributed by the landlords on typical estates 
 to the business of cultivating the estates during reasonably 
 lengthy periods of time ? 
 
 If we can answer that question, then we are in a posi- 
 tion to ask and answer the further question : 
 
 (2) . Whether landowning carried on according to the 
 method in vogue is or is not a paying business, and what 
 portion of the rent is 44 economic rent ” and what portion 
 profit.” 
 
 The relation be- 
 tween landlord 
 and tenant being 
 economically a 
 partnership — 
 how should the 
 profit and loss 
 be divided ? 
 
202 
 
 Extent of land- 
 lords’ expendi- 
 ture on improve- 
 ments 
 
 On the Wynn- 
 stay estates. 
 
 2. - MONEY SPENT ON IMPROVEMENTS (OR PUT 
 INTO THE PARTNERSHIP) BY LANDOWNERS. 
 
 The first question which is therefore asked is — what 
 proportion to the rental have landowners spent in improve- 
 ments ? Statistics as to a number of estates are extracted 
 from the evidence (page 266) — commencing with the estates 
 of Sir Watkin W. Wynn, which are described as “ not only 
 very large, but admittedly among the best managed in 
 Wales.” 
 
 Colonel Hughes, the present chief agent, said : — 
 
 “ It is claimed that the landlord receives his rent simpty 
 in respect of the land which he lets to the farmer. That is 
 not so. The rent is only a moderate interest upon the 
 amount of the owner’s money that has been expended on the 
 land and its maintenance, and I now submit figures showing 
 the expenditure on buildings, fencing, and drainage only, on 
 this property, during the last 32 years, an expenditure, 
 absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the property in 
 a condition to produce the rental. 
 
 “ These figures have been extracted from the estate 
 books at Wynnstay from 1862 to 1893, both years inclusive, 
 and relate only to farm buildings and lands. 
 
 The following is a summary of the table he then pro- 
 duced : — 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Fencing, gates, wood, &c. ... 54,173 14 5 
 
 Building and repairs . . ... 216,731 2 6 
 
 Draining... ... ... ... 24,328 15 4 
 
 Total for 32 years, 
 inclusive) 
 
 1862-93 (both 
 
 295,233 12 3 
 
 or an average of £9,260 per annum. 
 
 The aggregate gross amounts of the farm and cottage 
 rental during the same period amounted to £1,425,454, so 
 that a little more than 20 per cent, of the gross rentals for 
 32 years has been spent on an average every year. 
 
 Having ascertained these facts the Commissioners are 
 thereby “ enabled to make with reasonable safety some 
 practical comments ” (pp. 268-9) : — 
 
 2 Now in the light of what we have said above it is clear 
 that the owners of the Wynnstay estates have invested in 
 the business of farming the large amount of nearly £300,000 
 in 32 years, that is, on an average, about £10,000 a year. 
 
203 
 
 Colonel Hughes makes this aspect of the operation more 
 obvious still by his emphatic testimony to the following 
 facts : — 
 
 ‘These figures show that buildings and repairs form the principal 
 item of expenditure. This work is entirely done by the landlord with the 
 exception of haulage for repairs. For new buildings and repairs to those 
 inaccessible places the landlord pays the haulage, and for cottages he 
 defrays the whole expense. No interest is charged on new buildings or 
 repairs to new ones, and compensation is granted to any out-going tenant 
 for haulage in carrying out repairs to buildings. Occasionally a temporary 
 shed or Dutch barn is erected by a tenant, the landlord finding the 
 materials. Fencing is a very expensive item on the estate, especially the 
 post and wire fencing on the Welsh hills, which has been a regular outlay 
 for nearly 30 years, and is admitted to be the greatest boon on hill sheep- 
 walks.’ 
 
 “ Nothing can be plainer than that, in this estate of 
 Wynnstay, the landlord is to all intents and purposes a 
 partner with each of his tenants in an agricultural business. 
 
 Now the owners of Wynnstay since 1883 have allowed 
 abatements of rent at the rate of 15 per cent., that is to say, 
 the state of things has been so bad that in order to keep the 
 business going they have had to return 15 per cent, of the 
 profit which in a court of law they could have demanded 
 from their partners. As a result of this, the average 
 deduction from the gross rental for the six years ending 
 1893 has been no less than 41 per cent., and in arriving 
 at that percentage nothing is deducted for management, 
 insurance, taxes, or any other usual and necessary outgoings. 
 
 “ Colonel Hughes, as we have seen, says the £ rent is only 
 a moderate interest upon the amount of the owner’s money 
 that has been expended on the land and its maintenance.’ 
 Let us examine in what sense this is, in the Wynnstay 
 case, true. Now if Colonel Hughes (and we understand him 
 so) means interest in the true sense — (namely) that the owner 
 of Wynnstay is receiving a share of profit of a joint indus- 
 trial undertaking of owner and tenants — and if his state- 
 ment thus construed is accurate, then we must conclude that 
 rent, i.e., true economic rent, has disappeared, unless, of 
 course, we assume that Wynnstay has been continuously 
 under-valued. Of course, in saying this, we are onty 
 referring to the economic rent from agricultural tenants, i.e., 
 occupying farmers carrying on the business with a view to 
 profit. Taking then, according to this construction, the 
 interest to be interest in this true sense, let us see how far 
 and in what sense Colonel Hughes’ statement is supported 
 by the facts. He cannot refer simply to the amount 
 expended and received in one year, for if so, even for the year 
 1893, the “ interest” on the expenditure of £11,190 14s. 4d. 
 
204 
 
 in that year works out at over 200 per cent. What he does 
 mean is that if the capitalised value of every kind of 
 improvement made on the soil by the owner (due allowance 
 being made for the exhaustion of the capital by natural 
 decay, &c.) be assessed, then the actual revenue only repre- 
 sents a “ moderate interest” (i.e., fair share of profit) upon 
 the total capital. 
 
 “ Let us endeavour to determine what proportion of the 
 net annual amount that goes into the pocket of the owner 
 can be looked upon as economic rent and what proportion 
 must be looked upon as interest or profit. To do this we 
 must draw a distinction between the ownership of the land 
 itself and the ownership of the buildings and other improve- 
 ments made thereupon, and between their capitalised values 
 respectively. The capitalised value of the buildings and 
 improvements on, say, January 1st, 1893, represented the 
 capital the owner of Wynnstay had put into or was using 
 in the agricultural business. Now it is matter of extreme 
 difficulty to determine the value of buildings and fences 
 apart from the land or from the farm as a whole. Nor is the 
 difficulty quite removed by making an estimate of the cost 
 of constructing them all de novo, for the price of material 
 and the cost of labour has varied greatly during the century. 
 It is probably now more expensive to build than it was when 
 the original buildings were erected. 
 
 “ Following the method adopted by Mr. Addie in esti- 
 mating the value of the buildings on the Powis Estate we 
 get the following results : 
 
 Estimated “ There are 728 holdings on the Wynnstay Estate, the 
 
 ofan^mprove 1 - 116 tenants of which pay amounts varying from £10 to £600 a 
 Wynnstay he year. Let us assume that the average yearly value of the 
 Estates. buildings as residences and warehouses is £20. Let us 
 capitalise the value at, say, 25 years’ purchase, a not exces- 
 sive rate, as we judge, and the capitalised value of the 728 
 farm-houses, &c., comes to £364,000. No amount is here 
 included for the value of the gates, fences, drains, or roads, 
 i.e., for the money sunk in making these improvements and 
 not exhausted by decay. Let us approach the matter in 
 another way to test this estimate. We know that in 1862 
 the estate was a “going concern”; that on these 728 hold- 
 ings there were buildings in more or less habitable condition ; 
 and that nearly £300,000 has been spent in 32 years. We 
 may safely infer that the cost of converting the area of the 
 estate into its present condition certainly would not be less 
 than £300,000, and as the value of the buildings, &c., as 
 they were in 1862 would not (if no money had been spent 
 
205 
 
 since 1862) have been wholly exhausted, something must be 
 added for the unexhausted part of the capital value in 1862. 
 
 On the whole, we feel that we are not overstating the value 
 of the buildings and improvements effected by the owner’s 
 money at from £400,000 to £500,000. If at this moment 
 the whole estate were prairie land, to get it into its present 
 equipped condition would, we think, involve an expenditure 
 of at least something between those sums, probably an 
 amount nearer £500,000 than £400,000. 
 
 Now in the year ending December 31st, 1893, the 
 owner’s so-called rental was £45,458 19s. (say £45,500 for ease 
 of calculation). He gave abatements of 15 per cent, to his 
 tenants, and spent upon the estate (in order to keep it a going 
 concern) a sum that, with the abatement percentage, reduced 
 the gross rental hy 41 per cent. From the gross rental must 
 be further deducted the expenses of management, taxes, and 
 other necessary outgoings. We shall not be far wrong if we 
 estimate them at 9 per cent., and assume that the net amount 
 received by the owner was 50 per cent, of the gross revenue, 
 i.e., about £22,750. Taking the capitalised value of the 
 buildings, &c. at £400,000, this works out at about 6 per 
 cent, per annum, or taking it at £500,000, at about 5 per cent. 
 
 “ 4 The rent,’ said Colonel Hughes, 4 is only a moderate how much of 
 interest upon the amount of the landlord’s money that has Receipt d is rd s 
 been expended on the land and its maintenance.’ We re- f 0 e r c °° ^proved' 
 peat, if the net revenue only amounts to a 4 moderate soil— and^how^ 
 interest,’ the interest which a prudent capitalist embarking such capitalised 
 in a reasonable business might expect to receive, then no values ? 
 part of this £22,750 represents economic rent. 
 
 The question then narrows itself to this, is £5 or £6 
 per cent, the rate of profit which such a capitalist might 
 expect to get from undertaking a business ? We think not, 
 for though in industrial and commercial operations of a 
 highly speculative character, in the course of which the whole 
 capital may be lost at once or rapidly, a capitalist may fairly 
 look for an even higher rate of profit than £5 or £6 per cent., 
 yet he cannot invest in any business in which risk is reduced 
 to a minimum in the hope of so large a rate of profit. If the 
 owner of Wynnstay had £400,000 to £500,000 to invest, 
 there is no business in which he could join with only a degree 
 of immunity from risk of losing his capital equal to that 
 involved on investing in his own land which could produce 
 nearly £5 or £6 per cent, per annum. Investment in a good 
 railway company is very nearly as safe as investment in one’s 
 own property, yet first-class British railways only pay an 
 average of £3 per cent, and a fraction on the present prices 
 of their stock. 44 Consols ” may be looked upon as the 
 
206 
 
 standard of absolutely safe investment, and “Consols” pay 
 at present prices only 2 per cent, and a fraction. 
 
 It seems, therefore, not justifiable to claim £6 per cent, 
 or even £5 per cent., as a “ moderate” interest on capital in- 
 vested in buildings, &c., on one’s own land, and if we take 
 the investment in railway stock as a type of investment of 
 about the same degree of risk as investing in one’s own lands 
 on the usual system, £3 per cent, is the proportion of the 
 £6 or £5 per cent, which represents a “moderate” interest 
 on the money sunk. If that be so, the remainder of the £6 
 or £5 per cent., i.e., £3 per cent, or £2 per cent., must be 
 looked upon as economic rent. Taking £6 per cent, as the 
 total rate on the capital sunk in this estate, half of the net 
 revenue (=moderate profit or interest on the capital) repre- 
 sents interest or profit, and'the other half a true economic rent.” 
 Fifty years’ Having thus examined the figures as to the Wynnstay 
 
 Po-wis Estate. e estates, the Commissioners next take the statistics, covering 
 a period of 51 years, furnished them by Mr. Forrester Addie 
 as to the Earl of Powis’s estate, which comprises some 45,000 
 acres, chiefly in Montgomeryshire. Mr. Addie summarised 
 his figures as follows (p. 269) : — 
 
 Net rental, Lady Day 1840 ... ... ... £27,218 
 
 „ 1879 29,137 
 
 „ „ „ 1891 25,894 
 
 Permanent reduction of rental since 1879 
 
 £3,243 
 
 Taking the rental (less cottage rents of £5 Per Cent of 
 and under) at £18,000 — £3,243 permanent reduc- Rental, 
 tion == ... ... ... ... ... ... 18 
 
 Expenditure on permanent improvements = ... 23 
 
 41 
 
 In addition to the above, 10 per cent, allow- 
 ance has also been made in 1892-93 ... ... 10 
 
 Total percentage of rental ... ... ... 51 
 
 Since 1886, in consequence of agricultural depression, 
 there has been expended — 
 
 In draining, without charging interest to 
 
 tenants ... ... ... ... ... £9,491 
 
 In bones and permanent grass seeds ... ... 2,642 
 
 £12,133 
 
207 
 
 The following further summary gives the total rental 
 and expenditure from Lady Day 1840 to Lady Day 1891 : — 
 
 Years.* 
 
 Net Rental. 
 
 New 
 
 Buildings 
 and Repairs. 
 
 Draining. 
 
 Fencing. 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 1840—1849... 
 
 272,586 
 
 29,354 
 
 4,745 
 
 2,407 
 
 1849—1859... 
 
 264,642 
 
 40,199 
 
 8,701 
 
 3,843 
 
 1859—1869... 
 
 283,685 
 
 46,588 
 
 16,640 
 
 3,937 
 
 1869—1879... 
 
 293,348 
 
 62,889 
 
 16,110 
 
 2,806 
 
 1879—1889... 
 
 269,884 
 
 53,702 
 
 16,114 
 
 6,746 
 
 1889— ’90... 
 
 26,034 
 
 5,800 
 
 1,359 
 
 698 
 
 1890— ’91... 
 
 25,894 
 
 4,177 
 
 1,136 
 
 786 
 
 Total 
 
 1,436,073 
 
 242,709 
 
 V. 
 
 64,805 
 
 21,223 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 328,737 
 
 * The years are counted from Lady Day to Lady Day. 
 
 “Mr. Addie uses the term “net” rental, but we gather 
 [the Report says] that by it he meant not the amount actually 
 received by the landlord after deducting all out-goings 
 necessary to keep the estate a “ going concern,” but the 
 actual rent paid (after deducting any permanent reductions 
 or abatements). Taking that to be so the figures work out 
 thus : the total amount spent on buildings and permanent 
 improvements from 1840 to 1891 ( i.e ., 51 years) was £328,737 
 on a rental of £1,436,073, that is a percentage of ‘little 
 less than 25 per cent.’” 
 
 Examining these figures on the same lines as the 
 previous analysis of the Wynnstay figures, the Commissioners 
 then make the following observations (p. 270) : — 
 
 ,l Mr. Forrester Addie estimates the value of the buildings alone on the 
 750 holdings forming the agricultural estate at £225,000. Seeing that 
 since 1840, £328,737 has been spent on those buildings, and on fences, 
 drainage, &c., the total capitalised value of the buildings and the other 
 artificial adjuncts of the farms must, on a most moderate estimate, have 
 been, on January 1891, £300,000, that is, it would take at least that sum 
 to convert the area of the holdings (if that area were now prairie land) 
 into the present state of things. Now the rental for 1891 was £25,984, 
 say £26,000, and to arrive at the net income we must deduct 10 per cent, 
 for abatements, 23 per cent, for the expenditure on buildings, &e., and, 
 say 10 per cent, for expenses of management and other outgoings, i.e ., 43 
 per cent. Deducting the amount of this percentage ( = say, £11,200) 
 from £26,000, we find the net income was about £14,800, say £15,000. 
 
 The owner of the Powis Estate in 1891 therefore received a sum of 
 £15,000, upon a capital invested in the land of £300,000. To find what 
 proportion of this was interest or profit in the business as distinct from 
 economic rent, we must, as before, look on the amount in the first place 
 
 Capitalised 
 value of all im- 
 provements on 
 Powis Estate. 
 
208 
 
 as interest on the £300,000. This works out at 5 per cent., and if we take 
 3 per cent, as a fair business return on the £300,000. then 2 per cent, of 
 the £15,000 represents economic rent, or, to put it another way, 2-5ths of 
 the net annual income for 1891 was economic rent. 
 
 Lord Penrhyn’s Col. Sackville-West, the agent on Lord Penrhyn’s estate, said that in 
 
 Estate. the period from 1867 to 1892, i.e ., 26 years, a sum of £129,207 15s. 8d. had 
 
 been spent on repairs and improvements on the estate generally, and 
 £47,993 on workmen’s cottages, making a total of £177,200 15s. 8d. He 
 added that during the last six years £29,214 had been spent on farms and 
 £13,007 10s. Id. been returned in cash abatements. The term workmen’s 
 cottages is ambiguous, for it may apply to cottages built for workmen in 
 the slate industry as well as to agricultural labourers, so we will leave the 
 amount expended for that purpose out of the calculation. Now the gross 
 agricultural rent of the estate was, during the years in question, about 
 £21,000. If so, the total rent for 26 years was £546,000, and nearly 
 one-third of the gross rental for those years has been spent in repairs and 
 improvements. Or. taking the last six years as an average period, we find 
 that close on £30,000 were spent in that time, i.e., about £5,000 per 
 annum. The gross rental per annum being £21,000, the proportion spent 
 on repairs and improvements comes to nearly one-fourth, i.e., 25 per 
 cent, per annum. 
 
 Exceptional ex- The expenditure on at least 3 estates in North Wales 
 
 e S e tates U of ° nthe appears to be exceptional, chiefly on account of the necessity 
 of erecting new farm buildings over almost the whole estate. 
 
 1. Garthmeiiio 1. The Garthmeilio estate of Col. Lynes, who came into 
 
 possession in 1886 : during the following 5 years he received 
 by way of rent £8,523 18s. 9d., and the amount actually 
 spent on improvements during the same time came to 
 £4,815 7s. 3d., i.e., more than 50 per cent, of the gross 
 rental. The buildings on the estate had, however, been 
 permitted to fall into a very bad state of repair prior to 1886, 
 so that a large proportion of the expenditure was on making 
 new buildings. 
 
 2 . Hafodunos. 2. The Hafodunos estate, also in West Denbighshire, was 
 
 bought some 60 years ago, and deducting permanent reduc- 
 tions which had been made since 1883, the gross rental in 
 1893 (excluding temporary abatements) was £3,000. The 
 total amount spent on the estate since its purchase was 
 estimated at £100,000, of which the following account was 
 given : — 
 
 “Every farmstead has been entirely rebuilt or large additions made 
 to the existing buildings. All wet land has been drained. 300 acres 
 of plantations made for shelter, which have softened and improved the 
 climate. 100 miles of old banks and hedges have been pulled down and 
 grubbed up, and the fields remodelled, and new quick fences made, mostly 
 planted and protected at the landlord’s expense; but in all cases the 
 landlord has provided the quicks, also posts and wire to protect the 
 hedges until grown. Watercourses and ditches have been made and 
 paved, and much land from waste common turned into good sound arable 
 land. I should like to mention that 16 miles of road from Abergele to 
 Llanrwst was made entirely at Mr. Sandbach’s expense, at a cost of over 
 £12,000 ; it was made under a public Act, but he found the money for it.” 
 With reference to this statement of the Estate Agent, 
 the Commissioners say : — “ Now, if we assume, for ease of 
 
209 
 
 calculation, the rent lias been constant at £3,500 per annum 
 for 60 years, the total amount received as rent since the 
 purchase has been £210,000. Taking the estimated amount 
 as the actual expenditure on the estate, it follows that nearly 
 one-half of the rent has, on an average, been spent in im- 
 provements alone. 
 
 3. “The most remarkable case in this regard that came 
 under our notice was the Duke of Westminster’s Halkyn 
 Castle estate, for we were informed most emphatically by the 
 Duke’s then agent, the late Mr. Henry, that for many years 
 more money has been spent upon this estate for repairs and 
 improvements than the estate produced in rental ; and that 
 if the proprietor had had no other means, there would have 
 been nothing for himself and his family. 
 
 With this case may be mentioned that of another estate 
 — the Llannerch Estate (Sir George Cayley’s) — as to which 
 Major Birch stated that before 1878 more than the whole 
 income was spent for wages and materials for improvements 
 and repairs, and that that went on for 12 or 13 years. Since 
 1886, an average of £865 has been paid for wages and 
 materials on a rental of £2,632, i.e., about 33.3 per cent.” 
 
 Summarising the Commissioners’ observations with re- 
 ference to other estates, we find the following results : — On 
 the Voelas and Cefnamwlch estates of Col. Wynne Finch 
 nearly one-fourth of the gross rental (about £7,800) was spent 
 “ on new buildings, on woods and plantations, drains, roads, 
 and fences,” in 1892, that, however, being the year in which 
 the expenditure was greatest. 
 
 If other necessary outgoings (tithe, taxes, rates, an- 
 nuities, subscriptions, &c.) be taken into account, then the 
 net amount received by the owner for the same year was 
 £3,847 — less than one-half the gross rental. 
 
 The agricultural rental of the Gwyd}^ Estate of Lord 
 Ancaster has averaged about £6,500 a year for the last 21 
 years ("or in the aggregate £136,500), and during the same 
 time £40,460 was expended on new buildings and repairs — 
 an amount a little less than one-third of the gross rental. 
 
 The abatements since 1879 have varied from 10 to 20 
 per cent., so that the proportion of the amount spent on 
 improvements to the rent actually received is considerably 
 higher than one-third. 
 
 The expenditure on improvements on the Rhiwlas 
 Estate (Mr. R. J. LI. Price), averaged during the 10 years 
 from 1883 to 1893 about 25 per cent, of the gross 
 rental ; on Lord Kenyon’s Estate it amounted to 12 J per 
 cent, between 1887 and 1893 ; about 27 per cent, on the late 
 
 p 
 
 3. Halkyn 
 Castle. 
 
 Other North 
 
 Wales 
 
 estates. 
 
210 
 
 Mr. Lort 
 Phillips’ and 
 other estates. 
 
 Rev. Sir T. H. G. Puleston’s Estate ; and 32 per cent, during 
 the years before 1894 on the Hanmer Estate, 
 similar statis- With reference to estates in South Wales, the following 
 
 in;south wales, are the results of the Commissioners’ analysis of the evi- 
 dence on this point : — 
 
 Eari Dunraven’s « Mr. R an dall, the agent of the Earl of Dunraven 
 (owner of 24,000 acres), informed us that the agricultural 
 rental of the estate is £10,000, and that about £100,000 had 
 been spent in the last 40 years upon repairs and improve- 
 ments by the owners. In reference to the last 21 years, 
 during which Lord Dunraven has been in possession, he said 
 that the amount spent on improvements and repairs was 
 £58,000, which represents an average expenditure of £2,750 
 per annum, that is about 27-J per cent, of the gross rental.” 
 The percentage of the gross rental spent in improvements 
 were about 16*6 per cent, during the 18 years from 1876 to 
 1893 on Mr. Lort Phillips’ Pembrokeshire estate (the build- 
 ings on which were, however, in a very dilapidated condition 
 when the present owner came into possession) ; a little under 
 7 per cent, during the nine years preceding 1894 on the 
 Pfynone estate (no new buildings having been erected during 
 that time) ; from 10 to 15 per cent. — spent on mere repairs 
 — for many years past on Lord Llangattock’s estate ; about 
 18 per cent, (repairs, &c., excluding cost of drainage) on 
 Lord Dynevor’s estates ; nearly 33 J per cent, (upon build- 
 ings and drainage) during 22 years on the Peterwell estate of 
 Mr. J. C. Harford ; 20 per cent, during the last 25 years on 
 Earl Lisburne’s estate in North Cardiganshire ; and 25 per 
 cent, on Lord Ormathwaite’s estate in Radnorshire. 
 
 By means of copious extracts and occasional comment, 
 we have now endeavoured to place before the reader the 
 Commissioners’ analysis of the economic relation of landlord 
 and tenant. This view, be it observed, is put forward by all 
 the Commissioners in their General Report, but the Minority, 
 in their Separate Report do not use it as the basis for any 
 argument or recommendation of their own. On the other 
 hand it is not too much to say that it is the very foundation 
 on which a large part of the arguments of the Majority, 
 especially as to the necessity for fixing fair rents, is based. 
 
 While the Commissioners were therefore unanimous in 
 their statement of the facts and their analysis of the present 
 state of tilings from the economic point of view, it was as 
 to the conclusions to be drawn therefrom, and the recommen- 
 dations thereby necessitated, that their opinions differed. 
 
 The importance of the foregoing analysis as a part of the 
 case of the Majority, so to speak, may be further inferred from 
 
 Importance of 
 this economic 
 analysis. 
 
211 
 
 the fact that the principal points observed in the economic 
 relation of landlord and tenant from year to year are re-stated 
 with greater detail in the Majority Report, where their 
 further exposition occupies close upon 20 pages. To save 
 similar repetition on our part, it may be convenient to quote 
 here, in conclusion, some of the observations of the Majority, 
 provided the reader will bear in mind that it is from the 
 Majority (and not the General) Report (p. 881 et seq.) that 
 the following quotations are taken : — 
 
 “ It follows from our description that, economically, land- 
 lord and tenant are partners in the business of production. 
 It is perfectly true that the legal tenancy from year to year is 
 not, in the ordinary lawyer’s acceptation, a contract of 
 partnership, but falls under quite a different division of 
 jurisprudence. Seeing, however, that both parties to this 
 contract are, in different and continually varying proportions, 
 contributing capital to a business adventure carried on for 
 the sake of profit, it follows that the economic effect — the 
 actual practical effect — is to make the parties to the arrange- 
 ment partners. This fact is, of course, obscured by the in- 
 equality in the social position of landlord and tenant, by 
 traditional sentiment, and by the use of habitual terms like 
 ‘ rent,’ which are of ambiguous significance, but which have 
 been employed for long periods.” 
 
 “ If a landowner expends money on the improvement of 
 his estate, he is, so far as he is acting under rigid economic 
 impulses, undertaking a business, just as if he were investing 
 his money in manufacturing operations. The main difference 
 between the investment of capital in agriculture and in other 
 industries is to be found in the immobility of capital when 
 invested in land, a difference, it will be observed, not of kind, 
 but of degree. We have pointed out that, in fact, landlords 
 have often invested money in improving their estates from 
 motives not entirely of a selfish, but often of a generous kind. 
 This must not, however, blind us to the economic character of 
 their line of action, and it is only right to assume that com- 
 petent landlords and agents have fully understood the nature 
 of the risk that was being run, and that while in one sense 
 the investment is a very secure one in a civilised country, yet 
 it is one subject to great or even total loss in case the opera- 
 tion has been entered upon ill-advisedly. One other remark 
 we must make here, that a landlord does not appear to us to 
 have any necessary claim to gratitude because he develops 
 his estate. More than one witness referred to the large sums 
 that he had been expending, or that his ancestors had been ex- 
 pending, upon their estates, in terms which indicated that 
 
 Conclusions. 
 
212 
 
 Questions sug- 
 gested by this 
 analysis. 
 
 How far tenants 
 contribute to the 
 partnership. 
 
 there was some exceptional virtue in this conduct. So far as. 
 the action of such landlords increases the comfort of their 
 tenants they are entitled to a meed of praise, but we must 
 respectfully point out that such expenditure, unless merely 
 wasteful, is absolutely necessary to keep the estate a going- 
 concern in accordance with the ordinary system ; or, in other 
 words, necessary to create the rent or periodical payments out 
 of which the expenditure required in each year is usually 
 met.” 
 
 The foregoing additional observations from the Majority 
 Report are only detailed re-statements of the economic- 
 analysis made by all the Commissioners in their General 
 Report. They contain no proposition which is not con- 
 tained in the latter, and we may therefore assume that, 
 so far at all events as we have quoted, they are to be included 
 among those parts of the Majority Report which the Minority 
 have adopted in general terms — but not signed. 
 
 Rut suppose, say the Majority, the partnership or joint 
 undertaking does not pay ? Suppose that the landlord’s 
 partner (that is, the tenant) fails to secure a return on his 
 own money, should the landlord then continue to draw and 
 receive interest on his outlay ? Could he in any ordinary 
 commercial transaction expect it ? These are the questions 
 which, in effect, the Majority proceed to ask. It is as to the 
 answer to be given to these questions that the Commissioners 
 part company. 
 
 What that reply is shall be dealt with at length when 
 we come to consider the recommendations made by the 
 Commission. 
 
 3.— THE HISTORY OF A TYPICAL ESTATE. 
 
 Having now shown — such is the argument in the 
 Report — that the relation between landlord and tenant is, 
 from the strictly economic standpoint, a partnership or joint 
 undertaking, and having also shown to what extent the land- 
 owner or the “ predominant partner ” (the ternCis our own 
 and not the Commissioners) has put money into that part- 
 nership in the form of expenditure on improvements, &c., 
 two further points remain to be considered, namely (1) to 
 what extent does the other partner (the tenant) contribute 
 to the undertaking, and (2) How is the profit and loss of the 
 concern shared by the respective partners. 
 
 The evidence which furnishes the material for answering 
 these questions is analysed in the chapter on “ Rent,” which 
 is the lengthiest in the Report, extending altogether to more 
 
213 
 
 tlian 100 pages (pp. 361 — 470). We shall endeavour briefly 
 to reproduce its more salient points within the much smaller 
 space at onr disposal in this work. 
 
 As to the question of the tenants’ contribution towards 
 improvements, it has already been shown (p. 116) that 
 under the leasehold system, which largely prevailed down to the 
 first half of this century, the tenant was entirely responsible for 
 all buildings, repairs, and permanent improvements generally; 
 but with the substitution of yearly for leasehold tenancies, Tenants effected 
 landowners, however, assumed this responsibility themselves, 
 
 -and some of the figures as to expenditure which have been un< l er leasehold 
 given in the preceding section may have been considerably 
 inflated owing to the fact that they represent outlays incurred 
 by landowners when the old leases fell in and the buildings 
 were found to be in a dilapidated condition through the 
 tenants’ neglect of their duty. 
 
 This appears to be the general view adopted in the 
 Report : whether it is historically accurate or not will be for 
 future inquirers to say, — we are only concerned with its 
 explanation. But in order to make their view clearer the 
 Commissioners proceed to quote “ the evidence relative to 
 some one estate, the history of which may be regarded as 
 fairly representative of many other properties. ” 
 
 The property selected for the purpose is the Edwinsford The change to 
 estate in North Carmarthenshire, owing, first, to the fact t^m y mSra 6 S 
 that it is regarded as “a fairly typical property,” and, iJ^Edwinsford 
 secondly, that the evidence given with reference to it is said Estate. 
 
 to be “ perhaps the best continuous account,” received by 
 the Commission " of the management and development of an 
 estate during this century.” The evidence in question was 
 given by Mr. D. Long Price, of Talley (chiefly at Qu. 42,256), 
 in whose family the management of the estate has been from 
 the latter part of the last century till the end of 1889. We 
 shall follow the Report (p. 387) by quoting his statement at 
 length : — 
 
 “Previous to 1829 (when Sir James Williams, grandfather of the 
 present owner), succeeded to the estate, the rents of the estate were very 
 unequal, many farms being let at very trifling rents, while a considerable 
 number of the larger farms were let on leases for three lives at ‘ war 
 prices.’ the rents being substantially at the same mark as they are now. 
 The effect of these leases was disastrous, as when they fell in from time 
 time the buildings were, with one or two exceptions, simply in ruins, and 
 required to be and were entirely re-built. On the accession of the late 
 Sir James Williams, in 1829, the rents were re-adjusted on a valuation 
 made in 1830 by the late Mr. D. Jones Lewis, of Gilfach. Dairying was 
 then one of the principal resources of the farmers in this part of the 
 country, and one of the bases of Mr. Lewis’ valuation was that a lb. of 
 butter and a lb. of cheese should produce one shilling. The buildings on 
 the estates generally were then of the poorest character, being almost all 
 
214 
 
 Summary of the 
 results of each 
 valuatiou. 
 
 straw-thatched, which thatch was kept up by the tenants. On the acces- 
 sion of Sir James Williams he at once commenced rebuilding, and very 
 large sums were laid out year by year continuously until his death in. 
 1861, a period of 32 years. During the same period he continuously em- 
 ployed a head drainer with three or four assistant labourers in draining. 
 All these works of building and draining where done wholly at his ex- 
 pense, except that the tenants did the haulage without payment beyond 
 an allowance for their expenses when their teams were from home. No 
 interest was charged on any of these outlays, nor has any been charged 
 on the subsequent outlays for both building and draining, except some 
 trifling sums in draining in the last three and four years of Sir James 
 Williams’ life, and which interest ceased on Lewis and Morgan’s valua- 
 tion coming into effect. Prior to this valuation the tenants were 
 obliged under their agreements to deliver at Edwinsford certain 
 specified ‘ duty ’ payments of coal, lime, and poultry, and they 
 were also bound to grind all their corn at the estate mjlls. 
 These duties and obligations were also abolished at Lewis and Morgan’s- 
 Valuation. On the death of Sir James Williams in 1861, the estates, then 
 under my management, were valued by Messrs. Frederick Lewis and 
 William Morgan. This valuation was modified in several instances by me, 
 but it was considered to be unequal, and in 1877-8, on the occasion of Sir 
 James Drummond attaining his majority, I valued the estates myself. I 
 did not interfere with Messrs. Lewis and Morgans’s valuation in a large 
 number of instances, but I reduced their figures in some and increased 
 them in others, the net result being a small increase. At the time I 
 valued the estates in 1877-8, the values of farming produce 
 were almost, if not quite, at the highest point they have ever reached, 
 and were greatly higher than when Lewis and Morgan valued in 1862. 
 From that time up to the date of my ceasing to act as agent for the 
 estates in 1889, I reduced several of the rents, and I am informed that 
 some small reductions have since been made. Subsequent to 1861, con- 
 siderable outlying portions of the estates were sold, and other lands of 
 large extent from time to time bought. The rents of these purchased 
 estates were fixed by valuation at the time of their acquisition and 
 practically remain unchanged, or if changed, I believe the change has 
 been always in reduction. I have gone carefully through the estate 
 documents, and I have compared the present rentals of the original 
 portion — the main portion — of the estates with those fixed in 1830-1. The 
 figures show as the ultimate result of the two last valuations an increase 
 in the rentals of the lands in the parish of Caio of about 17| per cent., the 
 lands in the parish of Llansawel of about 17^ per cent., the lands in the 
 parish of Talley of about 17| per cent., giving a general — almost equal — 
 average increase in each parish.” 
 
 Mr. Long Price also produced a comparative table of 
 rentals showing for each holding : (a) the old rents before- 
 1861, (b) rents as fixed after the valuation of 1861-2, and (c) 
 rents as fixed after the valuation of 1877-8. 
 
 With reference to his evidence and tables the Com- 
 missioners say : — 
 
 “ The whole of the Edwinsford Estate has been sys- 
 tematically valued for the purposes of rental at least three 
 times during the present century, viz., about 1831, 1861, 
 and 1877-8. What the rents were before the first valuation 
 we were not informed, so that we cannot say what its result 
 was on the' total rental.” 
 
 As to the 2nd and 3rd valuations, their results may be- 
 seen from the following table extracted from the report. 
 
215 
 
 Percentage of Increase of Rents on the Old Portion of 
 
 THE EDWINSFORD ESTATE. 
 
 Parish. 
 
 1831- 
 
 -1861. 
 
 1862- 
 
 -1878. 
 
 1831- 
 
 -1878. 
 
 Llansawel 
 
 + 
 
 14*6 
 
 + 
 
 2*1 
 
 + 
 
 17*1 
 
 Talley 
 
 + 
 
 8*0 
 
 + 
 
 7*7 
 
 + 
 
 16*3 
 
 Conwil Gaio 
 
 + 
 
 102 
 
 + 
 
 5*0 
 
 + 
 
 15*6 
 
 Total 
 
 + 
 
 10*1 
 
 + 
 
 5.6 
 
 + 
 
 16*3 
 
 But the foregoing figures are applicable to those hold- ? ur 8 c 
 ings only which formed part of the estate both in 1830 and differently. 
 1894, that is, the permanent portion of the estate. A con- 
 siderable change had, however, occurred in the parcels con- 
 stituting the estate between 1861 and 1894, some holdings 
 being bought and others sold. The rents of the purchased 
 farms were fixed after their purchase on the basis of a special 
 valuation, and it was stated that these had ever since re- 
 mained unchanged, “ except where they have been occa- 
 sionally reduced,” and therefore they are not included in the 
 preceding comparative statement. Unfortunately we were 
 not told how much higher was the rent fixed after the sale 
 than that existing previously, but the former agent spoke, in 
 general terms, of ‘the very great increase in the rents of the 
 purchased estates,’ and said that several of the farms which 
 had been quoted to us as being raised very heavily ‘ were 
 bought for enormous prices when they were let at very low 
 rents, and in many instances the rents were doubled.” 
 
 Two instances illustrating this increase after purchase 
 in the case of adjoining farms are then quoted from the 
 evidence, and they may be taken as corroborating the view 
 that there was “ a very great increase ” in the rents of 
 purchased holdings. But recurring to the figures as to 
 the original portion of the estate, the Commissioners give 
 “ a few examples from among the holdings that formed part 
 of the estate in 1830.” 
 
 “ Ty howel, in the parish of Talley, had its rent fixed at £29 by the 
 valuation of 1831 ; it is now £50. 
 
 ‘ That farm,’ the former agent stated, 4 was one of the farms on which 
 the old leases existed. The old lease expired in my time. The houses 
 were absolutely ruinous. I pulled them down, and rebuilt the whole 
 homestead, including house, barn, cow-house, stables, pig-styes, offices, 
 new gardens, and yards, and everything else on an entirely new site, and 
 if that was valued — I have not taken out the figures — but the amount 
 expended on that farm could not have been less than £800.’ 
 
 As we pointed out to the witness at the time, the advance in rent here 
 was of the nature of interest charged in respect of the improvements 
 effected by the landlord. 
 
216 
 
 Deductions from 
 the history of 
 the Edwinsford 
 Estate. 
 
 Among other farms which also belonged to the old estate were the 
 following, whose rents were thus advanced : — 
 
 Gwnionlethri, from £26 to £42 ; Blaenig, from £29 to £38 ; Tynycwm, 
 from £80 to £98 (several acres being taken away) ; and Gelligoedog, all 
 in the parish of Talley, from £80 to £90.” 
 
 After quoting some general statistics as to farms in the 
 parish of Cayo, the Commissioners sum up in these words : 
 
 “ So far as the evidence for this estate is therefore 
 concerned, we find that the advances which occurred in 
 the rents were associated with either of two events : — first, 
 they were in consequence of new buildings, or other 
 extensive permanent improvements ; or, secondly, they fol- 
 lowed after the acquisition of the holding by purchase, when 
 the new rent was made to bear some relation to the amount 
 of the purchase money, which, in many cases, was an 
 ‘ enormous price.’ 
 
 The evidence which we have quoted also indicates the 
 time when, on this estate, the landlord took on himself 
 the responsibility of the buildings, which under the 
 old regime fell entirely on the tenant. The work of re- 
 building was said to commence in 1831, and was carried 
 on steadily during the next 30 years. The tenants did all 
 the haulage, but the landlord bore all the other expense. 
 No interest, as such, was charged on the outlay, but, as was 
 shown in the case of Ty howel and in other instances not 
 quoted here, the increase in the rent followed such expendi- 
 ture in point of time, and was probably made in direct 
 consequence of it.” 
 
 After giving this typical instance, the Commissioners 
 then proceed to consider, county by county, the evidence as 
 to changes in rentals, but occasionally grouping 2 or 3 
 counties together, where the unity of their history enables 
 such treatment. The system of grouping which will, how- 
 ever, be adopted in this Digest will be the following : — 
 
 Western Counties. 
 
 1. South Western Counties : Carmarthen, Cardigan, and 
 Pembroke. 
 
 2. North Western Counties : Anglesey, Carnarvon, and 
 Merioneth. 
 
 Eastern or Border Counties. 
 
 3. North Eastern Counties : Denbigh, Flint, and Mont- 
 gomery. 
 
 4. South Eastern Counties : Glamorgan, Monmouth, 
 Brecon, and Radnor. 
 
217 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF WELSH RENTALS. 
 
 1.— RENTS IN SOUTH WEST WALES (CARMAR- 
 THEN, CARDIGAN, AND PEMBROKE). 
 
 The case of the Edwinsford estate, cited in the preceding Rents revised on 
 chapter, serve to illustrate the process o± revising rents on 0 id leases, 
 the expiration of the old leases, and the consequent change 
 as to liability for permanent improvements. The case has 
 been cited on the ground that it is a typical one, but 
 it may be desirable to quote from the Report (p. 405-6J a 
 few other instances referring to individual holdings in various 
 other parts of South-West Wales. 
 
 Mr. Rule Owen, speaking with particular knowledge of 
 South Pembrokeshire,* said that in individual cases rents 
 had been raised where old leases had expired, or where new 
 tenancies had been created in the more prosperous times, 
 though in many properties which he had to deal with the 
 rents were nearly approximate to those that existed in the 
 time of the tithe commutation. 
 
 In the case of an old lease on South Hills Farm, between 
 Haverfordwest and Milford, the rent had gone up on the ex- 
 piration of the old lease (about 40 years) from £28 to £108. 
 
 The Reverend Canon Allen, f who owns a small estate of 
 some 500 acres in the neighbourhood of Narberth, said that 
 one of the farms he had inherited was held under a lease for 
 three lives, granted about 1780, at a rental of £50, the 
 tenant being liable for all the repairs, the landlord supplying 
 timber. The lease terminated about 1850, when the rent 
 was raised to £70, and subsequently, some 12 or 14 years 
 ago, to £80, the landlord undertaking all the permanent 
 repairs. 
 
 On the Picton Castle Estate, a farm called Manarddwy- 
 lan,J near St. Clears, was formerly let at the annual rent of 
 £50, under a life lease which expired about 1865. It was 
 then re-let at £110 per annum, on a lease for 21 years, which 
 ran out in 1886. According to a fresh agreement, made in 
 
 * Qu. 30.308. 
 
 f Qu. 29.516, 29,541. 39,563. 
 
 Qu. 41,240, 41,340. 
 
218 
 
 Instances from 
 South Pem- 
 brokeshire. 
 
 Instances from 
 South Cardigan- 
 shire. 
 
 September, 1892, the rent was put at £121 10s. The build- 
 ings were admitted to be in a very bad repair, and the farm 
 had been in the market for several years. 
 
 Some authentic instances of rents being traced back for 
 considerably over 100 years were given us by Mr. T. John, 
 of Cresselly, Pembroke,* who made the following state- 
 ment : — 
 
 “ My family have occupied the same land for nearly two 
 centuries. I have a deed in my possession showing that my 
 great-grandfather took a lease on his farm in 1756, at £58 a 
 year. This expired in 1818, when above 10 acres of land 
 were taken out, the rent was raised, and a new lease granted 
 at £143 10s. and ‘ custom fowls.’ This expired in 1862, when 
 there was a re-arrangement of the land, adding at the valua- 
 tion then made £20 a j^ear value to the farm, when the rent 
 was fixed at £240 ; at the death of my uncle in 1869 it was 
 raised to my mother to £260, and a few years later to £280. 
 My great-grandfather took a lease of the adjoining farm in 
 1785 at £55, 10 bushel of oats and “ custom fowls.” Although 
 a lease for lives, it lasted 91 years. At its expiration in 1876 
 the rent was advanced to £135. My grandfather held 
 another small holding on lease at £14 a year and custom 
 fowls, which is now let at £29.” 
 
 This evidence is also valuable as corroborating the con- 
 clusion arrived at and stated earlier, that the leases for 
 lives were generally unaccompanied with fines. Here it is 
 clear that the earliest rents were rack rents in each of the 
 cases given. Still more remarkable evidence was given as 
 to a holding called Treriffith, Moelgrove, in North Pem- 
 brokeshire.! The tenant, Mr. E. C. Phillips, said he had 
 leases in his possession showing that his family had occupied 
 this holding since the 13th century. The rent reserved by 
 the first lease was about £10, by his grandfather’s lease it 
 was £25 ; the present rent under a yearly tenancy is £190. 
 So far as the witness was aware there were no fines payable 
 in connexion with the old leases. 
 
 “Dr. D. R. Jones, of Cardiff, gave us some interesting 
 evidence as to his ancestors’ tenancy of a small holding called 
 Ffynonwen, in the parish of Llangunllo, on the Bronwydd 
 Estate in South Cardiganshire. His great-grandfather (Rees 
 Jones) originally leased the farm between 1760 and 1770 : — 
 
 4 1 am certain I heard from my father that the first rent 
 was £14 per year. I believe there were two short leases of 
 seven and 14 years respectively, the second one at some 
 
 Qu. 73,552 ; see also 72,560-8. 
 
 t Qu. 32,955, et seq. 
 
219 
 
 increase of rent. In those days there were only two small 
 fields enclosed, as shown in that plan. All the rest of the 
 land was open, and full of gorse, brambles, and ferns.’ In 
 1785 a lease for three lives (a copy of which was produced to 
 us) was granted to the tenant at a yearly rent of £25. This 
 determined ("and was not renewed) in 1832 when the rent 
 was raised to £76, and a small plot valued at £8 a year being 
 added to the original holding, the rent was fixed at £84. 
 Between 1850 and 1860 it rose to £88 ; about 1871, when 
 the estate was re-valued, its valuation amounted to £112, but 
 ‘ Sir Thomas was then kind enough, on account of my father’s 
 long tenancy, not to demand more than £104,’ said Dr. Jones, 
 who also mentioned that discounts or abatements had been 
 granted several times between 1850 and 1853. 
 
 “ Dr. Enoch Davies gave us the following instances in 
 the neighbourhood of Newcastle Emlyn : — 
 
 ‘ On the Bronwydd Estate there is a farm named 
 Bryngwyn. The lease expired some 40 years ago. I am not 
 in a position to say the date of the lease ; previous to its 
 expiration the rent was £25 a year. Then the farm was 
 divided, the rent of the two portions amounted to £70. Now 
 it is £86, an increase since the lease was granted of 244 per 
 cent. A great-grandfather of mine leased a farm called 
 Blaenythan, on the Pentre Estate, about 1808. I am not 
 sure of the date — I heard my father say it many times ; but 
 I know the rent — £71 per annum. The lease has expired, 
 and the rent is now £146 10s. per annum, an increase of 105 
 per cent. Then there was Penallt, £80, 62 years ago, now 
 £170, or an increase of £112 per cent.’ 
 
 “ In the neighbourhood of Aberayr on, a farm of 169 acres 
 called Cilfforch, on the Monachdy Estate, was held at the 
 rent of £30 a year, on a lease for lives which expired in 1875. 
 The rent was thereupon raised to £140, but has since been 
 reduced to about £90. 
 
 “Mr. Nathaniel Williams, of Talardd, Llandilo, gave us an 
 account of the rents of three adjoining farms in the dis- 
 trict of Gwynfe. The three were let, about 1790, on leases 
 for lives which expired between 1860 and 1870. The rent 
 of one of those (Blaenllanan) was £34, but at the termination 
 of the lease it was raised to £90 ; the rent of the second 
 (Ddyfadfa uchaf) was £36, it was raised to £120, but is now 
 £100 ; the third was raised from £26 to £48. ‘ On the three 
 
 farms,’ Mr. Williams continued, ‘ the landlords did not spend 
 one penny. The tenants made all improvements and repairs, 
 the landlords granting rough timber for repairs.’ 
 
 And North Car- 
 marthenshire 
 
220 
 
 Rise in rents of 
 small holdings in 
 N orth' Cardigan- 
 shire. 
 
 ‘ My grandfather, Morgan Williams of Brown Hill,’ said 
 Mr. W. LI. Williams, ‘ held the farm of Ffrwd Wen, in the 
 parish of Llandilo, on a lease about the year 1814. The rent 
 paid by him was £35, but the present rent of the farm is 
 between £70 and £80.’ Subsequently witness’s grandfather, 
 in 1830, took Brown Hill Farm on the Abermarlais Estate, 
 for which in 1850 he obtained a lease for three lives at £250 
 a year rent, which determined on his death in 1870. A new 
 lease for 21 years, was then granted his son at the rent 
 of £280, an increase of £30 on the old rental. Prior to the 
 expiration of this lease the farm was revalued in 1890, and 
 the rent was again fixed at £250. 
 
 “ The gradual rise in the rental of land in the course of 
 the last 100 years is also well illustrated by the history of a 
 small holding on the estate of the Earl of Lisburne in the 
 parish of Gwnnws, North Cardiganshire, “though in this case, 
 it was not specifically stated that the holding was at first 
 held under a lease” (p.404). Mr. David Jenkins, who gave us 
 this history, stated that his ancestors had lived on a holding 
 called Cwm Meurig ucha for many generations, and that at 
 one time its rent was reputed to have been only £3. In 1797 
 the rent was, however, £8 a year, but in 1826 it was 
 advanced to £21. At first there were no fields formed, but 
 the place was ‘ a desert, without any but natural boundaries.’ 
 The dwelling-house up to 1839 was the most primitive in 
 type that we received any evidence of. In 1839 witness’s 
 grandfather built a new house, entirely at his own expense. 
 He was also said to have made many improvements on the 
 farm by fencing, draining, manuring and liming the land, 
 the lime being carried a distance of 15 miles. In 1848 the 
 tenant built a stable and a cowhouse at his own expense, 
 receiving timber only from the landlord. In 1859 he built a 
 second dwelling-house on the farm, again at his own ex- 
 pense, and returned to live in it while his son (witness’s 
 father) occupied the farmhouse proper. In the following 
 year the rent was advanced by a new agent from £28 to £31. 
 The son continued to carry out improvements, and ‘ brought 
 the farm to such a condition that it was a model of what a 
 farm on such high land ought to be.’ In 1875 the rent was 
 again raised by the present agent from £31 to £46, but the 
 following year the tenant had to leave without any compen- 
 sation on account of his catching rabbits. With reference 
 to the case, Lord Lisburne’s agent said that * although he 
 was a good tenant, Lord Lisburne decided to part with him, 
 because he was right in the middle of his preserve lands.’ 
 
Somewhat similar was the account given with reference 
 to a holding on the Gogerddan Estate by a witness from 
 Talybont, near Aberystwyth. 
 
 ‘In 1820 my grandfather, R. Morgan, became Sir Pryse’s 
 tenant, and he took Felinfach ; the rent was £8 ; in 1824, 50 
 per cent, was added, and in 1876, 28 per cent, again was 
 added. My grandfather built the barn, and my father again 
 built the out-buildings, and he did the w~ood work in con- 
 nexion with the dwelling-house without receiving payment 
 or acknowledgment, only the acknowledgment of the valuer 
 in 1875, namely, raising his rent 28 per cent.’ 
 
 The evidence as to’ changes in rentals generally, is complaints as 
 roughly classified under two separate heads in the Report. iutoTw^ciSes. 
 First, evidence relating to estates as a whole and given 
 chiefly by owners or persons directly authorised to represent 
 them ; and secondly, evidence tendered chiefly by tenant 
 farmers, and referring to cases of variation in the rents of 
 individual holdings or in limited districts. These latter 
 statements, with which we shall first deal, took for the most 
 part the form of complaints as to rents being raised or of 
 refusals to grant reductions (pp. 398-404). 
 
 “ Many complaints were made as to the raising of rents 
 simply, but in most cases the whole point of the complaint 
 was that such advances were made subsequent to, and in 
 consequence of, tenants’ improvements. Many advances 
 were also referable to sales of land and changes in the 
 ownership of property, though in this class also it was 
 frequently complained that it was only the tenants’ improve- 
 ments that made the increase possible. 
 
 “ It will be more convenient for us to consider these cases 
 separately, though they are by no means mutually exclusive, 
 and we shall therefore deal first with the evidence bearing 
 on advances in rents caused by sales of land. 
 
 “Thus, Mr. Charles Bishop, solicitor and landowner, of 
 Llandovery, said that ‘ some few years ago rents became ^sequenc? of 
 unduly inflated : that was before the agricultural depression sales > 
 in Wales. Two causes aided in that direction, the one 
 created by the landowners, the other by the tenants ; by the 
 landowners because for some unaccountable reason land sells 
 at exorbitant prices,’ and he then gave instances of four 
 considerable properties sold between 1880 and 1890, when in North car- 
 the lots realised from 30 to 100 years’ purchase. ‘ Similar marthenshire - 
 auctions have occurred realising between 30 and 40 years’ 
 purchase with this result, that many of the purchasers (the 
 small ones especially) afterwards squeezed the rents to get a 
 return for their purchases.’ The tenants similarly contribu- 
 
222 
 
 And the Yale of 
 Towy generally. 
 
 ted to raise rents by the keenness of their competition in 
 offering more than the true rent in many cases, and making 
 the landlords think the lands are of more value than 
 they are.’ 
 
 “ Mr. James Rees, of Talgarth, near Llandovery, gave us 
 the result on rents of the sale in 1869 of the Glanbran 
 estate, in the same neighbourhood. The rents of a group of 
 19 farms had been raised from £1,370 to £2,130, an increase 
 of 55 per cent., while another group of 17 farms, of a 
 more remote and mountainous character, situated in the 
 parishes of Llandulais and Llanwrtyd, had been raised 80 
 per cent., from £428 to £774 10s., making a general average 
 increase of over 60 per cent, as the result of that sale. 
 Mr. Rees told us that his own holdings (Talgarth and 
 Bronfelyn) were among those sold, their rent prior to the 
 sale being £247, while it is now £375, or more than 50 
 per cent, more : 
 
 ‘ Before the estate was sold I had drained a lot of wet 
 land, and now it is worth about 10s. an acre. Before it 
 was drained it was not worth more than 5s. an acre. 
 Also I have hauled all the stones towards the buildings, and 
 I never received a penny as compensation. I did all the 
 haulage for the outbuildings, drained 12 fields at my own 
 expense, and four other fields at my own expense, except the 
 cutting. I have also made new fences.’ 
 
 “Miss Kate Jenkins, of Llangadock gave the following 
 account of one of the sales referred to by Mr. Charles 
 Bishop : — 
 
 ‘ Property which Mrs. Saunders Davies owned in this 
 neighbourhood was put up at public auction in May, 1884, 
 and the late Major Rice bought many of the farms. The 
 tenants were nearly all yearly ones, and, previous to the sale, 
 had received notices to quit owing to the estate changing 
 hands. Upon purchasing these farms, Major Rice sent round 
 to tell all the tenants that they were not to heed the notices. 
 He sent his gamekeeper round, which is very often done. 
 He wished them all to continue in their tenancies. Six days 
 before Michaelmas he sent notices requesting them all to 
 meet him at Llandovery for the purpose of signing new 
 agreements, and to their dismay they found that, with very 
 few exceptions, the rents of all were raised for the purpose of 
 meeting his expenses, &c. If they did not choose to sign, the 
 only option left was to clear out stock, crops, &c., in six days. 
 Of the three farms not raised, one tenant possessed a lease, 
 and the other refused to pay an additional £20 rent, which 
 was demanded. He left in a year. I have possession of an 
 
223 
 
 agreement, in which a farm was raised from £45 to £55. 
 
 The present landlord (Mr. Pryse-Rice, of Llwynybrain,) has 
 reduced some of them to the old valuation, but in the mean- 
 time the tenants were paying yearly money to the landlord 
 which ought honestly to have been in their own pockets.’ 
 
 “ Witness’s father had represented Major Rice at the sale, 
 and his instructions were to buy the land at any price. Miss 
 Jenkins added in this connection that ‘ her father used to say 
 that land about Llangadock had gone up from £1 to £2 10s., 
 
 £3, and £4 an acre.’ 
 
 “ Speaking of the more immediate neighbourhood of 
 Llangadock and Llandilo, Mr. Llewelyn Williams also said: — 
 
 ‘ The Danyrallt estate, owned by the Lloyds, was sold 
 about that time (namely, 1870) and was bought by a Mr. 
 
 Alan James Gulston, who ruined himself by buying it at too 
 high a figure. The consequence was that all the rents on 
 the estate were, without exception, raised. Farmers, rather 
 than leave their homes, consented to an increase, and I be- 
 lieve the neighbouring landowners, gather confidence from the 
 success of Mr. Gulston, followed suit whenever possible.’” 
 
 He also added that a large amount of land north of 
 Llandilo “had been sold and re-sold during the last 30 
 years,” the following estates being specially mentioned : — 
 Glanbrydan (twice) ; Danyrallt (twice,) ; Saunders Davies’ ; 
 
 Glanbran ; and Oynghordy ; also Allt.yferin, south of Llan- 
 dilo — but all in the Vale of Towy. 
 
 As to the district South of Carmarthen it was said that south 
 “ the parishes of Llangunnock, Llanstephan, and Llandilo Carmarthen 
 Abercowin are comprised of small estates or parts of estates 
 most of which have been either re-valued or sold during the 
 last 40 years, so that the rents have been raised on an 
 average 30 to 40 per cent., and very little abatements have 
 been made during these late years of depression and none at 
 all by some landlords.” Three farms which had been sold 
 three years previously were then instanced, their aggregate 
 rent being subsequently raised from £250 to £320, an advance 
 of 70 per cent., due, according to the witness (who was the 
 County Councillor for the district) to the tenants’ uncom- 
 pensated improvements. 
 
 “As to Pembrokeshire generally, Mr. Rule Owen Pembrokeshire 
 expressed the opinion that on large and well-managed estates, 
 and those which had been inherited, the rents were not near 
 the competition price : — 
 
 ‘ I think that the highest rents paid in this country are 
 those where men have made their money in other businesses, 
 and have been accustomed to good percentages, and have 
 
224 
 
 Pembrokeshire. 
 
 Rents of hold- 
 ings sometimes 
 raised before 
 their sale. 
 
 bought land and expect to get something like the same 
 percentage out of it as they did when in business. 
 Landowners are generally accustomed to a return of about 
 2 to 2-J per cent, upon their land.’ 
 
 Several instances are then quoted in illustration of the 
 practice of increasing rents after sales. We reproduce one 
 example : — 
 
 Sir Pryse Pryse, of Gogerddan, near Aberystwyth, 
 owned some outlying property of about 1,000 acres in the 
 district between Tenby and Narberth. This he sold in 1872 
 to Mr. C. R. Vickerman. As to the subsequent result on the 
 rental, the Rev. George Bancroft stated that ‘ some of the 
 rents were raised double and one even four times the amount 
 of what it was under Sir Pryse Pryse.’ 
 
 Similar instances are also quoted with reference to 
 Cardiganshire, — the following being a specimen : “ A witness, 
 who appeared before us at Aberayron, told us that he 
 succeeded to the occupation of a farm in that neighbourhood 
 in 1862, its rent then being £22. It was re-valued and 
 its rent raised to £38 in 1874 ; two years afterwards it 
 was sold. ‘ At the sale, the bidding remained for some time 
 at £1,200, but the auctioneer praised the water-wheel (which 
 the tenant had himself put up) and the tidiness of the place, 
 and this brought up the price to £1,500.’ The result was 
 that the rent was in consequence raised to £50, though two 
 fields were taken away from the farm.” 
 
 These were all advances made subsequent to sales, but, 
 according to the Report (p. 397) r “ in the case of some sales 
 the vendors have been known to raise the rents of their 
 holdings a few years previous to their being put up for sale, 
 the object, according to a Cardigan witness who said lie 
 knew of such cases, being ‘ to show to the buyer of the farm 
 that the rents are so much,’ and consequently to give, 
 to a certain extent, a false impression of the value , of the 
 property. 
 
 Thus, Mr. John Davies, of Ffos Esgob, Llandyssul, said that the 
 rent of his farm, which was on the Alltyrodyn estate, was £60 in 1859, 
 but was then raised to £70. After the election of 1868 it was further 
 raised to £87. 
 
 £ In the year 1877 a valuer was sent to walk our farm as it was to be 
 sold soon. The rent this time was advanced by £23. So the total rent 
 now was £110. In the short space of 18 years our rent was advanced 
 by 83 per cent, in three stages. All these advances were made upon our 
 own improvements. The last advance was made simply in order to get 
 a large sum for the farm, which was sold for £4,150 in the year 1879, and 
 we bought it. We paid upon our own improvements in the advanced 
 rents, and we had to pay again for those improvements when we bought 
 the farm.’ 
 
 A similar practice was said to have been resorted to in North 
 Cardiganshire, previous to the sale of a portion of the Nanteos estate, 
 
225 
 
 and also in North Pembrokeshire, where ‘ the estate of Cwmgloyn was 
 generally raised in that way before it was sold.’ ” 
 
 It is, however, observed that perhaps the most important 
 class of cases referred to in evidence was that in which it 
 was alleged that rents were raised largely, if not wholly, 
 upon improvements effected by the tenants themselves. 
 
 A former tenant of Cwmsawdde, Llangadock, who had Rents raised on 
 migrated to Brecknockshire, stated in a letter quoted before provenLntS" 
 the Commission, that his reason for leaving his previous 
 holding was “ an advance of 50 per cent on his own labour.” 
 
 The rent to his predecessor (from 1850 to 1860) was cases from car- 
 £120; when he took the place about 1862 it was raised to raarthenshlre - 
 £175, but during the last years of his tenancy the rent was 
 £240, his landlord having also resumed possession of some 
 cottages “ and 10 acres of the best land.” He ascribed the 
 increase to his own improvements for which, on leaving, he 
 received no compensation. 
 
 A witness, who had been selected to represent the parish 
 of Llanfynydd before the Commission, said : — 
 
 “ 1 In the year 1877 a general or all-round advance was made in the 
 rents on the Pantglas estate, and all the tenants had notice to quit. There 
 was no official valuation to regulate this increase in the rents. It is also 
 customary on this estate to increase the rent when a farm changes hands. 
 
 The in-coming tenant has generally to pay more rent than the out-going 
 tenant. This rule is only deviated from in the case of a special favourite. 
 
 In many cases an increase has been made in the rent, as the result of the 
 improvements made by the tenants themselves. When a tenant leaves a 
 farm no compensation is paid to him for unexhausted improvements.’ 
 
 The case of one farm on the estate, Maesyrhaidd, was specially 
 mentioned. Its rent during the life-time of the late tenant’s grandfather 
 was £40, it afterwards stood for many years at £75, in 1892 at £100 and 
 in 1893 at £85. c If Maesyrhaidd is a good farm to-day,’ said the late 
 tenant in a letter quoted to us, ‘ it is because of the labour and outlay put 
 into it by myself and my father before me.’ 
 
 Another mountain farm, Marchoglwyn, in the same parish, but the 
 property of a small owner, was raised by four separate advances (which 
 were alleged to be made entirely on the tenant’s own improvements) from 
 £32 in 1853 to £55 in 1876. The old tenant had to leave in 1877, when the 
 farm was then let to another at £56, which was raised in 1892 to £65 
 (exclusive of tithes, about £2 odd). 
 
 The following examples may be taken from the evidence 
 relating to South-West Carmarthenshire : — 
 
 “ Mr. J. D. Morse, of Llandawke, gave us at Carmarthen 
 an account of the manner rents were raised on the Llangan 
 Estate, near Whitland, which belonged to the Puxley family. 
 
 In 1849 he became tenant of Sarnlas Farm at £150 a year. 
 
 In 1853, £16 16s. was added to the rent. The estate was 
 valued in 1857 by an independent valuer, and the rent of 
 this farm was further increased by £13 4s., bringing it up 
 to £180. Two years later, after notices to quit had been 
 served, all the chief farms on the estate were advertised to be 
 let by tender, and Sarnlas was offered to the sitting tenant, 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 our witness, at £317 10s., over 75 per cent, above the valua- 
 tion. He declined and left, though his wife’s ancestors had 
 lived there from time immemorial, and though he himself 
 during his 10 years’ tenancy appears to have marvellously 
 changed the appearance of the farm by means of exception- 
 ally extensive improvements by draining, manuring, fencing, 
 hauling towards buildings, and erecting two small new build- 
 ings himself. 
 
 Two other tenants left at the same time as Mr. Morse. 
 In one of these cases the rent was being raised from £202 
 10s. to £300, though the tenant, who had been there nine 
 years, was described as ‘ a good farmer who had improved 
 the farm — but did not receive a penny compensation.’ ‘ The 
 few that remained had to advance their rents considerably,’ 
 continued the witness. ‘ The rents of the seven farms that 
 were let by tender that year (of the eighth I can give no 
 accurate account) amounted to £605 at Mr. Harvey’s valua- 
 tion two years before, but they were soon reduced, and there 
 is not a single tenant that book them that year on the estate 
 these many years.’ ” 
 
 8o > numerous^ n ° t As conn ty °f Pembroke, it is observed by the 
 
 in south Commissioners that “ the complaints as to the raising of 
 
 Pembrokeshire. ren f. g g ener ally, or of raising them in consequence of tenants’ 
 improvements, were not nearly so numerous in Pembroke- 
 shire as in the other two counties under review. Scarcely 
 a single complaint was made as to several of the larger 
 estates, except in general terms to the effect that rents were 
 too high for present prices. Thus a tenant of Sir Owen 
 Scourfield’s said the rents on that estate were very moderate, 
 ‘ but not moderate considering these last two years.’ 
 
 In individual cases rents have been raised, according to 
 Mr. Eule Owen, where old leases expired, or where new 
 tenancies have been created in the more prosperous times.” 
 These remarks apply mainly to South Pembrokeshire, 
 where the chief complaint appeared to be as to inequality of 
 rentals ; and a witness at Haverfordwest, referring to the 
 evidence given earlier in the day by Mr. Eule Owen and Mr. 
 Mousley (the former agent for Earl Cawdor’s estate) said they 
 were “ the agents of A 1 landlords. But (he went on to say) 
 you are not then getting at the No. 2 landlords — that is the 
 rack renters. ... I am, myself, under a small landlord ; 
 that is the worst class of landlords in Pembrokeshire, the 
 landlord w ho buys farms and lets them out. As to the land- 
 lord I lived under before, he lived that side of the hedge, and 
 I lived this. He lived under Sir Charles E. Philipps, of 
 Picton, at 16s. an acre, and charged me £3 10s. for mine. I 
 
227 
 
 had to make a living for my small children somehow, and I 
 fried, but those cases are great hardship. I never get a 
 penny back in percentage.” 
 
 In the West and North of the County also the small 
 proprietors appear to be very numerous, and complaints were 
 made that “ the more needy landlords had raised their rents, 
 but the larger landlords left them the same, as long as the 
 •old tenant was in.” 
 
 From Cardiganshire the Commission received very 
 numerous complaints as to the alleged raising of rents on 
 tenants’ improvements, and as to high rents generally. 
 
 As to the Bronwydd estate of Sir Marteine Lloyd, it 
 was said that the tenants felt perfect security of tenure, — 
 their complaint being simply as to the rent ; “ there had 
 been two general advances of rent on the estate, one in 1865 
 ..and the other in 1871, when things were very brisk.” 
 
 Another witness, an ex-tenant of the Bronwydd estate, 
 now a butter merchant at Swansea, also complained of the 
 valuation of 1871, and alleged that, “taking into account a 
 reduction in the acreage of the farm which he then held, the 
 result of the valuation, together with a previous revision in 
 1865, was to raise the rent of the remainder b}^ 100 per cent. 
 ‘ In the year 1880,’ he added, ‘ we left the farm because the 
 rent was too high, and no hope of getting a reduction ; rents 
 were advanced in good times, but. not reduced during bad 
 times.’ 
 
 “Dr. Enoch Davies expressed the opinion, as to the dis- 
 trict of Newcastle Emlyn, that ‘ rents were Increased mainly 
 on tenants’ improvements, and when times are good.’ 
 
 “ An ex-tenant farmer who immediately followed him mentioned his 
 own ease as tenant of a farm, the rent of which, previous to his entering 
 it, was £55. ‘ During my stay there (which ended in 1882) I received three 
 
 notices, and my rent has advanced from £68 to £95.’ As to the last- 
 mentioned amount, he said ‘Nothing but sheer necessity compelled me to 
 promise the exorbitant price for it. I had no place to turn to, and besides, 
 I had paid for all the repairs on the understanding that the amount 
 expended would be repaid in rent. My wife was also much attached to 
 the place having been brought up there.’ This holding, we should add, 
 appears to have belonged to a small owner. In 1882, witness took a farm 
 belonging to a large landowner — Mr. Fitzwilliams, of Cilgwyn — its rent 
 being £220. According to his agreement he was to pay interest at 10 per- 
 cent. for any buildings done at the tenant’s request, but witness never 
 asked for any on these terms ; subsequently the landlord reduced the rate 
 of interest to six per cent., after which some improvements were made on 
 those terms. Later on, the tenant bought a small freehold of his own, 
 which brought him a notice to quit from his landlord, but he was informed 
 he could stay on, on payment of an advance of £50 a year in the rent, but, 
 concluded witness, ‘ it was rented to an utter stranger for £46 per annum 
 less than I paid — another entered into my labour.’ 
 
 Mr. Simon Davies, of Penbryn, said he had succeeded 
 his father as tenant of Pantybettws farm, which belonged to 
 
 Cardiganshire 
 complaints — 
 numerous. 
 
228 
 
 Sir Pryse Pryse, Gogerddan, His father held the farm on a 
 lease at £105, which, when the lease expired, was advanced 
 to £130. Witness during his tenancy executed very exten- 
 sive improvements ; he made 667 perches of drains, built 
 three new fences, made new roads measuring 1,100 yards, 
 pub up 22 gates, in connection with most of which he also 
 put up stone pillars and rounded olf the fences with dry 
 wall ; set up a water-wheel and made three ponds to collect 
 water for its use ; and as to the buildings he did all the 
 haulage towards them himself, paying the turnpike tolls, 
 provided all the unskilled labour ( e.g ., quarried the stones), 
 and supplied the partial board of the masons and carpenters 
 paid by his landlord. 
 
 About 1877 the farm was valued, and the rent raised to 
 £178, but after two or three years it was reduced to £140. 
 About 1884, the farm was sold for £4,050, the tenant having 
 himself bid £4,040. 
 
 “A sum of £5 was given witness by the agent as ‘compensation,’ when 
 he was leaving. Witness concluded by stating that the experience of 
 very many on the Pembryn portion of the Gogerddan Estate was similar 
 to his own. ‘ Many of us saw our labour and capital put up for sale 
 by Mr. Francis in this very room, and knocked down to the highest 
 bidder, Sir Pryse receiving the benefit.’ The evidence of another witness, 
 who is still a tenant on the estate, but whose holding has been in the 
 market for the last 12 years, Mr. D. D. Davies, of Cefnceirw, indirectly 
 corroborated this view. Previous to 1858 the rent of Cefnceirw was 
 £92 15s. ; as the result of a valuation made in that year, a portion of the 
 farm, valued at £21 was taken away, and the rent of the remaining portion 
 raised by £13 5s., so as to stand at £85. In 1887, after another valuation, 
 it was raised to £122. The farm has been in the market for the last 
 12 years. Here, too, the tenant stated that he or his parents had done all 
 the haulage, and, some 45 years ago, his mother, then a widow, paid £40 
 to the agent for a cowhouse then built. 
 
 As to Mid-Cardiganshire, several instances are quoted, 
 in the Report from the evidence of Mr. J. Watkin Davies, 
 who spoke on behalf of the tenants of the Derry Ormond 
 Estate, and who, moreover, emphasised the fact that a large 
 proportion of the improvements was effected by the tenants, 
 who ‘ often make the drains, raise hedges, plant trees, and 
 repair a great deal of the buildings at their own expense. 
 When improvements are effected by the landlord interest is 
 charged in respect thereof, often at £4 per cent., but there is- 
 no established rate, and after such improvements the rents 
 are raised in almost every case without exception." 
 
 The Commissioners specially mention the fact that 
 “ complaints of rents being frequently and repeatedly raised 
 on tenants’ improvements” were “ very numerous” in the 
 district of Aberayron, several of the witnesses at this place 
 being at present occupying freeholders who, according to 
 their account, had while tenants greatly improved their 
 
229 
 
 holdings, but were subsequently compelled to pay for such 
 improvements a second time when their farms were pur- 
 chased by them at public auctions. 
 
 Dr. Garrod Thomas, of Newport, himself a native of the SoKbefayron 
 district, gave some interesting evidence, which is thus quoted 
 at length in the Report (p. 403) as being typical of many 
 of the other statements. 
 
 “ My father, Lewis Thomas, of Panteryrod, took that farm in 1843, 
 the rental being then £60. It was considered dear at the time, as the 
 previous tenant had, by five annual sales before his ultimate failure, 
 exhausted the soil ; in fact I remember hearing my father say that the 
 ground would not produce enough for the use of his household and his 
 own stock. It was very untidy, and there was scarcely a hedge on it, and 
 the buildings were poor, dilapidated, and thatch-covered, with not a single 
 one slated. Mr. Thomas Lloyd, of Nantgwyllt (Radnorshire), one of the 
 best landlords in the county, was the landlord, and I think, certainly, that 
 my father was one of the best farmers in the county. He set to work 
 improving the place vigorously ; the dwelling and all the out-houses were 
 rebuilt, towards which rebuilding the landlord paid for timber, for slates, 
 ironmongery, and skilled labour, such as masons and carpenters. These 
 men were, however, partly boarded by the tenant; the landlord did not pay 
 one penny for hauling, the stone mostly was hauled from the sea-shore a 
 mile off, and up a steep hill ; nor did he pay for unskilled labour — those 
 who attended to the masons and so on. My father also built hedges all 
 over the farm ; thousands of loads of stone, daring his lifetime, were 
 carried for facing and making these hedges, and they were put into a 
 condition so that they would last for generations with a little care, the 
 land itself, at the same time, receiving attention by draining, liming, 
 manuring, and so on. Mr. Thomas Lloyd died about 1870, and my father 
 died in 1873. 
 
 “Mr. Lloyd was succeeded by his son, the present Mr. Robert Lloyd, 
 of Nantgwyllt, who had the whole of his estate revalued in or about 1874, 
 by a stranger to the neighbourhood, who came down in the spring of the 
 year, when the land looked at its best, as in the summer time it gets burnt 
 up, and especially in dry summers. Right up to the time of the valuation 
 the farm was kept in first-class condition, both as regards buildings 
 (several of the smaller having been erected without a penny of contribu- 
 tion from the landlord), and as regards the land with respect to liming, 
 manuring, and so on, that was steadily kept up, and the hedges and drains 
 were kept in repair. The result was that the valuer recommended the 
 rent to be raised from £60 a year to £119 10s. a year. Mr. Lloyd very 
 kindly took off the £9 10s., fixing it at £110. Then he also made a little 
 reduction (£10) in that after a few years. I consider that my mother, for 
 the time that she remained there, and afterwards my brother who 
 succeeded her, had to pay in rent the penalty of my father’s good farming. 
 
 No other farm in the neighbourhood, or on the estate, was raised in 
 anything like the same proportion. 
 
 “Mr. Robert Lloyd, in 1889, sold the whole of his Cardiganshire 
 estate, and I bought the old nest for my brother William to live at, but, 
 of course, I bought it in open sale, and I had to buy on the basis of this 
 increased rental. Thus the purchase money paid by me to Mr. Lloyd was, 
 on account of my father’s and mother’s good farming, nearly double what 
 it would have been if they had been incompetent farmers.” 
 
 “ Mr. Robert Lloyd, the landowner mentioned, also 
 referred to this case in the course of his evidence. As to the 
 state of the farm in 1843, he said that it was valued (under a 
 
230 
 
 Statistics of 
 Landowners’ 
 Association as to 
 changes in 
 rentals. 
 
 partition deed) in that year at £75, from which he inferred 
 that the buildings could not have been in a very dilapidated 
 state. 
 
 “ Still, as I know perfectly well,” he continued, “ the buildings and all 
 that were in a very bad state indeed, and we spent all round that district 
 a very large sum indeed in re-building. Well, he held that farm for 30 
 years at his £60 a year rent, the valuation having been £75 only, up to 
 1873, which was, of course, the farmers’ best period. I thought it was 
 only fair that I should have a re- valuation. The re-valuation came to 
 £119 10s. on his £60. I did not put him up to that, nor were any of 
 the farms put up to their valuation. I put them half way between the 
 rent and the valuation — I thought we should fairly deal between each 
 other. His farm was valued at £119 10s. and I put it up to £110, which I 
 considered afterwards rather high, and reduced it to £100. Then a 
 very few years afterwards I gave him back 10 per cent., which reduced it 
 again to £90. As the tenant had had the benefit of all we had done, and 
 had had it for nearly 30 years, I thought it was a very fair ease for re- 
 valuation. I sold this farm in 1889. I can only say that I am afraid if h 
 had sold the farm in 1875, when the greater part of the property about 
 Aberayron was sold, Dr. Thomas would certainly have had to give 
 £500 more than he gave in 1889.” 
 
 The Commissioners observe that “ this case very well illustrates the 
 difference of standpoint taken by landlord and tenant respectively witli 
 regard to any increase in the value of land. Both witnesses gave their 
 evidence without any shadow of hostility, and both seemed to aim at 
 placing us in possession of all the facts without any exaggeration, and 
 yet, while one thought that his family had suffered hardship, the other 
 thought they had been dealt with fairly and justly.” 
 
 Hitherto, what is obviously only one side of the 
 question has been given. The tenants, whose evidence has 
 been quoted, naturally dwelt on what they regarded as their 
 grievances ; on the other hand those who might be 'well, 
 satisfied with their treatment, would have less of an inclina- 
 tion to publish any details as to the conditions of their 
 tenancy. It is therefore to the evidence of landowners and 
 their representatives that the Commissioners turn for an 
 account of the other side of the question of rents. By 
 itself, neither is complete without the other. Both are in 
 the nature of half-truths, and the statements of the two 
 classes of witnesses should therefore be read side by side, 
 before anything like a just estimate can be arrived at. 
 
 Considerable particulars as to rentals, abatements, and 
 reductions were furnished to the Commission in the form of 
 tabulated statements by the secretaries to the Landowners’ 
 Associations of South and North Wales respectively. Taking 
 those for the group of three counties now dealt with — sup- 
 plied by Mr. J. E. Vincent — only those estates whose owners 
 supplied particulars to the Association Secretary are included 
 in these tables, and there are consequently many important 
 omissions, e.g., the Abermarlais, Edwinsford, Llwynybrain, •• 
 Neuadd (Mr. Campbell Davys), Pantglas and Tregib estates, 
 all in North Carmarthenshire, the Abermeurig, Cilgwyn (Mr. 
 
231 
 
 Fitzwilliams), Derry Ormond, Falcondale, Highmoad, Nanteos, 
 and Gogerddan estates, in various parts of Cardiganshire, and 
 — to mention one only — the late Lord Kensington’s estate 
 in Pembrokeshire. Nevertheless, the Commissioners observe 
 (p. 394) that after omitting all duplicates there are returns 
 given in these tables for “87 landowners in the three 
 counties of Carmarthen, Pembroke, and Cardigan. Of that 
 number, 45 may be said to belong to Carmarthenshire, 28 to 
 Pembrokeshire, and 14 to Cardiganshire- — if we assign each 
 landowner to the county in which the bulk of his property 
 is situated. 
 
 “ The number of those who have made reductions (as 
 apart from abatements) in their rentals since about 1877 is 
 shown in the following table, which is an attempt to classify 
 those who have reduced rents according to the number of 
 cases in which they have made such reductions : — 
 
 County. 
 
 Number of 
 Landowners’ 
 Returns. > 
 
 No 
 
 Reductions. 
 
 Number of Cases in which Reduc- 
 tions have been made. 
 
 Some 
 
 Reductions. 
 
 General 
 
 Reductions. 
 
 One. 
 
 Two. 
 
 Three. 
 
 Four. 
 
 Five. 
 
 Carmarthen 
 
 45 
 
 24 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 Pembroke . . . 
 
 28 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 Cardigan 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 Total ... 
 
 87 
 
 39 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 “We have entered in the last column those cases m General perma- 
 which the reductions were nearly, if not quite, general over ^number 
 a whole estate ; but as the total number of those who have 
 made general permanent reductions is so few, we may briefly 
 refer to the statements with reference thereto.* Starting 
 with Carmarthenshire, we find that Mrs. Lloyd Phillips, of 
 
 * As to the column “ Some reductions,” it should be said that the 
 statements in the return opposite the names of those who are here entered 
 are too indefinite to admit of their being classified. The expressions used 
 are “ in a few cases,” “ in some cases,” “ no very material reductions,” and 
 the like. 
 
232 
 
 Aberglasney, has reduced the rent of almost every farm ; 
 and that Mrs. Howel Gwyn has reduced the rents of her 
 Blaensawdde Estate by 10 per cent. The only other case in 
 this county is that of the Earl of Ashburnham ; but his 
 reduction was limited to one only of his Carmarthenshire 
 estates, namely, that at Pembrey, where the rents were 
 reduced by about 14 per cent. ‘ But it is right to say,’ so 
 the statement continues, ‘ that as some of these reductions 
 were caused by the destruction of the land in consequence 
 of the encroachment of the blowing sands from the sea- 
 shore, the amount for the purposes of this investigation 
 may be set at about 10 \ per cent.’ 
 
 “ In Pembrokeshire the Bishop of LlandafF has, on his 
 estate of 3,500 acres, reduced the rents in some fourteen 
 instances, which would probably cover most of the estate ; 
 while the only actual case of general reduction in the county 
 was that of 20 per cent, made from 1886 on a small estate 
 of 1,500 acres belonging to Mr. Stan comb, of Devizes. 
 
 “In Cardiganshire we have three cases of permanent 
 reduction entered in the list. One, on the Brynog Estate, 
 near Talsarn; the owner since the Tithe Act of 1891, paid 
 the tithe himself, which has been equivalent to some £50 
 reduction in the total rental of the estate.” On the Hafod 
 Estate, of some 15,000 acres in Cardiganshire and Mont- 
 gomeryshire, a reduction of 10 per cent, was granted to all 
 yearly tenants about 1877, and in 1893 abatements of 10 
 or 15 per cent, were allowed to all who paid punctually. 
 “The third, and perhaps the most interesting case of rent 
 reduction in this county, is that of the Alltlwyd Estate 
 (of about 1,100 acres, let at a little over £1,100), in the 
 maritime parishes of Llanrhystyd and Llansaintffraid, near 
 Aberystwyth. The owner, Major Parry Hughes, told us 
 that the rents were fixed by his father in 1846, and remained 
 unchanged until 1886, ‘when the depression in agriculture 
 was keenly felt in Cardiganshire.’ As the tenants were 
 complaining that the rents were high, a new valuation 
 was then made by Mr. J. M. Davies, of Froodvale, according 
 to which “ the rents then paid by the tenants were in some 
 instances too high.’ ‘ I then endeavoured,’ said the owner, 
 ‘ to let the farms at the rents fixed by Mr. Davies, but failed 
 to do so,’ and then had to let them at still lower rents ; but 
 ‘the tenants now (1894) complain that these rents are too 
 high, and I have great difficulty in collecting them.’ The 
 rental of eight of the chief farms previous to 1886 amounted 
 to £1,064. Mr. Davies’s valuation, then made, proposed its 
 reduction to £912 (a decrease of 14 per cent.), but they had 
 
233 
 
 to be re-let at £800, which meant a reduction of about 25 
 per cent. These farms, it was explained, have always been 
 farmed for corn-growing and contain some of the best corn 
 land in the county.” 
 
 Apart from these tables, however, considerable evidence Evidence a.s 
 was given as to variations in rentals by agents and owners, whole, 
 and we shall endeavour to reproduce the salient points of the 
 Commissioners’ summary of these statements, as we have 
 .already done with those of the tenants. Mr. J. M. Davies, Carmarthen 
 of Froodvale, said that while “ there had been advances on shire, 
 some portions of the estates ” under his management, the 
 rents of a vast number of farms have remained the same for 
 50 years. 
 
 The rents on the Taliaris Estate of 3,000 acres, now 
 belonging to Mr. H. Peel, were increased 10 per cent, in 
 1855, and since then a few have been further raised slightly 7 ' 
 on change of tenancy. The total rental in 1893 was £23 
 less than in 1883, and abatements at the rate of about five 
 per cent, were made in 1885-7 and in 1892. 
 
 Lord Dynevor’s Estate of 7,000 acres was re-valued in 
 1874, and all the farms were re-taken by the then sitting 
 tenants at a very considerable reduction below the valuation, 
 but it was “ a rise on the original rent.” In the case of seven 
 farms permanent reductions, amounting in all to 12^ per 
 cent., have since been made, but some few rents have, on the 
 other hand, been occasionally raised on re-lettings. Abate- 
 ments of 10 per cent, were granted in 1885-7, and from 10 
 to 15 per cent, in 1892 and 1893. 
 
 The Earl of Ashburnham’s Estate at Llanddeusant was 
 re- valued about 20 years ago, and the rents considerably 
 increased — the increase in the case of 25 farms amounting, 
 according to one witness, to an average of 30 per cent. — but 
 abatements of from 5 to 10 per cent, had been made between 
 1886 and 1893 (excepting 1890-1). Mrs. Howel Gwyn’s 
 Estate in the same district had its rents increased 20 per 
 -cent, in 1863, but, as already mentioned, about 10 per cent, 
 of this has since 1880 been permanently given back. 
 
 On Sir Arthur Stepney’s Estate of 12,000 acres, chiefly 
 in Carmarthenshire, the rents have, according to the agent, 
 been “ undisturbed for about 50 years on an average,” but 
 what the qualification thus added may mean the Com- 
 missioners are unable to say. No reductions have been made, 
 but abatements of 10 per cent, were given for the three 
 years, 1886-8. 
 
 “ The whole of the Earl of Cawdor’s Estate, of 70,000 
 acres in the three counties now under review, was re-valued Cawdor’s. 
 
234 
 
 by a “professional gentleman” in 1862. Mr. T. T. Mousley, 
 who acted as agent for this estate from 1863 to 1893, said: 
 * The first thing I had to do on entering into the agency was 
 to relet the whole property (at the rents fixed by the new 
 valuation) ; well, I could not let them up to those rents. I 
 had a great many things to take into consideration by Lord 
 Cawdor’s instructions — where there had been what could be 
 called permanent improvements by the tenants, not exhausted, 
 and where they had an undoubted claim, his Lordship advised 
 me, ‘ I think it quite right that we should acknowledge and 
 ; make some allowances in our relettings,’ and I daresay the 
 reductions in the re-letting of the whole property cost Lord 
 Cawdor £1,000 at least a year in the yearly rents. . . , 
 
 By the valuation I daresay the increase would be about £6,000 
 a year, but the actual letting did not amount to an increase 
 of £5,000. The rents have not been raised since that time — 
 30 years ago — excepting an occasional change. If there was 
 some real ground for it, there might have been some slight 
 increase of rent, but it has happened very seldom.’ 
 
 Elsewhere it is stated that 4 no permanent reductions of 
 any consequence have been made on this estate up to the 
 present time. Now (April, 1894), a few trifling reductions 
 are proposed.’ Abatements of 15 per cent, had been 
 previously granted in 1886-88, and in 1891-92 the tithes,, 
 amounting to about 7^ per cent., were also allowed. 
 
 The result of the valuation of 1862, in the case of nine 
 farms in the parish of Llanfair ar y bryn, was an average 
 increase of about 30 per cent., but we do not know whether 
 the increase there was similar in amount or how far it was 
 evenly distributed over the whole estate. 
 
 No general re-valuation has been made, nor have the 
 rents been raised during the last 50 years on the Slebech 
 Estate (Baron de Butzen), the Ffynone Estate (Major 
 Colby), Pentyparc (Mr. F. Lloyd-Philipps, and, it was also 
 believed, on the Llwyngwair Estate (Mr. J. B. Bowen), as 
 well as one or two other smaller properties in the county of 
 Pembroke. Abatements of 10 per cent, were made on the 
 Llwyngwair Estate in 1885-88, of 5 per cent, in 1891, and 
 of 10 per cent, in 1892. The rental of the original portion 
 of the Ffynone Estate was said not to have been altered for 
 several generations, but reductions have been made in a few 
 cases where farms were purchased with high rentals, and 
 abatements somewhat similar in amount to those on the pre- 
 ceding estate have also been made. The rent of one farm 
 has been reduced on the Slebech Estate, and the only abate- 
 ments made were 10 per cent, in 1893 : no reductions have 
 
235 
 
 been made on the Pentyparc Estate, and the abatements were 
 5 per cent, in 1887-88, and 10 per cent, in 1892. 
 
 There has been no re- valuation “ within memory of any 
 body living” — in fact, it is not known when one occurred at 
 all — on the Picton Castle Estate in the same county. A 
 few, perhaps a dozen, permanent reductions have been made, 
 but most cases have been dealt with by granting abatements, 
 of 10 per cent, generally, and three were said to have been 
 going on for the last ten or twelve years. 
 
 The estate of R. W. B. Mirehouse, of Angle, in the 
 hundred of Castlemartin (about 3,000 acres in extent), was 
 re-valued about 1879, and resulted in what is described in 
 the owner’s return as ‘ a moderate increase of rent in a few 
 cases.’ A different account was, however, given us by a 
 former tenant of the estate, now resident in Surrey, whence 
 he travelled all the way to Pembroke with the view of giving- 
 evidence. A farm which had been held down to 1879 at 
 £180 a year was, in that year, let to this witness at £300 — a 
 sum which was subsequently reduced to £230, but in 1887 
 he gave it up as being highly rented. 
 
 The estates of Mr. Lort Phillips, of Lawrenny (6,500 
 acres, rent about £6,000), were re-valued in 1877, the 
 valuation resulting in an increase of over £400, but the 
 increase actually made in the rentals was £231. In 1880, 
 permanent reductions amounting to £131 were made, and in 
 1885, “the depression deepening,” abatements of £480 were 
 made, bringing the net rental to the level of what it was 
 in 1853. The abatements were continued until 1888, then 
 discontinued till Michaelmas 1891, when they were renewed, 
 being a year after increased to an average of 10 per cent. 
 
 We have already mentioned (see p. 210) that when the 
 present owner succeeded in 1875, the buildings on the estate 
 were in a very dilapidated condition, and since then about 16*6 
 per cent, of the gross rentals has in all been spent on new 
 buildings and improvements. “ For a few years, some of 
 the tenants paid interest at 5 per cent, upon the outlay, 
 but by 1885, quite half of them had been excused, and 
 at the present (1894) not more than £30 per annum is 
 received under this head.” 
 
 With reference to some of the smaller estates in this NorthPembroke 
 county, the statement of Mr. E. Perkins, of Penisgwarne, as shu,e ’ 
 to his own property of 800 acres in the district of Fishguard 
 is thus quoted : “ rents have certainly been raised during 
 the last 50 years, in some cases doubled, and even then 
 the tenants have saved enough to buy their farms.” 
 
236 
 
 Cardiganshire 
 
 Estates. 
 
 With reference to the neighbourhood of Cardigan, Mr. 
 W. O. Brigstocke, of Parc y gors, observed that there had 
 been “ in some instances an increase in the rentals during 
 “the last 30 years, especially about 1870-5. I mean this: 
 “ I think that when the farms became vacant in the seven- 
 “ ties, when times were very good, they were let at an ad- 
 “ vanced rent. I do not say tenants were evicted, but when 
 “vacancies occurred they were certainly let at better prices 
 “ than they were before. That is my experience.” 
 
 Rents on the Clynfiew Estate (Mrs. Lewis) were revised 
 and equalised in 1888 — the net result of the valuation then 
 made being a slight increase of the estate rental. The only 
 material alterations which have been made in rents on the 
 Coedmore Estate (Mr. T. E. Lloyd) since 1864 have occurred 
 in the falling in of old leases. Since 1887 the rents have 
 not been materially reduced, but abatements from 5 to 10 
 per cent, were made in 1886-89, and 10 per cent, in 1892. 
 
 The following are all the Cardiganshire estates, of more 
 than 2,000 acres each, mentioned by the Commissioners in 
 this connection : — 
 
 Mrs. Brigstocke’s Blaenpant Estate (4,900 acres) near 
 Cardigan has never been re-valued as a whole, but there have 
 been increases on change of tenancy. Abatements of 10 per 
 cent, on the half year’s rents were made in 1879, 1881, and 
 from 1885 onwards. 
 
 As to the Pentre Estate (Mrs. Saunders Davies) which 
 extends to 6,700 acres in various parts of the three counties, 
 the old portion was re-valued in 1887, when “ some of the 
 rents were advanced and some were reduced.” No abate- 
 ments have been given, but in 1889 the tithe was merged 
 in the rent. 
 
 The Llysnewydd Estate of Col. W. P. Lewes (4,200 
 acres) was valued in 1871, “the rents being slightly raised 
 in some instances,” since when abatements of 5 and 10 per 
 cent, have been granted on various occasions. 
 
 Mr. J. C. Harford stated that there had been practically 
 no change of rent on his estate (Ealcondale, near Lampeter) 
 in the last 30 years, except where land has been taken away 
 for planting or building. 
 
 In North Cardiganshire, the Earl of Lisburne’s (Cross- 
 wood) Estate of some 40,000 acres, was re-valued in 1 874, the 
 result being an increase in the rental. Since then permanent 
 reductions amounting to £573 have been made, and abate- 
 ments of from 10 to 15 per cent, were granted in 1886-89, 
 with smaller allowances in 1885 and 1892. Mr. Gardiner, 
 who has been agent for the estate for 25 years, said that he 
 
237 
 
 had made it a point when made agent 44 not to interfere with 
 44 the rents at all for live years at least, unless under circum- 
 stances over which he had no control ; that is, change of 
 44 tenancy, and so on ; he did not go about to see how he 
 44 could raise the rent.” 
 
 In 1879 the whole of the Gogerddan Estate, belonging 
 to Sir Pryse Pryse, was re-valued by Mr. J. M. Davies, of 
 Froodvale, and according to the agent (who was not, how- 
 ever, prepared to tell us the result of the valuation on the 
 rental), many of the farms, especially of the sheep-walks, 
 were at that time rented at a very low figure, and their rents 
 were consequently raised. From another source we learnt 
 that of the sheep farms referred to, the rent of one was raised 
 from £45 to £97, another from £70 to £100, and that of a 
 third from £52 to £96 as the result of this valuation. As to 
 the principle on which this valuation generally was con- 
 ducted, a witness from the district told us that 44 when Mr. 
 
 “Davies, of Froodvale, w r as valuing a particular field, the 
 44 farmer told him that he paid 2s. 6d. an acre for that land, 
 
 44 and that it was his labour which had brought it into such 
 44 condition. The valuer said : I do not take that into con- 
 44 sideration ; I have been sent by Sir Pryse to value his land 
 “ as I find it 4 to-day. 5 ” That land was raised by the valua- 
 tion, so the witness alleged, from 2s. 6d. to 27s. an acre. 
 
 The permanent reductions on the Brynog, Alltlwyd, 
 and Hafod estates, in North Cardiganshire, have been already 
 mentioned (see p. 232). 
 
 2,— HISTORY of rentals in north west 
 WALES (ANGLESEY, CARNARVON, AND 
 MERIONETH). 
 
 Passing on to the North Western Counties — Anglesey, west 
 
 Carnarvon, and Merioneth — we have now" to deal, in a Gwynedd, 
 similar manner, with the history of rents within that area 
 (See Report pp. 422-439). Commencing our review in ANGLESEy 
 Anglesey, we shall first consider the evidence of owners and Rentals of chief 
 agents as to estates as a whole. 
 
 The Bodorgan estate, w"hich belonged to the late Sir 
 George Meyrick, was valued in 1806, when the farms were 
 held under leases for lives and years. These have expired, Bodorgan. 
 chiefly between 1842 and 1860. The whole estate was 
 re-valued on the same basis in 1871 — and the valuation then 
 amounted to £11,754, which was an increase on the previous 
 i rental- of about 12 per cent. The whole estate w r as, however, 
 
238 
 
 Lord Stanley 
 
 Alderley’s 
 
 Estate. 
 
 Baroahill, 
 
 re-let for £11,255, or about 4 per cent, below the valuation. 
 Since 1871, permanent reductions of varying amounts have 
 been given in 3 or 4 cases, but abatements have been 
 made of 5 per cent, for 3 years, 10 in another three, 15 
 in two, and 20 in two (1892-3). 
 
 Lord Stanley of Alderley said, in effect, that on his 
 of estate of about 5,700 acres, the rents were not changed 
 for sitting tenants, though sometimes they are increased 
 with new tenancies. He produced a table showing the 
 rentals on his estate in 1821, 1851, and 1893 respectively, 
 from which the following deductions are drawn in the Re- 
 port : “ Out of 34 holdings, concerning which particulars 
 are given for each of the three periods mentioned, the rents 
 of six remained the same throughout, while four more 
 were the same in 1821 and 1851, but not in 1893, and 
 two were the same in 1821 and 1893 (but were slightly 
 different in 1851). As to the 28 farms in which some 
 variation had occurred between 1821 and 1893, the difference 
 between their total rentals in 1821 and 1851 was an average 
 increase of 6'9 per cent., between 1851 and 1898 an increase 
 of about 1 per cent., or between 1851 and 1893, a total 
 increase of 7*8 per cent. As to 17 other farms, of which no 
 particulars were given for 1821, the rents of eight were the 
 same in 1893 as in 1851, while the remainder showed an 
 average increase of 7 per cent. As to these variations, the 
 present owner said : ‘ Where there has been an increase it 
 is where there has been new letting to a new person, not 
 of the same family.’ 
 
 His Lordship further said that he had given no 
 abatements, on principle ; the rents were not altered when the 
 value of cattle went up, “ so one year pays for another.” But 
 he had made three permanent reductions of £25, £10, and £5 
 respectively, these being granted on account of the age of 
 the tenants, and not on account of the condition of the 
 holding. 
 
 Mr. J. M. Prichard, a retired bank manager of Holyhead, 
 also spoke to the stationary character of rents on the 
 Presaddfed Estate, near Bodedern, which forms part of Lord 
 Stanley’s property. It formerly belonged to Captain King, 
 and was known as an extremely under-rented estate, and the 
 rents have not been changed since it came into the Stanley 
 family. 
 
 “ As to the Baronhill Estate of nearly 25,000 acres, 
 belonging to Sir R. Bulkeley, it was stated by the agent that 
 the rents were raised generally in 1853, in some instances in 
 * 1862, and there was a general re-valuation in 1876. The 
 
239 
 
 result of these three valuations was that rents were raised. 
 
 Two farms were mentioned whose rents had been permanently 
 reduced since 1876. Varying abatements have been made, 
 amounting to a general average on the total rental of 12^ per 
 cent, in 1886, of 8} per cent, in 1887, of 5 per cent, in 1888, 
 and of 10 per cent, for the year 1892-93. 
 
 On Lady Neave’s Llysdulas Estate of 4,500 acres (rental 
 £4,000), ‘ in a very few cases, where relatives of the deceased 
 or of outgoing tenants were (? not) forthcoming and fresh 
 tenants taken in, and where the quality of the land justified 
 such increase, the rents were raised,’ but there does not 
 appear to have been any valuation of .the estate as a whole, 
 nor any permanent reduction made of recent years. Abate- 
 ments had been made amounting to 12^- per cent, for 1886; 
 
 7J per cent, for 1887; 10 per cent, for 1888-89, and 5 per 
 cent, for 1892-93. 
 
 Particulars concerning some other estates in Anglesey and ot her 
 may be gleaned from the table of rentals by the Secretary to Estate8 > 
 the Landowners’ Association, but we shall extract only those 
 referring to estates above 2,000 acres in extent. 
 
 As to Lady Vivian’s Estate of about 4,000 acres, the 
 rents show an increase of £154 7s. lOd. in the last 50 years, 
 and a decrease of £36 6s., nett increase, £118 Is. 10d., 
 caused by the falling in of two old leases in 1856 and 1859 
 by which there was an advance of £50 and £62 5s. 10d.’ 
 Abatements had been made amounting to 10 per cent, for 
 1886-88, and at Michaelmas, 1892, and Lady-day, 1893. 
 
 The following are the particulars given as to the estate 
 of the Marquis of Anglesey, which is 9,250 acres in extent, 
 its rental being £9,600. A re-valuation in 1863 raised the 
 rental £800, which is more than cancelled since then, inas- 
 much as since 1886 the whole tithe has been allowed tenants 
 at will, without repayment, apparently in lieu of abatements. 
 
 N o general re-valuation has taken place on Lord 
 Boston’s estate, of some 8,300 acres, which is let at a rental 
 of £7,500. Here also the gradual rise that had occurred 
 in the rents is said to have been more than cancelled by 
 reductions which were made in 1888 in the case of 64 farms, 
 amounted to a total of £218, or about 3 per cent, on the 
 gross rental. Abatements of 10 per cent, were made in 1886, 
 in December 1887, June 1888, June 1890, and December 
 1890 — that on half-year’s rents except, presumably, in 1886. 
 
 No general re- valuation has been made during the last 
 50 years on the estate (about 3,000 acres) of Colonel Hampton 
 Lewis of Henllys ; it is also stated that no increase of rent 
 has been made on new farmhouses, but the increase has been 
 
240 
 
 Complaints as to 
 increase of rents 
 on tenants’ 
 improvements. 
 
 entirely on new outbuildings. In the case of five farms a 
 permanent reduction, averaging 24 per cent, has been made. 
 In the case of one small holding, where the tenant had spent 
 £180 on the buildings, the rent was also reduced from 
 £17 to £12. Varying abatements have been granted, being 
 about 10 per cent, for 1887-89.” 
 
 While dealing in a previous chapter with the “ custom 
 of the country ” we saw that in former years it was customary 
 in Anglesey for the tenants to erect buildings and to carry 
 out improvements at their own expense. This being so, 
 “we found,” the Commissioners say (p. 424), “that 
 practically all advances in rents were alleged by tenant farmer 
 witnesses to have been for the most part, if not entirely, due 
 to their own improvements.” 
 
 In one respect the Anglesey evidence bore a close 
 resemblance to that of Cardiganshire. A great many holdings 
 have recently been sold, and their former tenants stated that 
 after carrying out great improvements on them they were 
 obliged to pay over again for such improvements by purchasing 
 their farms, or be ousted from their old homes to make room 
 for other purchasers, and their improvements thereby wholly 
 confiscated. 
 
 We shall quote only two out of the numerous examples 
 which are given in the report. 
 
 “ Mr. J. Thomas, of Ty Wian, stated that the cost of the improvements 
 effected by him on his holding between 1857 and 1889 amounted to £2,000 
 (of which he gave us detailed particulars). In fact, he had been awarded 
 a prize for the best-managed farm in Anglesey and Carnarvonshire. His 
 rent was first increased by £8, and subsequently by £18, making it £106 ; 
 but, after all, it was sold by public auction in March 1893, when he 
 himself purchased it for £2,820 ; so that, according to him, ‘ he was com- 
 pelled to pay twice over for the improvements he had made, besides having 
 had for many years to pay higher rent on his own improvements.’ 
 
 A witness from the parish of Llanfechell said that, according to 
 receipts in his possession, the rent of his holding (of about 50 acres) was 
 only £4 about 160 years ago. The rent during his tenancy was £33 ; but 
 after he had spent close upon £300 in buildings, towards which the 
 landlord also contributed £96, his farm was put up for sale, but he bought 
 it privately for £2,000.” 
 
 Particulars were also given of a long series of small 
 holdings, the rents of which had, it was alleged, been re- 
 peatedly raised, though most of the improvements had in 
 each case been carried out by the tenants, the owner occa- 
 sionally contributing a small proportion thereof. 
 
 “ The parishes from which these instances were taken 
 touch on the sea-coast on the east of the island, and it was 
 suggested that the district was becoming, of recent years, a 
 watering place, and that in consequence of this, land had 
 gone up greatly in value ; but while it was admitted that 
 
241 
 
 the place was improving in this direction, ifc was urged that 
 there was a serious drawback owing to its remoteness from a 
 railway.” 
 
 The Report then proceeds as follows (p. 425) : — “ Mr. Typical cases. 
 David Owen, a solicitor practising at Bangor, and the son of 
 an Anglesey tenant farmer, brought to our notice several 
 cases in which he said ‘ landlords had taken undoubted 
 advantage of their powers and raised their rents on improve- 
 ments executed by their tenants, and otherwise confiscated 
 property which ought to have belonged to the tenant.’ He 
 also emphasised the fact that ‘he had selected the cases 
 which he mentioned out of dozens of similar and some worse 
 cases in the county.’ One feature common to all the cases cited 
 by Mr. Owen was that the tenants had effected considerable 
 improvements on their holdings, and that the benefits of 
 such improvements accrued, not to the tenants themselves, 
 but to the landowners, who had contributed little or 
 nothing towards the increased value of the farms. This 
 diversion, or, as he termed it ‘ confiscation,’ of the tenants’ 
 improvements, was not necessarily effected b}^ the process of 
 raising the rent of the improving tenant, though this 
 occurred in some cases, but it was more frequently accom- 
 plished by the sale of the holding. Confining ourselves for 
 the present to cases where rents were raised, the following 
 may be given as samples of Mr. Owen’s illustrations : — 
 
 “ A tenant (who had died only a few months before our visit) took a 
 farm called Llwynyrarth in 1854 at £135 a year. This rent was raised 
 four times until it reached £205. The tenant was said to have spent over 
 £600 himsell on buildings. He and his predecessor in the tenancy spent 
 over £1,500 in improvements on the farm, which was eventually sold, when 
 the tenant was offered the sum of £24 in settlement of a claim in respect 
 of improvements amounting to £1,500. 
 
 Another farm, Bodsuran, measuring about 260 acres, was held for 
 about 40 years at a rent of £170, which, according to common belief, was 
 a high rent. The tenant, who was described as ‘ one of the best and most 
 enterprising men in the whole district, was constantly improving the farm 
 by walling and reclaiming waste land and generally improving the soil,’ 
 the value of his permanent improvements being estimated at from £2,000 
 to £2,500. The sequel we shall give in the words of the old tenant’s son, 
 who corroborated Mr Owen’s evidence, and supplied some further 
 particulars of the case : 
 
 ‘ When my father was just commencing to reap a little benefit from 
 his improvements in 1873, his rent, which in 1850 was £170, was raised to 
 £210. In May, 1875, he was served with a notice to quit on the 13th 
 November foliowing, with the alternative of paying a further increase of 
 £70, and accepting a 14 years’ lease renewable to 21 years. Now, as trade 
 was very brisk about 1875, it would have been entirely impossible to find 
 a suitable holding to let, especially in so short a time as six months, so he 
 was obliged to accept the terms offered or go homeless, and leave his work 
 for others to enjoy. He repeatedly wrote to the landlord (General Owen 
 Williams, now of Great Marlow) to ask for a re-valuation of the farm and 
 to have his improvements on it as well valued, but to no advantage. 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 Explanations of 
 the great 
 increase in 
 Anglesey rents. 
 
 ‘ During the years 1888-89 most of the Craig-y-don Estate in Anglesey 
 was sold by public auction, when, owing to the high rents which had been 
 extorted, the farms reached considerably higher figures than they would 
 had the rents been reasonable, but not a farthing’s compensation was 
 offered to those who had improved their holdings to make them so much 
 more valuable. The amount paid General Williams for Bodsuran was 
 £7,500, which, for a stranger, might probably be considered reasonable, 
 but for my father, who had spent the better part of his life, his skill, 
 and so much of his earnings in improving it, was, I am sure it will be 
 admitted, a very unfair price to pay.” 
 
 A third case, mentioned by Mr. David Owen, was a holding called 
 Treriffri, which had long been in the occupation of his own family, and 
 which formed part of the Bodorgan Estate of Sir George Meyrick. tlis 
 statement was to the following effect : — 
 
 “ The farm measures about 100 acres, and was let to my grandfather 
 in 1787 for £25 a year. Between that time and the time when I can first 
 remember the conditions of tenancy, I believe several advances were made 
 in the rent. It was £71 a year when I first remember it, about 30 or 
 35 years ago. This was always considered a very high rental, as the 
 farm is situate on the very high hill and is always short of water. 
 My father spared neither labour nor money to improve the farm, in fact 
 he improved it more than any other farm on the same estate, and he 
 had to pay dearer for it. He died in 1868, and the rent was raised 
 to £85. It was afterwards raised to £90. All these advances (were) made 
 before the landlord ever spent one penny piece on the farm, and before 
 he was ever one penny short of his rent. 
 
 “My father therefore paid an advance of 184 per cent, on his own 
 improvements for many years. During my mother’s widowhood there 
 was an advance at the rate of 260 per cent, in about 80 years.” 
 
 In 1882 an arrangement was made, between the agent and tenant, for 
 building a “ new farmyard and homestead but, as this arrangement 
 was not reduced into writing, it was discovered after the buildings had 
 been completed that the arrangement was differently understood by 
 the respective parties, the agent taking it that interest at the rate of 
 5 per cent, was to be charged on all the landlord’s expenditure, which 
 amounted to about £1,000, while the tenant believed that such interest 
 would be payable on the moneys paid for labour only, a sum of about 
 £175. The rent was raised by £20 (which represented 2 per cent, interest 
 on the whole expenditure), but the tenant claimed that he ought not to 
 pay more than £8 5s. (or 5 per cent, on £175). The difference could not 
 be settled, so that the tenant had to leave, his claim in respect of 
 improvements amounting to £600, of which he eventually received 
 £388 18s. 6d.” 
 
 We have reproduced in full the statement of these 
 cases as they are typical of much of the evidence given in 
 Anglesey. 
 
 Taking the island as a whole there can be no doubt that 
 the value of land, as indicated by the rent, has increased 
 enormously during the present century. To explain this it 
 was suggested that the rents reserved under the old leases 
 were almost nominal, but Mr. David Owen denied that “ former 
 landlords had been letting their land low in consideration of 
 the tenant undertaking to cultivate and improve it,” inasmuch 
 as “ the freehold was then correspondingly low.” This view 
 he supported by tracing the history of some typical farms, 
 including Bodsuran, which has been referred to above. 
 
243 
 
 This holding, he said, was acquired by the grandfather 
 of the late owner, as mortgagee, for £300 — but three or four 
 years ago its rent went up as high as £280 a year — and “ it 
 was the tenant and his predecessors that had executed all the 
 improvements at their own expense.” 
 
 “ The estimate of the value of improvements may seem 
 exaggerated, but to show it is not, I may say that about 30 
 years ago a farm was sold in Anglesey for £9,000, and the 
 owner became the occupier and built a new house and 
 farmyard and otherwise improved the farm. Less than 10 
 years ago this very farm was sold for over £18,500. 
 
 I know of another farm which cost the present owner 
 £25 an acre. The tenant subsequently spent over £25 
 an acre in improving. He has had to pay an increased rent 
 for his labour and capital.” 
 
 Another witness, Mr. J. M. Prichard, a barrister and ex- Two classes of 
 bank manager of Holyhead, said that to him the reason for the class a, Ind 
 great increase which, according to the Income Tax Assess- class 
 ments had occurred, in the rental of the county was quite 
 palpable. He divided the landowners of Anglesey into two 
 classes, first the hereditary owners, who mainly belonged to 
 the so-called county families, and who had inherited the 
 major portion, if not the whole, of their estates, whether 
 great or small. These he called Class A., while the other class 
 (which he denominated B.), were the small non-occupying 
 owners, men who had for the most part bought holdings and 
 regarded their ownership of them as a commercial transaction. 
 
 1 The distil) guishing feature of these classes,’ said the witness, ‘is 
 that Class A. charges a little more than half the rent that Class B. 
 charges. You may take it as a fact that Class B. charges 75 per eent. 
 more rent than Class A., and I am putting it mildly there. The best 
 proof of this is that whenever it happens that Class A. sell, and unfor- 
 tunately Class A. are selling very frequently now, they usually sell to 
 Class B., because Class A. do not buy but very seldom now, and Class B . 
 immediately raise the rents. I do not give opinions and inferences, 
 which, can be, of course, of no value to the Commissioners, but these are 
 facts. When Class B. sell and Class A. buy, which very seldom happens 
 now, and which used to happen very frequently, Class A. always reduce 
 the rent. You may take that as a rule.’ 
 
 Mr. Prichard gave some instances in proof of this 
 assertion, and compared the rents of farms belonging to the 
 two classes of landowners ; but from other evidence that he 
 gave “ it was clear,” the report says, “ that tenants even of 
 large estates (Class A.) were by no means free from the fear 
 of having their rents raised upon their own improvements,” 
 however seldom those fears might be realised. carnarvok- 
 
 The following is the statement of the Report (p. 428) ^ chief 
 
 as to the three chief estates in Carnarvonshire, concerning estates. 
 
244 
 
 Lord Penrhyn’s, 
 
 Mr. Assheton 
 Smith’s, 
 
 which the Commissioners received detailed evidence — viz., 
 those of Lord Penrhyn, Mr. Assheton Smith, and the Bari 
 of Ancaster : — 
 
 “ The Carnarvonshire estates of Lord Penrhyn, which 
 measure 72,000 acres, of which 48,000 acres are upland and 
 of which the farm rental in 1892 amounted to £21,000, have 
 not been re-valued, as a whole, during the last half-century ; 
 but some re-valuations were made on the Lleyn portion of it, 
 purchased from Sir Robert Vaughan. * A great deal of land 
 has been purchased ; it is, therefore, impossible to compare 
 the present rental with that of 50 years ago.’ As to indi- 
 vidual holdings, however, the statement of the agent was 
 that ‘ no rents have been raised except in some changes of 
 boundaries, &c. ; but as a rule a farm is re-let on the same 
 rent, many have not varied for 40 or 50 years. If a re- 
 valuation is required,’ he continued, £ I make it myself, 
 assisted by my sub-agents.’ 
 
 The permanent reductions since 1883 amounted to £750 
 or less than 3^ per cent, on the total rental. This percen- 
 tage would, however, be considerably lower but for the fact 
 that on some 20 farms in the Bettws y Coed district, reduc- 
 tions had been made averaging 25 per cent. Abatements 
 have also been made as follows : j for 3J years from Novem- 
 ber, 1885, to May, 1889, 10 per cent. ; for one half-year to 
 May, 1892, 10 per cent., and on a portion of the estate, 20 
 per cent. ; for one year to May, 1893, 25 per cent., and 30 
 per cent, for part of year.’ 
 
 As to Mr. Assheton Smith’s Vaynol Estate of nearly 
 36,000 acres, it was said that the agricultural land brings in 
 an annual income of £20,349. About 1869, ‘ it was con- 
 sidered that the rents wanted equalising, and a valuation was 
 then made, a professional valuer of great experience having 
 been appointed. No other general valuation has been made 
 within the last 70 years at least. Some holdings were re- 
 duced in rent, but the general result was an increase of 10 
 per cent, on the previous rental. Some years ago, when 
 things were flourishing, a slight increase was made to a new 
 tenant occasionally ; but, in most instances, such increase 
 has been reduced again or improvements given as an equiva- 
 lent.’ Since the commencement of the depression, it appears 
 that the rents of eight farms have been permanently reduced. 
 Abatements have been given from 1886 on, the total amount 
 so remitted during the seven years prior to May 1893 
 amounting to £20,589, or about 14 per cent, on the rental, 
 assuming that the total rental given above is the gross total 
 previous to the deduction of abatements. 
 
245 
 
 As to the Earl of Ancaster’s Gwydyr Estate, which until 
 a year or two ago was close upon 33,000 acres, chiefly 
 of mountain land, situated entirely (except some nine acres) 
 in Carnarvonshire, it was stated that the farm rental 
 in 1869 was £5,901 11s. 6d. In 1869, there was a 
 
 valuation by two valuers appointed by the late Lord 
 Willoughby, and it was stated that the rental in 1893 
 amounted to £6,650 15s. 2d., showing an increase of about 
 12 J per cent, on the 1869 rental. 
 
 In a few cases permanent reductions have been made of 
 recent years, in all other cases abatements have been granted, 
 commencing in 1879, and amounting during the 14 years 
 down to the end of 1892, to £10,984, or a general average of 
 about 11^ per cent, on the total rental during those years.” 
 It is to be observed that no detailed evidence was received as 
 to one other large estate in Carnarvonshire, that of Glynllifon, 
 of which the present owner is the Hon. F. G. Wynn, who 
 came into possession in 1888 on the death of his brother, the 
 late Lord JSTewborough. 
 
 The Report, however, contains particulars as to three 
 other estates which, though considerably less than the 
 foregoing, still rank high in importance in the county. These 
 are the Madryn, Gwynfryn, and Cefn Amwlch Estates. As 
 to the first, which belonged to the late Sir Love Jones-Parry, 
 the following is the statement made by the late Mr. Pughe- 
 Jones, a barrister, who formerly had the general direction of 
 the propert}^ : 
 
 “The rents on the estate have not been appreciably 
 varied within the last 50 years. They are considerably higher 
 than upon the Glynllifon Estate ; but, excepting a few farms, 
 they have not been raised within the period aforesaid, and 
 some have been lowered. The rents of purchased farms are 
 from the purchaser seeking to obtain 3^ or 4 per cent, per 
 annum on his purchase moneys, always higher than the rents 
 of inherited farms forming or being parts of the old family 
 estate. This is true as to several farms purchased by the late 
 Dame Elizabeth Jones-Parry. Their rents are at least 20 
 per cent, higher than those of adjoining holdings. They are 
 bought very dear, and now only pay 2f per cent, per annum 
 on the moneys paid ; but I admit that they are high rents. 
 The other rents are precisely what they were 50 years ago. 
 The usual rent of average lowland farms in Lleyn is £1 per 
 acre or thereabouts. ” 
 
 Temporary abatements amounting to 10 per cent, were 
 said to have been made on the estate from 1885 to 1888 and 
 in 1892 and in 1893, but no permanent reductions have been 
 granted. 
 
 The Earl of 
 Ancaster’s, 
 
 Madryn, 
 
246 
 
 Gwynfryn, 
 
 And Col. Wynne 
 Finch 's^Estates. 
 
 The Gwynfryn Estate of some 6,500 acres, belonging to 
 Mr. Ellis Nanney, was valued in 1876 by a man described as 
 a practical farmer on an adjoining estate, the net result 
 being an increase of about six per cent, on the previous rental. 
 In one case the increase then made has since been taken off, 
 and that constituted the only permanent reduction made on 
 the estate. Abatements of 10 per cent, have been given 
 in 1886, ’88, ’89, and ’93, and the whole (or a portion) 
 of the tithe has also been remitted in addition. 
 
 The Cefn Amwlch estate of 5,600 acres in Lleyn, as well 
 as the Foelas estate (9,000 acres) in West Denbighshire, 
 belongs to Col. Wynne Finch, who said that though the 
 acreage of the two estates were unequal their rentals were 
 very much the same, the Foelas Estate consisting of much 
 mountain land. 
 
 Both properties were valued on succession in 1870, 
 resulting in a net increase of 12-J per cent, on the previous 
 rental. The following is an analysis of the valuation : “ Out of 
 63 farms on the Foelas Estate, the rents of five were reduced 
 by an average of 7 per cent., 14 remained stationary, and 44 
 were advanced, the increase amounting to 20 per cent., or 
 taking all the holdings on the estate together, there was a 
 net increase of 13 per cent. 
 
 Out of 85 farms on the Cefn Amwlch Estate, the rents of 
 30 remained unchanged, one small holding only was reduced 
 (namely, from £8 to £7), while the remaining 54 farms had 
 their rents increased by an average of 18 per cent., resulting 
 in a net increase for the estate of 1 1 per cent. 
 
 Since then permanent reductions amounting to £122 
 have been made, while the abatements have been 10 per 
 cent, in 1886-89, 15 per cent, in 1892, and 20 per cent, 
 in 1893. 
 
 Since 1872, over £25,000, or a little more than £1,100 
 a year, had been spent in repairs and improvements on 
 both estates. 
 
 “ Mr. Hugh Owen, who, as foreman carpenter and clerk 
 of the works, was for many years in charge of the building 
 operations on the Foelas Estate, gave some further evidence 
 with reference to that property, which may be referred to 
 here, though, strictly speaking, it belongs to Denbighshire. 
 He said : — 
 
 * When the present landlord got the estate it was in a 
 very wretched condition throughout, except a very few 
 places. You heard what he spent and you heard that he 
 had the estate re-valued about 1870. But Colonel Finch 
 did not tell you yesterday how his rents were increased after 
 
247 
 
 buildings had been erected when he was landlord. Almost the 
 whole of the farm premises which were repaired or rebuilt, or 
 built anew had their rents raised ;’ that is, as we understood 
 him, the rents fixed by the valuation were further raised 
 subsequent to the erection of new buildings. Witness said 
 that he had very often to interpret between the agent and 
 the tenants, and he felt very much at the time that c it is a 
 pity the agent did not speak Welsh.’ ” 
 
 He then referred to the case of a farmer holding one of 
 the largest farms on the estate, whose rent was raised after 
 he had made some improvements — the landlord having also 
 made other improvements at the same time — and, he added, 
 the increase in the rent discouraged the tenant : — “ I thought 
 to myself if that man had been given a present, or some 
 acknowledgement to encourage him in his work, instead of 
 raising his rent, things would have been very different.” 
 
 Numerous complaints as to the raising of rents in 
 various parts of this county also are quoted in the Report, 
 but a few specimens only need be reproduced here. 
 
 As to the southern part of Carnarvonshire, or the dis- 
 trict of Eifionydd, Mr. II. Roberts, an auctioneer, valuer, and 
 farmer, of Portmadoc, stated that ; rents had been generally 
 raised throughout the district during the last 30 years from 
 15 to 30 per cent. During that time the landlords had 
 spent nothing on the land in the way of improvements.’ 
 
 Leases were shown to have formerly prevailed in this 
 as in other parts of Wales, and several witnesses incidentally 
 referred to cases of rents being raised on their expiration, 
 Mr. Roberts, for example mentioned the following cases 
 as coming within his own knowledge : — 
 
 “ His father purchased, about 1830, the remainder of a lease for lives 
 which expired in 1865. The holding under lease was 140 acres, its rent then 
 being £150. After the expiration of the lease the farm was divided, 50 
 acres were taken away and the rent was advanced £58 19s. As to this the 
 witness said : ‘ The fact is the rent was raised in proportion to the 
 improvements made.’ ‘ About 1850, my father,’ he continued, £ took about 
 40 acres of adjoining land, at a guinea an acre rent. He made new fences 
 everywhere on the land, except a portion of a fence adjoining the high 
 road, and made several large stone-covered drains that are almost in as 
 good condition now as when they were made. About the year 1860 the 
 rent was raised to 30s. an acre. In the year 1866 nine acres were 
 taken from his widow and children (my father was dead now), in addition 
 to what was taken by the railway, and the remaining 29 acres let to his 
 widow for £2 2s. 6d. an acre, while the same quality of land on the other 
 side of the road was let for the same rent until last year when it was sold.’ 
 
 He also mentioned the case of another farm, Llanerch, on the 
 Tremadoc Estate : “ Its rent in 1823 was £51. There was a lease on the 
 farm, I think, which expired in 1823 : the rent then was £51. It was 
 raised in that year to £102. In the year 1860 it was raised to £140. In 
 the year 1867 it was raised to £160,’ at which we understood it to have 
 since remained.” 
 
 Typical 
 complaiuts as 
 to rents, 
 
 in Eifionydd. 
 
248 
 
 in Lleyn 
 
 Cases of hard- 
 ship cited by 
 Mr. Darbishire. 
 
 “ As to the immediate neighbourhood of Criccieth, Mr. 
 Richard Owen, a retired tenant, who spoke with 50 years’ 
 experience of farming in the district, made the following 
 statement : — 
 
 ; The rent of nearly every farm in the district has been 
 raised, and in some cases, raised considerably during that 
 time. 
 
 For instance, there is Dolwgan, a farm I once occupied. Its old rent 
 was £105, then it was raised to £110. The farm was then sold and bought 
 by Messrs. Huddarts, of JBrynkir, and they raised the rent to £320. I 
 left when I understood that it was about to be sold. Messrs. Huddart 
 only gave £5,200 for the place.’ Witness then moved to a farm belonging 
 to Lord Harlech : 1 Its rent to my predecessor was £94, but it was re- 
 valued in my time and raised to £112 10s. There is another small farm 
 near Criccieth called Tir ucha, the property of Mr. G . H. Owen, Ymwlch. 
 The rent 25 years ago was £10 10s. It is now £29, the landlord paying 
 the taxes, amounting, perhaps, to £2 or £3. There is Ystum-cegid, again, 
 a farm near Garn Dolbenmaen, belonging to Lord Harlech, where the 
 rent was raised £29. 
 
 ‘ As a rule all improvements have been made by the 
 tenant. It is impossible to get landlords to spend any money 
 on the farm, the only thing they will do is, when it becomes 
 absolutely necessary to get fresh buildings on a farm, to 
 build those. It is the rule on some estates (the Gwynfryn 
 Estate for instance) to give the materials only, the tenant 
 paying for the labour.’ 
 
 Several witnesses made general statements as to the 
 raising of rents in the district of Lleyn, or the peninsular 
 part of the county — one of them (Mr. John Davies, of Caer- 
 tyddyn, Llangybi,) saying that “ some 25 to 30 years ago 
 there was a general raising of rents in these parts, and there 
 is many a farm I could name whose rents have been nearly 
 doubled or trebled the last 40 or 50 years. There has been 
 no permanent reduction made during these bad times. All 
 that the landlords did was to extend the time for payment 
 and allow a discount varying from £5 to £10 per cent. I 
 got no reduction or allowance. I applied, but was told no 
 allowance could be made to leaseholders.” 
 
 “ Perhaps the strongest statement that was made to us 
 in Carnarvonshire with reference to the increase of rent,” the 
 Commissioners observe in conclusion, “ was that of Mr. W. A. 
 Darbishire (of Nan tile), an independent witness, who 
 described himself as a quarry owner, land owner, and estate 
 agent. He said : — 
 
 ‘ I have known cases of great hardships where tenants’ 
 improvements have been sold with land by representatives of 
 deceased landlords, and the purchaser has raised the rent to 
 nearly three times the previous rent, the tenant receiving no 
 part of the enhanced value which the vendor realised. 
 
249 
 
 ‘ I do not like to give the names ; but I knew one small 
 farm not far from Groeslon. It was sold to a quarry agent. 
 I know, as a fact, it was let at a low rent, and it was sold. 
 The tenant had sat at a very moderate rent indeed. I think 
 it was something like £18 a year ; and he had built a barn 
 and a cowhouse, which stood there on the land, and this was 
 taken by the purchaser, the quarry agent, who immediately 
 raised the rent to £54 10s. That is a case about which I 
 could produce evidence if necessary. It was discovered by 
 me in the process of appealing against the poor rate. 
 
 ‘ I will give you another example which happened to 
 myself. I will not give the name of the vendor, but I bought 
 a small property from him for £800. It was in good order. 
 There was a good building on it, or an old building conside- 
 rably improved, and I paid £800 for it. The vendor took 
 the whole of that money, and when I came to enter upon it 
 I found the tenant had really during the last four or five 
 years repaired and renovated the house. I appealed to the 
 vendor to repay him some of the purchase-money. He would 
 not. I paid the tenant some money myself in consideration 
 of his outlay.’ 
 
 This repayment Mr. Darbishire had made, he explained, 
 as a ‘good neighbour,’ and he added that he ought to have 
 been able to cause the vendor to pay some of his advanced 
 price to the tenant, who had made the improvements. We 
 quote the latter case, as it strongly suggests that if the 
 purchaser had not been possessed of such ‘ good neighbourli- 
 ness,’ the probability would be that the rent of the sitting 
 tenant would have been at once raised so as to bring in an 
 adequate interest on the purchase-money. 
 
 It is within the last few years that holdings and portions 
 of estates have been chiefly sold in Anglesey — as well as in 
 several other parts of Wales. But it was chiefly in the seven- 
 ties that much of the land of Merionethshire was placed in 
 the market, and Mr. Doyle in his Report to the Royal 
 Commission on Agriculture in 1882, refers to the matter 
 thus : — 
 
 “ Within the last 15 years [1867-1882] a great number 
 of farms have changed hands in this county, and fetched 
 at from 85 to 45 years’ purchase. The rents of such farms 
 have consequently been increased, and, two years ago, one of 
 the unions in the county (Dolgelly) was re-valued, and the 
 result was an increase of £18,000.” 
 
 “ With reference to this statement, Mr. Wynne, of 
 Peniartli, said that an estate of over 6,000 acres adjoining 
 his own had been put on the market, about the year 1876 or 
 
 Merioneth- 
 shire : 
 
 Much land sold 
 in the Seventies, 
 and rents ad- 
 vanced in 
 consequence, 
 
250 
 
 Either before or 
 after the sales. 
 
 1878, or thereabouts. ‘ It was split up into a great number 
 of lots ; in fact, it was sub-divided into an immense lot 
 of small portions, the main part, however, being sold with 
 the mansion, but,’ Mr Wynne added, ‘ I believe the present 
 rental of that estate (I am only telling you from hearsay) is 
 much lower than it was when the present owner bought it in 
 1878, or thereabouts. Since then there have been a certain 
 number of farms that have changed hands in the neighbour- 
 hood. I have bought some myself, and the produce of them 
 does not pay certainly more than — not 2 \ per cent. — not 
 
 a bit more.’ Unfortunately, we omitted to inquire the 
 number of years’ purchase which these purchased holdings 
 fetched, but Mr. Wynne mentioned that in the case of one 
 farm which he had bought about 1891, he had ‘ had to reduce 
 £15 on the rent directly.’ ” 
 
 A striking feature of the Merionethshire evidence (pp. 
 433-9) was the effect on rentals of sales carried out when 
 agriculture was in the most prosperous and progressing con- 
 dition. 
 
 “ Speaking with reference to the parish of Llandderfel, 
 between Corwen and Bala, Mr. Thomas Jones, the county 
 councillor for the district and a land valuer of experience, 
 said : — 
 
 ‘ Rents were advanced before the land was sold,* and 
 again by the new proprietors, and remained so up to 1880. 
 Some have remained so up to now, but others have been 
 reduced, and abatements were given in 1886-87, and in 
 1892-93. One farm was advanced equal to 60 per cent., and 
 still remains so.’ 
 
 “ One of the purchased estates in this district is that of 
 Pale, which extends to about 5,000 acres, exclusive of sheep 
 walks. The owner, Sir H. B. Robertson, stated that it had 
 been purchased at various times, the first purchase dating 
 from about 1859 : “ I believe that in some cases the rents 
 were raised a bit at the time the propert}^ was purchased — 
 they were raised against new buildings and improvements. 
 The buildings were to be put in order, and the rent was to 
 be then fixed by the valuation of an independent valuer,” 
 a practice which according to another witness is extending. 
 Permanent reductions had been made of recent years, 
 amounting to 1 \ per cent, on the gross rental. Besides 
 these, abatements of 10 per cent, were made from September, 
 
 * In one ease it was definitely suggested that the vendor’s valuer had 
 valued a farm above the rent then paid for it, in order that the purchaser 
 (Mr. Robertson) might pay a better price for it. See Qu. 18,047-9, 18,077. 
 
251 
 
 1885, to March, 1889, and for the year 1891-92, and 15 per 
 cent, on the half-year’s rent, in the following year. 
 
 Mr. T. E. Ellis, M.P., also referred to the case of the 
 Pale Estate, in enumerating typical circumstances connected 
 with the raising of rents generally in the county f 
 
 “ Sometimes rents are raised in order to put the estate 
 in the market. This was the case on the Pale Estate prior to 
 its purchase by the late Mr. Robertson. Sometimes they are 
 raised after purchase, as was the case on the Tottenham 
 Estate, lower down the Dee Valley, under the regime of an 
 estate agent named Mr. Sharpe. Sometimes they are raised 
 on what is called a re-valuation. In 1876 the Rhiwlas Estate 
 was re-valued by Mr. Jenkins, then of Pias yn Ward. At 
 one stroke, the rent of every farm was raised, the rise varying 
 from 8 to 33 per cent. The impression of the country side is 
 ineradicable that the rents were in many cases raised above 
 Mr. Jenkins’ valuation. Mr. Jenkins is still alive, and I 
 suppose the document is in existence as well. Mr. Price, in 
 his evidence, dismissed this re-valuation (which on his own 
 admission amounted to 17 per cent.), in a line and a half. 
 But it is difficult for me to give the Commissioners any 
 impression of the disheartening effect which that re-valuation 
 had on the agriculture, and on the spirit and good heart of 
 the tenantry of Rhiwlas.” 
 
 The evidence of Mr. Ellis — himself the son of a tenant 
 on the Rhiwlas Estate — was corroborated by several witnesses 
 (a number of specific instances being quoted in the Report). 
 Mr. Price, the owner, said that the rental of the estate had 
 been raised, in the year after the valuation, from £9,060 to 
 £10,579, which meant an increase of about 17 per cent. As 
 to the valuation itself he was unable to produce it, inasmuch 
 as it was with his solicitors in London. Allowances of lime 
 to the value of about 5 per cent, had been granted in 1885 ; 
 in 1886 certain of the tenants petitioned the landlord for an 
 abatement. Those who signed the petition received 5 per 
 cent., those who did not were granted 10 per cent. In 1888, 
 however, a general permanent reduction was made, averaging 
 nearly 18 per cent, for the whole estate. 
 
 ' c With reference to the upper part of Llanfor and Llandderfel 
 parishes, in the same district, we received from one of our witnesses 
 some interesting tables showing the increase of rent during the last 
 50 years, and, in a few cases, during a whole century. In 1793, the total 
 rent of four specified farms amounted to £45, in 1859 it was £152, 
 and the farms being subsequently sold, the rental went up at one time to 
 about £225, but a few slight reductions have since been made. Thus, 
 the rent was more than trebled between 1793 and 1859, while a further 
 increase of nearly 50 per cent, was made, so that at one time the rent 
 
 + Qu. 16,915. 
 
 Statement of 
 Mr. T. E. Ellis, 
 M.P. 
 
252 
 
 Purchasers fre- 
 quently obliged 
 to reduce rents 
 after buying. 
 
 amounted to five times the figure it stood at in 1793. The effect of 
 sales was also made apparent in the case of several of the other farms 
 mentioned by this witness : the rent of another set of four holdings in 
 1859 was £143 15s., in 1876, after at least three of them had been in 
 the interval sold, £252, and in 1893, it was £209— a fluctuation which 
 showed an increase between 1859 and 1876 of 75 per cent., and a 
 subsequent decrease of about 17 per cent., making a net increase 
 since 1859 of 40 per cent.” 
 
 After giving other instances to a like effect, the witness sums up 
 his evidence thus : 
 
 ‘ The rents of most of these farms were raised before any new 
 buildings were made. Rents have been raised from the year 1852 to 1888 
 50 per cent., after 1888 they had been reduced 15^ per cent.’ A some- 
 what similar statement was also made by another witness, speaking 
 chiefly as to the township of Nantffriar, in the parish of Llandderfel, 
 and as to the Rug Estate : 1 During the last 30 and 40 years, rents 
 have been raised generally from 35 to 45 per cent. ; during the last 
 five years reductions have been made on a few farms, and temporary 
 abatements varying from 5 to 15 per cent.’ (p. 435). 
 
 “ There is reason to believe that in the case of several 
 other estates, besides that of Pale, which has already been 
 mentioned, rents were raised previous to sales, with the 
 result that purchasers had subsequently to make considerable 
 reductions in the rentals. This is well illustrated by the 
 history of the Aberliirnant Estate, now 7 belonging to Sir 
 Edmund Buckley. Its previous owner, with the view of 
 selling, gave notice to all the tenants, but at first failed to 
 sell. He then tried to raise the rents, but all the large 
 farmers left. The estate w r as then, or soon after (namely, 
 about 1871) bought by Sir Edmund Buckley, but it w 7 as 
 practically without tenants. He had, consequently, to make 
 great reductions in the rentals so as to be able to let the 
 farms at all, and at a subsequent period further reductions 
 had also to be made, so that a total rental of £1,010 in 1870 
 had by 1882 been reduced to £857, and by 1893 to £696, 
 showing a total decrease of about 45 per cent wdthin 23 
 
 years. 
 
 The following instance is from another part of the 
 county. The rents of several farms which now form part of 
 the estate of Mr. R. H. Wood, in the district of Trau r sfynydd, 
 had been raised by an average of 32 per cent, from what they 
 were about 50 years ago, but subsequent to their purchase 
 by Mr. Wood considerable reductions have been made, so 
 that the rents were said to be now 7 less than what they w r ere 
 50 jrears ago. No permanent reductions have been made by 
 Mr. Wood in the case of inherited farms, a fact which 
 brings out more clearty the excessive character of the rents 
 charged for the purchased holdings at the time of their 
 acquisition. In the case of the former class of holdings, 
 abatements have been granted amounting to 25 per cent, in 
 1886-88 and 20 per cent, in 1892-93 
 
253 
 
 Mr. Wynne, of Peniarth, seems also to have had a 
 similar experience — namely, that of buying farms with high 
 rentals which had to be subsequently reduced — as may be 
 seen from the following evidence of the Rev. W. Davies, 
 of Llanegryn, who spoke as to the districts of Towyn and 
 Llaneg^n, where the Peniarth estate is mainly situated. 
 After stating that rents in the district generally are now 
 considerably higher than they were 35 or 40 years ago, 
 he gave particulars concerning nine holdings, the aggre- 
 gate rent of which had been advanced within the period 
 mentioned by an average of over 27 per cent. 
 
 “ As to one of the farms in question (Tonfannau), he said : £ The rent 
 in 1875 was £163 ; it has been sold since that three times, and it was 
 advanced to £215, and when Mr. Wynne bought it last time, he reduced 
 the rent to £200.’ Mr. Wynne himself informed us subsequently that he 
 is now further allowing an abatement of £30, paying the tithe (£4 18s.), 
 so that the actual rent payable at present is about £165. 4 The other 
 
 farms [Mr. Davies continued] belonged to six different estates, and I 
 think they are fair samples of the advancements in the farms 
 of the district, taking Towyn district generally during the last 
 35 years, except on Peniarth and Peniarth Uchaf estates. It 
 is seldom, if ever, an advance is made by Mr. Wynne or Mr. 
 Scott but when there is a change of tenant, and even then they 
 are more moderate than many other landlords. But though there 
 were no great advancements on the Peniarth Estate, yet most of the 
 farms bought by Mr. Wynne — he has bought many lately, within the last 
 15 years — are much higher than they were 30 years ago. The advance 
 was made before he bought them. Some farms in the district have been 
 let to new tenants at considerable reductions in these last years, and re- 
 ductions have been made in a few cases to sitting tenants, but cases have 
 also occurred in which the sitting tenants were refused any reductions ; 
 but when the farms were given up by them they were let to new tenants 
 at reduced rents. Dyffryngwyn in the parish of Towyn is one instance ; 
 the sitting tenant was refused any reduction, but the farm was let to a 
 new tenant for £20 less rental’ (p. 437). 
 
 44 The rents on the Peniarth estate (which comprises a 
 little over 9,000 acres) have not been generally raised for 50 
 years,” said Mr. Wynne. 44 I have got the valuation of 
 the estate made in 1842, when it once was offered for sale, 
 and the rents of many farms are cheaper now than they were 
 then, and the estate has never been re-valued since. A 
 few farms have been raised for drainage, but the outlay is 
 enormously in excess of any sort of percentage that I get for 
 it. I have many farms that are at the same rent now as 
 they were in 1830.” 
 
 Rents are occasionally raised 44 in the case of a change 
 of tenancy and none of the same family succeeding.” The 
 gross rental, which in 1893 stood at <£4,430, has been per- 
 manently reduced, since 1878, by about 4J per cent., or 
 since 1880 by 3^ per cent. Abatements varying from 5 to 
 15 per cent, were made between 1885 and 1893, with the 
 exception of 1890-1. 
 
 The Peniarth 
 Estate. 
 
254 
 
 The Rev. Win. Davies, whom we have just quoted above, 
 traced the history of the rentals of numerous farms in his 
 district, but we shall quote his statement as to one only, viz., 
 Taltreuddyn bach, which has been for generations, and is still, 
 in the occupation of his family. 
 
 holdhfVrent * ^ ne ^ lun ^ re< ^ years ago, in 1795, the rent to my grandfather was 
 
 duringnoo years ^25. Some few years after (about 1799) the landlady died, and her son 
 succeeded her, the rent being raised to £45. My grandfather died in 
 1807, and the rent was then advanced to £60 for his eldest son (my uncle) 
 who succeeded as tenant. My uncle made great improvements. He 
 reclaimed a great deal of waste land and made it into several new fields. 
 He built new stone walls around almost all the fields on the farm, built a 
 large hay shed and some other buildings entirely at his own expense, and 
 his rent was advanced to £77 some time after 1846. Then the Cambrian 
 Railway went through the farm and took a good portion of it, but no 
 reduction or compensation was given to the tenant. My uncle died in 1864: 
 and his widow became the tenant, and in 1873 the rent was advanced again 
 to £97. The widow died that year and her daughter became the tenant, 
 and she held it for ten years, but finding that she was losing money every 
 year she gave it up, and now her brother is the tenant, and the rent is 
 advanced to £100. The tenant has done all the repairs on the farm and 
 is allowed nothing towards them. About 60 years ago the landlord built a 
 house, cowhouse, and stable, but nothing has been done ever since by the 
 landlord save letting the farm and receiving the rent. The estate, I 
 believe, is heavily mortgaged, and probably advances were made to cover 
 the interest. But such cases, which are numerous over the country, make 
 a profound impression on the tenantry.” 
 
 The boundaries of the holding, Mr. Davies explained, are the same as 
 they were a century ago, excepting the acreage taken for the railway, but 
 in the meantime the rent has been nearly quadrupled. 
 
 Similar evidence was given “by another independent 
 witness,” Mr. R. D. Jones, a schoolmaster, who spoke with 
 more particular reference to the neighbouring district of 
 Llwyngwril, where the land chiefly belongs to the Countess 
 de Morelia and the late Mrs. Royle. 
 
 ‘ The property of the latter was re-valued about 1875, with a conse- 
 quent rise in the rent of each farm. On the other properties no general 
 valuation has taken place, but there has almost invariably been an 
 advance in the rent when a farm has changed hands as well as to 
 the occupying tenant. In the case of old tenants of Mrs. Royle, the rent 
 was raised on the tenants’ own improvements. In some cases on other 
 properties, where no apparent rise in the rent took place, the farm 
 was actually dearer, as the railway had taken some of the best land, 
 and the rent remained the same. There are a few cases of reductions 
 owing to exceptional circumstances, such as Hendre, a large farm re- 
 quiring much labour, for which it has been difficult to get a tenant. The 
 general advance in the rents of this district during the past 30 or 40 years 
 is from 25 to 35 per cent. On all the properties there have been in 
 late years temporary abatements varying from 5 to 15 per cent, on most 
 of the farms in the district.’ 
 
 The Coast Dis- 
 trict — Barmouth 
 to Harlech. 
 
 Instances, which we need not reproduce, are then quoted 
 in support of this statement. 
 
 The Commissioners observe that the construction of the 
 Cambrian Railway along the Merionethshire coast may 
 probably have contributed somewhat to increase the value of 
 some of the holdings referred to by these witnesses. 
 
255 
 
 With reference to the neighbourhood of Barmouth, Mr. 
 Vincent suggested in one of his questions that the rise in 
 rents was there due to the fact that the district had £ been 
 opened up by railways, and a good market arisen at Barmouth 
 for agricultural produce.’ In the case of nine farms in the 
 parish of Llanddwywe, an average increase of 384 per cent, 
 had occurred during the last 50 years, while as to the 
 adjoining parish of Llanaber (in which Barmouth is situated) 
 the increase since 1863. in the case of 11 farms, averaged 44*0 
 per cent. The witness who gave this evidence referred 
 also to a farm he had formerly held. When his father took 
 it, about 1845, the rent was £55. About 15 years after, it 
 was raised to £60. Three-fourths of an acre of ‘ the best land’ 
 was taken from it towards the parish graveyard without 
 notice or allowance. The railway, when it went through, also 
 took about three acres, but no reduction was made. In 1871 
 witness took it after his father had given it up, and the rent 
 was then raised to £80, but witness left in 1872. His father 
 had built some walls but he received no compensation for 
 them. 
 
 As to the district of Harlech — higher up on the same 
 coast — Dr. It. T. Jones stated : 4 Rents had been varied upon 
 almost every estate, but the additions had been by no means 
 uniform ; the increase had been from 10 to 30 per cent.’ 
 He was unable at the time to produce statistical evidence in 
 support of this statement, but he subsequently forwarded us 
 a ‘ list of farms on which the rents have been raised ’ in his 
 district.’ In several of the cases there given, the advances 
 had, however, been followed by reductions within the last 
 few years. The witness also added that ‘ about 20 to 25 
 years ago all the rents on Mr. D. W. Kirkby’s estate were 
 raised 20 per cent.’ In his evidence-in-chief he gave us one 
 instance of fluctuation in the rent of a farm of 150 acres. 
 ‘ Some 30 years ago it was £104. It was subsequently 
 advanced to £170. The present tenant took the farm some 
 seven years ago at £150. Previous to 1863 the tenant had 
 built a place for his hay at a cost of £40. After 1863 the 
 tenant built another outbuilding at a cost of £60 ; he also 
 drained the land at his own expense, besides greatly improv- 
 ing it with lime, manure, seeding, cake feeding, &c. The 
 landlord, in the years 1865 to 1870, spent about £300 on the 
 house and allowed a later tenant £20 for repairs. The 
 present tenant has the right of shooting all game, which was 
 formerly reserved.’ A few abatements have also been 
 granted within the last few years. 
 
 Influence of 
 Kailways. 
 
256 
 
 Evidence as to 
 Wynn stay 
 Estates dealt 
 later. 
 
 As to the parish of Maentwrog, Mr. Alderman Hughes, 
 who represented an association of farmers in the parish, said 
 that the farmers fancy the rents to be too high bj r one-third, 
 taking the parish generally, though some owners had given 
 permanent reductions and others abatements. 
 
 Among the former appears to be Mr. Oakele}^, of Tany- 
 bwlch, who has permanently reduced the rents of 36 farms by 
 amounts varying from 7^ to 42 per cent. 
 
 Merioneth is the last of the six counties which we 
 grouped together under the general title of “Western,” so 
 that we have now completed our summary of the evidence 
 with reference to the whole of the group, except as to that 
 portion of Sir Watkin W. Wynn’s estates which lies in 
 Merioneth. As the bulk of the Wynnstay property is, how- 
 ever, situated in Montgomeryshire, it will be more conve- 
 nient to postpone our consideration of evidence as to those 
 estates until that county is reached. 
 
257 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HISTORY OF WELSH RENTALS -continued. 
 
 1.— EASTERN OR BORDER COUNTIES OF NORTH 
 WALES ( DENBIGH , FLINT, AND 
 MONTGOMERY ). 
 
 The Eastern or Border Counties in North Wales are DENiJIGH3H i RE 
 those of Denbigh, Flint, and Montgomery. Denbigh and 
 Flint may for the most part be treated together as one resembling 
 county, as their boundaries in places are rather intermixed, counts. 
 Moreover, that portion of them lying west of the river Clwyd, 
 closely resembles in many respects the adjoining districts of 
 Merioneth and Carnarvon, and on that ground it might be 
 more properly treated along with the Western Counties than 
 under the present head. It shall be taken first however. 
 
 The Foelas Estate has already been dealt with, under Car- 
 narvonshire (p. 246), while reference has also been made 
 to the exceptional character of the expenditure on the im- 
 provements on two other estates in this district — that of 
 Hafodunos and Garthmeilio (p. 208). 
 
 The history of the former estate is interesting (p. 440) : Purchased 
 It comprises about 5,000 acres, situated chiefly in the parish Hafofamos, 
 of Llangerniew, and was purchased about 1833 by Mr. 
 
 Sandbach, a well-known Liverpool merchant. The rents 
 were fixed about 1834, soon after the purchase of the estate, 
 and there has been no valuation since. In the case of a new 
 tenant, the old rent is usually taken as a basis, and any 
 necessary adjustment is then made. For sitting tenants, the 
 rents have never been raised except by way of interest upon 
 capital expenditure of the landlord, 5 per cent, being in that 
 case the usual charge. 
 
 As to fluctuations in rental since the purchase, the 
 following facts are derived from tables supplied to the 
 Commission : — 
 
 “ In comparing the rents in 1 832 and 1834 we find that 
 the rent of eight farms had gone up 26 per cent., and of 
 another eight had diminished by 26 per cent., while three 
 had remained unchanged, there being on the whole a net 
 increase of 1 per cent. Between 1834 and 1861, the increase 
 on 14 farms averaged 15 per cent., but a decrease of 33 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 Ami Bodnant 
 (H.D. Pochin). 
 
 per cent, had taken place on three farms, while two were 
 unchanged, the result on the whole being a net increase of 1 
 per cent. Between 1861 and 1893, eight farms showed an 
 increase of 18 per cent., and the remaining 11a decrease of 
 19 per cent., or a net decrease on the 19 holdings of 11 per 
 per cent. Comparing the rental of the farms in question 
 before 1832 and at present, we find that an average increase 
 of 35 per cent, has occurred in the case of six farms, an 
 average decrease of 24 per cent, on 11 farms, while the rents 
 of two farms are the same — the net result on the whole being 
 an average decrease of 9 per cent. The permanent reduction 
 on the whole estate between 1883 and 1893 amounted to 17 
 per cent, upon the former rental. An abatement of 10 per 
 cent, had been previously made in 1882. The present rental 
 of the estate was said to be about £3,000. During the last 
 60 years, it is estimated that over £100,000 has been spent 
 on the estate. 
 
 “We have reason to believe that the expenditure on 
 improvements on this estate is of an exceptional character, 
 and that it would be impossible for many landlords to reach 
 the same high standard of liberality in the management of 
 their properties as that for which the Hafodunos Estate is 
 justly famous. It furnishes one of the best examples of the 
 great advantage resulting, in some cases, from the investment 
 of money in land by wealthy men from the industrial districts 
 in England. 
 
 Another example of such an investment, but with a 
 somewhat different result, is afforded by the history of the 
 Bodnant Estate, a property measuring from 2,500 to 3,000 
 acres in the neighbourhood of Conway, and formerly belonging 
 to Mr. William Hanmer. It was purchased some twenty 
 years ago for about £36,000 by the late Mr. H. D. Pochin, 
 who, in giving evidence before us, was unable to tell what its 
 rental was either prior to the sale or at the present time, but 
 said that the net income to him on the total capital invested 
 (which amounted to £86,000) was between 2J and 3 percent., 
 
 4 and it is the poorest investment I ever made in my life,’ he 
 added ; 4 1 have made a great many investments ; I never 
 made anything so bad as this. I was told then, of course, the 
 usual statement, I daresay — but there was not very much in 
 it — that all the tenants were very low-rented, and that is the 
 reason I asked Mr. Bell (the agent), as an expert, to go over 
 it and settle definitely the amount that was fair as between 
 landlord and tenant.’ Evidence with reference to the estate 
 was given us by several tenant-farmer witnesses. One of 
 them, the member of the county council for his district, said 
 
259 
 
 that the rents on the whole estate, with the exception of one 
 farm, were raised after its purchase by Mr. Pochin, with the 
 result that all the old tenants except one, have by this time 
 left the estate. According to Mr. Pochin’s own statement 
 only 21 out of a total of 25 tenants have left, the chief 
 reason, he alleged, being that many of them became insolvent 
 through becoming security for other tenants. Mr. Pochin 
 also said that he had given reductions to his tenants when 
 they paid their rent, but had never had anything like a 
 general application to reduce them.” 
 
 Reference has also been made to the exceptional . expen- Exceptional ^ 
 diture of recent years on the Garthmeilio Estate (about 5,200 Garthmeiiio 
 acres), chiefly in Llangwm parish. As to its rental, the Estate ’ 
 following facts are derived from tables produced by Colonel 
 Lynes, the present owner ; showing the rents of most of the 
 farms at four different periods. “ The rental (omitting one 
 farm for which particulars are not given for each of the 
 periods compared) in 1859 was £887 2s., in 1863 it was 
 £1,062 9s. 2d., in 1872 £1,170, and in 1893 it had fallen 
 back to £1,012 10s., or a little less than it was in 1863. The 
 increase between 1859 and 1863 averaged 18*6 per cent., 
 between 1863 and 1872 it was 11*2 per cent. ; but during 
 the 21 years between 1872 and 1893, namely, the period 
 when Colonel Lynes succeeded to the property, the rents 
 were reduced by an average of 13J per cent. ; but they are 
 still more than 14 per cent, above what they were in 1859. 
 
 Since Col. Lynes’s succession more than half the gross rental 
 has been spent on improvements, but prior to that time 
 “the buildings had been neglected seriously for many years,” 
 according to the statement of Mr. T. Thomas, the county 
 councillor for the district (p. 442). This witness, however, 
 put the rise in rents for the whole estate higher than the 
 percentage given above : 
 
 “ ‘Rents have been advanced on the estate to the extent 
 of 45 per cent, in two instalments. Notwithstanding the 
 reduction of 20 per cent, made about two years ago on the 
 estate, the complaint still is that the rents are too high. The 
 first advance of 20 per cent, was made about 30 years ago, 
 and in a short time after a seven years’ lease was forced on all 
 tenants, and the agent demanded £12 from every tenant as 
 legal charge for the document. There was a clause in the 
 lease binding the tenant to do all repairs necessary during 
 the seven years at his own expense. The object of forcing 
 this lease upon the tenants was to increase the takings from 
 the estate, and to save money by compelling the tenants to 
 repair the buildings for seven years. Some of the tenants at 
 
260 
 
 Two Large 
 Estates : 
 
 Lord Bagot’s, 
 
 that time expended £50 to £60 on the buildings. The- 
 second advance of 25 per cent, was made about 20 years ago. 
 In 1890 and 1891 an abatement of 10 per cent, was given to 
 all the tenants that paid their rent in full on the appointed 
 day ; others that could not pay in full did not receive any 
 abatement at all.’ ” 
 
 One of the larger estates, from the point of area, in 
 West Denbighshire, is that of Pool Park, extending to some- 
 19,000 acres, and belonging to Lord Bagot. The following 
 was the statement of the local agent with reference to this 
 estate : — 
 
 “The total present rental, including sporting rents, is 
 £7,496. The rental in 1848 was £5,940, but this did not 
 include the sporting rents, and the rent of the Hall, which 
 was at that time in hand, and since then several purchases 
 have also been made. The rental at present is, having calculated 
 what has been sold and purchased, about £500 less than it 
 was at that time. In 1866 a valuation of the estate was 
 made by Mr. Palin (agent for the Hafodunos Estate), who 
 stated that the farms were underlet, but the rents were not 
 raised in consequence of his valuation. 
 
 In 1859 Lord Bagot made a considerable purchase of 
 land in the upland parishes of Llangwm, Llanfihangel, and 
 Bettws, and, the buildings thereon being in a very dilapi- 
 dated state, a large outlay had to be incurred in erecting new 
 buildings. The agent estimated that nearly £98,000 had 
 thus been spent on the estate, in one form or other, during 
 the last 39 years, but no particulars of this expenditure was 
 supplied us. There had been a considerable re-arrangement 
 of farms on the purchased property — land been added to 
 some and taken from others, while there appears to have 
 been an allotment of common land as well. Rents had to 
 be changed owing to these re-adjustments [as to which a 
 few complaints were made], but, according to the agent, 
 “ there had been no advances but on additional land.” 
 
 Statements made by two ex-tenants are referred to (p.. 
 443) in illustration of the management of this estate : 
 
 “ As to a farm called Plas Clocaenog, it was stated by an ex-tenant 
 that it had been held by his family for over 40 years ; on succeeding, after 
 his father’s death in 1892, he appealed for a reduction in his rent from 
 £120 to £100, but this was refused and he consequently left. The estate 
 agent referred to the case as follows : ‘ Mr. Hughes (the father) in his 
 lifetime never complained of the rent, and everything went well up 
 to his decease. . . . After his death the son applied for a reduction,, 
 
 but as his father had not applied in his lifetime, or made any complaint in 
 reference to rent, the same was not granted him and subsequently he gave 
 notice. When this became known we had at once nine or ten 
 applicants. After giving him ample time to consider whether he would 
 retake it, it was let at the same rental.’ 
 
261 
 
 Another tenant, who for about 15 years had held a large farm on the 
 •estate, had also left, about 1890, because he could- not get his rent 
 permanently reduced. ‘ 1 asked for a permanent rent,’ he said, 4 to have 
 it the same exactly as I was paying by having an abatement. I wanted it 
 settled.’ It appeared that the reason for 4 not making the abatement a per- 
 manent reduction was, that it would open a precedent for all the others.’ 
 
 The tenant thereupon left the district altogether and took a farm of over 
 £300 rental near Mold, while his old farm was let to a new tenant 44 at the 
 same rent, but with an allowance for lime and artificial manure.” 
 
 44 Far exceeding the Pool Park Estate in value and the And Mr. h. e 
 fertility of its land, and not much less in area, is the estate ISimei’s?* 
 of Mr. H. P. Hughes, of Kinmel, comprising about 17,000 
 acres, most of which is in the lower part of the Vale of 
 Clwyd. The total rental of the agricultural land (exclusive 
 of 118 cottages and shops and royalties from quarries) was 
 stated to be £17,440. Permanent reductions have been 
 made of recent years amounting to £1,254 per annum, or 
 about 6 per cent, of the rental. In addition to this, a tem- 
 porary return of 10 per cent, had been made on the rents of 
 twelve half-years prior to our visit. Both the reduction and 
 abatements granted came to a total of £11,195. 4 The expen- 
 diture on the estate is 35 per cent, of the rental, and this, 
 together with the reductions and allowances, leaves hardly 
 50 per cent., or half, for the owner.’ Elsewhere it is stated 
 that 4 the rent-rolls of 1812 show rents (? some rents) to have 
 been considerably higher than now.’ ” 
 
 The present rents on Mrs. Naylor Leyland’s Nantclwyd smaller sized 
 Estate (about 4,000 acres) were said to be 44 about 25 per 
 cent, lower than they were from 30 to 50 years back, al- 
 though in the meantime a railway has been constructed 
 running through the heart of the estate, with a station in a 
 central position, affording access to all parts of the kingdom.” 
 
 In 1881, and again in 1885, abatements of 10 per cent, 
 were given on the year’s rent ; in 1886 permanent reduc- 
 tions were made varying in amounts up to 20 per cent.,, but 
 though new agreements were subsequently adopted on the 
 estate, the old rents were entered in them without alteration. 
 
 From 1892 on, abatements of 5 per cent., have also been 
 granted, and the expenditure on the estate is described lry 
 the Commissioners as 44 exceptionally large.” 
 
 Particulars are also given of several of the smaller 
 properties in West Denbighshire. The rental of the estate 
 of Mr. W. D. Griffith, of Garn, which amounts to 2,225 
 acres, chiefly in Henllan and Llannefydd, was £2,060 in 1883 
 and £1,723 in 1893, or less by 16 per cent. 
 
 As to Mrs. Williams-Wynn’s Cefn Estate (of some 2,000 
 acres) the rental was said to be now less than it was in 1849, 
 but no details were given. 
 
202 
 
 General state- 
 ments as to 
 variations in 
 rentals. 
 
 Some 25 farms, belonging to Capt. Wynne Edwards 
 and situated chiefly in Nant Glyn and Llansannan parishes, 
 produced between 1858 and 1885 an annual rental of £1,107, 
 but their present permanent rent is less by £117 or about 10J 
 per cent., but the average rent paid for 1892 and 1893 was 
 £903, showing a farther reduction of 8-J- percent. 
 
 Some general statements were also made as to several 
 other estates in these districts. As to the parishes of Llan- 
 sannan and Llanfairtalhaiarn, there was a valuation, some 
 40 years ago, of the Duffryn Aled Estate (about 4,000 acres), 
 now belonging to Mrs. Wynne Yorke, and the rents were 
 then raised, but a permanent reduction of 10 per cent, has 
 been recently granted. 
 
 “ Upon the Llewesog Estate, all the rents were raised 
 by Mr. Williams immediately after the purchase of the 
 estate, ... in most cases, from 30 to 50 per cent., 
 while on some of the smaller holdings the increase was even 
 greater.” A permanent reduction of 10 per cent, was, how- 
 ever, made about ten j^ears ago. 
 
 Several witnesses alleged that rents had been raised on 
 the tenants’ improvements, “ even within the last few years,” 
 on the Garthewin Estate of Mr. Wynne. The Poor-law 
 Guardian for Llanddulas parish, for example, said — 
 
 “ I know of several farmers who took farms in our district in a very 
 uncultivated state, and after many years of untiring labour were able to 
 bring their farms to a high state of cultivation. What has been the result ? 
 Mr. Wynne (the landlord) visited those farms during the harvest season 
 and increased their rents; in one case a rise of £17 was asked, but after 
 some correspondence he imposed an increase of £10. . . . The very 
 
 gentleman who owned these farms whose rents were raised made a public 
 auction sale, and, strange to say, all those farms that were brought through 
 the labour of the farmers to higher cultivation were sold when the other 
 farms were not bid for. I have only given you one instance. I can give 
 you many, but I do not want to tire you.” 
 
 As to the estate of Colonel Main waring, Galltfaenan, 
 the rents were said to have been “ stationary, though some 
 have been reduced. There have been large abatements.” 
 
 An ex-tenant of the Llanbedr and Bathafarn Estates, a 
 heavily-mortgaged property which lies on the eastern side of 
 the River Clwyd, said that the rents had been raised twice 
 during the last 50 years, the first rise taking place about 40 
 years ago, and the second in 1876, after a re-valuation by a 
 London valuer, its object being to raise the rent if possible 
 all round. The statement made by this witness as to his own 
 holding has been already quoted in illustration of the fact 
 that the Agricultural Holdings Act for the sitting tenant 
 (p. 130). 
 
 With reference to the Yale of Clwyd generally, the 
 following statement is quoted from the evidence of Mr. Owen 
 
 Rents in Vale 
 of Clwyd. 
 
263 
 
 Williams, of Gian Clwyd, one of “ the leading land valuers 
 of the Yale” : — “ Bents have been raised on almost all the 
 estates along the Yale of Clwyd during the years between 
 1840 and 1880. In the last ten or twelve years there have 
 been permanent reductions. In most cases temporary abate- 
 ments were given, from 5 per cent, to 25 per cent., and 
 there may be some instances of even more than that. On a 
 good many of the estates, as well as on individual farms, the 
 rents have been raised or reduced on a re-valuation conducted 
 in several instances by men from London or other distant 
 places. These valuers proved themselves most unfit for the 
 work. I shall have to point this out on the Llanrhaiadr 
 Estate, for one, in years gone by, and the Garthewin 
 Estate. ” 
 
 As to the former of these estates, the Commissioners 
 subsequently elicited that “ the re- valuation was made about 
 1874 or 1876, and that, as a result, only about two out of 25 
 of the old tenants are now living on the estate. ” 
 
 “ Another land valuer, who is also a tenant farmer and a 
 land agent in the district, said : ‘ Rents are very uneven, 
 some farms are very reasonably rented, and others are 20 per 
 cent, too high according to the average of agricultural pro- 
 duce ; a general reduction of 10 to 20 per cent, has been 
 made on most estates in North Wales, in addition to pre- 
 vious reductions, without being asked for by the tenants.’ 
 
 The Commissioners next deal (p. 447) with the evidence Ruthin castle 
 as to the Ruthin Castle Estate, of which one portion lies in Estate ' 
 the Yale of Clwyd, and the other in Llanarmon Dyffryn 
 Ceiriog, in East Denbighshire. “ The two estates, of which 
 Colonel Cornwallis West is tenant for life, comprise about 
 10,500 acres, inclusive of sheep walks, and its purely agri- 
 cultural rental was stated as £6,390. 
 
 * In order to demonstrate by a few instances the rather 
 stationary character of rent for 75 years,’ Colonel West had 
 extracted from documents in his possession the following 
 particulars as to five farms on the Llanarmon Estate : — 
 
 4 These farms, in 1819, comprised 1,306 acres, and the 
 rent was £1,394. Those farms, having been reduced by 
 about 100 acres, are now 1,184 acres, and the rent is £1,267. 
 
 The average rent per acre for the above farms in 1819 was 
 £1 Is. 4d., and in 1894 £1 Is., so that the rent now is 
 actually 4d. per acre less than it was 75 years ago. Taking 
 the Llanarmon Estate as a whole, with an acreage of 5,979, I 
 find the average rent per acre, if sheep-walk of 3,441 acres is 
 included, is 4s. 5d., if excluded, 10s. 8d.’ 
 
264 
 
 Colonel West also emphasised the fact that the buildings 
 had been erected, and were being kept in repair by the land- 
 lord. Taking six farms on the Ruthin Estate, comprising 
 altogether 465 acres, he said : ‘ The rent of those is £472 
 10s. ; the value of the buildings is £8,100. The interest on 
 that would be £324, and the balance of the rent would be 
 £148 10s. 
 
 ‘Then on the Llanarmon Estate I take 12 farms, and, 
 including the sheep-walk, those 12 farms comprise 4,623 
 acres. The rent is £874 10s., the value of the buildings is 
 £16,400. The interest on that would be £656. The balance 
 of the rent would be £224 10s. 
 
 As to the Llanarmon property, most of which appears to 
 be at a high elevation, an interesting statement made by an 
 aged tenant is thus quoted (p. 447) : — 
 
 “ I remember four different valuations during my tenancy. The first 
 was that made by Mr. Aytes about 45 years ago. The probability is that 
 that valuation was not adopted, inasmuch as an advance of Is. 6d. in the 
 pound was made on all without distinction. The second was the valuation 
 made by Mr. Hill, about 38 or 40 years ago. After Mr. Hill’s valuation all 
 the farms remained unlet for 18 months, and during that period Mr. Hill 
 worked a slate quarry at Blaen-y-cwm, at the upper end of the valley. He 
 was therefore in the habit of travelling backwards and forwards along the 
 valley during different periods of the year. He told me himself, during 
 that period, that he was glad the farms were not let at his valuation, that 
 he had seen the country during different seasons of the year, had noticed 
 the great length of the winter, and also the two recent harvests, and that 
 in consequence he had altered all his figures on all the farms. The third 
 valuation was that of Mr. Jenkins, made about the year 1873. Mr. Jenkins 
 came from the Yale of Clwyd, and I consider a person from a place like 
 that totally unfit to value land in a country like ours. I have never in my 
 life seen but few years together when the tenants were able to pay on this 
 valuation, and I have no doubt whatever that his valuation has done harm 
 to the estate, and to the circumstances of the tenants. In the course of a 
 few years after this all the tenants made an appeal in writing to Colonel 
 West for an abatement of 10 per cent, in their rents. This appeal was 
 signed by all the tenants, and forwarded to Colonel West through an agent 
 in Oswestry. After waiting long for a reply to this petition, I wrote a 
 letter to Colonel West personally to the same purpose, and for a still 
 larger abatement in the rent of one farm, as it was exceptionally 
 high. An immediate reply was received, granting a general abate- 
 ment of 10 per cent., and in the case of the above - mentioned 
 farm an abatement of 18 per cent. This abatement was granted 
 for some time. One of the tenants asked permission to appoint 
 a valuer to meet the one appointed by Colonel West, for the 
 purpose of valuing his farm. This was granted, and, as the tenants 
 were unwilling to pay the old rent, Colonel West sent his own valuer, Mr. 
 Williams, Middleton, to value the remainder of the farms. Mr. Williams 
 understood the nature and circumstances of the neighbourhood, having 
 himself held a farm there.” 
 
 This fourth valuation has resulted (according to the 
 Report) in “ very considerable reductions of recent years, 
 and this applies to the Ruthin as well as the Llanarmon 
 estate. Nearly all the farms had been reduced from 10 to 
 20 per cent., and some as much as 25 to 30 per cent., while 
 
265 
 
 ^an additional abatement of 10 per cent, had also been 
 granted for the last few years on the Llanarmon Estate. 
 
 “ Perhaps one of the chief estates in East Denbighshire Estate^ 116 
 at the commencement of the century was that of Chirk 
 Castle, which since the middle of the 17th century had 
 belonged to the Myddelton family, but about 1819 was 
 divided among three co-heiresses ; one portion of it now 
 forms the Llanarmon Estate of Colonel West, with which we 
 have just dealt, while that portion which now bears the name 
 of the Chirk Castle Estate is at present owned by Mr. K. 
 Myddelton Biddulph. 
 
 At present this estate comprises about 10,000 acres, but 
 the evidence tendered to us was confined to 7,640 acres, or 
 -34 farms, the rent of which was stated to be £5,708. In 
 1875 the rents of some farms were slightly increased, the 
 result being an increase in the rental of the estate, but per- 
 manent reductions have since been made amounting to £394 
 per annum. With this exception, the agent limited his 
 evidence to the 14 years from 1880 to 1893, both inclusive. 
 
 During that period the aggregate permanent reductions were 
 £3,436, the aggregate abatements £6,240, and the arrears 
 remitted £178, making a total of £9,854, or, broadly speak- 
 ing, £10,000 shrinkage in rental due to depression. In the 
 meantime, taking the present reduced rent of £5,700 as the 
 basis, the aggregate rental in the 14 years amounted to 
 £89,800. Deducting from this the reductions and abate- 
 ments, viz., £10,000, or about 11 per cent, of the gross 
 rental, the net rental received by the owner [during the 
 last 14 years] amounted to £79,800. The amount spent in 
 improvements and repairs during the same period was 
 stated to have been £8,026, which still, however, left to the 
 owner over £70,000 from the estate.” 
 
 Mr. W. Corbet Yale, the owner of some 823 acres, P ‘ e ts m Yale 
 situated about 1,000 feet above sea level, in the district of 
 Yale, said that the present rental (£590) is exactly what it 
 was in 1822. As to a farm (Plas Llanarmon) on the 
 Gelligynan Estate in the same district, the following account 
 was given by Mr. John Parry (p. 450) : — 
 
 “ In 1775 it contained something over 350 acres, and was leased at a 
 yearly rent of £70 and two good fat geese at Christmas. This lease expired 
 in the year 1805. Then another lease was offered to the tenant, and a 
 reduction of £10 in the rent. This he refused because he considered the 
 Tent too high. Another man came forward and took the farm, and became 
 insolvent. In the year 1855 this farm was re-valued after it had been 
 reduced in extent by about 100 acres or more. According to that valuation 
 the gross estimated rental was £159. In the year 1866 this farm, after it 
 had been reduced again by something over 100 acres, was let at a rental 
 •of £130. In the year 1886, after it had been increased in extent by 17 
 
266 
 
 General absence 
 of complaints in 
 East Denbigh 
 and Flintshire. 
 
 Statistics as to 
 Chief Estates. 
 
 acres, it was let at a rental of £126. I do not think the different owners, 
 of this farm could have spent upon it in repairs, from 1800 to 1886, more 
 than from £100 to £150. The increase in the value of this farm is due 
 entirely to matters other than any outlay of the owners thereof.” 
 
 As to the remainder of East Denbighshire and Flint- 
 shire, there was an entire absence of complaints by tenants, 
 so that the only source of information as to rents is the 
 evidence of landowners or their representatives. Permanent 
 reductions are mentioned as having been made in most cases, 
 but as the figures are somewhat heavy, a few specimens only 
 need be quoted. 
 
 Mr. P. P. Pennant, of Nantllys, whose estate comprises- 
 some 1,400 acres, said his rental in 1856 was £1,683 ; in 
 1876 it was £1,834 (or 9 per cent, higher) ; in 1894 it stood 
 at £1,559 (or 7 per cent, lower than in 1856). The expendi- 
 ture between 1854 and 1894 on improvements has been 
 £7,606, and in repairs £10,029. 
 
 For the 25 years from 1870 to 1894 (inclusive) £28,000 
 odd has been received as rent from the Wigfair and 
 Soughton Estates of some 1,530 acres belonging to Colonel 
 Howard, but £12,000 of that amount had been spent in 
 repairs, while if all expenses of management, &c., were 
 taken into account, about 43 per cent, only has been 
 received as net rental. 
 
 As to the Mostyn Estate, which comprises 6,350 acres, 
 its rentals in 1894 being £5,413, the present agent said that, 
 so far as he was aware, ‘ the rents had not been varied 
 during the past 50 years, if anything thej T are lower.* - 
 Permanent reductions, amounting to 9 per cent, of the total 
 rent had been made, while the total given in abatements 
 during the 9-J years since 1885 was £4,210. 
 
 The following may be cited as further instances of 
 apparently liberal treatment in the case of other estates : — 
 
 “ The Gwysaney Estate, which belongs to Mr. Davies-Cooke, and is 
 managed by Major Birch, comprises 3,687 acres, its rental in 1894 being 
 £4,311. In the seven years, from 1886 to 1892 inclusive, £11,532 had been 
 spent on materials, repairs, and improvements. Permanent reductions 
 were made in 1886 amounting to 10 per cent, in many cases, and in one 
 ease to 33 per cent. Abatements have also been made of 10 per cent, from 
 1886 to 1888, and from 1892 to 1894. 
 
 On the Llanerch Estate, belonging to the late Sir George Cayley, the 
 permanent reductions were considerably greater, amounting to 25 per 
 cent, on the gross rental, because “ it has a large amount of clay land 
 which has been unprofitable to farm.” This estate comprised 2,040 acres,, 
 and its rental, after the reductions, was stated as £2,632. An allowance 
 of 10 per cent, had also been made. For about 12 or 13 years previous to 
 1878 the whole of the income from this estate, and more, was spent in 
 improvements on it, and the expenditure since then has been also conside- 
 rable, the annual average between 1886 and 1893 being £865. 
 
 The Halkyn Castle Estate, which belongs to the Duke of West- 
 minster, comprises (in addition to purely mineral property in Denbigh- 
 shire) 2,730 acres of agricultural land wholly situated in Flintshire, its 
 
267 
 
 rental being £2,971. The land was described as very variable in quality, 
 some of it being let for 25s. per acre, other portions as low as 17s. per 
 acre, the general average being about 22s. per acre. 
 
 * There have been no alterations made in the farm rents during the 
 last 45 or 50 years, except in cases where lands have been added to or 
 taken from a farm, and this to no considerable extent. The largest farm 
 on the estate has paid the same rent for 50 years, less the large per- 
 centage allowed from time to time. The last valuation of the estate was 
 made in 1846, but recently the Duke has had eight of the largest farms 
 re-valued, with the result that two of them remain at the same rent and 
 the rents of six are reduced. Previously to 1885 he allowed for some 
 years 20 per cent. From 1885 to 1890 inclusive he allowed 25 per cent.’ 
 
 It was also stated that 1 for many years past more money has been 
 expended on the estate in repairs, improvements, &c., than the income 
 derived from it.’ ” (See also p. 209). 
 
 The rent-roll of the Erddig Estate of some 3,000 acres 
 near Wrexham was said to be lower now than it was 50 years 
 ago, — a permanent reduction of 10 per cent, having been 
 generally made in 1885. 
 
 The rent of the estate (2,200 acres) of Sir Kobert 
 Cunliffe, of Acton, had shrunk nearly 4^ per cent, between 
 1883 and 1892, its amount in the latter year being £3,215. 
 
 The two chief estates in the hundred of Maelor, or the Rentals in the 
 detached portion of Flintshire, protruding eastwards between MaeiorT ° 
 Cheshire and Salop, is the Gredin gton Estate of Lord 
 Kenyon comprising 8,000 acres, and the Hanmer Estate of 
 about 9,000 acres, of which a large part is under moss. 
 
 The rental of the former w r as stated to be £10,000 a 
 year, or the gross amount received (after deducting abate- 
 ments) during 7 years (1887-1893) was £66,700, and the 
 total expenditure in keeping up farm buildings and cottages, 
 
 £8,420, or 12 J per cent, of the total. Up to 1892 every 
 rent had been paid on the audit day, but during the following 
 two years three tenants fell slightly into arrear. 
 
 The rental produced by the agricultural land and 
 cottages on the Hanmer Estate w T as stated at about £10,200, 
 
 — averaging 32s. per acre for the cultivable land. The rents 
 have fluctuated to some extent, and on the whole the agent 
 thought (though he could not be sure of his figures) that 
 there had been a small rise from 1843 to 1893. The 
 expenditure on permanent improvements of all kinds during 
 6-J years preceding August, 1894, was £21,185, interest 
 being- charged on less than a quarter that amount. 
 
 The late Eev. Sir T. H. Gresley Puleston, rector of 
 Worthenbury, and owner of about 2,000 acres in the district, 
 producing from £2,000 to £3,000 a year, said that his rents 
 remained “ about the same as the} 7 were 60 years ago, but 
 the farms had been greatly improved at the landowner’s 
 expense during that period” — his own outlay (including 
 
268 
 
 The largest 
 Welsh Estate : 
 SirW.W. Wynn 
 
 Its various 
 members. 
 
 improvements, management, rates and taxes) being nearly 
 30 per cent, of the gross rental during the last 27 years. 
 
 Kents had not been raised on the late Lord Trevor’s 
 Brynkinallt Estate (1,029 acres, £1,407 rent) since his suc- 
 cession in 1862, while numerous abatements have recently 
 been made from time to time. 
 
 Before passing on to deal with the evidence as to the 
 ’s remaining border county of North Wales, that of Mont- 
 gomery, this may perhaps be the most convenient place to 
 refer to the largest estate in Wales, that of Sir Watkin 
 Williams Wynn. This property consists of as many as six 
 separate estates, three of which form what the agent 
 described as the Welsh portion, the other three being on 
 the borders forming the English portion. 
 
 Welsh Portion. 
 
 Name of Estate. 
 
 Counties in which 
 chiefly situated. 
 
 Acres. Acres. 
 
 Glanllyn 
 
 Merioneth ... 
 
 Montgomery 
 
 Montgomery 
 
 39,080, of which 20,886 are mountain land 
 54,196, „ 38,000 
 
 18,292, „ 1,730 „ 
 
 Llanbrynmair... 
 Llwydiarth 
 
 Total 
 
 111,568 60,616 
 
 English Portion. 
 
 Name of Estate. 
 
 Counties in which 
 chiefly situated. 
 
 Acres. Acres. 
 
 Wynn stay 
 
 Llanforda 
 
 Llangedwyn . . . 
 
 Total 
 
 Denbigh 
 
 Montgomery 
 Salop 
 
 10,675, of which 2,927 are mountain land 
 3,293, „ 446 „ 
 
 11,486, „ 828 „ 
 
 
 25,454 4,201 
 
 The approximate total extent is thus 137,025 acres, of 
 which 64,129 are mountain land. 
 
 We extract the following from the report (p. 453) : — 
 
 “ The total farm and cottage rental in 1893 was £45,458. 
 In 1862 it was £40,556, or 12 per cent, less, but we were not 
 informed as to what extent the area of the estate differed at 
 the two periods mentioned. Land to the value of £68,181 
 was, however, bought since 1872, and the annual rental in 
 1894 of this purchased property, amounted to £2,355, or an 
 average of 3 '45 per cent, on the purchase money. After 
 allowing an average deduction of 12-J- per cent, rebate on 
 rents and for repairs, insurance, and other landlord’s out- 
 goings, the net interest on the purchase moneys is 2 j per 
 cent. 
 
269 
 
 “As to recent allowances, the statement of Colonel 
 Hughes, the estate representative, was to the following 
 effect : — 
 
 ‘ Abatements have been granted to the whole of the tenant farmers of 
 these estates, paying £10 rent and upwards, and rents have in many cases 
 been permanently reduced. The abatements have been 10 per cent, for 
 the years 1885 to 1889 both inclusive ; 5 per cent, for 1890. and 15 per 
 cent, since that time, amounting to a total of upwards of £30,000 during 
 the eight years ending with 1893. In addition to these abatements, 
 grants of lime, artificial manures, and other assistance have been given, 
 new fences have been erected, and much land drained at the landlord’s 
 expense.’ ” 
 
 As to the improvements effected on the estate, with which we have 
 dealt elsewhere, it was said that no interest was charged on new build- 
 ings or repairs to old ones. Interest, however, appears to frequently be 
 charged on outlay in respect of mountain fencing and drainage, but as to 
 the former it was stated that ‘ in many cases the landlord has supplied 
 the wire gratis, and has frequently done the whole work without charg- 
 ing any interest.’ 
 
 ‘ On the Wynnstay home estate a large portion was drained from 35 
 to 40 years ago, and interest upon the sum expended (at the rate of 5 per 
 cent.) was then added to the rents, which the tenants continue to pay. A 
 portion not then drained has since been done, in most cases at the cost of 
 the landlord, in others the landlord supplying pipes only, but no interest 
 has been charged upon the outlay.’ ” 
 
 Each of the estates has to some extent a history of its The Gianiiyu or 
 own : That of the Merionethshire or Glanllyn Estate is this 
 referred in the Report (p. 434-5). “ It was stated to us by 
 
 an aged tenant (Mr. John Thomas, Cloddiau,) that in Llan- 
 uwchllyn, on Sir Watkin’s estate, the rent of every farm 
 was advanced about the year 1840 by one Jones, of Llwy- 
 diarth Park (the then agent), and in succeeding years the 
 rent was advanced when the landlord made a new building.’ ” 
 
 A statement made by the tenant of Caer Gai — once the 
 mansion house of this estate — is then quoted, showing that 
 the rent of his farm was raised from £140 in 1842 to £200 
 in 1882, but reduced in 1891 to £150, he in the interval 
 having carried out great improvements. 
 
 “ Somewhat similar statements [the Report continues] 
 were made as to rents on this estate by other witnesses, 
 according to one of whom it appears that ‘ in 1892, about 60 
 of Sir W. W. Wynn’s tenants made an application for a 
 reduction to the present agents, Col. Hughes and Mr. Moms. 
 
 Sir Watkin promised to consider the case of each farmer 
 separately, and his agents re-valued or are re-valuing the 
 holdings/ 
 
 Col. Hughes referred to this valuation as follows : — 
 
 4 You will recollect there was a good deal of feeling ex- 
 pressed, and dissatisfaction and so forth (last year at Bala), 
 and Sir Watkin asked me to go over the estate. It is a work 
 of time, of course, but I wish to show you what we have done 
 
270 
 
 The Mbufr-J 
 gomery shire 
 Welsh portions. 
 
 with a view of getting things right. The whole of those 
 farms were valued, a field-to-field valuation was made, which 
 I put in for your inspection. . . . There were nine 
 
 farms the rents of which I did not touch, and I have three 
 now that I have not yet agreed with. There is £2 difference 
 between us in one case and £5 in another ; of course those 
 will be got over without any trouble. The third one is a 
 more serious matter, there is £30 between us, but that is 
 how we stand. Those were all settled, and I thought, as we 
 had so much fuss at Bala, I ought to satisfy the Commission 
 that no trouble had been spared to make the tenants all 
 satisfied.’ 
 
 “ In further referring to the results of this valuation 
 Colonel Hughes added that about 110 holdings had altogether 
 been dealt with. Their original rents were £3,891 9s., and 
 the revised rent £3,380 15s. The actual reductions amounted 
 to £574 14s., the advanced rents amounted to £63, but £52 
 of this amount was put on one holding only, viz., that 
 occupied by a former sub-agent of the estate ; the net result 
 was a reduction of £510 14s., or about 15^ per cent, de- 
 crease.” 
 
 As to the Llanbrynmair property, ‘“a land agent from a 
 distance ’ was said to have re-valued a farm held in the 
 early part of the century b}^ the Rev. John Roberts (senior) 
 of Llanbrynmair.” As to the general valuation of 1840, 
 which appears to have been made on the succession of the 
 late baronet to the estates, a tenant who, when the Com- 
 mission visited Machynlleth, was 81 years of age, said 
 (we quote from the Report, p. 459) : — “ ‘My father lived 
 at Talybont-train from 20 to 24 years ; the rent he paid at 
 first was, I think, £65. About two years after he had taken 
 the farm, a new agent, Mr. Jones of the Park, came on Sir 
 Watkin’s estate and had the whole estate re-valued. The 
 rent was in consequence raised on the death (in 1840) of the 
 grandfather of the present Sir Watkin to £76.’ 
 
 “ Further reference to the same valuation was inci- 
 dentally made by Mr. Thomas Jones, of Graig, Llanfair- 
 Caereinion. who very instructively traced the history of 
 certain holdings formerly belonging to Sir W. W. Wynn, 
 and occupied by witness’s grandfather, his father, and 
 himself successively. His story was somewhat to the 
 following effect : — 
 
 “ His grandfather, about 1815, took three farms belonging to Sir W. 
 W. Wynn, at the aggregate rental of £65. About 1820, 30 acres of the best 
 meadow land was taken away and made into a nursery, without any 
 deduction being made in the rent. In 1826, eight acres of arable land was 
 further taken away without any allowance. In 1827, the tenant erected a 
 
271 
 
 building which cost him £50, and in 1837, he built a new granary, and 
 effected some repairs, the expense of both being estimated at about £80. 
 In 1838, about 2,000 oak trees were felled on the farm, which did not 
 recover for two years from the damage so caused, but no compensation 
 was paid therefor. In 1843 (subsequent to the re-valuation of the estate) 
 the rents were raised on all Sir W. W. Wynn’s farms in the district, with 
 one exception, and the increase for witness’s father was £52, 4 after all the 
 improvements ’ he had carried out. 4 He had made a field or part of a field 
 ^very year, and had drained and fenced the land.’ A period of great 
 depression, culminating in 1850, followed this advance in rent. After the 
 death of witness’s father in 1856 the rent was raised for his sons to £140, 
 
 4 thus making in 14 years an increase of £75,’ or 115 per cent. In 1851 the 
 farm was sold to Mr. David Clark, of Macclesfield, 4 one of the cotton 
 lords’ as witness described him. In the year following the rent was raised 
 to £200 (or trebled within about 17 years), but witness, finding this 
 excessive, left in 1862.” 
 
 On the other hand, the tenant of Sychtyn, a large 
 mountain farm of 1,110 acres, in the remote parish of Llan- 
 erfyl, said that the rent of his holding had not been increased 
 since he became tenant in 1862,. and he expressed himself as 
 satisfied with his rent. So also was another large tenant, Mr. 
 William Owen, of Mathafarn, the rent of which farm had not 
 been changed since 1853, though that of the sheep-walk had 
 been raised about 10 years ago. 
 
 In fact the Commissioners observe that “ a fairly general 
 satisfaction with their rents was expressed in their evidence 
 before us by the tenants of several of the larger estates in 
 this county [Montgomery]. Four tenants of the Llangedwyn 
 Estate, belonging to Lady Williams Wjmn, said that, in 
 their opinion, their rents were perfectly fair, and not too 
 high, and that more people were contented than not in their 
 neighbourhood. Speaking as to tenants on other estates, 
 however, one of them said that ‘ rents were a bit high for the 
 present time.’ Some tenants could go on paying the present 
 rents, while others could not. 
 
 Somewhat similar views were expressed by several of 
 Sir W. W. Wynn’s tenants in the same district. They them- 
 selves were satisfied, none of their rents had been raised, but 
 they heard complaints from others — ‘ but there is a difference 
 between landlords and landlords ; some landlords raised the 
 rents during the last 20 years, and then in increasing and 
 reducing the rents they make a distinction in the complaints.’ 
 . . . ‘ Prices have gone down so much, especially the 
 
 butter, that, unless they are under a good landlord, tenants 
 cannot go on living and pay the rents they now do in the 
 neighbourhood.’ 
 
 Passing on from Sir W. W. Wynn’s estates and coming 
 to the other large Montgomeryshire property — that of the 
 Earl of Powis — it is similarly stated that “ practically all the 
 larger tenants (who appeared as witnesses) expressed a 
 
 Earl of Powis’s 
 Estate. 
 
272 
 
 Other Mont- 
 gomeryshire 
 Estates. 
 
 general satisfaction both with their rents and the other 
 conditions of their tenancies — Mr. Win. Owens, of Shammas- 
 ford, near Welshpool (whose farm measures 549 acres), and 
 Mr. Maurice Jones, of Mathrafal, being quoted in illustration, 
 The following is a summary of the Commissioners’ account of 
 this estate based upon the evidence of Mr. Forrester Addie, 
 the Agent. The total area is about 45,000 acres, divided into 
 960 holdings. Its net rental in 1891, after deducting abate- 
 ments, was £25,894, and 50 years previously, namely in 1840, 
 it was £27,218, or 7 per cent. more. 
 
 The aggregate net rental* for the ten years ending Lady 
 Day, 1859 — we may call it “ the fifties ” — was less by nearly 
 3 per cent, than for the corresponding 10 years of the forties; 
 the net rental for the sixties showed an increase of over 7 per 
 cent, on the fifties ; that of the seventies showed a further 
 increase of 3*4 per cent, on the sixties (or 7*6 on the fifties). 
 
 The net receipts during what may be called the first 10 
 j^ears of the agricultural depression, from 1879 to 1889, were 
 practically 8 per cent, less than the receipts for the previous 
 10 years, and close upon 1 per cent, less than they were for 
 the first 10 years in our comparison, namely from 1839 to 
 1849. Or looking at it otherwise the net rental for 1891, 
 viz., £25,894 was less by 11 per cent, than the net rental in 
 1879, namely £29,137. 
 
 The total amount of rent irrecoverable and lost since 
 1850 was stated as £4,410. 
 
 The reductions in rent since 1879 have not been uni- 
 form for all the holdings, but have varied according to the 
 result of a re-valuation of each farm individually. Abate- 
 ments of 10 per cent, have been subsequently granted on 
 the reduced rents. 
 
 Another important Montgomeryshire estate is that of 
 Plas Machynlleth, belonging to the Dowager Marchioness of 
 Londonderry, and comprising 12,500 acres, of which about a 
 quarter is, however, situated in Merioneth. 
 
 The average annual rental of the estate for the past 34 
 years (1860-1893) was about £5,527 15s. 9d., the average 
 annual amount actually received for the same period being 
 £5,312 11s. 4d. It was also stated that the average yearly 
 expenditure for the same period was £5,527 4s. 9d., of which, 
 however, only £1,504 6s. was the average outlay on build- 
 ings, draining, fencing and improvements. 
 
 * The aggregate receipts for each period of 10 years since 1840 have 
 been given on page 206, where also the expenditure on improvements has 
 been dealt with. 
 
273 
 
 As to 18 farms, 
 
 permanent 
 1 
 
 reductions of varying 
 
 and 
 
 per 
 
 per 
 
 per 
 
 amounts, but averaging 17^- per cent., have been made, and 
 abatements of 10 and 15 per cent, have been granted in several 
 years. From 1860 to 1893, allowances for lime to the value 
 of £793 have been made, £542 of arrears have been forgiven, 
 and £842 allowed to tenants for unspecified reasons. 
 
 The rent on Sir John Conroy’s Estate in Llanbrynmair 
 (1701 acres with sheepwalks) were raised 10 per cent, in 
 1876 after a valuation, but this was taken off in 1891 and 
 an additional abatement of 15 per cent, also granted. The 
 net rental in 1894 was 24 per cent, less than in 1879. 
 
 Mr. C. J. Morris, the owner of some 4,400 acres in the 
 district of Llanidloes, said, that since his succession to 
 the estate in 1878, he received therefrom a grand total of 
 £40,273, of which sum, £19,462 or 48*62 was placed net to 
 his credit, the balance being divided thus : — 
 
 On woods and planting, 15J per cent. ; buildings 
 repairs, 16J per cent. ; estate fencing and new gates, 1 
 cent. ; draining, 2^ per cent. ; rates, taxes, tithes, 9J 
 cent.; agency expenses, 4*21 per cent. ; and another 3 
 cent, on sundries. 
 
 Most of the preceding estates may be described 
 heriditary properties. One instance is however given of an 1>la s Dinam 
 estate which has been formed by means of successive pur- 
 chases between 1864 and 1891. It now comprises 10,300 
 acres and belongs to Mr. Edward Davies, of Plas Dinam, son 
 of the late David Davies, sometime M.P. for Cardiganshire, 
 well-known as a railway contractor and subsequently as a 
 colliery proprietor. Mr. Davies’s statement is thus quoted : 
 
 “ ‘ Kents have not been advanced except in a few cases 
 where special reasons have existed, and in many cases 
 permanent reductions have been made. In the case of Plas 
 Dinam Estate, for instance, these reductions amount to over 
 £300 a year, or 12 J per cent., in addition to the existing 
 abatement of 20 per cent. — making an average reduction of 
 32 J per cent., irrespective of other advantages. In the case 
 of the Gwernygoe Estate, the total reductions amount to 
 over 39 per cent. 
 
 Witness explained later on, that this total was made up 
 of 4J per cent, permanent reduction, abatements varying 
 from 74 to 20 per cent., while the indirect reduction by the 
 
 n q A recently pur- 
 c chased Estate — 
 
 having 1 
 
 O 
 
 been charged interest 
 
 for increased 
 amounted to 
 
 tenants not 
 
 accommodation, water-power, drainage, &c.. 
 nearly 15 per cent. c] ^ 
 
 There are several interesting features about the evidence of Montgomery- 
 of “ complaining” witnesses in Montgomeryshire. One has to^enTs! dence as 
 
 T 
 
reference to speculative dealings in land. One witness, 
 already quoted, spoke with some contempt of “ the cotton 
 lords” who had bought land in the county. The rents of 
 several farms were said to have been more than doubled at 
 one time in the parish of Carno, and the explanation offered 
 for the advances was that “ Englishmen came up to Wales 
 to buy land. They saw that it was a large quantity of land, 
 and they were under the impression that they were buying- 
 land like the land of England, and they were increasing the 
 rent accordingly upon land the price of which we did not 
 consider was worth more than 6d. an acre.” 
 
 Another feature of much of the evidence was “ the 
 emphasis laid on the large share borne by the tenants in the 
 formation of their holdings, by the making of new fields, 
 and the reclamation of unenclosed land,” especially in the 
 mountainous parts of the country, their rents being subse- 
 quently raised. We shall quote one example* only from the 
 Report (p. 457) : — “ The following was given as the history 
 of a holding in the upland parish of Hirnant, in this county. 
 The farm comprised 133 acres, of which only about 13 acres 
 were enclosed and cultivated in 1830, its rent then being 
 £10. Soon after 1830 some 18 more acres were reclaimed, 
 and a stable and cowhouse were erected hy the tenant ; the 
 rent was subsequently raised from £10 to £20, at which 
 figure it remained until 1861, when the landlord and the 
 agent went over the estate and advanced the rent to £25. 
 Three years later (and after some seven or eight more acres 
 had been reclaimed) it was re-valued by Mr. Coke, a valuer 
 from Hereford, at the time of whose visit there was an 
 excellent crop of oats growing on the virgin soil of this re- 
 claimed land. His valuation was £50, but the rent was 
 raised to £40 only, at which it remained until the death of 
 the tenant, insolvent, at the age of 79, in 1893.” 
 
 In the cases of which the preceding is an example “ the 
 improvements were effected by occupiers in the acknow- 
 ledged position of tenant farmers, but similar improvements 
 were also said to have been largely carried out by squatters, 
 who were subsequently compelled to attorn tenants and pay 
 rack-rents for their enclosures. In either case the evidence 
 has an important bearing on the question of advances in 
 rent, so it is necessary that we should briefly advert to it here.” 
 
 * For further instances reference is made to “ the evidence of Mr. 
 John Hughes (at Qu. 66,446 et seq.), who stated : 1 My father said he had 
 been raised in the rent for each field he had laid down and enclosed,’ on a 
 farm called Ffinnant, near Llanwddyn. See also the evidence of Mr. 
 Edward Edwards of Brwynen, Hirnant {Qu. 67,008 et seq.) whose state- 
 ment was to a similar effect.” 
 
275 
 
 As to the district of Llanbrynmair, the Rev. Abraham The treatment 
 Roberts, a native of the district, but now pastor of a Welsh of S ' iuatters - 
 Presbyterian Church in London, alleged that as many as 55 
 cottages, wholly erected by comparatively poor people, on 
 what was then waste land, have been appropriated ” by Sir 
 W. W. Wynn, as lord of the manor, without making any 
 payment for them so far as witness was aware. 
 
 But, the Report proceeds (p. 460) : — “ The evidence as 
 to the treatment of squatters by the representatives of the 
 Powis Castle estate wag much more abundant, and was such 
 as to lead us to believe that very considerable tracts of land 
 in the district between Llanfyllin and Llangynog, and also 
 in the parish and neighbourhood of Garthbeibio, were 
 originally reclaimed entirely through the energy and labour 
 of persons permitted to squat, apparently with the conniv- 
 ance of the then estate agents, on common land which they 
 enclosed and formed into small holdings.” 
 
 We select the following examples in illustration (p. 
 
 460) : — 
 
 Mr. Evan Lloyd, of Gwrlas, produced a list of some 17 small holdings 
 which had been enclosed by so-called squatters in the district of Garth- 
 beibio, and stated with reference thereto : — ‘ The poor people who lived in 
 these places built their little dwellings and erected buildings and cultivated 
 the common land. Lord Powis’s agents compelled these people to make 
 some acknowledgment to the lord of the manor : some of the people Is., 
 some more. After these acknowledgment were made the rents of these 
 little places were advanced by Lord Powis.’ 
 
 This witness’s statement was corroborated generally by Mr. David 
 Davies, of Allt, Llangadfan, himself the son of a squatter in the same 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 None of the evidence in this respect w'as controverted on any 
 material points by Lord Powis’s representatives who asserted that his 
 lordship’s action 1 was in perfect accordance with his legal rights as lord 
 of the manor.’ 
 
 Mr. N. D. T. Watkin mentioned the case of a squatter in the parish 
 of Manafon, who was induced to pay Is. 6d. a year, but the rent was ulti- 
 mately advanced by various stages to £10. ‘ There are many other 
 
 similar instances,’ added the witness, this is only one instance out of 
 scores.’ It was not, however, specifically stated whether these cases were 
 on the Powis estate or not. 
 
 Montgomeryshire, it is observed, occupied in one respect ^intsln aii° m " 
 an entirely unique position. In all the other border counties border districts, 
 practically no complaints whatsoever were preferred by gomeiyshire. n " 
 tenants at any sitting held near, or even within a consider- 
 able distance of the English border, and, generally speaking, 
 alleged grievances were much less numerous in English than 
 in Welsh-speaking areas ; but “ both at Newtown and Welsh- 
 pool a great quantity of evidence was given complaining of 
 high rents and harsh conditions of tenancy — statements 
 which were, however, met (whether successfully or not it 
 would be too difficult to say) by rebutting evidence tendered 
 
276 
 
 by landlords and agents. From this mass of conflicting 
 testimony it would be unsafe to draw any conclusions, save 
 one, perhaps, namely, that the relations between landlord 
 and tenant in this part of the Principality are not so har- 
 monious as in the other border districts of Wales.’ 
 
 In speaking of the counties of Flint and De’nbigh the 
 Commissioners observe (p. 449) that “ at the sittings which 
 were held at Wrexham and Hanmer, none of the tenant- 
 farmer witnesses gave expression to any feeling of dissatis- 
 faction with their rents, but all their evidence showed that 
 the} r were pretty well satisfied with almost everything except 
 foreign competition. At Mold, the only complaint as to 
 rent which was made to us referred, not to that neighbour- 
 hood, but to the parish of Clocaenog, in West Denbighshire, 
 whence the witness had, in his dissatisfaction, migrated, and 
 was apparently doing better, as he said that he was getting 
 on very well with his present landlord. 
 
 Similarly, at our Holywell sitting, whqre some three or 
 four witnesses did, as a matter of fact, complain of their 
 rents, the complaints in question referred to a limited district 
 at the lower end of the Vale of Clwyd, considerably wkst of 
 the town of Holywell itself. Broadly speaking, we may 
 therefore say that no evidence whatsoever was given us in 
 the nature of a complaint as to rent with reference to any 
 land lying to the east of the Clw3'dian range of mountains.” 
 As w r ill be seen presently, this absence of complaints 
 v r as still more notable at the border sittings in South Wales, 
 and “ but for the exception constituted by Montgomery shire, 
 w'e wxmld have been able to report,” the Commissioners say, 
 “ that scarcely a discordant note was struck during our 
 sittings in the whole of that belt of country extending from 
 the Severn to the Dee — the historic march-land of Wales. 
 This silver line of harmony had, however, its continuity 
 broken on the Montgomeryshire border — more particularly 
 in the districts of Kerry and Forden. It is difficult to find 
 the cause of this. Perhaps it is that indirectly suggested by 
 Mr. David Hamer at Newtown, which we, therefore, 
 quote : — 
 
 £ In the clays of protection the land was rented high, and landlords 
 have maintained those rents to the present day owing to the fierce 
 competition which exists for land in this district. This competition comes 
 from farmers in the upland districts of the county, the height of whose 
 ambition is to occupy a farm in the Severn Valley and to be near Newtown. 
 The principal farms are now occupied by such men or their descendants, 
 and, judging by appearance, not with very much advantage to themselves, 
 but with much disadvantage to the land, for being sheep farmers the 
 standard of arable farming has been considerably lowered.’ 
 
277 
 
 The same witness also stated that the district of New- 
 town suffered severely from absentee landlords. He esti- 
 mated that fully nine-tenths of the rentals received are 
 transferred to landlords residing elsewhere, and he also 
 suggested that the properties of some of the resident owners 
 were heavily mortgaged. 
 
 Whatever the cause may be, the fact remains that con- 
 siderable dissatisfaction appears to exist among a large 
 proportion of the tenantry in those districts ; rents had been 
 screwed up, so they alleged, as the result of competition ; 
 tenants had become insolvent and were sold up, and the 
 standard of cultivation was deteriorating. ’ 
 
 2. -THE EASTERN COUNTIES OF SOUTH WALES 
 (. BRECON , RADNOR , MONMOUTH AND 
 GLAMORGAN'). 
 
 The exceptional character of the Montgomeryshire evi- 
 dence is still more clearly seen when we consider the obser- 
 vations as to the Eastern Counties of South Wales. 
 
 Thus with reference to the Counties of Radnor and kadxob ax» 
 Brecon, the Commissioners state (p. 420): — " No very large H¥X ' jy ' 
 number of complaints with reference to rent was brought 
 before us in these two counties, and it is a noticeable fact 
 that such complaints as we had were most numerous either 
 in W elsh-speaking districts or in those parts which are most 
 remote from the English border. Thus at our sitting at 
 Crickhowell, which is not far from the Herefordshire border, 
 only three witnesses gave any evidence in the nature of com- 
 plaints, one of them being as to the difficulty of obtaining 
 allotments, while the other two chiefly referred to the 
 question of game. 
 
 Similarly at our sitting at Knighton, in Radnorshire, 
 which is partly situated in England and partly in Wales, not 
 a single complaint as to excessive rent was brought before us ; 
 indeed, one witness, Mr. R. Hamer, who since about 186-3 
 has held a farm of over 500 acres under Mr. Rogers, of 
 Stanage Park, said that he had been receiving an abatement 
 of 10 per cent., but that it was superseded by a permanent 
 reduction of close upon £100 a year, his present rental being 
 £426, with which he appeared very well content. 
 
 Further westward in these counties complaints as to 
 rents and other matters became more numerous, though not 
 nearly to the same extent as in the more typical Welsh 
 counties either in South or North Wales. 
 
278 
 
 Systematic 
 revaluations of 
 Brecknockshire 
 Estates. 
 
 Mi*. J. W. Boore, a freeholder, living in the parish of 
 Rhulen, between Builth and Hay, said that he could mention 
 cases in which tenants had their rents raised upon their im- 
 proving their farms,” and he gave the case of his own father 
 as an instance. 
 
 “ A tenant of the Llwynbarried Estate, in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Llandrindod, said that rents had been 
 doubled within the last 50 years. 
 
 ‘ For instance, my father took a farm about 52 years ago at £70. In 
 14 years it had risen to £100, and in a few years to £130, then to £140. It 
 was then valued and the rent raised to £150, Then there was a dispute 
 between two would-be tenants, and it was let at £150. The rent is now 
 £150. That is double the former rent of 50 years ago. There have been 
 many temporary abatements of rents on the well-managed estates, and some 
 permanent reductions ; but the change of rents seldom depends on a re- 
 valuation.’ 
 
 Interest at the rate of 5 to 6§ per cent, was also charged on drainage and 
 fencing made by the owners, even though, in some cases, as that of his own 
 holding, the drainage was almost worthless, owing to its being badly done. 
 
 A freeholder representing the tenant farmers of the 
 Welsh speaking district of Trecastle, on the Carmarthenshire 
 border, spoke of rents raised by 50 to 60 per cent, while a 
 witness from the neighbouring parish of Llandilofan said that 
 excepting the Marquis of Camden and Dr. Lloyd Barlow, 
 “ all the other landlords had advanced their rents.” 
 
 As to the two counties generally, the Commissioners 
 state (p. 416) that a series of re- valuations were conducted 
 on several of the largest estates from about 1856 downwards. 
 The following statement made by Mr. John Lloyd, himself a 
 landowner in the county and a member of the South Wales 
 circuit is thus quoted (p. 416.) : — 
 
 “From the year 1855 to 1875 I was agent for my 
 father’s estates in this country. About that time, in 1854 
 and 1855, the times were very good for Welsh fanners, and 
 in 1860 I remember they did very well and up to 1865. 
 
 About 1856 a rather remarkable event happened in this 
 county. Sir Charles Morgan as he was then — the late Lord 
 Tredegar — caused his Brecknockshire property to be revalued, 
 and he sent up a valuer from Newport of the name of 
 Treharne Rees. He found then that Sir Charles Morgan’s 
 farms were low rented, and he raised them very much, and 
 the example that was then set by that estate was followed 
 throughout the county, and most of the chief landowners 
 followed suit and employed valuers who valued their estates 
 afresh. They emploj^ed on one large estate Mr. Appleby, of 
 Hereford, and it became the rule to revalue the large estates 
 throughout Brecknockshire. The result was at that 
 time a great increase in the rents at Brecknockshire. 
 It was rather an unfortunate time to have had a 
 
279 
 
 revaluation then made, because times were exception- 
 ally good. Since then rents have gone back a good 
 deal and there have been reductions made. I do not 
 know that rents have gone back again to what they were 
 before 1856, but they were put up a very great deal at that 
 period of time. ... I should think a great proportion 
 of the county was revalued at that time. I was an agent 
 then in Brecknockshire, and know about the state of things 
 perfectly well. The exact amount of each farm, or what it 
 was raised to, I do not know, but my impression is, and my 
 belief is, that there was a considerable rise indeed which is 
 well known, and which can be tested one way or the other, 
 and the people were fairly staggered by the rise all through 
 the county at that time. Treharne Bees was remembered 
 well for many a year after. 
 
 The Commissioners supplement this statement of Mr. 
 Lloyd’s by giving particulars of various other estates as 
 follows : — “ Among other Brecknockshire estates valued about 
 this time was that of Maesllwch Castle, the valuation being 
 according to one witness in 1858, but according to another 
 in 1862. 
 
 Mr. LlojM also mentioned the Penpont Estate (of 3,500 
 acres) near Brecon, which was valued by Mr. Appleby, but 
 in the year 1869, its result being according to the present 
 agent an increase of 25 per cent, on the old rentals. 
 
 The Marquess of Camden’s Brecknockshire estate of 
 7,500 acres was, however, revalued in the year indicated by 
 Mr. Lloyd, namely, in, 1856, and ‘some of the rents were 
 then raised as found necessary,’ the rental in 1894, after 
 intermediate adjustments, being about per cent, above 
 what it was before the valuation. Abatements of 10 per 
 cent, were made in 1880 and 1881, in 1885-8 and 1892, and 
 of 15 per cent, in 1893. The Gwernyfed Park Estate 
 (Colonel Wood), in the same county, was valued about 1863 ; 
 rents have not been raised since except on change of tenancy. 
 Abatements varying from 2^ to 15 per cent, have been made 
 every year between 1885 and 1892, except 1890, and 20 per 
 cent, was returned in 1880. In 1834, the Harpton Court 
 Estate, of 10,000 acres, chiefly in Badnorshire, was also 
 valued, but with what result we have no precise information 
 to show. Some permanent reductions have been made, and 
 abatements of 10 per cent, were also granted from Lady Day 
 1886 to Michaelmas 1888, and from Michaelmas 1891 to the 
 end of 1892.” 
 
 Some very comprehensive evidence given by Sir Joseph 
 Bailey, the Lord Lieutenant for the county of Brecknock, is 
 
 Sir J. R. Bailey 
 on Brecknock- 
 shire Rents. 
 
280 
 
 Hundred of 
 Builth. 
 
 also quoted. The agricultural rental of his own estate, that 
 of Glanusk, which measures 25,000 acres, was stated as 
 £18,521, or an average of 11s. 8d. per acre. 
 
 1 But the value of lands vary very much in different parts of the 
 county. . . . The average of the valley farms’, in the centre of 
 
 Breconshire, runs from £1 to 25s. an acre. On the other hand, in the 
 Hundred of Builth, the best farms fetch 18s. an acre ; intermediate farms 
 10s. and 12s. an acre in addition to tithes. It is very poor land, but is 
 improved in value by the market afforded by a series of watering places 
 with mineral waters ( e . g ., Llangammarch and Llandrindod). The Builth 
 Hundred has been opened by railway, the Mid-Wales line. Before that 
 coal had to be hauled 20 miles, and the price of comfort was very great. 
 
 . . . Jones, in his ‘History of Brecknockshire,’ states that Builth 
 
 land was then, in 1807, worth from 6s. to 7s. per acre, and the poorest from 
 Ms. to 4s. per acre. 1 n those days the inhabitants could not raise corn enough 
 for their own consumption. The yield of wheat per acre was five bushels. 
 Land in the county generally was then from 15s. to 21s., very much as it 
 is now, and in the neighbourhood of Glasbury and Hay, that is in the 
 centre of the county, some farms in those days fetched 40s., and in the 
 neighbourhood of towns, which, I presume, was accommodation land, 
 they fetched even then from £3 to £4.’ 
 
 “ It should also he borne in mind, as proving the non- 
 existence of a system of fines in the county, that at the 
 beginning of the century, nearly all farms were let on lease. 
 
 Returning to the history of his own estate, the witness 
 said that there had never been any general revision of the 
 rents. ‘ About the year, 1870, if a farm was in the market 
 and taken, it commanded high rents for the moment, but 
 they have all gone back to their original rents again.’ Be- 
 yond such cases no permanent reductions appear to have 
 been made. ‘ There have been temporary abatements, some- 
 times general and sometimes to particular tenants who have 
 met with misfortune, and who have been tenants of the 
 estate for a long time.’ 
 
 The general abatements have been 10 per cent, at 
 Michaelmas 1880, and at Michaelmas 1885, and 10 per cent, 
 on the whole year’s rent in 1881, 1886-7-8, and 1892-3 in- 
 clusive, as well as an abatement of 5 per cent, at Lady Day, 
 1889. This was practically the history of the Brecknock- 
 shire Estate. Sir Joseph, however, stated that he had some 
 farms near Monmouth, where he had made some large 
 reductions in rent, while some estates of his in Buckingham- 
 shire were described as ; absolutely unprofitable those being 
 corn-growing counties.” 
 
 One of the chief estates in the Hundred of Builth which 
 has just been referred to, is that of Miss Thomas, Llwyn 
 Madoc, which lies on the northern and most mountainous 
 part of Brecknockshire, where sheep-farming is necessarily 
 the chief industry. It measures 10.800 acres, and its rental 
 is £3,100. 
 
281 
 
 “ Taking the rent in 1843 as a ‘basis’ [the agent said] it 
 was higher in 1863 by T2 per cent. A new valuation was 
 made -in 1875, and in 1878 the rental was 23’9 per cent, 
 above the 1843 basis. This comparison applies to 56 out of 
 70 agricultural holdings. Owing to exchanges, sales, pur- 
 chases, &c., so long a comparison cannot be made for the 
 other 14 holdings. A general rise of rent took place about 
 1874 to 1876, in consequence of the rise in prices. It 
 amounted in Breconshire to 22 per cent., and was conse- 
 quent on a valuation. This valuation (made by Mr. Davies, 
 of Frood Vale) was 36*2 per cent, above the rental of 1843, 
 but the rents were not raised higher than 24 per cent, above 
 the 3 843 basis. In 1843 other services were rendered, 
 besides payment of rent. In 1881 individual reductions 
 began, and in 1886 a general permanent reduction took 
 place, amounting to 13 per cent, for the whole estate. The 
 rental now stands, as before stated, 5*2 above that of 1843. 
 
 “As to abatements, previous to the permanent reduction 
 in 1886, abatements of 15 per cent, were given for three half- 
 years. Subsequent, and in addition to the permanent re- 
 duction in 1886, abatements have been given for 1892 of 
 10 per cent., 1893, 12J per cent.” 
 
 The Commissioners add that “ One of the tenants ex- 
 pressed the opinion that the tenantry were not altogether 
 satisfied with the abatement ; for his own part he was not. 
 
 The abatement did not meet the way prices were down, but 
 they have not made a complaint and the blame was on 
 themselves.” 
 
 As to the Llysdinam Estate (of 1,739 acres), the rents 
 have been permanently reduced, since the depression, from 
 £1,100 to £984, or to the extent of 11 per cent. 
 
 “ As to Mrs. Fuller Maitland’s estate, at Garth, which 
 lies between Builth and Llangammarch, and through which 
 the London and North-Western Railway line to Swansea 
 now runs, the agent informed us the farms are now let at 
 about the same rents as they were 40 years ago. They were 
 raised at one time, when the railway was made, but they have 
 been since reduced, the general permanent reduction being 
 12 J percent., which is also supplemented by a general abate- 
 ment of 7 per cent, to tenants who pay their rent in full, a 
 condition which was complained of by a tenant who had him- 
 self fallen into arrears, and was therefore unable to reap the 
 benefit of the abatement.” 
 
 The rents on the Dderw estate, near Rhayader, have west Radnor- 
 remained practically stationary since 1849, and most of them 
 were said to be lower than the rateable value for poor-rate 
 
282 
 
 Glamorgan- 
 shire : 
 
 Chief 
 
 Estates. 
 
 purposes, and the gross rateable value of most of the farms of 
 Mr. Lloyd, of Nantgwyllt, also “ appeared to be higher than 
 their rentals,” many of which had remained unchanged since 
 1861, if not earlier. The total increase in Mr. Lloyd’s 
 rent-roll was, however, about 8^ per cent, between 1330 and 
 1861, and a little under 3 per cent, between 1861 and 1892, 
 or an aggregate increase of about 9 per cent, since 1830. 
 
 Particulars are given in the Report of several other large 
 estates, but these need not be reproduced here, as the fore- 
 going are fairly typical examples. 
 
 Passing on to Glamorganshire the following statements 
 are given in the report (p. 467) as to a few of the chief 
 estates : — “ The agents for the Duke of Beaufort’s estate 
 (which is chiefly in Gower) did not think the farm rents on 
 that estate had been raised much during the last half 
 century. No reductions or abatements had been made ; no 
 applications for such had been received from the tenants, 
 whom the agent did not think at all dissatisfied. 
 
 “ ‘ The Mar gam Estate has not been revalued, but during 
 the last 36 years there has been a revision of the rent in 
 every case of a new tenancy. Rents have been raised in a 
 great many cases when a change of tenancy has taken place, 
 but only then. Until 1858 there was hardly any change, 
 but from that time until 1880 there was an increase in the 
 rent when the circumstances would admit. In Gower the 
 raising of rent on change of tenancy has not uncommonly 
 been the result of competition among applicants. Reductions 
 have been made in very few cases ; the total granted would 
 not exceed £150 a year on the Margam Estate proper. In 
 Gower none of any consequence have been granted.’ 
 
 The reductions in question appear to be not solety, if at 
 all, referable to agricultural distress, but in consequence of 
 damage caused by copper smoke. The rents of the farms 
 thus affected were reduced from 35 to 75 per cent, as the 
 result of four valuations made at different times of the year. 
 
 In the time of the late Mr. Talbot, the tenants had to do 
 all the repairs themselves, the landlords’ practice being to 
 reduce the rent 10 per cent, so that the tenant should under- 
 take the repairs. Since Miss Talbot succeeded to the pro- 
 perty in 1890, she has undertaken all the repairs, but the 
 rents have not been raised, except in a very few instances. 
 The abatements made were 20 per cent, in 1881, 25 per cent, 
 in 1886, and 15 percent, in 1892. The last-mentioned abate- 
 ment was made subsequent to a petition being addressed to 
 Miss Talbot, asking for a permanent reduction, in lieu of 
 which she made an allowance of 15 per cent. 
 
283 
 
 The tenants in the immediate neighbourhood of Margam 
 and Pyle had, at a public meeting, selected one of their 
 number — himself a large tenant — to inform us that in their 
 opinion the rents on the estate were generally too high. 
 
 The Marquis of Bute's Glamorganshire estate, which 
 consists of about 12,500 acres of agricultural land, has not 
 been revalued as a whole during the last 50 years ; in fact 
 it was about 70 years ago that a survey of it was made. 
 According to the agent : — 
 
 4 Rents are considered to be fixed very low, and we have 
 made no abatement and made no increase. I am speaking 
 generally. Of course, there have been one or two cases of 
 alterations of rents when new tenancies have been entered 
 into, and perhaps when extensive repairs have been done, or 
 something of that sort. . . . We have also bought 
 
 considerably lately, and we have found the places that we 
 have bought in bad repair, but we have not charged any 
 more rent in those cases where we have put them into good 
 repair.’ 
 
 As to Lord Windsor’s Estate of about 18,000 acres in 
 Glamorganshire, there has been no revaluation, and conse- 
 quently no general increase in the rents during the last 
 50 years. On the other hand, there has been no general 
 reduction of recent years, but rents have been reduced in 
 special cases, the gross permanent reduction since 1877 
 amounting to £739, while taking a few individual advances 
 into account the net decrease in the rental since 1877 
 amounts to £248 11s. As to these advances, Mr. Forrest, 
 the agent, stated that 4 no rent had been raised upon sitting- 
 tenants. . . . There are some little dairy farms close to 
 
 the town of Cardiff,’ where slight increases have been made, 
 44 but not when the tenant was sitting, only when a new 
 tenant came into the property. ’ The abatements that have 
 been made since the commencement of the depression were 
 10 per cent, in 1879 and from 1886 to 1888, both inclusive, 
 and 5 per cent, in 1881, 1889, and 1892.” 
 
 The D unraven and Rheola estates have been mentioned 
 above (p. 116) as properties on which premiums were formerly 
 paid for the leases, and it is therefore useless to compare 
 their present rents with those paid when the leases were in 
 force. But as to the more recent valuations, it was stated 
 as to the D unraven estate that a valuation made in 1877 
 showed an increased value of 8 per cent, above the then 
 rents, but it was never acted upon. 44 Some few” permanent 
 reductions have been made, and since 1885 abatements of 
 from 10 to 15 per cent, have been granted, varying accord- 
 
284 
 
 Complaints as 
 to rents more 
 numerous 
 in West than 
 East Glamorgan, 
 
 % 
 
 ing to the special circumstances of each case. The present 
 rental of the Kheola estate is 4 per cent, lower than in 1877, 
 or about 6 per cent, taking into account lands let tithe free. 
 
 As to the Vaughan Lee estates, the present rental of 
 one portion of about 3,400 acres is £949; or only £50 10s. 
 more than it was 50 years ago ; another portion of 1,000 
 acres stands now at £395, while in 1864, when it was 
 purchased, it was about £70 more ; while still another part 
 purchased in 1872 has since then fallen from £285 to £233. 
 
 As to complaints of rents being raised in this county, 
 most of them came from the western half, that is from Gower, 
 the Swansea Valley, and the Vale of Neath — and many, if 
 not most, of them referred to comparatively small holdings or 
 to small landowners. One witness stated that the only 
 instance which he could mention of “an abatement granted 
 in the upper part of the Swansea Valley, was one of 10 per 
 cent, allowed for the preceding half-year’s rent by Mr. Gough 
 of Ynyscedwyn.” 
 
 According to another witness, a lease for three lives for 
 a small holding called Blaenywaun, Cwmclydach, expired as 
 late as 1873, when the rent was raised from £26 to £40, 
 being afterwards reduced to £32, together with interest on 
 landlord’s expenditure, but finding this too high the tenant 
 left, though his ancestors had been for four centuries on the 
 holding. 
 
 Mr. J. Thomas, of Clase Llangyfelach, thus referred to 
 some land held by a Mr. Loss under Colonel Lyon which he 
 (the tenant) manured ever since witness remembered. ‘ The 
 land is 500 feet above sea level, and is of excellent quality 
 but not rich. He had to leave it last September (1892), and 
 the agent let it to another man for double the rent. The 
 outgoing tenant did not get any compensation.’ Mr. Thomas 
 also mentioned the case of ‘ two farms, on each of which 
 about 60 acres were planted with trees, say 25 years ago, but 
 the rent is the same now as before the trees were planted. 
 They are on Sir Hussey Vivian’s estate. They are called 
 Brynwilach and Maeseglwys.’ 
 
 As to the Vale of Neath, the chief representative of the 
 tenants from this district said that during the last 30 or 40 
 years the rise in rents in his neighbourhood was to the extent 
 of 10, 20, and in some cases 80 per cent. Apparently the 
 most extreme that he knew was that of his own father, who, 
 up to about 1863, was a tenant under Captain J. W. 
 Fredericks. “ He held a farm at a rent of £25 a year. He 
 had notice to leave without any cause ; he made a lot of im- 
 provements; he left without compensation, and after he 
 
285 
 
 left the farm was raised to £45 a year, and it is the same 
 to-day.” 
 
 Mr Gwilym Jones, a large tenant-farmer and an aider- 
 man of the Glamorgan County Council, in giving evidence 
 as to the parishes of Llanwonno, Llanvabon, and Eglwysilan, 
 in East Glamorgan, said that generally speaking the small 
 landowners were the most exacting. ‘ I do not wish to say they 
 are oppressors, but they do not treat their tenants as fairly as 
 the large landowners, such as Lord Tredegar, Lord Windsor, 
 
 and the Tyntes, of Cefn Mably I should myself 
 
 like to see this, that it would be impossible to raise the rents 
 on the tenants’ improvements. That is the great complaint 
 with a great many of the tenants in various parts of the 
 district.’ 
 
 “ With reference to the Yale of Glamorgan, which is the 
 chief agricultural area in the whole county, we were told by Mr. 
 
 William Jenkins, of Bhoose Farm, near Barry (who has been 
 farming as a tenant for 32 years), that it was an ‘ indisputable 
 fact that great hardships had been caused and injustice done, 
 in man}’ cases, to tenant-farmers by land agents unreasonably 
 advancing rents, and otherwise causing much injury.’ He 
 then gave several examples (which need not be reproduced) 
 of what he described as 4 the mismanagement of estates by 
 land agents.’ 
 
 “ Mr. Thomas Morgan, a retired tenant farmer, of Llan- The vale of 
 twit Major, said that in 1842 he took a farm on the Nash (T,amorgan ' 
 Manor Estate, near Cowbridge. After some 30 years, during 
 which he drained a good deal, and effected other improve- 
 ments, his landlord died, and the estate then went into the 
 hands of a trustee, who two years afterwards gave the tenant 
 notice to quit, with the view of raising 40 per cent, on the 
 rent. This advance witness described as being due to his 
 own improvements : — 
 
 £ Before I took it, my farm was let to a substantial 
 tenant, who gave it up for want of repairs, and I took it 
 because I was a young man and had a wife, and I was obliged 
 to get a living. I stuck to it, and after I had been there 30 
 years I had this notice to raise the rent, and they raised it 
 32 per cent, before I should be allowed to keep it. I would 
 not keep it very long ; I could not agree to that. I could 
 not suffer myself to be on a place where I thought I was 
 very much wronged.’ 
 
 In addition to this increase in the rent, five acres of 
 land was taken away for planting, without any corresponding 
 allowance. 
 
Monmouth- 
 shire : 
 
 The moral in- 
 fluence of the 
 great land- 
 owners in Mon- 
 mouthshire. 
 
 Mr. D. J. Jenkins, of Great Frampton, Vice-Chairman 
 of the Cowbridge Farmers’ Club, stated that rents had gone 
 up about 30 per cent, from 1870 onwards, more especially 
 about 1872 ; he knew of a great many individual cases where 
 such advances had been made, but that of recent years they 
 had fallen back to very much what they were in 1870, and 
 in some instances much below. 
 
 Mr. George Thomas, of Ely, also concurred in saying 
 that rents had risen from somewhere about 1872 to 1874 
 and 1875, but on the other hand, he was not aware of any 
 permanent reductions which had since been made. 
 
 So far as we could gather from the evidence of other 
 witnesses, the only authentic case of a general permanent 
 reduction of rent in this county, was that which had been 
 just made prior to our visit in 1893 on Lord Wimborne’s 
 estate. His lordship’s leading tenant, Mr. Bees Thomas, of 
 Boverton, said he had pointed out to the agent the unsatis- 
 factory results of abatements as not enabling the tenants to 
 have their rates reduced, and £ by the next rent audit,’ 
 said Mr. Thomas, ‘ he made the percentage a perma- 
 nent one. Therefore all Lord Wimborne’s tenants, the last 
 six months, have relieved themselves of 10 per cent, from 
 the rates and taxes.’ 
 
 The fairly unanimous opinion of all the tenant-farmer 
 witnesses in the Vale of Glamorgan was that though the 
 rents were not excessive on the large estates, there was not 
 on the part of landlords such a general acceptance of the 
 situation as there was in England, and that landlords were 
 doling out abatements, when, in fact, they should be making 
 permanent reductions instead.” 
 
 The Commissioners, however observe (p. 413) that “ the 
 same complaint was scarcely applicable to the county of 
 Monmouth, or at most only to a very few of its landowners, 
 and to none, we believe, of those who possess the larger 
 properties in the county. 
 
 As to one important estate, that of Lord Tredegar, we 
 received no statistical evidence, but there was a singular 
 unanimity among all the witnesses, who appeared before us, 
 as to the liberal, nay, generous terms on which his Lordship, 
 as well as the other large landlords of this county, let their 
 farms. 
 
 One witness, Mr. T. Parry, of Newport, whose general 
 evidence may be said to have favoured the tenants’ cause, 
 spoke of Lord Tredegar as ; the good Samaritan,’ and added 
 that ‘ in Monmouthshire, from the consideration of Lord 
 Tredegar and other very excellent landlords, there were very 
 
287 
 
 few complaints, but there are tenants of other landowners 
 who do feel the oppression very terribly.’ 
 
 Mr. Lawrence, of Caerleon, also said : — ‘ I feel that probably 
 we are peculiarly and most favourably circumstanced in the 
 county of Monmouth. I think I may say amongst the great 
 landowners, of which we have altogether some 14 or 15 in 
 the county, I do not think it is possible that more liberal and 
 generous men can be, or that a better feeling could possibly 
 exist between landlord and tenant than exists between them. 
 I look upon the Duke of Beaufort’s, Lord Tredegar’s, the 
 Llanarth Estate, and many other estates in this county as 
 being conducted upon the most generous and liberal principle 
 for the benefit of the county at large, and the country at 
 
 large I would most certainly include Lord 
 
 Llangattock. I would not undertake to mention all the 
 names, but I really do not know a single instance in the 
 whole county amongst the large landowners in which what I 
 have mentioned is not the case.’ ” 
 
 One witness, who described himself as an advocate of 
 land nationalization — Mr. Moses Walters, county councillor 
 and quarry agent, of Blackwood — after referring to several 
 cases of alleged hardships and of high rents in his district 
 ("which is in the heart of the mineral area) added that ‘ if the} 7 
 had landlords like Lord Tredegar he did not think those 
 grievances mentioned by him would exist.’ 
 
 Some evidence was, however, tendered to show that in 
 cases where old estates were broken up, the tendency was 
 for the purchasers to raise the rents, as in the case of the 
 Llanaravon Estate, to which Mr. T. Parry alluded. 
 
 “ Dealing with the general position of sitting tenants, 
 the same witness thus referred to the case of Trestevan 
 Farm, near Llangibby, belonging to a Mr. Williams, of 
 Clifton (since deceased) : — 
 
 ‘ This farm had been occupied for 50 years by a most 
 respectable family named Phillips. Their rent was raised 
 several times, which they had to submit to. In 1880, there 
 being bad seasons, they applied to the owner for a reduction. 
 The then squire absolutely refused. The Phillipses had a 
 private income, which they were losing, and they felt they 
 did not care to go on losing all the time. They gave notice 
 to quit in 1880, because of their not being able to obtain a 
 reduction. Since then they (the owners) have had three 
 changes of tenants, and the farm has been very much 
 reduced. That was a very great hardship upon people who 
 had lived for 50 years in the parish, and who were naturally 
 attached to the place, that they should not have the farm 
 
 Hardships 
 arising in case 
 of sales and 
 occasionally 
 otherwise. 
 
288 
 
 Evidence as to 
 
 permanent 
 
 reductions. 
 
 reduced to a fair and just rent, and that the newcomers were 
 allowed the reduction, and more than the reduction, that the 
 Phillipses would have been satisfied with and would have 
 maintained the tenancy upon.’ 
 
 No evidence was offered in rebuttal of this statement, 
 though the landlord’s widow was represented before us by 
 her brother, Mr. T. E. Cooke, who gave evidence as to other 
 matters, immediately after Mr. Parry. Other complaints 
 were also made with reference to the treatment of tenants, 
 though not as to rent, both on this and on another estate 
 managed by Mr. Cooke, as well as on some private property of 
 his own ; but it is unnecessary for us here to do more than 
 mention that these were the chief cases of (alleged) hardship 
 brought to our notice in this courdy.” 
 
 On the other hand evidence of generous dealing was 
 very abundant. 
 
 Mr. W. C. A. Williams, the county treasurer, said he 
 thought that on an average there was a permanent reduction 
 from 25 to 30 per cent, on properties in the neighbourhood 
 of Monmouth. The total reductions made since 1883 by 
 Mr. Bosanquet, of Dingestow Court, amounted to about 30 
 per cent. On Lord Llangattock’s estate, permanent reduc- 
 tions have been made since 1877 amounting to about 25 per 
 cent., while on 11 occasions since 1877 abatements of from 
 10 to 50 per cent, have been granted. 
 
 On the Duke of Beaufort’s Monmouthshire estate, the 
 rents have been varied chiefly by means of abatements, the 
 circumstances of each holding being considered separately, 
 but permanent reductions have also been made in some 
 cases, notably large farms. Mr. Lawrence, of Caerleon, has 
 apparently dealt with his rents in the same way, and Mr. 
 J. A. Bradney, of Talycoed (an estate of 1,500 acres) has 
 permanently reduced the rents of most of the farms, since 
 their purchase in 1880. 
 
 “ An exceptional instance both of the raising, as well as 
 of the subsequent reduction of rents in Monmouthshire, is to 
 be found in connection with the Llantilio Estate, which lies 
 about half way between Abergavenny and Monmouth, and 
 consists of 2,700 acres. The statement of the present agent, 
 Mr. W. Graham, with reference to it, was as follows : — 
 
 c The estate was sold by auction in 1873 after the preceding owner 
 (Colonel Clifford) had raised the rents higher than ever they were before. 
 It may be in your remembrance that from 1872 to 1875 were the years in 
 which land sold higher than ever known in England. The Llantilio 
 Estate w r as sold by auction in London, and it realised £165,000 with the 
 timber to be valued, which was afterwards valued at £20,000 making the 
 cost of the whole 3,000 acres £185,000. The rents were, roughly, some- 
 thing over £4,000 a year. When the year 1879 came, that disastrous 
 
289 
 
 year, the most disastrous year in my memory, or in anyone’s memory, I 
 suppose, they were unable to gather in the harvest because of the con- 
 stant rains, and the sheep died in the early spring, and it was then that 
 20 per cent, was allowed the tenants (as an abatement) on that half-year, 
 followed by permanent reductions on leases and annual tenancies alike of 
 33 per cent, on that estate.’ 
 
 In fact, as the agent subsequently stated, the tenants 
 would have been ruined if the late Sir Henry J ackson (who 
 was the son of the purchaser) had not made those reduc- 
 tions. 
 
 u 
 
290 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE HISTORY OF 
 WELSH RENTALS. 
 
 A — ENGLISH AND WELSH BENTS COMPARED. 
 
 Income Tax 
 Assessments] 
 on land (Sell. A.) 
 an index of 
 agricultural 
 rents. 
 
 Their actual 
 value and 
 accuracy deter- 
 mined. 
 
 Having now completed onr summary of the evidence as 
 to the history of the rentals of individual estates, of limited 
 districts, and of particular holdings, it is necessary to extend 
 the inquiry so as to ascertain the aggregate rentals, at various 
 periods, for entire counties, and for the whole of Wales — 
 and also if possible for certain large areas in England, so 
 that a comparison may be instituted between the two 
 countries. 
 
 The Commissioners point out that there are no available 
 statistics which give the precise amount of agricultural 
 rental, as such, but that the Income Tax Assessments on 
 Lands only, under Schedule A, may, however, be accepted 
 as substantially representing the rent of agricultural lands. 
 The system according to which these assessments are made 
 up — formerly every three years, but now every five years — 
 is very fully stated, and all the objections which have in 
 various quarters been raised against them as an index of 
 agricultural rents are considerable at great length (p. 361 
 et seq.), but we need give here only the conclusions of the 
 Commissioners on the point, which are as follows (p. 
 
 370) 
 
 “ The gross assessments on lands under Schedule A, as 
 fixed in the year of a new valuation, represent the agricultural 
 rental of such lands with that approximation to accuracy 
 which nothing short of a special survey with statutory powers 
 could attain to. This high standard of accuracy, we have 
 reason to believe, is attained not only in England, but also 
 in all the Welsh counties, and has been so in both countries 
 for the last 30 years. Previous to 1864-5 there is nothing 
 to indicate that the assessments were less accurate for Wales 
 than for England, though in neither country did they ap- 
 proximate so closely to the rack rental as they have done since ; 
 so that for the 40 years odd prior to 1864 we may take the 
 figures in a broad and general sense for the purpose of a 
 
291 
 
 -comparison between Wales and England, as for that period, 
 also, there is no reason to suppose that the returns give less 
 accurate results for Wales than for England. 
 
 “ But returns for a much earlier period, namely, for the 
 year 1814-15, were also produced to us by the Board of 
 Inland Bevenue, and as to these it appears to be impossible 
 to fix their due value or ascertain their trustworthiness*. 
 The Inland Revenue officials cannot exactly tell how these 
 figures are arrived at, because, according to their representa- 
 tive before us : 4 They have not got the whole workings. The 
 figures are only certain totals brought forward, and how those 
 totals have been brought forward it is very hard to say/ 
 
 We shall therefore give the returns for 1814-15 for what 
 they are worth, and use them only in so far as the results 
 which they give are supported by collateral evidence! . The 
 figures for the later years we shall use for purposes of com- 
 parison with England, and treat them as an equally trust- 
 worthy index of the agricultural rental in Wales as in 
 England. 
 
 As to the value to be placed upon the later returns, we 
 find that Mr. Gladstone treated them in exactly the way 
 which we propose doing.J In a letter written by his secre- 
 tary, in October, 1892, we find the following : — 
 
 4 He (Mr. Gladstone) has now been furnished with a 
 return showing for the years from 1876-7 to 1890-1 inclusive 
 the value of the lands assessed for income tax (Schedule A.) 
 in England and in Wales. These figures show that then, 
 between 1876-7 and 1890-1, there was a reduction in Eng- 
 land of about 21 per cent., and in Wales of about 4-J per 
 cent. He is, of course, aware that the income tax figures do 
 not exhibit the whole case, and especially that they do not 
 take into account the important class of cases in which fresh 
 outlay of landlords’ capital without return has stood in place 
 of reduction of rent. But his purpose was to compare Wales 
 
 * See vol. V., p. 353. The gap in the statistics is explained by the fact 
 that the Income Tax, which dates from 1798, was discontinued in 1816, 
 and was not revived until the year 1842, when it was re-imposed by Sir 
 Robert Peel’s Government, not as a war tax (which it originally was) but 
 for the purpose of meeting the ordinary expenditure of the country. 
 
 t There is reason to believe that these assessments for 1814-15 were at 
 the time considered to be representing, with substantial accuracy, the 
 agricultural rental. Thus Davies, in his Agriculture of South Wales 
 (II., 484-5), in referring to land valuers who over-valued land, says : “ It 
 may be said in their favour that, by advancing the property tax, they must 
 have greatly increased the revenue at a time when it was most essentially 
 necessary.” Unless such increases were immediately recorded in the 
 assessments, this statement Avould have been scarcely accurate. 
 
 $ Mr. Gladstone’s letters dealing with the question of Welsh rents are 
 printed in the Appendix to vol. V. p. 623. 
 
292 
 
 What portions 
 of England are 
 most suitable 
 for comparison 
 with Wales ? 
 
 with England ; and there is no reason to suppose that, from 
 this point of view, the income tax returns gave less accurate 
 results in the one case than in the other.’ 
 
 With reference to this statement of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. 
 J. E. Vincent made the following remark, speaking in the 
 capacity of official representative of Welsh landowners : 
 ‘ With due qualification, landlords may safely accept Mr. 
 Gladstone’s views as expressed in this extract.’ ” 
 
 As to the “ qualifications ” in question, the Com- 
 missioners observe that so far as they bore on the question 
 of the equation of the (Schedule A.) assessments on land 
 with the agricultural rental, as legally fixed and reserved by 
 specific agreements, we have “ come to the conclusion that 
 most of them were based upon a misconception of the nature 
 of the returns.” 
 
 The Commissioners do not come to quite so definite a 
 conclusion as to what portion of England bears the closest 
 resemblance to Wales in its physical characteristics, and the 
 nature of the agriculture pursued, — so that a comparison 
 might be instituted between the two. “ In the course of the 
 controversy as to Welsh rents which preceded the institution 
 of our inquiry, as well as in the evidence of witnesses 
 examined by ourselves, it was suggested that the counties of 
 Cheshire, Cumberland, Cornwall, Devon, Monmouth, and 
 Westmoreland were the most appropriate English counties 
 to select for the purposes of a comparison with Wales.” 
 
 Though not stated in the Eeport, what appears to be 
 the chief reasons for suggesting this group of scattered and 
 arbitrarily picked counties were (1) that they are for the 
 most part mountainous like Wales, and (2) that their popu- 
 lation is largely Celtic. For convenience sake we shall 
 therefore call these “ the Celtic Counties”.* 
 
 But, the Commissioners add : — “ As there might, how- 
 ever, be some doubt as to the propriety of selecting the 
 above five English counties for the purpose of comparison 
 with Wales, we thought it desirable for the sake of further 
 illustration to take the group of counties which constitute 
 Division IV. of the Agricultural Divisions of England, espe- 
 cially as the proportion of arable and pasture land in this 
 group is practically identical with the proportion in Wales. f 
 
 Monmouthshire being treated by the Commissioners as an integral 
 part of Wales, the number of these counties is reduced to five. 
 
 t This similarity is pointed out by Major Craigie in his Annual Report 
 published in the Agricultural Returns for 1894 (p. xi.), while a similarity 
 in the general condition of agriculturists in three northern counties and 
 Wales has been referred to at pp. 154-6. 
 
293 
 
 The counties in question are the six North-western and the 
 four Northern counties, namely (a) Cumberland, Westmore- 
 land, Lancashire, Cheshire, Derby, Stafford, and ( b ) Northum- 
 berland, Durham, York, North Riding, and York, West 
 
 Riding Unfortunately we were informed that 
 
 the separate assessments for the North and West Ridings 
 are not available, so that we have had to include the whole 
 of Yorkshire.’ 
 
 The Commissioners, however, leave it an open question changes in 
 as to which of these two groups bears the closest resemblance jSSSSt century 
 to Wales, and they accordingly give statistics for both of exhibit,>d - 
 them for purposes of comparison. 
 
 In order to present a general view of the change in the 
 agricultural rental of each county during this century, it is 
 necessary to give : — 
 
 (1) A table showing the gross assessments on lands 
 (Schedule A.) for 1814-15, and for each decade during the 
 last 50 years, commencing with 1842-43 and ending with 
 1892-93. 
 
 As the figures are heavy, we [shall give this for the 
 Welsh counties only. (See Table No. I.) 
 
 (2) A table showing the percentages of increase or 
 decrease in the assessments for the Welsh counties separ- 
 ately, and for the English areas for the same periods. (See 
 Table No. II.) 
 
 So far as Wales is concerned, and taking it as a whole, 
 the Commissioners observe that it is only in the last decade 
 (1882-1892) that a decrease appears — a steady and con- 
 tinuous increase being shown in all the other intervals 
 compared. As to individual counties there are fluctuations, 
 up and down, and it is acknowledged to be “ difficult, if not 
 impossible ” to explain all such changes at this distance of 
 time, but a laudable attempt is, nevertheless, made as follows 
 (p. 372):- 
 
 “ Thus, if we take the period from 1814 to 1842, there is o£° t ^g b ^ e c a a t uses 
 very little doubt that the abnormally high percentage of increase of 
 increase in the Anglesey assessments during that time is at Samation and 
 once both explained and corroborated by the fact that it raihvays - 
 was within that period that Anglesey was joined to the 
 mainland by means of the suspension bridge which carries 
 Telford’s Holyhead Road across the Menai Straits, and which 
 was opened in 1826. Still further corroboration of the 
 -accuracy of the figures is also afforded by the fact that by the 
 year 1846 rents in Anglesey were represented by a gentleman 
 who had considerable opportunities of being well informed 
 
Table I. — Gross Assessments to Income Tax on Land (Schedule A.), 1814-15 to 1892-93. 
 
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on the subject, as being much higher than in other parts of 
 North Wales.* 
 
 Side by side with the great advance in Anglesey, we 
 find an extremely low percentage of increase during the 
 same period in the Brecknockshire assessments, amounting 
 to about 3 per cent. only. 
 
 Why this great difference we cannot precisely say, 
 though it was partly due, no doubt, to the fact that during 
 the period in question, hardly any waste land in this county 
 was brought under cultivation by being enclosed; in fact, 
 we find that not a single Inclosure Act was passed for 
 Brecknockshire between 1814 and 1849, though considerable 
 inclosures were carried out in all those Welsh counties 
 which show the greatest increase in their assessments. Nor 
 were there any inclosures carried out during the same 
 period in the counties of Merioneth, Glamorgan, and 
 Monmouth, where the increase was also comparatively small. 
 
 Referring to this question of the great difference between 
 the rates at which rents had increased in different counties, 
 Mr. T. Ellis, M.P., said that he thought it quite possible 
 that reclamation and enclosure might have had a great deal 
 to do with such disparity. ‘ But,’ he added, £ what I desire to 
 point out is this, that in every case the reclamation of waste 
 has been done with infinite labour by the tenantry, and that 
 with regard to the enclosure of mountains I consider it one of 
 the most serious parts of the whole system that rents should 
 be exacted out of these wastes of Wales — the waste lands 
 and hill grazings of Wales, on which never a penny piece 
 has been spent by any landowner.’ 
 
 As to the three counties of South-West Wales, we have 
 the fact of the outbreak of the Rebecca Roits in 1843, afford- 
 ing very conclusive evidence that the rents in that district 
 were considered excessive, which indeed they were admitted 
 to be by several landowners who appeared as witnesses before 
 the Commissioners of Inquiry for South Wales in 1843-4, 
 while the Times asserted that “the rents were not merely 
 high, but were screwed up till they could be got no higher.’’ 
 
 This being so we are not surprised to find that during 
 the decennium which followed, namely from 1842-3 to 
 1852-3, the rents of two counties in this district, Carmarthen 
 and Pembroke, suffered a diminution, while as to the third, 
 Cardiganshire, the increase shown amounted to 3*3 per cent, 
 only. In North Wales also, the Flintshire assessments on 
 land shrank to the extent of 4J per cent., whilst they 
 remained practically stationary in the counties of Denbigh 
 
 * Journal R.A.S.E., vol. vii., p. 584. 
 
297 
 
 and Montgomery, but we cannot suggest any cause for this 
 beyond the agricultural depression which lasted practically 
 throughout the whole decade. Glamorganshire is the county 
 which shows the greatest percentage of increase within this 
 decennium, amounting to 22*8 per cent. This was un- 
 doubtedly due, in a large measure, to the great progress of 
 railway construction in the county during this decade, which 
 witnessed the opening up of the rich mineral valleys of the 
 Talf and the Rhondda, as well as the Yale of Neath, and the 
 construction of the South Wales (now the Great Western) 
 Railway along the margin of the fertile agricultural district 
 of the Yale of Glamorgan, bringing to every farmer a greater 
 demand and a higher price for his produce, as well as better 
 means for its carriage and disposal. Probably the same cause 
 contributed to the increases which are also to be noticed 
 during this decade for Carnarvonshire and Anglesey 
 (amounting to 13T and 11*6 per cent, respectively). These 
 counties, from a position of considerable remoteness, were 
 brought into much closer touch with the great industrial 
 districts of the North-West of England, by the construction 
 of the Chester and Holyhead (now the London and North- 
 Western) Railway about this time — the first train having, in 
 fact, run through the Menai Tubular Bridge into Anglesey 
 in March, 1850. 
 
 It would appear as if a “ boom” in agricultural land 
 must have occurred during this decade in the three counties 
 mentioned, and that, in the following decade, from 1852 to 
 1862, rents had to be reduced in each of them, though the 
 period was one of agricultural prosperity elsewhere, and rents 
 went up considerably in every other Welsh county, the 
 increase amounting to as much as 25 per cent, in Monmouth- 
 shire. It is worth noting, in passing, that it was within this 
 very decade (1852-62), which witnessed so great an increase 
 in the value of land in Monmouthshire, that the bulk of the 
 agricultural area of that county was opened up to railway 
 communication — the line from Pontypool Road to Hereford 
 via Abergavenny being opened about 1854, while that 
 running from Pontypool Road through Usk to Monmouth 
 was also opened some four years later. A large and continu- 
 ing increase is shown in the assessments of the counties of 
 Brecknock and Radnor at this time, amounting, for the 20 
 years preceding 1862, to about 27 and 38 per cent, respec- 
 tively. Yery extensive inclosures were carried out in 
 Radnorshire within the first decade of that period, as many 
 as 12 Acts being passed for the purpose, two of them re- 
 ferring to wastes of 5,000 and 7,000 acres respectively. This 
 
The influence 
 Railways. 
 
 2-98 
 
 must have added considerably to the rental of the county. 
 The further increases which are shown in the Radnorshire 
 assessments down to the very commencement of the agri- 
 cultural depression in 1879 were also coincident in point of 
 time with the further inclosure of immense tracts of wastes ; 
 one surveyor stating that between 1863 and 1879 he alone 
 had acted as valuer in the inclosure of close upon 11,000 
 acres in Radnorshire. In Breconshire the increase appears 
 to have followed after the systematic re-valuation of several 
 large estates,” to which reference has been made above (p. 278). 
 
 “ In at least a few counties, the increase of rents was 
 contemporaneous with or subsequent to the construction of 
 railways and the provision of better means of railway com- 
 munication ” — and the statements of several witnesses — Mr. 
 W. A. Darbishire, Mr. T. E. Ellis, M.P., Mr. J. E. Vincent, 
 and others, are cited b}^ way of showing the importance of 
 this factor. The following is for example, the statement of 
 Mr. Morgan Richardson, of Cardigan, on the point : — 
 
 ££ A great deal has been said as regards the rise in the value of land 
 in this country as compared with the rise in the value of land in England, 
 and I am prepared to admit that there has been a rise during the last 100 
 years, and a considerable rise, but I think that the rise is to be explained 
 by particular causes. One cause in this country is that our land is 
 principally grazing land, and the produce of grazing land has risen 
 during the last 100 years, the produce of corn lands having fallen ; that 
 a great deal of land is now cultivated which 100 years ago was not in 
 cultivation at all ; that roads have been made into the country and 
 through every part of the country, and have developed land which was 
 practically unenclosed 100 years ago ; and a very important factor has 
 been the making of railways in this country. The land 80 or 100 years 
 back was far away from the best markets, so that land near the big 
 towns in England had a very much greater advantage over land in this 
 country than it has in the present day, the railway practically bringing 
 us within a short distance of the best markets. And arising from this is 
 the fact that the produce in this country, the grazing land produce, has 
 very materially risen.” 
 
 By way of further illustration of the influence of rail- 
 ways on rents, the Commissioners then proceed (p. 374 ) to 
 indicate the periods within which railways were introduced 
 into areas not already mentioned : — 
 
 “We may now briefly indicate the periods within which 
 the chief railways were introduced into counties not already 
 mentioned. The South Wales (now the Great Western) 
 Railway reached Carmarthen in September, 1852, and 
 Haverfordwest in December, 1853, while a branch line from 
 Llanelly to Llandilo was opened in January, 1857, and was 
 shortly afterwards carried on to Llandovery. The greater 
 portion of the counties of Carmarthen and Pembroke were 
 thus opened up in the decade ending in 1862, during which 
 time the assessed land rental increased 7*7 and 16T percent. 
 
299 
 
 respectively. In the former county the main line of railway 
 travels largely along the seaboard, but in Pembrokeshire it 
 goes through the heart of the agricultural area, a fact which 
 may account for the high percentage of the increase within 
 it. Further branch railways were constructed in both 
 counties in the following decade, namely, the Pembroke and 
 Tenby line, opened in 1863, in Pembrokeshire, and two lines 
 from Carmarthen to Pencader and to Llandilo respectively, 
 which were severally opened in 1864 and 1865, the latter 
 running through the fertile land of the Yale of Towy. In 
 this decade a further increase of about 9 per cent, occurred 
 in the rents of both the counties in question. In this decade 
 also, the first great rise in the Cardiganshire assessments is 
 to be noticed (amounting to 17*6 per cent.) a result which 
 must have been largely due to the improved communication : 
 the railway from Carmarthen to Pencader (which is on the 
 border of Cardiganshire) has been already mentioned as 
 opened in 1864, and the so-called Manchester and Milford 
 line, which extends nearly the whole length of Cardiganshire, 
 from Pencader to Aberystwyth, was made and opened very 
 shortly afterwards, and about the same time also the Cambrian 
 line was carried on from Montgomeryshire to Aberystwyth, 
 completing practically all the railway mileage which 
 Cardiganshire possessed until quite recentty. 
 
 As to the county of Montgomery, the first railway 
 opened within it was that between Newtown and Llanidloes 
 in August, 1859, and its connexion, both with Oswestry 
 on the one side and with Machynlleth on the other, was 
 completed in 1862. The decade from 1852-3 to 1862-3 
 shows an increase of 16-4 per cent, in the assessments on 
 land in this country.” 
 
 Having in the preceding tables ascertained the amount 
 of change in the rentals of each county for every period of ten 
 years, the Commissioners next give similar statistics for each 
 period of three years subsequent to 1861-2. The percentages 
 of increase and decrease which are thus obtained “ suggest 
 an arrangement of the counties into four groups, that 
 correspond for the most part with their geographical situation. 
 Thus we find that the year when rents culminated in the 
 three contiguous counties of North-West Wales — Flint, 
 Denbigh, and Montgomery— was 1876-7. The highest point 
 was reached in the counties of Anglesey, Brecon, Badnor, 
 and Monmouth in 1879-80, while it was not before 1882-3 
 that it was reached in Merioneth, Glamorgan, and Pembroke. 
 In the remaining three counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen, 
 and Carnarvon, which are among the most typically Welsh 
 
 The culmination 
 of rents, and 
 their subsequent 
 deorease. 
 
300 
 
 Oeneral sum- 
 mary of the 
 statistics. 
 
 in the whole of the principality, it was in the year 1885-6 
 that the assessments stood at their highest. 
 
 Taking the aggregate assessments for the whole of 
 Wales, we further find that they attained their maximum in 
 1879-80, which is the year of highest assessments on land in 
 England also. 
 
 All the counties have, moreover, this point in common. 
 With the exception of Flintshire (which showed an increase 
 of 2*7 per cent, in 1879-82), each county has suffered a 
 continuous though varying decrease in its triennial 
 assessments subsequent to the year in which they were 
 severally at their highest. 
 
 These results will be more easily understood by reference 
 to the accompanying table (No. Ill), which we have con- 
 structed out of the various tables given in the Report, the 
 last column being specially worked out for the Digest. 
 
 It may be observed that the Commissioners do not 
 accept the statistics of the gross estimated rentals for poor 
 law purposes as a trustworthy index of agricultural rentals, 
 and that they therefore discard all the evidence as to fluctua- 
 tions in rents which was wholly based upon such statistics. 
 
 The 29 years ending in April, 1894, are thus seen to be 
 broadly divisible into (a) 15 years of agricultural prosperity 
 and (6) 14 years of depression, and with reference to these 
 periods the Commissioners sum up as follows (p. 470) : — 
 
 “ The net result for the 29 years ending in April, 1894, 
 has therefore been that (taking a general average) rents in 
 the seven eastern counties of Wales have fallen to the level 
 of what they were at in 1864; in the six western counties 
 they are now, in spite of the depression, 18 \ per cent, higher 
 than they were in 1864, or, taking the whole of Wales 
 together, the net increase during the period in question 
 amounts to 7'8 per cent. In England, on the other hand, 
 we observe that in the nine north-western counties rents 
 have fallen per cent, below their level in 1864, and just 
 double that amount (or 15*2 per cent.) in the whole of 
 England, excluding Wales, while in the five selected English 
 counties the decrease since 1879 is nearly 3-J per cent, more 
 than for the whole of Wales, and the net increase since 1864 
 is also just 3 per cent, more than it is for the principality. 
 
 If we were to take individual counties in the west of 
 Wales and compare them in respect of the reduction in their 
 assessments with those counties of England which are most 
 favourably situated, the disparity between the shrinkage of 
 rent in the two countries is still more striking. Thus the 
 assessments on land, or in other words the agricultural rental, 
 
301 
 
 Table III. — Showing effect of Prosperity and Depression 
 on Rentals (1864-1893): — 
 
 
 Year of 
 
 Increase 
 
 Decrease 
 
 
 County. 
 
 from 1864-65 
 
 from Year 
 
 1864 5 
 
 Maximum 
 
 to Year of 
 
 of highest 
 
 to 
 
 
 ments. 
 
 highest 
 
 Assessment 
 
 1893-4. 
 
 
 Assessment. 
 
 to 1893-94. 
 
 
 Western Counties, 
 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Anglesey... 
 
 1879-80 
 
 23*4 
 
 4*9 
 
 + 17*3 
 
 Cardigan ... 
 
 1885-86 
 
 33*6 
 
 1*1 
 
 + 32*1 
 
 Carmarthen 
 
 1885-86 
 
 26-5 
 
 1*5 
 
 + 24*8 
 
 Carnarvon 
 
 1885-86 
 
 17-6 
 
 2*07 
 
 + 15*2 
 
 Merioneth 
 
 1882-83 
 
 18*06 
 
 8*5 
 
 + 8*0 
 
 Pembroke 
 
 1882-83 
 
 18*4 
 
 6*3 
 
 + 10*9 
 
 Eastern or Border 
 
 
 
 
 
 Counties. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Brecon ... 
 
 1879-80 
 
 22*4 
 
 12*8 
 
 -f 6*7 
 
 Denbigh ... 
 
 1876-77 
 
 18*6 
 
 14*7 
 
 + 1*2 
 
 Flint 
 
 1876-77 
 
 10*9 
 
 11*7 
 
 - 2*1 
 
 Glamorgan 
 
 1882-83 
 
 9*5 
 
 6*46 
 
 + 2*5 
 
 Montgomery 
 
 1876-77 
 
 11*6 
 
 7*7 
 
 4- 3*0 
 
 Radnor ... 
 
 1879-80 
 
 16*2 
 
 13*4 
 
 + 0*6 
 
 Wales 
 
 1879-80 
 
 16*8 
 
 6*1 
 
 + 9-6 
 
 Monmonth 
 
 1879-80 
 
 10*6 
 
 16*2 
 
 - 7-4 
 
 Wales and Mon- \ 
 mouthshire ... f 
 
 1879-80 
 
 16*1 
 
 7*1 
 
 + 7-8 
 
 5 4 Celtic Counties ’ 
 
 1879-80 
 
 17*2 
 
 10*5 
 
 + 4*8 
 
 Division IV. or 9 1 
 Northern C’nties / 
 
 1879-80 
 
 11*5 
 
 17*2 
 
 - 7*6 
 
 All England, \ 
 
 omitting Wales j 
 
 1879-80 
 
 11*3 
 
 23*7 
 
 -15*2 
 
 * Practically the same results are obtained by taking the assessments 
 under Schedule B — which Mr. T. E. Ellis used in his evidence before the 
 Commission. Moreover, it is observed that the Deputy Chairman of the 
 Board of Inland Revenue, in giving evidence in April, 1895, before the 
 Royal Commission on Agriculture, actually used the Schedule B figures 
 for this purpose, a table which he then put in showed that between 
 1879-80 and 1893-4, the assessments under Schedule B had decreased to 
 the extent of 23 9 per cent, in England, 6 05 per cent, in Wales, and 19.5 
 per cent, in Scotland, giving a total decrease for the whole of Great 
 Britain of 224 per cent. 
 
302 
 
 Difference in 
 management 
 between here- 
 ditary and 
 purchased 
 estates. 
 
 in Carmarthenshire, actually increased between 1880 and 
 1894 to the extent of 1*8 per cent., while the decrease in the 
 counties of Cardigan and Carnarvon did not amount to 1 per 
 cent, respectively. Few, if any, counties are so typical^ 
 Welsh as these three, so that the question naturally arises 
 whether the fact that the agriculturists of these counties are 
 practically Welsh-speaking monoglots has anything to do 
 with this keeping up of rents. Of the nine English counties 
 in Division IV., that which shows the least reduction in its 
 assessments is Cheshire, its shrinkage being only 6 per cent., 
 the next to it in the same division showing 11*4 per cent., 
 while the diminution in the remainder ranges from 12 per 
 cent, to 22 per cent. The conditions of agriculture in these 
 nine counties, taken as a group, resemble as closely as may 
 be the conditions prevalent also in Wales. The great difference 
 in the reductions which their rents have experienced cannot 
 therefore be explained away on the ground of any material 
 difference in the method of agriculture pursued. There seems 
 to be in fact, only one conclusion possible, namely, that 
 though the physical and industrial conditions both in Wales 
 and the north-western counties of England are practically 
 identical, aud though the agricultural depression has been 
 equally felt in both districts, yet rents have in the English 
 counties been reduced more than the extent of their 
 reductions in the principality.” 
 
 2 .— THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH RE-VALUATIONS 
 ARE MADE AND RENTS FIXED. 
 
 After this detailed review of the history of rentals in 
 Wales, the Commissioners, in conclusion, state (p. 462), 
 “ certain generalisations which, broadly speaking, may be 
 taken as indicating the principles according to which rents 
 have been varied in Wales during the present century.” 
 
 “ In the first place, we have for the most part observed 
 a very clear and marked distinction, in respect of rental, 
 between hereditary and purchased estates. Those estates 
 which have been inherited, generally are, or form part of, 
 large possessions, so that the distinction which we have 
 observed is frequently, though not always, equivalent to or 
 co-terminous with the distinction between large and small 
 estate. But the real essence of the difference is whether the 
 ownership of an estate is regarded in the light of a purely 
 commercial undertaking or otherwise. The man who pur- 
 chases land in a speculative spirit, and whose chief, if not 
 sole, object is to obtain a safe and remunerative investment 
 
303 
 
 for his capital, naturally looks to, and may eventually be 
 expected to exact, if possible, such a rent as will represent a 
 satisfactory interest on his purchase money. There is very 
 little doubt that the purchase of land has been a favourite 
 form for the investment of money with Welsh people during 
 this century. Professional men, successful merchants and 
 tradesmen, and even thrifty mechanics and artisans — the 
 dwellers in towns as well as the country — have aimed and 
 struggled, and saved to this end. They may occupy for a 
 time the land thus bought, but sooner or later they or their 
 descendants cease to do so ; the land is let and the highest 
 possible rent is frequently required so as to bring in a stated 
 percentage of interest on the capitalised value. In addition 
 to this class of purchasers — natives of the Principality, and 
 generally also of the neighbourhood in which the property 
 so bought is situated — there is also another class of men 
 who have made money, in the manufacturing districts or as 
 merchants in the towns of England, who buy small estates 
 with a residence, where they may retire and live in the 
 autumn of their lives. It would be manifestly unjust to say 
 that all those who belong to either of these classes exact the 
 utmost farthing by way of rent out of their tenants ; but, 
 broadly speaking, the tendency on their part to do so is in 
 proportion to the extent to which they bring rigidly commer- 
 cial ideas to bear on the management of their property. 
 
 But if an estate is purchased by a successful and 
 wealth}?- manufacturer or merchant, with the view of found- 
 ing a county family, the commercial ideas are probably cast 
 aside and the purchase is, perhaps, signalised by a large 
 expenditure on improvements, and by a liberal treatment of 
 the tenants.” Among instances cited by the Commissioners 
 are the estates of Colonel Platt and of Mr. Sandbach, of 
 Hafodunos, in North Wales, and of Sir J. B. Bailey, of 
 Glanusk, in South Wales. It is also pointed out that there 
 are several large estates which “ form, so to speak, so many 
 appendages to mineral and industrial properties, some of 
 them almost of colossal magnitude,” e.gr., the Penrhyn, 
 Vaynol, and Halkyn Castle Estates, in North Wales, and 
 numerous properties — notably the Marquis of Bute’s — in the 
 the counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth. 
 
 Landlords so placed are able to deal more generously 
 with their tenants. 
 
 “ But, after taking into account the cases referred to, 
 which are, after all, of an exceptional character, there still 
 remains, we think, the large class of hereditary owners who 
 for the most part have endeavoured to deal with their 
 
304 
 
 Chief occasions 
 on which rentals 
 are usually 
 varied. 
 
 tenants according to certain family or estate traditions, and 
 not according to commercial principles purety and simply. 
 
 The occasions on which rents have been changed on 
 estates of this description are, broadty speaking, three : — 
 
 (a) As the result of valuation on succession. Such a valuation is 
 
 primarily for succession purposes ; but, as we have already 
 seen, it is also frequently, if not generally, utilised for the 
 purpose of revising the rental as well. 
 
 (b ) In many cases, rents are raised on individual holdings as the 
 
 result of a large expenditure by the landlord on permanent 
 improvements. But the practice on various estate^ greatly 
 differ with reference to this ; on the majority, possibly, the 
 rent is not raised on such an occasion, nor is interest charged 
 on the outlay, though there are also many estates on which a 
 different practice is followed. 
 
 (c.) The rents of individual holdings are also revised on change of 
 tenancies. On the largest estates no alteration is usually 
 made in the rent if a son or daughter of the old tenant succeeds, 
 but when there is a complete change of tenancy and no member 
 of the former family succeeds, the rent is almost invariably 
 revised, resulting, in the ease of a rising market, in an increase, 
 and with a falling market probably in a decrease. 
 
 In fact, permanent reductions in the old rents are 
 almost invariably made of recent years to new tenants, and 
 it was a common complaint before us that while old tenants 
 often failed to get their rents permanently reduced, such 
 reductions were pretty generally made to their successors : 
 on the other hand, with a rising market, the custom would 
 result in the raising of rents on each change. It is im- 
 portant to bear this fact in mind, as we were frequently 
 informed that the rental of an estate had not been revised as 
 
 a whole during the last 50 years, a statement which bore 
 the meaning that no general valuation had been made which 
 effected uno ictu, so to speak, a revision of every rent, but 
 even in cases of this kind we almost invariably found it to 
 be the custom to revise the rent on a change of tenancy.” 
 
 “ A case mentioned by Colonel Hughes may perhaps be quoted as 
 illustrating the application of this custom on the Wynnstay Estates, even 
 when the old occupier was re-accepted as a tenant after the determination 
 of his original tenancy. During the anti-tithe agitation previous to the 
 passing of the Act of 1.891, one of Sir W. W. Wynn’s tenants declined to 
 pay the tithe, and in consequence received notice to quit. In subsequent 
 negotiations the tenant, who wished to remain on, stubbornly declined to 
 undertake to pay the tithe, and the owner then said that the 1 tenancy 
 must cease,’ and in further reply to an appeal by the tenant to have the 
 farm re-let to him added : ‘ I will have the value of it considered, and you 
 shall have the refusal.’ The farm was then valued by Colonel Hughes, 
 who said, 1 1 went up and did my best and found the farm was a cheap 
 one and that he was farming uncommonly well. I put the rent as low as 
 I possibly could, and told the amount to Sir Watkin, who said, c Well, we 
 only want to do this for the sake of showing what our rules are,’ and he 
 cut it down and included the tithe.’ The farm was then offered to the 
 tenant, who took it under a fresh agreement, the advance in his rent being 
 about £8 or £9. In other words, owing to the determination of the 
 original tenancy, the tenant was treated as if he took the farm after a 
 
305 
 
 complete change of tenancy, the farm was re-valued, its rent was revised 
 and raised. The old rent was £72, the tithe whiek he had been paying 
 was about £10 15s., and the new rent was fixed at £90, being about £9 
 more than the old rent and the tithe put together.” 
 
 “ A valuation of some sort or other is generally made 
 prior to a revision of rent. This valuation may be merely a 
 perfunctory calculation as to what rent should be paid on 
 the basis of a certain purchase-money, or it may be a rule- 
 of-thumb estimate as to the increase that might safely be 
 added to the rent paid by a previous tenant. On well- 
 managed estates the valuation usually is a field-to-field 
 survey of the land, and it is carefully conducted by 
 experienced men. Landowners who are not themselves 
 judges of the value of land, or who have not the time to 
 conduct a detailed appraisement of their property have 
 naturally to rely on the valuations made for them by their 
 agents or by professional land valuers, and the rents are 
 usually fixed according to these valuations. It is therefore 
 of the utmost importance to ascertain according to what 
 rules or principles valuations of holdings are usually 
 conducted in Wales. 
 
 We shall take our first illustration from the Glanllyn 
 Estate of Sir W. W. Wynn, a re-valuation of which has been 
 carried out within the last few years by the agent, Colonel 
 Hughes. One of the farms thus re-valued was Gwernhefin, 
 a holding occupied by Mr. John Williams, a former sub- 
 agent of the estate. As to its previous history, the following 
 is Sir W. W. Wynn’s own statement in a letter addressed to 
 the present tenant in 1891 : — £ With reference to the rental 
 of the land you occupy, your statement that the rent was 
 raised in 1867, at the time of your father’s death, and again 
 last year, is quite correct, but I must remind you that when 
 you took the farm on your father’s death the said farm was 
 worth considerably more money than when he had occupied 
 it, owing, no doubt, in a great measure to the energy and 
 care he had bestowed upon it. In 1867, on your becoming 
 tenant, the rent was raised £73.’ With reference to the 
 valuation which preceded this increase, Colonel Hughes 
 interposed the observation that ‘ it was made by a man who 
 was a real good valuer of land — who knew his business— the 
 late Mr. William Jones.’ This valuation, therefore, was 
 made on the basis of the value of the farm as it stood, 
 irrespective of the question by whom the improvements had 
 been made. The value of the improvements made by the 
 new tenant’s father were not taken into account by the 
 valuer so as to reduce his gross valuation, but was made the 
 consideration for a gift — more or less of the nature of a 
 
 V 
 
 Principles 
 guiding: land 
 valuer dis- 
 cussed and 
 illustrated 
 
 Case on 
 
 Wynnstay 
 
 Estate. 
 
306 
 
 benevolent dole — to tlie old tenant’s widow, partly, we may 
 presume, in respect of her husband’s services as agent, as 
 well as of the improvements effected by him on the farm. 
 For the son, the rent was therefore raised, some £73, which 
 amount seems, however, to have been given as an annuity to 
 his mother. Sir W. W. Wynn’s own words as to the 
 transaction are these : ‘ In consideration for what you had 
 done on the farm, this sum was given as an annuity to his 
 widow (your mother) by my predecessor.’ 
 
 After Mr. Williams had resigned the agency in 1889, a 
 fresh valuation was deemed necessary. Special instructions 
 were given by the agent to a sub-agent for another part of 
 the estate to make the valuation 4 on the intrinsic value of 
 the farm.’ The following are the actual instructions given 
 by Colonel Hughes on the occasion : — 
 
 4 1 want to arrive at this, what is the farm worth to a 
 new tenant ? Mr. Williams insists upon it that I wish to 
 value it upon his improvements. . . . I have valued 
 
 upon what I consider the intrinsic worth of the land ; and 
 Sir Watkin wishes that any claim, if such there be, should 
 be threshed out and settled.’ 
 
 There is only one meaning that can possibly be attached 
 to these instructions, namely, that in this valuation, as in 
 the previous one of 1867, the valuer was not authorised to 
 take into account the question at whose expense the improve- 
 ments had been made, but that the farm should be valued 
 wholly irrespective of all questions of tenant right. In fact, 
 the procedure adopted in this case was the following ; — 
 
 Whatever the farm with all its improvements would be 
 worth to a new tenant was first ascertained, and its rent 
 was fixed accordingly. As to the improvements which the 
 tenant had made, he was asked, on his demurring to the 
 new valuation, to submit a claim in the same way as an 
 ordinary outgoing tenant would be entitled to do ; Colonel 
 Hughes, in writing to the tenant subsequent to the valuation, 
 said : — 
 
 4 1 am prepared to let the farm at £450 per annum 
 [i.e., at an advance of £50.], on the usual conditions, and if 
 you consider you have a claim against Sir Watkin for 
 improvements I have his authority to say that he wishes to 
 have the thing threshed out and settled.’ 
 
 We are not at present concerned with the further details 
 of the case, but we may mention that the sitting tenant and 
 his father had apparently improved the farm very consider- 
 ably, the tenant himself stating that, including the manurial 
 value of purchasing feeding stuffs consumed on the farm, 
 
307 
 
 over £6,000 had been spent by him on the holding during 
 the 20 years preceding the valuation ; and as this statement 
 was admitted in general terms, we may take it that the 
 letting value of the farm was considerably increased owing 
 to the tenant’s improvements, though at the same time 
 Colonel Hughes, owing to a curious confusion of ideas, would 
 not admit that the increase of rent was due to the tenant’s 
 improvements. 4 I do not think there is any farmer who has 
 treated the land as Mr. Williams has ; he has fed his cattle 
 well. I never wish to see a farm better managed than Mr. 
 Williams.’ I did not go for the improvements. I particu- 
 larly avoided it. ... I admitted everything as to his 
 generous treatment ; we wished to pay for it, but I valued 
 the farm on its merits.’ The tenant stoutly maintained that 
 the rent was raised entirely on his own improvements. 4 The 
 increased value is found in the increased rent I have to pay. 
 Unimproved farms, right and left of me, are reduced. I 
 find them reduced to the basis of 40 and 50 years ago.’ 
 
 The valuation of Gwernhefin Farm, however, formed 
 part of a general re-valuation of this estate. A field-to-field 
 valuation was similarly made of over 50 other holdings in 
 the district of Bala, and Colonel Hughes’s general statement 
 was that they were all valued on the same principle as 
 Gwernhefin. 4 1 have taken each farm on its own merits as 
 I found it, and have not looked at the rents before.” {See 
 p. 270). 
 
 Our second illustration as to the principles on which valuations are Case on Lord 
 conducted for purposes of rental may be taken from the evidence of Penrhyn’s 
 Colonel Sackville-West, chief agent for Lord Penrhyn’s Welsh estates. Estate * 
 
 The procedure adopted differs but slightly from that followed in the 
 Gwernhefin case. A tenant of Lord Penrhyn said his farm had been re- 
 valued about 1886, but that his rent was not reduced (except by the 
 amount of the tithe) though considerable reductions were made on some 
 neighbouring farms. ‘ I think,’ added the tenant, 1 that he would have 
 had to reduce a good deal had it not been for the fact that I had spent a 
 lot of money in improvements.’ 
 
 The account given by Colonel West of the transaction was some- 
 what confused, and he had no very distinct recollection of what had 
 occurred at the time when he made his valuation : — ‘ It was my duty to 
 value the farm as it was, and I may have told him so, or I may not. It 
 certainly was my duty to do so.’ This statement, however, he thus 
 qualified a moment later, when he put it to him that the natural inference 
 was that the rent was determined without regard to any improvements 
 that a tenant may have made : ‘ By no means whatsoever,’ he replied, 
 
 4 when I value a farm I value the farm as it is, and then I ascertain how 
 much of that value is due to the tenant’s improvements. If I find that 
 the whole of any increased value which I should put upon the farm, as 
 compared with what it was before, is due to the tenant’s improvements, I 
 do not put any increased value whatever upon the farm.’ 
 
 But the course which he adopted with reference to this holding 
 seems to be a variation from this rule. He valued the farm and fixed its 
 rent first, and then left it to the sitting tenant to claim compensation for 
 
308 
 
 Case on Lord 
 
 Cawdor’s 
 
 Estate. 
 
 his unexhausted improvements, not with the view of reducing the 
 valuation of his farm, but of obtaining a lump sum as compensation in 
 the manner of a quitting tenant. 
 
 He said, ‘ I looked at the improvements at the time, and I did not 
 consider that they were of any value. He has made no claim for any 
 sum of money. If he will send me in a claim for any amount that he has 
 expended I shall be glad to have the improvements valued in the fair 
 course of valuation, and he shall be paid whatever that valuation may be. 
 He has never made any claim as yet.’ 
 
 In reply to further questions, Col. West stated that he was not in the 
 habit of referring questions of that kind to some impartial person ‘ unless 
 the tenant wished to do so.’ Should a tenant, however, express such a 
 wish, * I should at once refer it to an impartial person,’ he added, ‘ but I 
 have had several cases of valuation of that kind in which the farm has 
 been immensely improved by the tenant and in which I have not put any 
 additional value upon it.’ ” 
 
 “ Now there seems to us to be several obvious objections 
 to this method of valuation, and of revising the rents of 
 sitting tenants. By the very act of valuing, without first 
 taking account of the tenant’s improvements, the owner 
 begins by technically appropriating to himself whatever 
 improved value the tenant may have created in the holding. 
 The tenant is then left to make a claim, which he knows he 
 cannot sustain at law, however valuable his improvements 
 might be, as the Agricultural Holdings Act provides com- 
 pensation — not to sitting tenants — but to “quitting” tenants 
 only. But even assuming that the landlord is willing to 
 waive the legal objection, and to take any claim into con- 
 sideration, the tenant is not in so independent a position as 
 a quitting tenant to bargain as to the amount of compensa- 
 tion payable, inasmuch as he wishes to remain, probably for 
 the rest of his life, on his present holding. In fact, the 
 probability is that the tenant, under such circumstances, 
 would not submit a claim at all, and in the two cases cited 
 no such claims were in fact submitted, but we do not pretend 
 to judge the justice of any claim which might have been 
 preferred in either of these two cases. 
 
 We may next take an example from South Wales to illustrate the 
 principles on which valuations are usually conducted. With reference to 
 Lord Cawdor’s estate, the late agent informed us that a valuation had 
 been made of the property in 1862, and he as agent, entering on his duties 
 in 1863, had to re-let the farms at the rents fixed by the new valuation, 
 but that he could not let them up to those rents : 1 1 had a great many 
 things to take into consideration by Lord Cawdor’s instructions — where 
 there had been what could be called permanent improvements by the 
 tenants, not exhausted, and where they had an undoubted claim, his 
 Lordship advised me, ‘ I think it quite right that we should acknowledge 
 and make some allowances in our re-lettings,’ and I dare say the reductions 
 in the re-letting of the whole property cost Lord Cawdor £1,000 at least a 
 year in the yearly rents ... By the valuation I dare say the 
 increase would be about £6,000 a year, but the actual letting did not 
 amount to an increase of £5,000.’ 
 
 Here, again, we find that the farms were valued without any regard 
 to the tenants’ improvements, in respect of which, however, certain 
 
309 
 
 allowances were subsequently made in accordance with Lord Cawdor’s 
 instructions. 
 
 We were, however, not told what guided the new agent (who was 
 previously unacquainted with the estate) in deciding the amount of 
 compensation to be allowed for; judging from his use of the expression 
 that he was not able to let the farms up to the proposed rents, a tenant’s 
 importunity and pertinacity may have been the chief measure of his 
 success in obtaining a reduction in the valuation. 
 
 The statement, at all events, gives us the impression that no very 
 definite rule, except the rule of thumb, was followed in the matter. 
 
 “ There can be practically no donbt that most, if not all, 
 the chief valuations which have been made in Wales, whether 
 for the revision of rental or other purposes, have been con- 
 ducted according to the method described in the various 
 cases which we have just discussed. That the method is 
 inequitable to the tenants is sometimes recognised by the 
 re-letting of the holdings at a rent which is less than the 
 valuer’s assessment of the property. This was exactly what 
 was done on Lord Cawdor’s estate in 1863-4, and several 
 similar instances may also be cited. After the valuation of 
 Lord Dynevor’s estate in 1874 by a professional valuer from 
 England, £ all the farms were taken by the then sitting 
 tenants at a very considerable reduction below what that 
 valuer valued them at,’ but even after taking such reductions 
 into account the new rents showed an advance on the previous 
 original rents, which, of course, may have been low before. 
 
 Lord Bagot’s estate in Denbighshire was, on the other 
 hand, valued by a local valuer well acquainted with land 
 similar to that which he valued, but we were told that his 
 valuation was not followed, as it was deemed to be too high. 
 
 A valuation of Lord Dunraven’s estate, also made by a 
 local valuer of large experience, was similarly discarded. 
 The agent suggested as a reason that probably Lord Dunraven 
 did not like to raise the rents. 
 
 The inference which we draw from these and similar 
 cases is that in all such valuations the holdings are valued 
 on their merits, and no deduction is made by the valuer in 
 respect of improvements made by the tenants. That he does 
 not do so is not the valuer’s fault — he receives no instruc- 
 tions to do so — and if he were to receive such instructions it 
 would be difficult, if not impossible, for him to carry them 
 out in the absence of the necessary documents showing to 
 whom the improved value of the farm should be credited. 
 The more enlightened and liberal landowners would, on 
 consideration, recognise the injustice wrought to the tenants 
 by such a method of revising their rents, and would there- 
 fore feel disinclined, as Lord Dunraven did, to raise the 
 rents on the tenants’ improvements. In other cases, such as 
 
 Comments of 
 Commissioners. 
 
310 
 
 The demand 
 for land an 
 important 
 factor in in- 
 creasing rents. 
 
 Temporary 
 abatements and 
 not permanent 
 reductions most 
 in favour with 
 Welsh land- 
 owners. 
 
 Lord Cawdor’s and Lord Dynevor’s, a compromise is made 
 bv not raising the rents to the full amount of the valuation. 
 This is a rough attempt at doing justice to the tenants’ 
 rights, but there is no guarantee for its success. As to the 
 majority of owners, however, the probability seems to be, 
 judging from the evidence before us, that they implicitly 
 accept the result of a valuation, if done by a competent 
 person, as a guide to be followed in the fixing of rents. If 
 they make any reduction therefrom in respect of the tenant’s 
 improvements, it is not through any obligation at law, but 
 it is as a special concession or even an act of generosity on 
 the part of the owner.” 
 
 The Commissioners make the following further obser- 
 vation as to the principles which guide agents and valuers 
 in their valuation of land : — 
 
 “ The most important element in ascertaining the 
 annual value of land is the extent of the demand for it, as 
 all value is in fact dependent on the relation of supply to 
 demand. Now, we have already seen that the demand for 
 land in Wales has practically at all times been in excess of 
 the supply ; in other words that a land hunger exists in the 
 counLy. The inevitable economic result of such a state of 
 things must be that the rents charged would also tend to be 
 excessive. Col. Hughes’s statement on this point was most 
 explicit. 
 
 ‘ I think there is no doubt about it that when every- 
 thing went well, the landlords often got more than they 
 ought to have got. There is no doubt about it. We all 
 know that land went to a fabulous price. We are suffering 
 at the present day as much as anything from the absurd 
 value to which land rose. People cannot realise that land 
 went above its value, and up to 1876 you could get any 
 price for land, but now you know you cannot, you must get 
 it at a fair value. There is no question about it that land 
 was let too high.’ 
 
 “ It is this difficulty to realise that ‘ land went above its 
 value,’ twenty years ago and more, which prevents Welsh 
 landowners at present from frankly accepting the altered 
 condition of things, and reducing their rents to the level of 
 present prices. It was a common complaint, except in 
 Monmouthshire and one or two similar districts, that land- 
 lords were doling out abatements when in fact they should 
 be making permanent reductions. So great is the aversion 
 of some landowners to converting an abatement into a 
 reduction of equal amount that they prefer to lose old tenants 
 rather than make the legally-fixed rent correspond to the 
 
311 
 
 actual rent paid. No better reason could be given by the 
 agent of one large estate for adhering to the fictitious rent 
 than that ‘ its abandonment would open a precedent for all 
 the others/ 
 
 W 3 may observe that this reluctance to frankly acknow- 
 ledge the reality, and in all probability the permanence, of 
 the agricultural depression — though it has now lasted, with 
 varying severity, since 1879 — is most marked in the western 
 and Welsh-speaking counties of the principality. Thus, 
 while dealing with the history of rents in South-west Wales 
 we found that, according to the Landowners’ Association 
 tables, only eight landowners had made general reductions 
 in the three counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan, and Pembroke. 
 Out of a total of 87 who had made returns 39 had made no 
 reductions at all, while 14 had reduced the rent of one farm 
 each, and another 14 had reduced rents of from two to five 
 holdings each ; the remaining 12 were described as having 
 made reductions “in a few cases” or the like. ( See p. 231). 
 
 Most of these landowners, it is true, had granted 
 occasional abatements, some on a liberal scale, but such a 
 recognition of the depression appeared to be objectionable to 
 the more independent tenants, who generally described it as 
 uncertain, intermittent, and capricious, and savouring too 
 much of the nature of charity.” 
 
312 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 We have hitherto dealt for the most part with the 
 position of the tenant farmer only ; but this by no means 
 exhausts all the subjects which are involved in the popular 
 expression — “the land question ” — nor does it cover more 
 than a part of the ground mapj^ed out by the Commissioners 
 in their interpretation of their terms of reference. There are, 
 therefore, many other topics discussed in the report. They 
 do not, it is true, occup}^ so large a share of the Commis- 
 sioners’ attention as the question of tenancy, but it would 
 probably not be right to infer that therefore they are altogether 
 of minor importance, though perhaps there is, with one or two 
 exceptions, less urgency as to their settlement. On the 
 whole they are not questions of such general interest as those 
 which have been dealt with in preceding chapters, and on 
 this account, as well as owing to considerations of space, our 
 reference to them must necessarily be brief. 
 
 1. — GROWN LANDS IN WALDS AND THEIR 
 MANAGEMENT. 
 
 According to the theory of the law all lands in the 
 possession of any subject is held either mediately or im- 
 mediately from the sovereign — or, to put this doctrine in 
 another form, — “ all land in England and Wales forms 
 parcel of some seigniory, lordship, honour or manor.” 
 
 It was long denied that this doctrine, in its latter form, 
 applied to Wales, and many contended that there were no 
 manors within the Principality proper. ( See pp. 185-9.) 
 
 The practical issue thus raised was that while the Crown 
 claimed extensive tracts of unenclosed lands, as being the 
 waste of its various lordships, the great landowners or free- 
 holders asserted that though unenclosed, these lands were not 
 common or waste at all, but formed part of their freehold, 
 and that the Crown had in short no lordships or manors in 
 Wales. The contention of the Crown was, however, finally 
 upheld by the decision of the Court of Exchequer in 1868-9, 
 
313 
 
 in the case of the Attorney-General v. Beveley, which es- 
 tablished first that lordships and manors do exist in Wales, 
 and secondly that the Crown has the same rights, with 
 reference to its own manors in Wales, as it has in England. 
 
 At one time the landed property of the Crown in Wales 
 was very extensive, and the revenues derived therefrom were 
 stated by Sir John Dodridge as being in the 44th year of 
 Elizabeth: — For North Wales, £1,138 19s. 8£d., and for 
 South Wales, £676 9s. 2-Jd., that is a total of £1,865 8s. 10fd., 
 and adds, that the charges being deducted, the net revenue 
 was only £1,335 2s. 3fd. 
 
 James I. and Charles I., however, greatly lessened this 
 property by means of extravagant grants. In the beginning 
 of the reign of George III., after some further grants had 
 been made or at least proposed by William III., the land 
 revenue passed under the control of Parliament, and from 
 that time on, improvident grants are no longer heard of, but 
 there arose instead “ a gradually increasing degree of neglect 
 in payment of the rents and dues of the Crown, and hostility 
 to the admission of Crown rights developed.” The story 
 given in the Report of the long-continued “ fight ” between 
 the landowners of North Wales and the Crown authorities 
 (especially Mr. John Wilkin, the Crown receiver), is most 
 exciting reading, something very like pitched battles having 
 occurred on more than one occasion between them. What 
 inference is to be drawn from this account is, the Com- 
 missioners observe, “ very largely a matter of opinion. But 
 still we think that it must be admitted that the light which 
 
 The existence of 
 Manors in Wales 
 belonging to the 
 Crown estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Extent of land 
 revenues of the 
 Crown in 
 Elizabeth’s 
 reign. 
 
 Subsequently 
 diminished by 
 1. Extravagant 
 grants. 
 
 2. And neglect 
 in collecting 
 rents. 
 
 Conflict between 
 Crown and 
 Welsh land- 
 owners. 
 
 they throw on the history of the formation of the estates in 
 those portions of the Principality which form Crown land, is 
 valuable and significant. So far as they go they fully cor- 
 roborate the belief, often expressed, that there has been on 
 the part of the Crown tenants for centuries a large and 
 continuous encroachment.” (p. 202). 
 
 Though the collection of the quit-rents and other dues 
 of the Crown during the last 60 years has been conducted in 
 a more energetic and successful manner, it is observed that 
 much the same feelings of irritation are still exhibited b}' 
 Welsh landowners who raise all possible obstacles against 
 the pajmient to the Crown of these small dues and rents. 
 In the evidence which Mr. Russell Sowray gave on behalf of 
 the office of Woods and Forests (the department entrusted 
 with the management of Crown lands, &c.), he said that it 
 was only just and fair that this attitude of hostility should 
 be illustrated by the case of one of the largest landowners 
 in Wales, rather than b} 7 reference to the smaller proprietors ; 
 and he therefore instanced the following case (p. 204) : — 
 
314 
 
 Exemplified by 
 the case of Sir 
 W. W. Wynn. 
 
 Comments of 
 Comm issioner 8 
 on the dispute. 
 
 “ We have had very great difficulty with Sir Watkin 
 Wynn for some time, with these ancient fee-farm rents, and 
 they have been in arrear, a good many of the rents which 
 were usually paid by him and his predecessors, for a good 
 many years. It was in 1884 that the case was specially 
 taken up with a view to induce Sir Watkin Wynn to settle 
 for these rents, and to purchase them and wipe them off the 
 list altogether. Negotiations were entered into with Sir 
 Watkin Wynn’s agent, and at last it came to an offer ; a list 
 was prepared of those rents which had been paid by his 
 predecessors, and as to which he could not state that he had 
 disposed of the properties. The list was made, and the offer 
 was made to accept one-half the amount of the arrears as a 
 compromise of the whole. That offer, as we understood, 
 was accepted ; at all events, whether there was a misunder- 
 standing or not, I cannot say, but it was not acted upon, 
 and, being unable to get any settlement, the Commissioner 
 of Woods had to cause investigations to be made into those 
 rents, to see in what cases Sir Watkin could be compelled to 
 pay the full arrears.” 
 
 In November, 1885, the Commissioner of Woods (the 
 late Mr. Culley) had to write personally to Sir Watkin Wynn 
 himself, stating that it would be neccessary for him to levy 
 the arrears by distress at Wynnstay. “It is needless to 
 say,” Mr. Sowray continued, “ that shortly after, the arrears 
 were paid. But even now, we are unable to ascertain with 
 sufficient precision the exact particulars of some of the rents 
 to enable us to enforce payment, and they are still unpaid.” 
 With reference to this statement, Mr. 0. S. Wynne (the 
 former Wynnstay agent) stated that the quit-rents in 
 question had not been demanded during the life-time of the 
 late Sir Watkin Wynn, but as to this he appears to have 
 been mistaken, though there was ground for his complaint 
 in the fact that there had been irregularity in demanding 
 payments. In conclusion the Commissioners make the 
 following comments (p. 207) : — 
 
 “ In reference to the whole dispute we have to say that 
 we are at a loss to understand why, seeing that it commenced 
 in 1861, the Commissioners of Woods and Forests allowed 24 
 years to elapse before bringing the matter to a head, and at 
 the same time we do not see why Mr. Culley should have 
 adopted so apologetic an attitude. 
 
 “ The rents were obviously due ; the tenant’s solicitors 
 were evidently only relying on technical difficulties, and 
 especially when we take into account that Sir W. Wynn was 
 a Crown steward, we think the Department might have 
 
315 
 
 peremptorily claimed the loyal co-operation of the absence of 
 which Mr. Culley complains. 
 
 “ However this may be, the serious thing seems to us to 
 be the fact, amply declared in Mr Gulley’s letter, that the state 
 of the books and records in the department is such that 
 ‘ considerable labour 5 is required to determine points which 
 if proper books and records had been kept from 1809 could 
 not have occasioned any great difficulty. This brings us to 
 a question of great importance. Why has no proper and 
 exhaustive extent or survey been made of the Crown lands 
 and their revenue ? 
 
 “ We think that the fact that prompt demand of or legal in 
 
 proceedings for the recovery of these rents necessitates som Wing the 
 exertion or even strain in the department affords no excuse last 100 years ‘ 
 for delay. If its staff is large enough the work should be 
 done ; if it is not large enough, it should be at once 
 increased.” 
 
 The unenclosed land which at present belongs to the 
 Crown in Wales amounts to 84,110 acres, but since 1787 the 
 Crown has sold no fewer than 279,691 acres (about two-thirds 
 of which had been alloted in severalty under Enclosure Acts, 
 the remaining being in most cases subject to certain common 
 rights). 
 
 The Commissioners observe : — 44 If no sale at all had 
 taken place the Crown would have at this moment in Wales 
 an estate in severaltv freed from all common rights of nearlv 
 200,000 acres, and more than 150,000 acres of land subject 
 to rights of common. Taking the acreage of Wales and 
 Monmouthshire to be about 5,150,000 acres the Crown would 
 in that case have been now seized of about one-fourteenth of 
 the whole area of the county in question, and by the sales 
 the Crown has lost the great increment in the value of this 
 large proportion of the area during the last hundred years.” 
 
 It is also added that the Crown authorities “seem to 
 have shown on some occasions too ready a disposition to 
 compromise claims and admit the titles of Welsh landowners ; 
 they have not always shown the same tenacity in maintaining 
 Crown rights that private persons display in asserting and Illustrated by 
 upholding theirs. But, making every allowance, we think the sale of over 
 that there has not been enough energy displayed in the sir°w.vv!w^n 
 defence of the Crown’s rights.” The Commissioners think 
 that this was especially the case with reference to the sale to 
 the late Sir W. Wynn, in 1856, of 23,639 acres (chiefly of 
 mountain and moor land, subject, no doubt, to rights of 
 common) situated in the counties of Denbigh and Merioneth, 
 the purchase money received therefor being £6,331. While 
 
316 
 
 But u liy? 
 
 Polic y of sales 
 condemned. 
 
 admitting that the price may have been satisfactory enough, 
 if the possibility of all kinds of development be left out of 
 account, what the Commissioners cannot understand is why 
 this land was sold at all ? What were the reasons which 
 induced the Crown to part with its interest ? 
 
 “ To put the matter in simple form we ask — why did an 
 owner not obliged to sell, dispose of his interests, for a price 
 possibly fair at the moment, at a time when every reasonable 
 person might look forward (as no doubt the purchaser did) 
 to a continual increase of value ? 
 
 “ In so putting the question we deal with the action of 
 the departments from the point of view of an owner or an 
 agent of a private estate. The moment we take into account 
 the public and national considerations involved, the more 
 puzzling this transaction becomes. The vendor represented 
 one of the most permanent and at any rate the most stable 
 interest in the State. It ought not, according to the most 
 elementary notions of State dutjq to have acted without 
 reference to the common good of all classes concerned in or 
 affected by the transaction. Yet the poor persons who had, 
 by the tacit acquiescence of that vendor, improved and 
 enclosed divers portions of this tract of land, were placed 
 without any safeguard at the mercy of a purchaser who 
 might be expected to deal with them from the narrow point 
 of view of personal proprietary rights ; and above all, the 
 collective interest of the community in the development and 
 use of this large tract of country was entirely ignored and 
 made subordinate to the will of a Crown tenant who was 
 already so notoriously influential as to be called, if only in 
 jest, the “ King of Wales,” Under these circumstances we 
 say that we see no reasonable or prudent justification for the 
 transaction. 
 
 44 It was indeed said that Sir W. W. Wynn claimed part 
 of this land as his own. We see no justification in this. 
 The Commissioners should have insisted on the public right 
 if they were advised the lands claimed belonged to the 
 Crown. If they did not see their way to maintaining their 
 claim to the disputed parcels in the law courts, they ought 
 to have jdelded as to these parcels and dealt with the residue 
 in the light of large consideration of public policy. Their 
 easy compromise, if any real compromise indeed there was, 
 was unbecoming to the position of a public department 
 charged with the care of most important sovereign and 
 national interests. 
 
 “We make no reflection on the late Sir Watkin Wynn 
 in regard to this transaction, and we refer to it simply as a 
 
317 
 
 typical instance of the way in which the department acted 
 at this time” (pp. 209-210). 
 
 So much is stated in the General Report. In view of 
 the foregoing and many other facts of a similar character, 
 the Majority in their separate report (p. 930) make the follow- 
 ing recommendations which are however endorsed by the 
 Minority also : — 
 
 “ (1) That a Commission, the members of which should Eecommenda- 
 have, individually and collectively, the powers of judges of croplands 
 the High Court of J ustice, should be appointed to survey, 
 with the utmost particularity, the Crown lands and rights in 
 Wales. 
 
 (2) This Commission, having those powers, should 
 make an accurate map, or series of maps, of all the Crown 
 manors, seigniories, wastes and estates, showing their metes 
 and bounds ; and should determine all questions of encroach- 
 ment upon the Crown demesnes, wastes, or commons. 
 
 (3) The Commission should be empowered to call upon 
 all landowners to come before them with their title deeds or 
 evidence of possession, and then proceed to decide all 
 questions of boundary or title which may be necessary for the 
 making of the survey proposed. 
 
 (4) A proper extent of all the rents, dues, &c., payable 
 from land in Wales to the Crown should be made in the same 
 way. 
 
 “ Another question, properly coming within this section, Necessity for 
 we have had to consider is, whether it is right, under existing basi^the^uan- 1 * 
 legislation respecting the Crown lands, that the revenue of betwein tlon8 
 the Crown lands in Wales should be carried to a general ^ land and 
 
 ^ it- i -ii ° . Wales. 
 
 account r On the one hand it may be urged that there is no 
 separate treatment of the financial relations between Wales 
 and England, that in the existing Acts of Parliament 
 concerning finance the 13 counties which form the area of 
 our inquiry are treated just like any other 13 counties, and 
 that, therefore, there is no ground for suggesting that this 
 head of public revenue should be dealt with otherwise than 
 in the general account of the income of England and Wales. 
 
 But, on the other hand, it is urged, or can be urged, that if 
 the rateable values of England and Wales are compared, or 
 even if the populations are compared, and if the application 
 of existing taxation in the counties of England, and in the 
 13 counties of Wales, are compared, Wales is unfairly treated. 
 
 It may be also urged, upon the historical ground, that there 
 is a distinction between Wales and England, and that the 
 Crown lands in Wales form part of territory formerly 
 belonging to the Welsh people, or, at any rate, its rulers, and 
 
Qwasi'-private 
 property of 
 Crown in Wales : 
 Lordship of 
 Ogmore. 
 
 Scheme for its 
 development 
 proposed by Mr. 
 A. J. Williams. 
 
 that the profits of the Welsh estates ought to be applied for 
 distinctively Welsh purposes. We have not taken sufficient 
 evidence upon the financial relations of England and Wales 
 to enable us to form an opinion upon this matter, and we 
 only adverb to it in order that attention may be given to the 
 subject with a view, possibty, to the making of a fairer 
 arrangement.” 
 
 The Commissioners’ recommendations under this head 
 end here. They do not appear to have thought fit to endorse 
 the radical suggestion made by Mr. Arthur J. Williams (late 
 M.B. for South Glamorgan) as a member of the Select 
 Committee on Crown Lands in 1890. Mr. Williams’ proposal 
 was that the management of the Crown Lands in each county 
 of Wales and Monmouthshire be transferred to the County 
 Councils, and the proceeds applied for public purposes within 
 such counties, or failing this that the officials of each County 
 Council should be charged with the local administration of 
 Crown property under the direction and control of the 
 Commissioners of Woods and Forests. 
 
 The Crown Lands which we have just dealt with belong 
 to the nation, but the Crown has other property in Wales, 
 of a ^mst-private character, the revenue of which is, it 
 appears, carried to Her Majesty’s Privy Purse (pp. 225-9).* 
 The land which is so owned is the Manor of Ogmore, in 
 Glamorganshire, which forms part of the possessions of the 
 Duchy of Lancaster. In addition to valuable mineral pro- 
 perty to the north of Bridgend there belong at present to 
 this lordship to the south of Bridgend 1,030 acres of 
 “ downs” or commons, chiefly in the neighbourhood of St. 
 Bride’s Major and Southerndown. A short time ago Mr. 
 Arthur Williams submitted to the Duchy a scheme proposing 
 that powers for the management of this property be conferred 
 upon a Committee of the County Council of Glamorgan by 
 a provisional order under an Enclosure Act, which should be 
 promoted by the Duchy authorities. In his evidence before 
 the Commission Mr. Williams further explained his views 
 as to the best means for developing “ this beautiful country” 
 as a seaside and holiday resort for the teeming population 
 of Glamorganshire. All that the Commissioners have to say 
 to this, however, is that “ with regard to the development of 
 Southerndown as a seaside place of recreation for the ever- 
 
 * With reference to this point, Mr. Arthur Williams, after observing 
 that the lordship of Ogmore “remains g^ast-private property of the 
 reigning sovereign,” added : “ Of course I do not suppose anyone will 
 dispute that it is national property, but until the demise of the Crown 
 occurs, it is clear we can only expect the comptroller of the private 
 property of the Crown to do anything with its assent.” 
 
319 
 
 increasing population of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire, 
 while we think that Mr. Arthur Williams’ suggestion is one 
 of great value, we have not had sufficient evidence upon the 
 point to enable us to make any practical and detailed sugges- 
 tions to the Office of the Duchy. 
 
 We were impressed by the readiness of Sir Gardner 
 Englehart [the Clerk to the Council of the Duchy of 
 Lancaster] to regard the general public interest as a matter 
 to be considered in the management of this property. We 
 suggest that the Office of the Duchy should institute a local 
 inquiry as to the accommodation at present provided for 
 persons visiting Southerndown and adjacent points, and as 
 to the means by which that accommodation could be 
 increased, and whether, in conjunction with the County 
 Council of Glamorganshire, a scheme, which might be profit- 
 able to the Duchy, and at the same time advantageous to 
 the community, might not be devised.” 
 
 So far as the user of common and waste lands is con- 
 cerned, the Commissioners express the opinion that there is 
 no reason why those portions of the Duchy estate should not 
 be treated in the same way as other commons, and made 
 subject to the legislation in regard to the regulation of 
 commons which the Commissioners recommend later, and 
 with which we shall presen tly deal. 
 
 2 .— COMMON LANDS AND THE EXERCISE OF 
 MANORIAL RIGHTS AS TO SQUATTERS AND 
 OTHERS. 
 
 As to the general question of Commons (pp. 210-225) it 
 is observed that the earliest Enclosure Act with regard to 
 Wales was passed in 1732, and for the next 60 years scarcely 
 a dozen Acts of the kind were passed for Wales, but in the 
 earlier years of this century, they came thick and fast, 
 especially in the border counties. 
 
 “ The total quantity enclosed since 1797 is estimated at 
 over a million acres, inasmuch as it was estimated that in 
 1795 there were 1,696,827 acres of waste or unenclosed land 
 in Wales.” 
 
 The result is that at the present time there are onty 
 about 693,628 acres of common or unenclosed waste in 
 Wales. It is observed that many “ witnesses complained of 
 the inadequacy of the allotments under most awards for 
 general or public purposes, especially for recreation grounds, 
 for turbary, for the poor, and for charitable purposes. It 
 
 Commissioners 
 
 recommenda- 
 
 tions. 
 
 The enclosure 
 of Commons 
 during- the last 
 100 years. 
 
320 
 
 was also said that in many cases the parcels awarded for such 
 purposes were situated inconveniently or were of a practically 
 worthless character. Even accepting the principles on 
 which the Inclosure Acts were based as being sound, 
 insufficient regard was paid by most Commissioners in 
 making their awards to the admitted, but vague, interests of 
 the inhabitants of the districts affected, who were neither 
 owners nor commoners.” 
 
 Unsatisfactory In illustration, a table is given showing the enclosures 
 
 cases!" 9 ' in s ° me carried out by Mr. J. M. Davies, of Froodvale, and his father, 
 since 1854, and, according to this, fewer than 600 acres out of 
 nearly 26,000 acres were awarded for all public purposes, 
 and only about 36 acres for recreation grounds. Some 
 specific complaints as to alleged grievances in connection 
 with allotments for public purposes are then dealt with, and 
 the Commissioners express the hope that the new authorities 
 which have recently been created by the various Local 
 Government Acts “ will, by vigilantly exercising their 
 powers, to some extent, at any rate, protect the public in the 
 enjoyment of public rights.” 
 
 case of Ponty- The case of the Coedpenmaen Common, near Ponty- 
 
 pndd common. j s? amon g others, referred to (p. 218). Here, a small 
 
 part of the common was allotted as recreation ground, but 
 there was reserved for the lord of the manor (the Marquis of 
 Bute) a right to quarry for stone therein — a right which, 
 according to some witnesses he is exercising to the detriment 
 of its user for recreation purposes. The Commissioners thus 
 comment on the matter : — “ Assuming that the Marquis of 
 Bute is acting within his strict legal rights, opinions will 
 naturally differ as to the propriety of his action. But what- 
 ever opinion may be entertained as to the propriety, on 
 moral and social grounds, of his insisting on his rights to 
 the detriment of the public health and convenience, we 
 think that it is a very lamentable thing that this Inclosure 
 Act should have been allowed to pass in a form so injurious 
 to the inhabitants of Pontypridd, and that the Commissioner 
 should not have taken greater pains to make the Award 
 clearer, and, if he had the power, to prevent the lord of the 
 manor from having a right which, for practical purposes, 
 rendered the allotment to the public vain and useless.” 
 complaints as to Another set of complaints which the Commissioners 
 
 Squatters. received m connection with commons related to the alleged 
 harsh treatment of small encroachers, who are designated by 
 the general term “ squatters ” (pp. 579-597). 
 
 It is a notable circumstance that there survives in 
 Wales a traditional notion, erroneous in point of law, but 
 
321 
 
 practically universal, that by building on a common a ty un- 
 nos (literally, “ a one-night house,”) freehold rights could be 
 acquired. In Radnorshire such a hut is facetiously known 
 as “ morning surprise.” The custom of building these tai un- 
 nos was, within living memory, quite common in most parts 
 of Wales where there were extensive wastes. They were 
 erected on a waste in a single night, and an essential point 
 was that smoke should be seen issuing from the chimney by 
 dawn of day. 
 
 The origin of the custom is obscure, but whatever it be, 
 the custom itself is, or has been, well established in Wales. 
 
 “No instance has come under our notice,” the Com- 
 missioners say, “ of any commoner or tenant farmer (as 
 such) taking active steps against the builder of a ty un-nos 
 It is the lord of the manor who intervenes ; and he does so, 
 not by trying to stop people from encroaching, but, as a 
 rule, demanding a rent before the expiration of the period 
 of limitation (formerly 20, but now, 12 years) — which 
 would ordinarily bar his right — has elapsed. 
 
 Speaking generally, the encroacher had no objection 
 at all to paying a small rent, because the practically universal 
 belief was that the rent demanded and paid was, under the 
 circumstances, an unalterable quit-rent, the payment of which 
 did not abridge the rights of the tenant. It is singular that 
 the Rev. Abraham Roberts, speaking in reference to the 
 demand of rent from the squatters in Llanbrynmair parish, 
 and the inducement held out by the agents to them to pay a 
 small rent, says the 4 agents would come to offer the 'protection 
 of Sir Watkin.’ ” 
 
 As to the extent to which encroachments of this kind 
 were from time to time made, and small plots of unenclosed 
 land successively fenced in and cultivated, the Commissioners 
 state that “ every indication points to the process having gone 
 on from generation to generation, and that many of the present 
 small holdings had their actual origin in the practice. . . . 
 The small encroachers have played a very considerable part 
 in the actual reclamation and improvement of the higher land 
 of Wales,” in fact, “ much of the land now enclosed and 
 cultivated and in the possession of tenants from year to year, 
 was originally an encroachment from the waste, in respect of 
 which the encroacher has attorned tenant to a lord or 
 neighbouring owner, and wdiich has been enlarged from time 
 to time. The practice of encroachment seems clearly to have 
 been for a very long period (whatever its origin) sanctioned 
 by public opinion, and therefore to have been felt right and 
 just ; and in no other way can the survival of the custom of 
 
 w 
 
 Who have built 
 tai unnos, on 
 Commons. 
 
 The reclamation 
 of the higher 
 land largely due 
 to Squatters. 
 
322 
 
 ty un-nos in such changed economic and legal circumstances 
 as those of the last 80 or 90 years in Wales be explained 
 than by the inference that it represented formerly a well- 
 defined and universal usage” (p. 578). 
 
 Their prevalence “ The cottages in many districts appear to have almost 
 m o i It goniery entirely originated in squatters’ settlements, a fact which 
 
 ami Monmouth. accoun fc s f or the wretched accommodation which is character- 
 istic of the majority of them. This was, in fact, observed in 
 1869 by more than one of the Commissioners who then 
 inquired in Wales as to the employment of children, &c., in 
 agriculture.* 
 
 Thus Mr. Tremenheere, in writing of Cardiganshire, makes the 
 following important statement : — £ The result is the existence of perhaps 
 a greater number of cottages unfit for the habitation of human beings 
 than is to be found within an equal area in any part of Great Britain. 
 Most of these cottages are occupied by their owners until the expiration 
 of the leases or they tumble down from age and decay. I was informed 
 by Mr. Fryer, the agent of Sir Pryse Pryse, Bart., one of the largest 
 landed proprietors in Cardiganshire, that out of his 500 cottage tenants 
 only 40 pay rack rents. A landed proprietor, the cottages on whose 
 estates are thus held, is almost powerless for the purpose of improvement. 
 He cannot turn out the squatter or his descendant, who, by long 
 acquiescence, has acquired quasi proprietary rights, and when the leases 
 have been granted he must wait for their expiration before he can ever 
 think of rebuilding.’ With reference also to Montgomeryshire, Mr 
 Tremenheere states that the same practice of squatting had prevailed to a 
 considerable extent. In their summary Report, the Commissioners of 
 1869 make the following statement with reference to another county : — 
 
 ‘ In Monmouthshire one cause of the prevalence of an inferior class of 
 cottages is the large number that have been built by £ squatters,’ and which 
 are either freehold or held at a nominal rent. Of the latter class there 
 are said to be ‘morethan 800 on the Duke of Beaufort’s estate alone.’ ’ 
 lord Bute and From among certain typical or representative cases which 
 Squatters ^* 6 are reviewed by the Commissioners in their Report (pp. 579- 
 587) we shall refer by way of illustration to the case of the 
 Marquis of Bute and the Cowbridge Squatters, which was 
 brought forward in the first instance by Mr. Edward John, 
 of Cowbridge 
 
 “ The encroachments and buildings referred to took place upon divers 
 pieces of waste ground between Cowbridge and Llantwit Major, in one of 
 the several manors of which Lord Bute is lord in this district. The 
 admitted facts appear to be these : Some 60 small encroachments had 
 been made upon the wastes at different times but at periods by no means 
 recent, and at least 18 cottages had been built. The encroachers paid 
 small rents to Lord Bute ; and, as this part of Lord Bute’s estate is 
 detached from the bulk of the property, and the difficulty of collecting the 
 rents was considerable, it was determined to sell them, and accordingly 
 
 * This was also observed in 1892-93 by the Assistant Agricultural 
 Commissioner of the Labour Commission. In referring to the compara- 
 tively modern origin of most country villages in Wales, he writes (par. 45): 
 
 £ Many of the older villages appear to have originated in cottages built by 
 squatters upon the wastes. These are generally distinguished by the 
 wretchedness of the dwellings, the largeness of their gardens, and the 
 occasional addition of small plots of land, rendering the settlement more 
 scattered than the ordinary type of modern village.’ 
 
323 
 
 they were put up for sale by auction in 69 lots, and in due course were 
 sold, after the tenants had an opportunity of buying them at prices 
 deemed by Lord Bute’s agent to be low. The number of lots sold was 69, 
 of which 28 were, or had been, let on lease, and the remainder held, 
 according to the agent’s view, on an annual tenancy. The cottages were 
 undoubtedly built by, and at the expense of, the tenants or their prede- 
 cessors, and it was not suggested that Lord Bute had ever contributed 
 anything either towards the houses or towards the making of walls and 
 fences.” 
 
 In Mr. John’s view, Lord Bute simply “ confiscated the 
 whole lot of them,” but the estate agent explained that his 
 lordship had simply exercised his legal rights, and the 
 Commissioners observe that undoubtedly that was the case. 
 “ But this does not conclude the question raised by Mr. 
 John’s evidence — whether it was right, seeing that the 
 buildings were erected by the tenant’s predecessors in title, 
 and that not a penny was spent on any of these small lots 
 by the Bute Estate, to sell the lots at all ? It is clear that 
 the original encroachers and their successors were ignorant 
 of the legal position, and that they acted under the wrong 
 notion that by acknowleding the Lord of the Manor’s right 
 and paying a small rent the} 7 " became freeholders. It is 
 equally clear that the predecessor in title of Lord Bute either 
 “ stood by” or actively encouraged the encroachments, and 
 allowed the original squatters to expend their capital and 
 labour on his land. One element in considering the justice 
 of Lord Bute’s action is, of course, the consideration that 
 these tenants and their predecessors had had the enjoyment 
 of the holdings for considerable periods. However this may 
 be, when the matter is looked upon in a broader than the 
 merely economical manner, we cannot but think that the 
 action of Lord Bute or his agent, however legally defensible 
 and economically justifiable, was a harsh and inexpedient 
 exercise of the rights of ownership.” 
 
 A somewhat similar opinion is pronounced by the 
 Commissioners as to the other cases with which they deal in 
 their Report, and in which lords of manors exacted rack 
 rents from encroachers, evicted them for non-payment, or 
 sold their cottages and encroachments. 
 
 Thus Mr. Davies-Cooke, of Gwysaney, after a “ test 
 case ” heard at the Mold Assizes in 1875-, succeeded in com- 
 pelling a number of squatters in the Manor of Ewloe (near 
 Buckley) to pay “ rents which if not rack rents approximate 
 more or less to the annual value. But though this is the 
 case, the tenants themselves clearly feel that they have been 
 harshly treated, and retain the notion that haring expended 
 their capital and labour on the waste, having only paid 
 originally nominal rents, they have, if not on legal, yet 
 
 Other cases 
 referred to. 
 
324 
 
 Encroachments 
 on Crown 
 wastes. 
 
 How Squatters 
 have been dealt 
 with by the 
 Crown. 
 
 ethical grounds, a property in their holdings larger than that 
 which the operation of our existing law in fact accords.” 
 
 With reference to the sale of squatters enclosures and 
 cottages in Llangeler and Cilrhedyn (in West Carmarthen- 
 shire) by the Earl of Cawdor, some years ago, the Com- 
 missioners similarly observe that there is no reason to 
 believe that Lord Cawdor in any way exceeded his legal 
 rights as Lord of the Manor. 
 
 Reference is also made to the treatment of squatters by 
 the Earl of Powis, in Montgomeryshire and by Sir W. W. 
 Wynn in that county and in Merioneth — but to these we 
 have already incidentally alluded at page 274, and they 
 observe, in conclusion, that “ similar instances could be cited 
 from the evidence with reference to nearly every county in 
 Wales.” 
 
 Encroachments by squatters and others have probably 
 been even more numerous and extensive on Crown wastes 
 than on the wastes of private manors in Wales. From 
 figures supplied by Mr. Russell Sowray (late of the office of 
 Woods & Forests) as to encroachments (made subsequent to 
 1770) in three Crown lordships, the Commissioners obtain 
 this result “ about one twenty-second part of seven 
 parishes in the manor of South Ugre represents an en- 
 croachment on Crown land ; about one-seventh part of the 
 area of four parishes in Denbigh manor and abont one- 
 fifteenth part of the parish of Llandwrog represents similar 
 encroachments. 
 
 “ If Mr. Russell So wray’s sets of instances be taken as 
 fairly representative it is difficult to avoid the inference 
 that a very considerable percentage of the total acreage of 
 freehold land in Wales represents an aggregate of what were 
 originally small encroachments on Crown lands, some of 
 which have been acquired subsequently by grant and others 
 which have become vested in the present owners by lapse 
 of time” (pp. 588-9). 
 
 The evidence given by Welsh witnesses in 1844 before 
 the select committee on the Inclosure of Commons, goes far 
 to support this view, as nearly every witness seems to have 
 stated that encroachments had been made to a very con- 
 siderable extent. 
 
 As to the attitude of the Crown towards squatters it is 
 observed moreover that formerly it made no effort to check 
 the squatters, or at any rate did not as a rule encourage 
 them, though in one parish (that of Llandwrog) the Crown 
 bailiff actually assisted the people to mark out encroach- 
 ments, but as soon as this was discovered it was stopped by 
 the chief office. 
 
325 
 
 When the Crown sold seignorial rights in Wales, which 
 was extensively done as we have seen — the squatters as a 
 rule suffered considerable hardship at the hands of the 
 purchasers, who either evicted them or exacted rack rents 
 in the manner of the lords of other private manors. But 
 “ since the Crown has adopted the plan of keeping the 
 wastes as waste, the usual practice with regard to encroach- 
 ments has been to have them periodically surveyed and 
 valued, and to charge as rent one quarter of the annual 
 value of the lands and buildings to the encroachers, the 
 reduction being in consideration of the fact that although 
 he has done an illegal act, he has spent money in enclosing 
 the land and erecting the building. Thus, when a tenant 
 has occupied for a number of years — 35 to 40 years — and 
 has had the opportunity of getting back his money under 
 this small rent, the rent is, in some cases, raised ; or, if an 
 encroacher gives up his holding for any reason and a stranger 
 who has made no expenditure comes in, the rent is raised.” 
 
 It was inevitable that the Crown, like the Marquis of Bute 
 and other owners, should have come into sharp conflict with 
 the squatters when it was found necessary to advance their 
 rents, &c., but the Commissioners gladly recognise that no 
 specific hardships have occurred to individual squatters upon 
 Crown lands as happened, for instance, in the case of the 
 general sale of Lord Bute’s plots of land.” 
 
 The chief case cited under this head in the Report refers 
 to some 134 encroachers in the parishes of Llanwnda and 
 Llandwrog, in Carnarvonshire. Two witnesses on their 
 behalf complained before the Commission of their treatment 
 by the Office of Woods and Forests, and the following is the 
 conclusion arrived at by the Commissioners in the matter 
 (p. 597):— 
 
 “ We find that the real grievance, is that the rents are, 
 under the circumstances, too high ; but we think it not 
 necessary to decide the question whether the Crown has been 
 asking or is asking more than is just and fair ; at the same 
 time we recommend the Crown to treat the existing tenants 
 there liberally, and to grant to such of them, as are willing to 
 accept them, leases for a considerable term of years (say for 
 50 years) at a rental representing not more than one-fourth 
 of the present improved annual value of the buildings and 
 premises. The existing cases are really special, and similar 
 ones need not recur if the Commissioners will, through its 
 local officers, exercise that degree of vigilance upon the Crown 
 estate which is familiar enough on the part of private 
 owners.” 
 
 Squatters of 
 Llanwnda and 
 Llandwrog, 
 Carnarvonshire. 
 
 The Commis- 
 sioners’ recom- 
 mendation. 
 
326 
 
 Royal rights 
 exercised by 
 private persons. 
 e.g., the Duke of 
 Beaufort’s 
 seignioral rights 
 at Swansea. 
 
 The sale of fore- 
 shore at Cardiff 
 to the Marquis 
 of Bute. 
 
 This is, perhaps, the most convenient place to refer to 
 the possession and exercise by subjects of “ royal franchises” 
 in a way which is described as detrimental to the public 
 interest. Perhaps the most interesting case under this head 
 refers to the seigniorial rights exercised by the Duke of 
 Beaufort in and around Swansea. As seignior of Gower, his 
 Grace has rights of ownership over the foreshore at Swansea 
 and elsewhere and over the bed of the river Tawe, and in 
 virtue thereof he treats them as his freehold. The conten- 
 tion of the Swansea Corporation is that the seigniorial rights 
 which he possesses were conferred on his predecessor in title, 
 not for his individual benefit, but for the benefit and enjoy- 
 ment of the community at large. The Commissioners repro- 
 duce (p. 189 et sec].) the evidence given on behalf of the 
 Swansea Corporation and by Mr. Sidne}^ Hartland on the 
 one hand, and by his Grace’s representatives on the other 
 hand, but they deem it inexpedient “ to pronounce a decision 
 upon the issue of facts thus raised. It is of importance in 
 our eyes as showing the vigilant care taken to press the rights 
 of the Duke of Beaufort to their utmost legal extent, and 
 as an illustration of the inconvenient economic effect of 
 allowing vague rights to persons whose position enables their 
 agents to exercise pressure (however well-founded in law) 
 upon others engaged in industrial pursuits.” Their com- 
 ments are, however, more pointed with reference to the sale 
 to the Marquis of Bute of a tract of foreshore at Cardiff, 
 and we, therefore, reproduce their remarks in full (p. 
 193):— 
 
 4t The evidence laid before us by Mr. Trevor of the Board of Trade in 
 reference to a considerable stretch of foreshore of Cardiff is worth 
 mention. It appears that the Marquis of Bute was claiming, and had for 
 some time claimed, a considerable tract of shore at Cardiff, and that in 
 1888 the Crown sold the foreshore, amounting to 1,211 acres, for £6,055. 
 Mr. Trevor informed us that the Crown was in possession of this fore- 
 shore in the same way that it is in possession of most of the foreshore 
 of the island. He said that there had been several encroachments 
 on the shore, which his Board had attempted to prevent and stop, 
 and that they found their hands were very weak in doing so. He said : 
 
 4 In fact, in some of them we were put at defiance, and the then President 
 considered that it was a very good compromise to make with an offer of 
 the kind made by the Marquis of Bute.’ There was no local enquiry of 
 any kind by the Board of Trade into the question whether it was expedient 
 or not to hand over the foreshore rights to the Marquis of Bute, nor was 
 any notice whatever given to the Corporation or the authorities of the 
 intention to yield to the claim made by the Marquis of Bute. 
 
 As no one on behalf of the Marquis of Bute explained the nature of 
 his title, and as Mr. Trevor did not lay any papers before us, we are quite 
 unable to say whether the compromise was, or was not, expedient in the 
 public interest. Having regard to the great progress made by Cardiff 
 during the last 70 years, to its immense importance as one of the ports of 
 the kingdom, and to the probability of the necessity of the increase of its 
 dock accommodation, it certainly seems to us that it was a strange course 
 
327 
 
 of proceeding for the Board of Trade to conclude a compromise upon so 
 vital a matter without giving any notice to the Corporation of Cardiff or 
 allowing it an opportunity of considering whether it was worth its while 
 to ask the Crown to defend the public or corporate interest against the 
 private claim of the Marquis of Bute. 
 
 The Marquis of Bute has already an enormous interest in the Cardiff 
 docks, and consequently great influence in matters relating to the trade of 
 the port. To extend that influence by a sale of further foreshore rights, 
 appears to us matter of questionable public policy. 
 
 We, of course, pass no judgment upon the claims of the Marquis of 
 Bute. Our strictures are intended to apply merely to the method followed 
 by the Board of Trade. We understand that no responsibility attaches to 
 Mr. Trevor, inasmuch as the so-called compromise was effected by the 
 express instructions of the then President of the Board of Trade. It is 
 not stated that the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown was taken ; 
 nor that any serious investigation into the nature and strength of the 
 Marquis of Bute’s claim was made by anyone. It is indeed said by Mr 
 Trevor that the local advisers of the Board (we understand the advisers 
 at Cardiff), thought the Marquis of Bute had a strong case, but nothing is 
 laid before us to show how far they were in a position to give sound 
 advice on so difficult a matter of law and fact.” 
 
 As to the question of commons, and manorial rights 
 generally, the Majority in their separate Report (p. 929) add 
 the following observations (which have the approval of the 
 Minority also) : — “ We have seen that recent legislation 
 recognises a public interest in common land. Inclosure can 
 now only take place when the circumstances are such as to 
 make them beneficial to the whole community. The 
 machinery of the manorial courts is not, however, any 
 longer sufficient to secure the rights of commoners among 
 themselves, and we think that some local authority — e.g., the 
 county council — should have power to make bye-laws regu- 
 lating the use of commons by the commoners for pastoral 
 and other purposes ; and that the enlarged powers of user 
 should be given to the public for purposes of health and 
 recreation under proper conditions to be laid down by the 
 County Council. This leads us to point out that it seems 
 that County and District Councils have not at the present 
 time airy power to purchase the rights of a lord of a manor 
 {however desirable it may be to secure them) even by volun- 
 tary agreement. We think that the power of acquiring such 
 rights in the public interest by agreement should be vested 
 both in County and District Councils.” 
 
 3— THE CONTINUITY OF ESTATES. 
 
 The evolution of estates is another subject which is 
 treated historically in the Report (pp. 233-243), and an 
 attempt is made to show how, out of tribal and mediaeval 
 conditions, the modern organisations known as estates, were 
 built up from time to time. Leaving the earlier stages of 
 this process, we may mention that according to the Report, 
 
 Commissioners’ 
 recommenda- 
 tions as to the 
 regulation of 
 Commons. 
 
328 
 
 Smallness of 
 Welsh estates 
 2 or 3 centuries 
 ago. 
 
 Their continuity 
 as economic 
 units. 
 
 Present size and 
 Distribution. 
 
 Wales like England was, b} r the time of James I., divided 
 into estates not dissimilar in character to those of our 
 own day; as to a slightly later period the Commissioners 
 observe - 
 
 “ Speaking broadly the estates of the gentry in Wales 
 in the 17th century appear to have been small — possibly 
 many may have been extensive in area, but certainly from 
 the point of view of annual value they were as a rule very 
 small. Major-General Berry, writing to Cromwell, says : 
 “ You can sooner find fifty gentlemen of £100 a year than 
 five of £500 and going back to Tudor times, the conclusion 
 to be formed from the observations of at least one contem- 
 porary observer of Wales — John Leland — is that the Welsh 
 estates were then, as a rule, small both in extent and revenue. 
 Rowlands, too, in his “ Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry ” ('p. 195), 
 has preserved some lines, which he describes as ancient,., 
 concerning Radnorshire, which are to the same effect : — 
 
 Alas ! alas ! poor Radnorshire, 
 
 Never a park nor ever a deer, 
 
 Nor ever a Squire of five hundred a year 
 Save Richard Fowler of Abbey Cwm-hir.” 
 
 But the whole tendency of events towards the close of 
 the 17th century and throughout the 18th was in the 
 direction of the enlargement of estates and (to some extent) 
 the extinction of the smaller gentry or larger yeomen. But 
 on the whole, Welsh estates can boast of a long record of 
 continuity as economic units. 
 
 “We are struck,” the Commissioners observe, “ not only 
 by the permanence of these organizations but by the fact 
 that in some cases estates have remained in the hands of the 
 same families ( i.e ., being transferred only on death or 
 marriage) as continually growing aggregates of lands for 
 hundreds of years, and in many for several generations. 
 We mention this fact because there is a tendency, not sup- 
 ported by our observation or the evidence, to exaggerate the 
 extent to which capitalists of commercial or industrial ex- 
 traction have become estate owners.” 
 
 As to the size of estates and the distribution of land 
 amongst owners, the Commissioners rely on the official return 
 of “ Owners of Land ” made in 1876, and published in what 
 is popularly known as the “ New Domesday Book.” 
 
 The table which is here reproduced is, therefore, ex- 
 tracted from the House of Commons Returns (No. 335,. 
 1876) 
 
329 
 
 The Number of Estates of 500 Acres and Upwards 
 in Wales in 1876. 
 
 Name 
 
 OF 
 
 County. 
 
 Number of Persons 
 
 owning. 
 
 Total. 
 
 500 
 
 to 
 
 1,000 
 
 Acres. 
 
 1,000 
 
 to 
 
 2,000 
 
 Acres. 
 
 2,000 
 
 to 
 
 5,000 
 
 Acres. 
 
 5.000 
 to 
 
 10.000 
 Acres. 
 
 10,000 
 
 to 
 
 20,000 
 
 Acres. 
 
 20,000 
 
 to 
 
 50,000 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Anglesey 
 
 19 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 Brecon 
 
 48 
 
 26 
 
 30 
 
 5 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 110 
 
 Cardigan 
 
 48 
 
 30 
 
 24 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 109 
 
 Carmarthen 
 
 88 
 
 50 
 
 26 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 175 
 
 Carnarvon 
 
 27 
 
 18 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 64 
 
 Denbigh 
 
 51 
 
 36 
 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 116 
 
 Flint 
 
 22 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 48 
 
 Glamorgan 
 
 52 
 
 42 
 
 24 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 134 
 
 Merioneth 
 
 51 
 
 33 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 111 
 
 Montgomery . . . 
 
 64 
 
 32 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 126 
 
 Pembroke 
 
 49 
 
 37 
 
 27 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 122 
 
 Radnor 
 
 34 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 67 
 
 Monmouth 
 
 40 
 
 17 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 76 
 
 Total 
 
 593 
 
 355 
 
 248 
 
 70 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 1,301 
 
 As to the question whether the owners reside on their 
 estates, the Commissioners observe (p. 261) “ that complete 
 absenteeism is, no doubt, comparatively rare in Wales, in 
 regard to estates of such a size as to afford sufficient income 
 to maintain a family comfortably. In fact, we are inclined 
 to think that in proportion to their numbers a larger per- 
 centage of the Welsh landlords reside all or nearly all the 
 year on their estates than is the case in any corresponding 
 area in England.” 
 
 4.— SMALL FREEHOLDERS. 
 
 This — very briefly put — is the history of the estates and 
 estate-owners of the country — but what about the smaller 
 proprietors, the yeomen or small freeholders who were said 
 to be so numerous in the 17th century? Their history 
 during the last 100 years is dealt with at some length (at 
 
330 
 
 History of small 
 freeholders 
 during; 19th 
 century. 
 
 pp. 549-575), but it is unnecessary that we should reproduce 
 here anything more than the Commissioners’ summary of 
 that history (p. 574), which is as follows : — 
 
 “ Towards the end of the last century a considerable 
 number of small freeholders existed in various parts of 
 Wales, but more especially in the south-western counties of 
 Carmarthen, Cardigan, and Pembroke. 
 
 The great industrial development which signalised the 
 first half of the century, as well as the chronic depression in 
 agriculture which practically lasted, with but few intermis- 
 sions, from 1815 to about 1850, produced a most marked di- 
 minution in the number of this class, with the result that very 
 few of the present race of freeholders have inherited their 
 holdings for more than one generation. 
 
 The improvement in agriculture which commenced 
 about 1850 gave a new incentive to tenants to buy their 
 holdings, and this desire was greatly strengthened at a later 
 date when a sense of insecurity grew up among the tenantry, 
 owing to the evictions of 1859, 1868, and subsequent years. 
 
 This commonly believed insecurity of tenure, the feeling 
 of attachment to the old home, and the characteristic land 
 hunger of the people, have therefore combined to make 
 tenants far more eager, of recent years, to bujr their holdings 
 than they were in the first half of the century. 
 
 With the extension of the franchise in 1867 and subse- 
 quently in 1883, political influence in Wales ceased to be 
 entirely or even very largely dependent on the ownership of 
 extensive estates. This, as well as other considerations, has 
 induced many landowners to sell outlying portions of their 
 estates and such sales, while aggravating the tenants’ sense 
 of insecurity, have also added to their opportunities of 
 purchasing their holdings. 
 
 Though the numbers of occupjdng owners have from 
 these causes considerably increased during the last 30 years 
 they still form, however, but a comparatively small proportion 
 of the total number of occupiers of land in the country.* 
 
 # * * # 
 
 Those who have bought their holdings during the last 
 30 years or subsequent to about 1868, purchased generally 
 at very high prices, and had to borrow largely for that 
 purpose, at a rate of interest averaging about 4 per cent. 
 
 * The proportion of occupying freeholders to tenant farmers for each 
 county in Wales, and the acreage of land cultivated by each class, have 
 been already shown on p. 106 above. According to this table the 
 freeholders form in Cardiganshire nearly 21 per cent, of the total farmers, 
 in Anglesey 13£ per cent., in Carmarthenshire 12^ ; in Pembrokeshire 12 ; 
 and in Radnorshire and Monmouthshire about 11 per cent. each. 
 
331 
 
 Many thus pay more in interest than the rent of the 
 holding was previous to its sale, especially as in most cases, 
 the purchasers have been unable to pay off any considerable 
 portion of the original mortgage. 
 
 Economically, therefore, the small freeholders are in a 
 worse position than the tenant farmers. While the more 
 prudent landowners exercise a cheque on the competition of 
 their tenants, and generally accept something less than the 
 competition rent for their holdings, no such cheque is brought 
 to bear on the purchasing tenant when bidding excitedly in 
 the auction room for the freehold of his farm. Nor, having 
 once given a competition price for the freehold, does he get 
 the interest on that capital reduced, or any arrears wiped off, 
 in times of agricultural depression.” 
 
 As to the number of years’ purchase at which the ty£icai st 
 freeholds referred to were bought, and the rate of interest cases, 
 paid on the mortgages, the Commissioners give the results of 
 confidential inquiries which they made in various districts in 
 all the Western Counties of Wales as follows : — 
 
 “ Taking 100 cases from typical districts in each of the 
 six counties of West Wales, the following table represents 
 approximately the rate of interest that is now being paid in 
 each case : 
 
 3 per cent, per annum paid by 
 
 ... 1 
 
 31 
 
 u 4 ” ” 
 
 ... 1 
 
 3J ,, ,, 
 
 ... 4 
 
 3f 
 
 ... 10 
 
 4 
 
 ... 75 
 
 H 
 
 ... 6 
 
 5 
 
 ... 3 
 
 100 
 
 “ Thus 75 of the mortgages would seem to be bearing 4 
 per cent, interest. In most cases where the lower rates of 
 interest prevail, explanatoiy remarks were frequently added 
 to the replies which we received, to the effect that sums of 
 money have been expended by the occupiers in new build- 
 ingsor extensive repairs, or that the money was supplied b} r 
 a relative of the purchaser. 
 
 Analysing the replies as to the number of years’ Amouut of pur - 
 purchase paid in 100 cases, we find that the result works out pafdf“hoMings 
 somewhat as follows : — 
 
332 
 
 Petition for 
 Government 
 relief. 
 
 Scheme of 
 relief suggested. 
 
 Number of Holdings 
 Purchased. 
 
 5 
 
 46 
 
 23 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 100 
 
 Number of Years’ 
 Purchase. 
 
 At 20 years’ purchase. 
 
 „ 20 to 30 years’ purchase. 
 
 ,, 30 to 40 ,, 
 
 ,, 40 to 50 ,, 
 
 ... ,, 50 to 60 ,, 
 
 „ 60 to 70 ,, 
 
 ,, 70 to 80 ,, 
 
 „ 80 to 90 
 
 ... ,, 90 to 100 
 
 A petition (described as being 5 yards long ”), signed 
 by the small freeholders of West Carmarthenshire, North 
 Pembrokeshire, and Lower Cardiganshire, was presented to 
 the House of Commons by Mr. J. LI 03 M Morgan, M.P., in 
 May, 1893, its prayer being that the Government be em- 
 powered “ to advance money to Welsh farmers on mortgage 
 of their property to the extent of about three-fourths of their 
 value, and at such a rate of interest (saj^ £3 per centum per 
 annum), as will relieve them from the great hardship they 
 are now suffering.” 
 
 Mr. C. E. Morgan Richardson, of Cardigan, who is said 
 to have had an almost unique experience in obtaining loans 
 for the mortgaged freeholders of the district referred to, pre- 
 pared and published a scheme providing for State loans for 
 the relief of this class,* and this he explained to the Com- 
 mission as follows : — 
 
 ‘ My scheme was to have appointed a Board of Commissioners, 
 consisting of three or four in number, well acquainted with the subject of 
 advancing money on mortgage of land, and be assisted by such surveyors 
 and clerks as they consider necessary, and to vest in them a sum of money 
 which they would have power to lend on mortgage to the freeholders of 
 Wales. I would particularly suggest that they should have the power of 
 lending a sum of £5,000,000, which has already been allocated for the 
 purpose under the suggestion of the Select Committee of the House of 
 Commons which sat on the Small Holdings Act, and a sum of money which, 
 in consequence of the cumbrous machinery which disfigures that Act, 
 remains intact, or almost intact, at the present time. My suggestions 
 were that this money should be lent at 3 per cent, to the farmers, and that 
 they should also provide for an increased rate of interest, so as to repay 
 the principal within a given time, and I suggested the term of 50 years, 
 for which purpose it would be necessary to make an annual contribution 
 of fths per cent., increasing the rate of interest from 3 to 3|4hs per cent. 
 But in my pamphlet I took into account the necessity for insuring the 
 buildings on all the farms which were to be mortgaged, and I think that I 
 estimated that at too high a figure, and therefore suggested that 85 th per 
 cent, would be a sufficient rate of interest to pay on the mortgage and 
 |fh, making a total of 4 per cent. But as the premium rates would not 
 
 * State Loans to Freeholders (Cardiff, 1894). 
 
333 
 
 amount in any ease to as much as ^tli per cent, on the amount borrowed, 
 I think now that 3 per cent, would be quite sufficient for the purpose, and 
 my proposal would be that the amount should stand over for a term of 50 
 years at 3fths instead of 4 per cent., as suggested in my pamphlet.’ 
 
 The Commissioners observe that “ a scheme, not 
 dissimilar from that sketched b}^ Mr Richardson, has been in 
 operation in a limited way in Wales for several years past. 
 
 According to Mr. A. De Bock Porter, ‘ the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners adopted, some 10 years ago, a plan (which he had suggested) 
 of selling by deferred payments to tenants. A Parliamentary return 
 (No. 226) was moved for by Mr. Ashley in 1885, which sets it out. Under 
 that system the Commissioners have sold in the 10 years just ended 
 (January, 1895) about 9,500 acres for £153,000.’ The three counties in 
 which the largest acreage had thus been sold were Anglesea, with 884 
 acres, fetching £19,400 ; Cardigan, 3,400 acres, for £9,000 ; and Pem- 
 brokeshire, 4,600 acres, for £89,000. In all three cases the area sold was 
 we understand, wholly agricultural. ‘ If the Commissioners sell property 
 by auction they always print in the conditions of sale that they are 
 willing to accept only 15 per cent, in cash, and allow 85 per cent, of the 
 purchase money to remain on this terminable mortgage payable in 30 
 years, the interest being reckoned £3 12s. 6d. per cent.’ 
 
 The scheme was said to have proved ‘ very largely successful,’ and 
 no difficulty had been experienced with regard to the tenants keeping up 
 their payments ; in fact, it was said there had not been a single defaulter. 
 As to the term— 30 years — over which the payments are spread, the 
 statement of Mr. Porter was as follows : — 
 
 4 1 think in selling by way of mortgage that term is sufficient. The 
 Commissioners tried to go as far as possible when they framed the 
 scheme ; it was really framed for dealing with some property in Wales, 
 the lease of which was falling in. There was a great wish on the part of 
 the tenants to buy. Although it was thought 15 per cent, was a very 
 small deposit, the Commissioners were extremely anxious to try the 
 experiment, and it has been completely justified.' 
 
 The unqualified success which the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 mission's scheme has proved, even in a time of agricultural 
 depression suggests that the Government can, without the 
 least financial risk, adopt a system of loans, with or without 
 redemption, to the great advantage of the existing class of 
 heavily mortgaged freeholders in Wales. 
 
 With reference to the position in which the bulk of the 
 mortgaged freeholders of Wales find themselves at present, 
 the Majority make, in their Separate Report (p. 926), the 
 following further observations and recommendations, which 
 are approved by the Minority also : — 
 
 ‘‘We think, upon the whole, that the case of these 
 occupying freeholders, which is chiefly due to the feeling of 
 insecurity produced by the local events connected with the 
 election of 1868 is one which may fairly be deemed worthy 
 of the attention of the Government. Many men told us that 
 if some immediate relief were not afforded the mortgagee 
 would undoubtedly realize his security, with the result that 
 a family long connected with a district and a particular hold- 
 ing would be obliged to turn out into the world. 
 
 Laud Purchase 
 Scheme of the 
 Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners. 
 
 Recommenda- 
 tions made by 
 Commissioners. 
 
“We therefore recommend that State loans be granted to 
 existing freeholders who are also occupiers and farming their 
 own lands, and we suggest as a basis the following conside- 
 rations : — 
 
 1. Advances not to exceed £3,000 in any one sum, and 
 the size of farms upon which such advances are made not to 
 be more than 150 acres of enclosed lands. 
 
 2. All farms advanced upon to have been purchased 
 since the 1st January, 1868. 
 
 3. Advances not to exceed three-fourths of the present 
 value. 
 
 4. Value of lands, &c., to be ascertained by, say, three 
 Commissioners, one of whom should have a knowledge of the 
 Welsh language. 
 
 5. As to rate of interest : we suggest that the present 
 aspect of the money market would appear to justify even as 
 low a rate as 2f per cent. To this, however, must be added 
 £ per cent, per annum for the pajunent of the necessary 
 expenses of the Department to be so created, and the cost 
 of lire insurance premiums, which should be effected on all 
 buildings in the names of the three Commissioners. 
 
 6. As to the terms of redemption : we think that there 
 should be a scale for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, and 60 
 years, the borrower to have the option of taking which he 
 feels would better suit his case. That the calculations should 
 be based upon half-yearly payments. If interest remains 
 unpaid for more than two months, half per cent, extra to be 
 charged by way of fine ; if for more than four months, one 
 per cent, extra; and if for more than six months, the 
 property may be sold by the Commissioners. 
 
 7. Power to be given any borrower to pay up all the 
 amount due, or any part thereof, at any time, with, say, 
 three months’ notice. 
 
 8. If the mortgagor commits any breach of covenant, 
 or should at any time cease to be a bond fide occupier, the 
 balance then due upon the mortgage may be called in, in 
 their discretion, by the Commissioners. In case the occupier 
 dies, his devisee (if a member of his family), or his heir-at- 
 law, shall be in the same position as the original mortgagor. 
 
 9. All properties to be put into names of the three 
 Commissioners. 
 
 10. We further suggest that the scale of fees to be 
 charged borrowers should be scheduled, so that it could be 
 clearly ascertained beforehand what expenses would be 
 incurred. 
 
335 
 
 1 1 . After most careful consideration and special inquiry, 
 so far as lay within our power, we recommend that a sum 
 not exceeding five millions of money should be devoted to 
 this purpose. 
 
 We add a further recommendation — having special 
 regard to cases where the smallest present payment possible 
 would be the first consideration with a borrower who is 
 unduly pressed with the interest of the mortgage on his 
 holding — we would, therefore, suggest that as an alternative 
 in such cases (but we do not think they would be numerous) 
 a borrower should be allowed to have three-fourths value of 
 his farm at simple interest without arranging for redemption, 
 but with power to change the mode of borrowing at any time 
 he may elect, so that if things improve, and he could see his 
 way, he could then commence payments on the redemption 
 system, with the hope that in years to come he or his family 
 may clear their holdings from encumbrance. 
 
 The chief consideration which in our judgment justifies 
 us in recommending the foregoing scheme are those circum- 
 stances, special to Wales alone, which we have already 
 detailed [viz., the feeling of insecurity caused by political and 
 other evictions, the tenants’ clinging to their homes, and the 
 land hunger of the people at large]. We think, however, 
 that the proposed relief should be strictly kept within the 
 limits which we have just outlined, and that the Treasury 
 should take such precautions as would fully safeguard the 
 State from any possible loss from the transaction ” (p. 927). 
 
 5.— AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS. 
 
 Estate-owner and tenant-farmer, freeholder and squatter, 
 have now been successively dealt with : the agricultural 
 labourer alone remains to be spoken of. It is, however, 
 observed at the outset that “ there is no great gulf dividing 
 the labourer from the farmer, but that the former, if thrifty 
 and industrious, always aspires and frequently attains to the 
 position of a tenant-farmer, while misfortune or thriftless- 
 ness, or even a mere matter of preference, occasionally 
 compels or induces the farmer to hire himself as an agri- 
 cultural labourer. There is no impassable gulf, no great 
 social cleavage or feeling of caste between the two classes, 
 such as there is, to a large extent, between the landowner 
 and the cultivating occupier. The labouring class merges 
 imperceptibly into the farming class, while the farmers’ own 
 children often find it convenient and profitable to engage 
 themselves as farm-servants on some neighbouring holding.” 
 
 No social clea- 
 vage between 
 labourers and 
 farmers. 
 
336 
 
 Scarcity of 
 labourers and 
 especially of 
 maids 
 
 The labourer’s history during the last 100 years is 
 reviewed at some length in the Report (pp. 598 — 631), refer- 
 ence being also made to the Reports of the Assistant 
 Commissioners to the Royal Labour Commission in 1892-3 
 on the condition of the agricultural labourer in Wales. 
 We have already seen (p. 65) that there has been a 
 decrease of 40 per cent, in the numbers of the agricultural 
 labourers of Wales between 1851 and 1891, and (p. 156) that 
 the bulk of the labour in Wales is “ indoor and household,” 
 while the reverse is the case in England. 
 
 Owing to this diminution in numbers, a scarcity of 
 efficient labourers has arisen, and consequently boys from 
 industrial schools in England have been introduced of recent 
 years by the hundreds into South Wales to work on farms — 
 and the Commissioners regard such a method of dealing with 
 industrial lads as “ fraught with the gravest consequences, 
 unless it can be better regulated than at present and some 
 provision be made for the social and spiritual wants of the 
 monoglot boys who are thus imported into the agricultural 
 districts ” (p. 602). 
 
 Female wage-earners have decreased to a much greater 
 extent than the males during the last 40 years, and the 
 result is thus described : — 
 
 “ The difficulty which a farmer experiences to obtain a 
 farm-servant or labourer is almost trifling compared with 
 the much greater and more general difficulty in engaging 
 suitable maids. If, for example, a farmer is deprived of the 
 services of a maid through illness or breach of engagement, 
 in the middle of her term or year, it is in many districts 
 practically impossible to replace her, and often the farmer’s 
 wife who finds herself so situated has to shift as best she 
 may and with occasional assistance from some neighbouring 
 labourer’s wife until the hiring season comes round.” 
 
 It is pointed out that the spread of education since 1870 
 has simply “ revolutionised the position of women in Wales,” 
 and at present, the “ more intelligent and ambitious, as well 
 as the vain and indolent ” are attracted to all sorts of 
 occupations other than farming, leaving but a small residue 
 for the farmer to select from. Dairying suffers severely in 
 consequence. 
 
 The method of hiring in the statute or hiring fair is 
 very fully explained, and it is pointed out that the fair is, in 
 the hands of the labourers, an instrument equivalent to the 
 trade union of organised labour in other industifles, and in 
 spite of all that is said against it, it has secured one 
 unquestionable benefit for the labourers — viz., uniformity of 
 wages. 
 
337 
 
 As to the present position of the labourer the Com- 
 missioners make the following observations (p. 630) : — 
 
 “ On the whole we must come to the conclusion that the General review 
 Welsh labourer has not as yet suffered from the agricultural pLu S . rer 8 
 depression with which the farmer has been so sorely stricken. 
 
 Indeed, in one sense, the depression has indirectly improved 
 his position. He has been able to obtain better terms and a 
 more liberal treatment from the farmer, owing to the very 
 fact that the latter is in difficulties and cannot afford to be so 
 independent as formerly. In very truth, the necessity of the 
 employer is proving the opportunity of the employed, and 
 the labourer is, therefore, asserting himself on parish councils 
 and in other spheres in a way that would have scarcely been 
 possible had the farmer been as prosperous as he was 20 
 years ago. On the other hand, it is true that a lesser number 
 of labourers, especially adult married men, are now engaged, 
 but hitherto the} r have been able to obtain employment 
 elsewhere without any difficulty. But with continued stag- 
 nation in the tin-plate trade, and possible depression in 
 coal-mining and other industries, migration from the rural 
 districts might probably in the near future receive a serious 
 check ; we might again in a very few years be brought face * 
 to face with a state of things where considerable numbers of 
 labourers are unable to find regular and continuous employ- 
 ment, while the farmers, owing to the depression in their 
 own industry, continue to cut down their labour bill, and 
 leave much of the farm-work undone. 
 
 “ At the present time, however, there is very little 
 doubt that the labourer is, on the whole, much better off 
 than he was 100 years ago.* Beyond that point, we need 
 not enter into comparisons now. Broadly speaking, from 
 1850 downwards — or shall we say from the repeal of the Corn 
 Laws ? — his condition has steadily improved, with the ex- 
 ception of one or two temporary checks. Down to 1870 his 
 improvement chiefly consisted in his wages being advanced ; 
 since then the improvement has been chiefly characterised by 
 a general amelioration of his surroundings and an enlarge- 
 ment of his social opportunities. Elementary education was 
 
 * A quarter of a century ago it was, however, otherwise according to 
 the best authorities : Mr. T. E. Kebbel, for example, wrote thus of the 
 condition of the English labourer in 1870 : — “ Before the American war 
 (1775) it was better than it is at present (1870). About the beginning of 
 the French war (1793) it was much the same. After the peace (1815) it 
 was a great deal worse.” This view is also put forward with much force 
 and in considerable detail in the Report of the Commissioners on the 
 Employment of Children, &c., in Agriculture in 1867-70 ( See 1st Report, 
 pars. 242—333). 
 
 X 
 
338 
 
 first brought to liis door, and subsequently it has been freed 
 from all charges. His j^ounger children do not now labour 
 in the fields, or about the farm premises, as was formerly the 
 case, but they can devote themselves entirely to their school- 
 work, and their play. He himself is also able to do without 
 the earnings of his wife as a regular hired labourer, and she 
 can, therefore, stay at home to attend to her domestic duties, 
 or in the case of a few acres being attached to the cottage, 
 she is able to devote herself to make the best out of its pro- 
 duce. The labourer himself too has more time at home with 
 his wife and children, his hours of work have been shortened 
 at both ends, while the introduction of machinery, the in- 
 creasing use of artificial manure and feeding stuffs, and the 
 abandonment of arable cultivation in favour of pastoral farm- 
 ing have also relieved him of much of the drudgery to which 
 he was formerly accustomed. His wages, as we have seen, 
 have gone up, while the price of provisions have greatly 
 fallen, and these in many districts he is now able to have 
 delivered to him at his cottage door, owing to the abolition 
 of the turnpike system. His standard of comfort has, there- 
 fore, risen, and he and his family are better clothed and fed, 
 though by his receiving his food at the farmer’s in lieu of 
 part payment of his wages (as is most usually the case) his 
 wife is not in so good a position to provide food for her 
 family, out of the remainder of his wages, as she would be in, 
 if she received all his wages in cash and he were to take his 
 food at home with her and the children. On the whole he is 
 also better housed, though the improvement in this respect 
 has not kept pace with the progress made in other directions, 
 and the stricter enforcement of sanitary rules have, by the 
 condemnation of his pig-sty, in many cases deprived him of 
 his pig, and even where he has a few acres of land the high- 
 way authorities jealously prevent his cow from grazing on 
 the roadside. Until recently, indeed, he seemed to be 
 becoming more and more of a landless man, but lately the door 
 has been opened for him to obtain his plot of land as an 
 allotment, or even enough for a small holding, though as yet 
 not much progress has been made in this direction. Above 
 all, perhaps, he feels that he has now a share in the govern- 
 ment of the country by virtue of the parliamentary franchise 
 conferred on him, and by the extension, still later, of local 
 government. These new advantages are calculated to bring 
 him knowledge and self-respect, and a quickened interest in 
 rural life. They should, in short, make him in every respect 
 a better citizen without detracting from his efficiency as a 
 labourer. 7 ’ 
 
339 
 
 The Majority in their separate Report (p. 928) also add 
 the following further observations and recommendations to 
 which the Minority also give their approval : — 
 
 “ At the present moment there is many a labourer in 
 Wales, who from an economic point of view, is far better off 
 than the great majority of the tenant farmers. At the same 
 time we are bound to say that we are wholly dissatisfied with 
 the sanitarjr condition of many of the labourers’ cottages, 
 whether aggregated together in a village, in part of a market 
 town, or situate alone on or adjoining to a farm holding. 
 With regard to affording better house accommodation for the 
 labourers, which appears to us to be the most pressing point, 
 so far as this class of persons is concerned, we are upon the 
 whole inclined to advise the extending of the provisions of 
 the Houses of the Working Classes Act, 1890, to rural 
 districts in an amended and less cumbrous form. We are 
 of opinion that if any legislation at all is to take place in 
 regard to the matter it should be not in the direction of 
 encouraging labourers to build houses for themselves, as mere 
 speculations at their own risk and expense, but in the 
 direction of conferring upon local authorities the power to 
 acquire for building purposes and to erect suitable dwelling- 
 houses which they may let on reasonable terms to persons 
 wishing to reside within their area. We have seen that no 
 inconsiderable number of the existing holdings, especially in 
 the more remote and less developed parts of Wales, have 
 been created by squatters impelled by the paucity of accom- 
 modation to erect houses without any legal security. We 
 think that all this should be avoided in the future, and that 
 it should be the duty of local authorities, where real need 
 exists, owing to the sudden development of a new industry 
 or other causes, to take steps to prevent the sporadic and 
 unsatisfactory method of obtaining increased house accom- 
 modation by illegally taking possession of any common or 
 waste land convenient for the purposes of the persons 
 concerned, The rural districts in which at present there 
 seems a real deficiency in house accommodation created 
 by industrial circumstances are those parts of Merioneth- 
 shire and Carnarvonshire in which the slate industry is carried 
 on, and some parts of South Wales, in which coal mining 
 is still being developed. In the former counties the Crown 
 has extensive wastes, and it is especially in regard to them 
 we think that legislation giving local authorities and the 
 Woods and Forests Department greater powers than they at 
 present possess, in regard to the creation of small holdings 
 and the erection of suitable dwelling-houses, would be dis- 
 tinctly beneficial. 
 
 Recommenda- 
 
 tions. 
 
340 
 
 Welsh rural life 
 described. 
 
 Food. 
 
 “We have been struck by the fact that in man}^ parts of 
 Wales the sanitary laws are only very imperfectly enforced 
 as to the houses of cottagers and labourers, and sometimes 
 as to those of farmers. With a view to their being more 
 efficiently administered we recommend : — 
 
 (1.) That no person should be appointed as sanitary 
 inspector unless he has passed an examination with reference 
 to the laws of hygiene, or is able to give such other satis- 
 factory proof as the Local Government Board may require as 
 to his practical knowlege of the work required of him. 
 
 (2.) That the medical officer of health should be placed 
 in a position of greater independence than he is at present. 
 He should not be removable from his office without the 
 consent of the Local Government Board. 
 
 (3.) We also desire to endorse a recommendation that 
 has been previously made by the Royal Commission on 
 Labour to the effect that the ‘ owners of all houses let at a 
 rental of less than £10 a year should be obliged to make an 
 annual return to the sanitary authority, stating the number 
 of persons in each cottage, their sex, and age ; whether the 
 house is provided with a proper water supply and a closet, 
 and whether the premises are in good repair.’ We also 
 concur in thinking that the obligation to make this return 
 would have the two-fold good effect of periodically calling 
 the attention of the sanitary authorities, and of owners 
 themselves, to the condition of cottages.” 
 
 6.— THE FARMER AND LABOURER “ AT HOME:’ 
 
 There is probably no portion of the whole Report which 
 the general reader will find more interesting than the chapter 
 (pp. 632-655) in which the general conditions, characteristics, 
 and habits of the farming population are described. 
 
 Unfortunately, we cannot hope to reproduce here more 
 than the mere outlines of the picture of Welsh rural life, 
 which the Commissioners have painted in such vivid colours, 
 and with so sympathetic a touch. 
 
 With reference to most of the subjects dealt with here, 
 there is no appreciable difference between the typical labourer 
 and the tj^pical farmer be he tenant or freeholder — so that 
 the same remarks, save where otherwise stated, refer to the 
 farming population as a whole, excepting only estate owners, 
 or very large farmers. 
 
 And first as to diet, it is observed that “ porridge or 
 stirabout, called in Welsh uwd, has probably, in some form 
 or other, been an important part of the daily fare of the 
 
341 
 
 Welsh peasantry from time immemorial, but it is not the 
 only food of the sort made from oatmeal, for flummery (called 
 in Welsh Uymry) is also made from oatmeal and is eaten a 
 good deal in parts of Wales instead of uwd — but it is not 
 such good food for a man who works as porridge.” 
 
 In the western counties of North Wales, bruised oatmeal 
 cake and buttermilk is very largely used, while buttermilk 
 and potatoes is also much in vogue in Anglesey; in the 
 eastern counties there is less both of porridge and buttermilk 
 now eaten, and Montgomeryshire folk are supposed to fare 
 much better — according to modern fashion — than their 
 brethren in most other counties. 
 
 Almost everywhere, however, “ bacon is the backbone of 
 dinner,” while as to Cardiganshire it is observed that “ the 
 chief meal is caivl or broth, with bacon or dried beef and 
 potatoes.” 
 
 In Pembrokeshire, the Welshman of the North was said 
 to live “much harder,” — “doing with commoner things” — 
 than the Southerners, as to whom a suggestion of excessive 
 eating is indirectly made. 
 
 “ The ordinary drink of the small farmer and those 
 dependent on him, is milk, tea, or cold water ; but in some 
 instances water with a sprinkling of oatmeal has been tried ” 
 
 — with considerable success. 
 
 Generally speaking there has been “ a remarkable im- 
 provement” in the food of the farmer of recent years, though 
 the Commissioners deprecate “ the increasing consumption 
 of tea,” admitting also that “the change to the modern diet 
 has not been perhaps in other respects wholly beneficial.” 
 
 However, “ the art of making an excellent soup is not ^rovement 
 yet extinct in certain parts of the Principality, such as in cooking:. 
 Cardiganshire ” — the reference being to its cawl. 
 
 “ This and other cheap dishes, in the making of which 
 Welsh women have some experience, should serve as the 
 starting point in the cookery schools to be established in the 
 Principality, at any rate if they are to produce beneficial 
 results in the near future.” 
 
 But it is very frankly admitted that the standard of 
 cooking in Welsh homes is generally at a pretty low level at 
 present. 
 
 As to clothing also, a great improvement is in some clothing:, 
 respects noticed. As late as 1820, the women and children 
 in many districts went about without shoes or stockings. 
 Respectable clothing with the ordinary Welshman is of 
 much higher importance than good food, while the 
 reverse is probably the case with the typical Englishman in 
 the same station in life. 
 
342 
 
 Difference be- 
 tween Wel6h 
 and English in 
 their views as 
 to clothes. 
 
 Housing of the 
 people — on the 
 whole unsatis- 
 factory 
 
 Especially as to 
 separate bed- 
 room accomoda- 
 tion. 
 
 An important 
 factor in 
 producing 
 immorality. 
 
 The former’s tendency would be rather “ to stint himself in food in 
 order to spend more on clothes in which to appear on Sunday, and, 
 however desirous of attending the Sunday School or the other meetings 
 at his chapel, he would stay at home rather than attend in his week-day 
 clothes. This tendency is still more perceptible among the mining 
 portion of the population, and especially the quarrymen of North Wales. 
 It is needless to say that it is sometimes carried to excess, leading to 
 pecuniary difficulties ; but, on the other hand, the way in which the 
 women, for instance, in the quarry districts can dress, gives evidence to 
 a natural taste, to a sense of colour and proportion which may be looked 
 for in vain sometimes in ladies of a higher position in life in England. 
 The ideal of the well-wisher of the Welsh people, in matters of this 
 kind, should be to encourage economy without discouraging Avhat 
 artistic instincts they may have inherited as a part of their natural 
 endowment.” 
 
 There is no article of dress worn at the present day 
 which is distinctly Welsh as to its origin — even the so-called 
 Welsh hat, of a generation or two ago, being an introduction 
 from England from about the Stuart period. 
 
 Dealing with the housing of the people from the point of 
 of view of its influence on habits and mode of life the 
 Commissioners make this statement (p. 639) : 
 
 “ A great many complaints were made to us from tenants as to their 
 houses being out of repair ; and in some cases they proved almost 
 incredible neglect on the part of all concerned, while in some instances 
 the houses were so old and so poor that the landowner did not think it 
 worth the Avhile to put them in repair. Here and there he appeared to 
 be improving the houses on his estate as fast as the outlay of capital 
 would admit, which meant that some of the tenants who had to wait for 
 their turn experienced hardship for years. Now and then, also, the 
 rebuilding of an old house involved the tenant in great discomfort for a 
 shorter time. In some instances we were told of the walls having to be 
 propped up to prevent their falling and killing the inmates, in others we 
 were informed of a family having for a time to live in a barn, or in a 
 stable. In one case we heard of frogs leaping about the bedroom, and in 
 several mention was made of snow falling on the beds. But however 
 great the inconvenience and hardship which such cases as these involved, 
 it is right to distinguish those which may be regarded as more or less 
 temporary and transitional from those in which the bad or inadequate 
 accommodation has been normal and more or less permanent.” 
 
 One of the most general complaints was that as to 
 insufficient accommodation, especially for men and women 
 to sleep ; this is particularly unsatisfactory so far as 
 men-servants are concerned. 44 It has been repeatedly 
 pointed out to us,” the Commissioners observe, 44 in the 
 course of the evidence, how inadequate accommodation in 
 farmhouses and cottages must make against chastity and in 
 favour of immorality ” (p. 643). 
 
 But it is, however, observed that the charges against 
 Wales on this score 44 are doubtless based to a certain extent 
 on the survival, in some of the agricultural districts, of the old 
 custom of night courtship, which is not peculiar to Wales, 
 but occurs likewise among various European peoples as a 
 survival from the life of the Middle Ages. It is frequently 
 
343 
 
 referred to in the poems of the 14th century Welsh poet D. Night courtship 
 ab Gwilym, and it may be briefly described thus : the lover fu ' wa!ef! timacy 
 sallies forth at night and approaches the house where his fair 
 one lives ; he attracts her attention by gently tapping at her 
 window. In some Welsh districts this is called cnocio or 
 streicio, and in parts of Germany it is termed fenstern. A 
 similar practice is implied in several of the songs of Robert 
 Burns, such as that to Mary Morison : — 
 
 “ O Mary, at thy window be, 
 
 It is the wish’d, the trysted hour ! 
 
 Those smiles and glances let me see, 
 
 That make the miser’s treasure poor ! ” 
 
 At the window, as in the case of Romeo and Juliet, a 
 conversation ensues, which sometimes ends in the admission 
 of the lover into the house ; and in that case he and the 
 young woman sit up together the greater part of the night. 
 
 The charge of assuming a different position, for which the 
 vocabulary of the English language provides the term 
 bundling , is usually denied and resented as a calumny.”* 
 
 So far as statistics show it would appear that 
 illegitimacy is decreasing in Wales, except in Anglesey, but 
 the data given by the Commissioners do not appear to be 
 sufficient to state definitely what the 
 
 Taking a somewhat wider view x ¥ t 
 
 members of the Commission “who have lived in the Princi- moiarny 16 ast ~° 
 pality can testify that ideas of chastity have made great 
 
 tendency is in respect, f 
 of the question, those S 
 
 * “ By way of further references to night courtship we may mention 
 that in old Norse literature the work which makes the most frequent 
 allusion to the practice is probably Kormaks Saga (edited by Mobius 
 Halle, 1886, also published with a Latin translation, Copenhagen, 1832.) 
 For the German terms for it and references to it in German literature see 
 Grimm s Dictionary under the words fenstern and kilt which latter 
 belongs to Switzerland. The Dutch colonists seem to have carried the 
 custom to South Africa, where one finds it, for instance, in Olive 
 Schreiner’s Story of an African Farm : see Part II. Chapter v. 
 concerning “ Tant’ Sannie’s Upsitting ; also “ Thoughts on South 
 Africa,” by the same writer in the Fortnightly Review , August, 1896. 
 As to the custom in England see the volume entitled Barthomley by the 
 Rev. Edward Hinchcliffe (London, 1856), p. 139, where he touches on the 
 4< sitting up,” and for which he regarded Cheshire and parts of the 
 counties bordering on it as enjoying an unenviable notoriety. In the 
 valley of the Thames, in the neighbourhood for instance of Henley, it 
 appears to be known as “ Courting on the Bed.” An early instance of 
 11 bundling ” is mentioned by Chrestien de Troyes in his poem the Conte du 
 Graal : the lines in point are quoted in Nutt’s Studies in the Legend of 
 the Holy Grail , p. 135. See also Rhys’s Arthurian Legend , p. 175, and 
 Thomas Wright’s Womankind in Western Europe from the earliest 
 Times to the 17th Century , for instance pp. 166-8.” 
 t The statistics of this subject and many other points connected there" 
 with are discussed in a book entitled Illegitimacy and the Influence of 
 Seasons upon Conduct, two Studies in Demography , by Albert 
 Leffingwell, M.D. (London, 1892). 
 
34.4 
 
 And still more 
 so as to 
 temperance. 
 
 Importance of 
 religious obser- 
 vances in Welsh 
 life. 
 
 progress within our memory. Thus it was far more common 
 in the forties and the fifties for farmers’ daughters to be 
 married in a hurry than it is now, and we are inclined to 
 ascribe the improvement more to the spread of education 
 than to the influence of the pulpit. In such matters, abstract 
 notions of virtue and vice play a far less role than the ever 
 present question, “ Is it respectable ? ” The farmers’ 
 daughters who were sent from home to school, learned that 
 the old fashion to which we have alluded was disgraceful,, 
 and that it was regarded so by educated people. So the} r set 
 their faces against it when they returned home. In time 
 the conduct of the better-behaved of the farmers’ daughters 
 would tend steadily to establish a better fashion among the 
 maid servants. We may here remark that it would not only 
 give the latter a much needed interval for recreation, but 
 also conduce to a higher state of morality if they could be 
 allotted, each in her turn, an afternoon a week for visiting 
 their friends, as is usually enjoyed by women in domestic 
 service in the towns. At any rate, this might be done, 
 probably without any serious inconvenience, during seasons 
 of the year when there is no great pressure of work at the 
 farmer’s home. In any case we feel confident that the 
 improvement proceeding in the housing of the agricultural 
 population, and the spread of education cannot fail to 
 accelerate the improvement in morals to which we allude, 
 and to extend it in the near future to the most remote 
 country districts. 
 
 “The same influences make in manifold ways for tem- 
 perance for it is now regarded among the agricultural 
 population of Wales a disgrace to be, for instance, found 
 drunk. Thanks to the pulpit and the advocates of total 
 abstinence, it would be difficult, as regards temperance and 
 sobriety, to exaggerate the change which has taken place for 
 the better in Wales within the last 50 years.” 
 
 The survey of the life of the Welsh farmer would not be 
 complete without some account of “the great place which 
 religion and religious observances occupy in it,” and the 
 Commissioners therefore give an interesting account of the 
 Welshman’s devotion to the chapel services, the Sunday 
 School and the Seiet, and the influence which they have had on 
 his character during the last 100 years. In fact all his 
 various chapel engagements leave him little or no time for 
 physical recreation, while on the other hand the religous 
 revival has also stamped out, at least among the more 
 orthodox, in rural districts, all propensity for athletic 
 exercises and dancing which were once popular enough. 
 
345 
 
 Nor are there many means of mental improvement, other opportunities 
 than the Eisteddfod (see p. 34) within the reach of the agri- for recreation 
 
 , . v x ' ° and mental ltn- 
 
 cultural population. provement. 
 
 Thus the evidence as to the majority of country districts 
 was wholly negative on the question of reading rooms, or 
 where efforts had been made they had general^ turned out Especially 
 miserable failures, generally owing to some weak point in looms , readlll8: 
 the sj^stem of managing them ; but the Commissioners 
 correct themselves — “We have used the wrong word — there 
 is no system, but there ought to be a system. And one 
 essential part of such system must be the exclusion of all 
 possible suspicion of proselytising and patronising as we 
 have already hinted ; or in other words suggested by this 
 evidence, the unequivocal ownership and control of the 
 reading-room or library by the people for the people. The 
 other weak point indicated by the evidence in the case of 
 some of the well-meant efforts, already mentioned, to en- 
 courage reading is the lack displayed of discretion to select 
 or of means to buy suitable books. The surplusage of other 
 libraries, antiquated and unserviceable volumes, cannot be 
 expected to form good intellectual pabulum for a farmer or 
 even a farmer’s man, and a reading room that relies on the 
 Lost Ten Tribes must speedily find itself more lost than 
 they.” 
 
 Since the machinery of the Parish Council has come Except where 
 into existence, libraries have, it is believed, been established paU8h 13 coun b cns. 
 in many places, and the following account of that instituted 
 at Llanuwchllyn was furnished to the Commission by Mr. 
 
 0. M. Edwards, Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College, 
 
 Oxford (p. 653) : — 
 
 We adopted the Public Libraries Act at Llanuwchllyn almost as soon 
 as our Parish Council got into working order. The parish is entirely 
 agricultural, and its scattered village is a very small one. All took an 
 interest in the movement for a library : 114 voted for it, and only 19 
 against. 
 
 We started with a little over 400 books, and the number is continually 
 increasing, the farmers and labourers themselves presenting many. 
 
 Within the first two months after opening it, 354 books were taken 
 out, the demand upon the library is increasing, and in spite of the Parish 
 Council’s willingness to spend money and of continual gifts, we find our- 
 selves unable to cope with the demand. Books on agriculture, Daniel 
 Owen’s novels, books on history, and books on technical subjects are in 
 greatest demand, — all in Welsh of course. 
 
 The success of the movement we attribute to the fact that the people 
 feel the library belongs to them, and is under their sole management.” 
 
 What the tastes of the ordinary Welshman are in the SsL^ft^y 8 
 field of literature may be fairly-well inferred from the usual matters - 
 contents of the chief newspapers and magazines which he 
 reads. 
 
346 
 
 Description of 
 
 Welsh 
 
 Agriculture. 
 
 The following remarks as to the general characteristics 
 of his “ reading ” are made (p. 655) : — 
 
 “ The tone of all is expected to be more or less religions; 
 and even if they happen to be novels, they must devote 
 ample space to the religious aspects of the characters which 
 they delineate. Books of biography and travels are always 
 acceptable ; and so are those that deal with Welsh history 
 and antiquities. The world of fancy has its unfailing charm 
 for the Cymro, and he is always accessible to the muse of 
 poetry.” 
 
 The Commissioners complete their survey of farming 
 life in the Principality by giving a detailed “ description of 
 the present state of Agriculture in Wales” (pp. 672 — 824), 
 which for its minuteness and comprehensiveness can be com- 
 pared only with such works as Sinclair’s Statistical Survey 
 of Scotland, or the surveys which have been made of various 
 provinces in India. 
 
 To give some idea of the nature of the topics dealt with, 
 we may mention that various types of farmhouses and out- 
 buildings are described exhaustively and the history of their 
 development traced ; there are chapters dealing with agri- 
 cultural implements, manures and manuring, arable farming, 
 the management of grass lands, stock farming (the horse, 
 the cow, the sheep and the pig being dealt with severally 
 and at length) ; dairy farming (including butter and cheese 
 making), poultry, bees, fruit, flowers and vegetable garden- 
 ing, agricultural education, means of distribution, and 
 proposals for co-operation and combination. Some of these 
 subjects are, of course, dealt with very briefly, others at much 
 length, but it may safely be said that the value of the 
 description here given will increase with time ; it may not 
 perhaps be much appreciated at present, as the facts recorded 
 may appear to be common-place and already known to 
 everyone who is concerned in the work of farming. 
 
 On this account — as they are facts of common know- 
 ledge — they are not usually placed on record, hence the 
 difficulty of re-constructing the every-day life of people in 
 the past. 
 
 But apart from the description of farming which this 
 part of the Report contains, there are also many useful 
 suggestions thrown out from time to time, and the more 
 important of these we shall reproduce in second section of 
 our next chapter under the title of “ Hints for Welsh 
 Agriculturists.” 
 
347 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 
 MAJORITY. 
 
 The two main subjects dealt with in the Majority Report* 
 are — 
 
 1. The agricultural depression : its causes, and its 
 remedies. 
 
 2. The unsatisfactory nature of the prevailing tenure 
 from year to year. 
 
 Among topics which occupy a secondary position are — 
 the condition of occupying freeholders, of cottagers, and 
 labourers ; the game laws ; the landlord’s right to distrain ; 
 the administration of Crown lands, and the regulation of 
 commons — questions as to which we have already quoted the 
 conclusions of the Commissioners, so that it will be unneces- 
 sary for us to refer to them again except in summarising the 
 recommendations at the end of this work. 
 
 In approaching the two main questions of the depression 
 of land tenure it is necessary, the Commissioners observe, 
 that certain broad economic facts, which have for the most 
 part been already touched upon, should be prominently 
 stated and continually borne in mind. 
 
 These facts are — the continuous increase of population 
 during the present century, and its relation to the food- 
 
 * “ The conclusions and recommendations ” of the Commissioners are 
 stated in Book IL of their Report, which extends to nearly 130 pages 
 (827-954), the earlier part of which (down to p. 932) is signed by the 
 Majority only and may therefore, for convenience sake, be referred to as 
 the Majority Report. It is, however, also adopted in general terms 
 (though not signed) by the minority except those parts “which lead up to 
 the creation of a judicial tenancy and the constitution of a land court." 
 The Separate Report of the Minority follows the Majority Report and 
 occupies some 20 pages (933-954). This is followed by a “summary of 
 the recommendations,” which brings out very clearly the small extent of 
 the difference between the two groups of the Commissioners. 
 
348 
 
 What is meant 
 by Agricultural 
 Depression ? 
 
 supply ; the industrial and commercial development which 
 has resulted in making the inhabitants of the British Isles 
 “ the greatest producers, and the greatest distributors 
 of commodities among the nations;” the consequent 
 tendency to municipalization, or the general conversion 
 of many rural into urban districts, as a result chiefly 
 of mining and manufacturing enterprise; the development 
 of facilities for distribution of produce and for personal 
 locomotion, mainly by the multiplication of railways; the 
 steady and continuous increase in the value of landed 
 property generally, including the rents of land used for 
 building or residential— as well as agricultural — purposes ; 
 the great decline which has occurred in the rate of interest 
 in Wales as elsewhere during the last 80 years; the inclosure 
 within the last 100 years of over a million acres of waste or 
 unenclosed land in Wales ; the decline during the last 20 
 years in the extent of arable land, and during the last 50 
 years in the number of persons who are directly concerned in 
 farming ; the increase that has taken place in the wages of 
 agricultural labourers during the current century and the 
 great fall since 1879 in the prices of nearly all, if not all, 
 kinds of agricultural produce in Wales as in England. 
 
 1.— AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION, ITS CAUSES 
 AND EFFECTS. 
 
 44 Like other general terms, 4 agricultural depression is 
 ambiguous,” and the witnesses who made use of the term did 
 not always mean the same thing. What the expression 
 really means, however, is 44 something not special to any one 
 class connected with agriculture, nor to any one kind of 
 farming, nor to any one district, but is a general phenomenon,” 
 that is, one applying to the whole industry, and to a greater 
 or less extent affecting all the classes investing capital in 
 farming, so that it is not to be confounded with the relatively 
 better or worse position of any one of three classes as 
 compared with another. In other words 44 if we regard the 
 farms of Wales as a whole, and if we ask the question, is the 
 business carried on a reasonably profitable one, the answer 
 must be in the negative under present conditions. To keep 
 the business going, landlords have to give increasing abate- 
 ments or reductions of rent ; the tenants find it almost, and 
 in some cases quite, impossible to pay their way, even on the 
 basis of the abated or reduced rents ” (p. 835)*. 
 
349 
 
 Having analysed the notion — “ agricultural depression ” 
 a summary is then given of the statements of a large number 
 of witnesses “ in order to show how the matter presents 
 itself to the minds of those concerned practically with the 
 farming industry ” (pp. 835-844). 
 
 The majority of the witnesses agreed in stating that in 
 Wales the depression commenced in 1879, but then according 
 to one witness it was not depression in the strict sense, but a 
 bad season, a shockingly bad year, a record year. 
 
 But the depression proper commenced soon after — depression 116 
 about 1883 according to some, or in 1885 according to others, commence in 
 
 O 7 O 7 
 
 and it lasted till the middle of 1889, from that date to the 
 end of 1890 things were much better — but from 1891 on 
 matters have continued to grow worse. We shall reproduce 
 only two or three specimens of the evidence under this head. 
 
 “ Mr. E. Knox, agent for the Margam estate in Glamorganshire, said : 
 
 ‘ I think that the depression has been going on and off ever since 1879 ; 
 it is undoubtedly worse at the present time owing to the prices of every- 
 thing being depressed, except the price of hay and straw, and one may 
 say the price of butter ; but with the exception of those, everything is 
 depressed in price.’ 
 
 Mr. George 'Williams, of Hayston, Pembroke, a tenant farmer under 
 the Earl of Cawdor, referring to the statement of the agent to the estate 
 that the depression began in 1885, remarked, ‘ I say that the landlords 
 began in the year 1885 to believe that there was a little depression in 
 agriculture. The real depression in agriculture began in 1879 — and in 
 1879, in that one year alone, I think I could venture to say that I gave my 
 whole labour, and the labour of my family, for nothing, and that we never 
 made a shilling of rent during the year 1879, and we never would recover 
 that. I have not seen a year equal to 1879 as to loss until the year 1883, 
 so that the real depression in agriculture began in 1879 .... the 
 
 real secret of it is, they have never been brought to believe the depression 
 we are under — that is it.’ And subsequently he again said it was his 
 opinion that the landlords in general do not recognise the position of the 
 farmers in the present depression. 
 
 From the Vale of Clwyd in North Wales the following opinions were 
 expressed by a landlord, and a tenant respectively. 
 
 Mr. W. D. W. Griffith, owner of the Garn estate, said : — ‘ In this part 
 of Wales, agricultural depression did not begin until after 1880, and was 
 not much felt until 1885. I never had a complaint from a tenant as to the 
 times until 1885.’ 
 
 Major Birch, agent for the Llannerch and Gwysaney estates, situate 
 in the counties of Denbigh and Flint, and also agent for estates in York- 
 shire, Cheshire, and other English counties, remarked : 
 
 ‘We did not begin to feel the depression in Wales till they were 
 seriously affected in England. I am speaking now of Yorkshire princi- 
 pally. I do not think we have felt the depression at all in Cheshire.’ 
 
 Mr. Owen Williams, of Gian Clwyd, a farmer and valuer of large 
 experience, on the other hand stated that ‘Trade depression began in 
 1878, and it has never revived, but for a very short period once or twice, 
 going back again, or worse, one time after another.’ ” 
 
350 
 
 The cause of As to the cause of the depression a great many sugges- 
 
 What is it? tions were made witnesses, of which the following is a 
 fairly exhaustive list : — Free trade ; adulteration of produce ; 
 bad seasons ; monometallism ; want of capital ; disease ; 
 defective cultivation ; fall in prices ; foreign competition ; 
 sale of foreign meat as British ; failure of hay crops ; 
 increased cost of labour ; railway rates ; strikes ; high rents, 
 and unsatisfactory tenure. 
 
 With reference to this the Commissioners observe 
 (p. 845) : — “ It is manifest that some of these are either 
 inoperative or so slightly operative as not to deserve con- 
 sideration, while others either display confusion of thought 
 or are mere reiterations of what is meant by the phenomenon 
 itself. 
 
 Foreign compe- “All the witnesses agreed that foreign competition is a 
 permanent and principal cause of agricultural depression. No one denied 
 ~> nt that it is a real cause. Some said, indeed, lowness of prices 
 was the cause, but this is either only a way of expressing 
 the existence of depression, or only another way of alleging 
 the fact that competition is its cause. . . . But when 
 
 we ask to what this fall of prices is due, we have no doubt 
 that it is to competition, to the extraordinary increase of 
 supply in the British markets. It cannot be too often 
 pointed out that the price of commodities depends not on 
 the cost of production in the United Kingdom, but on the 
 operation of the law of supply and demand in the markets. 
 It is not the cost of production in the United Kingdom, but 
 the cost of production of the produce of the least fertile and 
 least advantageously situated tracts of territory in the whole 
 civilised world which send their produce into the British 
 markets that tends to determine the normal value, and there- 
 fore the supply of such produce in the United Kingdom. 
 
 We think that the witnesses wdio, like Mr. J. E. 
 Vincent,* pointed out that the low prices caused by compe- 
 tition were the permanent and, we may also add, the 
 paramount factor in causing depression, were right.” 
 
 Why and how is it that this competition has reached its 
 present dimensions — in fact, what are the conditions which 
 have made possible a competition so disastrous in its effects 
 
 *The following was Mr. Vincent’s statement on the point (Qu. 76, 
 550 — 1) : — “There is no denying that during the past 10 years or so the 
 price of stock has, with occasional rises, been low and at times ruinous. 
 The causes I take to be partly permanent and increasing, to wit, the 
 importation of foreign cattle, and partly temporary. For example, the 
 mass of our store cattle used to go to England, and we relied on England 
 for the price of them, and the distress felt in the winter of 1893-4 was 
 largely due to the failure of the English hay crop.” 
 
351 
 
 to the agricultural interests ? Briefly stated, they are : the 
 development of new countries, the operation of improvements 
 in the art of agriculture in those new countries, and also in 
 older countries, the continued invention and perfecting of 
 labour-saving machinery, the practical annihilation of 
 distance by steam-propelled vessels, railways, telegraphs, 
 and telephones, the discovery of methods for preventing the 
 destruction of food, the fiscal and commercial policy of Great 
 Britain, the prevalence of peace. 
 
 If foreign competition is therefore, as the Commissioners 
 say, 44 the primary, dominating, and permanent cause of the 
 existing agricultural depression,” what about the other 
 suggested causes ? Are they not also causes, though operat- 
 ing perhaps in a less constant and powerful manner ? Do 
 not high railway rates, the cost of labour, the burdens on 
 land, &c., contribute to the depression ? 
 
 The reply of the Commissioners appears to be that most 
 of these suggested causes do, in fact, aggravate the difficulties 
 of the farmer, and add to some extent to his losses, but, 
 nevertheless, are not to be regarded as primary or efficient 
 causes of the depression. ISot even this much is, however, 
 said of appreciation of gold, or the evils that are alleged to 
 result from a mono-metallic system of currency, though this 
 was put forward definitely as the principal cause by at least 
 three witnesses (Col. Cornwallis West, Major Price Lewis, of 
 Tyglyii Aeron, Cardiganshire, and Mr. D. E. Stephens, 
 solicitor, of Carmarthen), while it was also tentatively 
 suggested as a contributory cause by Mr. W. 0. Brigstocke, 
 of Parcygors, and Mr. Dudley Drummond. The question is 
 argued at some length in the Beport (845-7), but the 
 Commissioners declare, with no uncertain voice, that 44 no 
 change in currency can alter the circumstances that are the 
 real factors in the competition.” 
 
 Bad farming or inferior and unskilful methods w r ere 
 also mentioned as a cause of the depression, to which, it is 
 observed, it undoubtedly does contribute 44 not because it 
 seriously tends to lower prices, but because it places the 
 Welsh farmer at a disadvantage in the competition of the 
 market in regard to Welsh produce of equal quality, and 
 because much Welsh produce is in some respects inferior in 
 quality, in the sense that it is not so acceptable to the 
 consumer, as a foreign produce of the same kind.” 
 
 The circumstances under which farming may be described 
 as bad or unskilful in the economic sense are those that : 
 
 (i) Diminish the quantity of the produce from a holding; 
 
 (ii) Lower the quality of the produce, or 
 
 The Apprecia- 
 tion of Gold - 
 not a caase of 
 Depression ? 
 
 But the 
 Depression is 
 aggravated by 
 Bad Farming, 
 
352 
 
 Increased cost of 
 labour, 
 
 Railway Rates 
 — but only when 
 there is 
 differentiation, 
 
 (iii) Diminish profit by adding to the cost of production. 
 
 What the Commissioners regard as the defects of the 
 system of farming prevalent in various parts of Wales at 
 present will be enumerated later on when we come to 
 consider their suggestions for remedying them — it is enough 
 to say here that in their opinion “none of the above-mentioned 
 forms of bad farming, in the existing conditions in this 
 country, affect the actual prices of commodities in the markets 
 in any sensible degree.” 
 
 Cost of labour was also mentioned by many witnesses as 
 being a cause of agricultural depression, but the Com- 
 missioners will not admit it to be so — and they state “the 
 rise in wages has had only a secondary, partial and small 
 effect ” in bringing about the present state of things, while 
 all that can be said of its effects is that “it adds, to some 
 extent, to the losses of Welsh producers, or where they do 
 not sustain actual loss, it pro tcmto lessens profits.” 
 
 With the individual farmer, the cost of labour may 
 appear an important factor, but agricultural depression, as 
 construed in the Report, is “a general phenomenon : ” 
 “ particular considerations must therefore be dismissed.” 
 
 “If we suppose that the wages of agricultural labourers 
 were reduced to one-third of their present rate (a reduction 
 to a point to which the labourers would not submit, and at 
 which the out-door labourers could not subsist without 
 corresponding reductions in the house-rent and rates), and if 
 we suppose rents of, and rates and taxes on, farm-holdings to 
 remain constant or not to fall, the reduction would only affect 
 cost of production to such a small degree as not to appreciably 
 affect the market prices of the principal kinds of produce on 
 which Welsh farmers now rely” (p. 851). 
 
 The opinion expressed with reference to the effect of 
 of high railway rates is very similar, and will doubtless come 
 as a shock to many agriculturalists who have hitherto saddled 
 much of the blame for the present depression on what they 
 describe as the prohibitive tariffs of the railway companies. 
 Briefly stated the Commissioners’ view is that the question 
 of railway rates is a consumer’s and not a producer’s question. 
 As a consumer ( e.g . of feeding stuffs for stock, and of 
 manures), the farmer would benefit by the lowering, and lose 
 by the raising of railway rates. As a producer, a general 
 reduction of railway rates would affect him by causing the 
 prices of his produce to fall — as it would have to do in the 
 face of competition — with the result that it would be the 
 purchaser or consumer at the other end that would gain. 
 
353 
 
 So far as railway carriage is a factor in production, it is 
 equal : — “ The mere degree of the rates charged by railway 
 companies does not of itself prejudicially affect the British 
 producers in the markets. But if there is any differentiation 
 in favour of the importer, directly or indirectly, by the grant- 
 ing of through rates, or of the making of any rules or 
 regulations which facilitate the distribution of foreign 
 produce more easily or more cheaply than that of home 
 produce, such inequality obviously tends, to some extent, 
 to prejudice British agriculture ” (pp. 852-4). 
 
 “ Nor does the increase of direct Imperial taxation in 
 this century appear to us to be a cause of agricultural depres- 
 sion from the point of view that we have adopted. The 
 income tax is paid, or is assumed to be paid, out of profits ; 
 its perception by the State does no doubt take away a per- 
 centage of the profits of the persons engaged in agriculture ; 
 but this does not affect the total amount of profit made by 
 such persons under the protection of the State — it does not 
 affect the national agricultural balance sheet. Nor do we see 
 how the land tax or the tithe rentcharge can be said to be in 
 any true sense causes of agricultural depression. There has 
 been no such substantial variation in the amount, or in the 
 incidence of these burdens, between the time of the greatest 
 agricultural prosperity and the present time as to suggest 
 that they can have had any perceptible effect on the industry. 
 They appear to us to fall upon the landowner, and to be 
 permanent incidents of land owning, which may be put in the 
 same category as the small chief rents still paid by many 
 estate owners. 
 
 “ With regard to local rates the matter is somewhat 
 different, because they are variable in amount from year to 
 year ; and, if we treat the interests of the estate owner and 
 the tenant as collective, there can be no doubt that any large 
 increase in rates would have a tendency to aggravate the 
 depression, inasmuch as it would place Welsh agriculturists 
 in a worse position in attempting to undersell their foreign 
 competitors.” 
 
 But the Commissioners doubt whether, since the period 
 of prosperity, local rates, affecting agricultural land, have 
 increased “ taking the rural unions of Wales collectively ” 
 ( see also p. 194 above) — and even if there has been an 
 increase, they further express the opinion that “ it has not 
 materially added to the depression as a general phenomenon, 
 since it does not account for the fall in prices.” 
 
 Y 
 
 And local rates 
 —but not by 
 d irect Imperial 
 taxation. 
 
354 
 
 Other suggested 
 causes. 
 
 Effects of 
 Depression 
 
 on the nation at 
 large 
 
 on those con- 
 cerned in 
 Agriculture, 
 
 tenants, 
 
 Among the other suggested causes which the Commis- 
 sioners consider, are — free trade, the adulteration of produce, 
 and the sale of foreign meat as British, but it will be 
 more convenient for us to summarise their views as to these 
 subjects when the question of remedies comes up for 
 consideration. 
 
 So far, the Commissioners have dealt with the causes of 
 the agricultural depression and they lay it down that the one 
 great cause of it is the lowness of prices consequent on 
 foreign competition. But what are its effects — 
 
 (a) Upon the national interest or that of the whole 
 community, and 
 
 (b) On the classes specially concerned with agriculture. 
 
 As to the first question, it is observed that the cheap- 
 ness and abundance of the necessaries of life (most of which 
 are directly or indirectly agricultural products) has had the 
 effect of raising the general standard of comfort of all classes 
 of the population. While agriculture has been and is 
 declining, the national wealth goes on increasing. “ The 
 depression has now continued with continually increasing 
 acuteness for nearly 20 years, yet so far from the nation, as 
 a whole ( i.e ., considered as an aggregate of producers of all 
 kinds of commodities), having suffered (in the sense of 
 economic retrogression) it never was more prosperous than 
 at the present time.” 
 
 As to its effects on the classes specially concerned in 
 agriculture, the Commissioners express the opinion that in 
 Wales it is the tenant farming class that have hitherto 
 borne the brunt of depression. “ In the majority of cases 
 the tenant has, during recent years, found it increasingly 
 difficult to pay his rent, even when a considerable abatement 
 has been made. In many instances this has only been done 
 out of the scanty savings of a labourer’s life, or by borrowing 
 on interest, or b}^ calling for the assistance of sons and 
 daughters working in the manufacturing districts, or in 
 towns ; and in all cases by great self-denial and abstinence 
 on the part of the tenant, and with the aid of the unpaid 
 work of the farmer’s wife and of children who ought to have 
 been at school, or if not at school, to have been engaged 
 in healthy recreation. Many tenant farmers have failed 
 completely, had their goods distrained upon, and had to leave 
 their holdings ; and there is grave reason for believing that 
 unless circumstances in the market alter, or there is a general 
 and extensive reduction in rents, a very large number will 
 shortly be face to face with the prospect of bankruptcy. In 
 
355 
 
 many cases we have reason to believe the tenants are even 
 now practically insolvent, and really are only holding on by 
 the forbearance of their landlords or assistance from their 
 friends. We are very anxious to avoid exaggeration, but we 
 believe that, dealing with Wales generally, the picture we 
 draw is substantially true ; and we may point out that its 
 accuracy cannot be impugned by bringing forward the 
 special cases of individuals who, in favourable districts and 
 under exceptional circumstances, are still making some money 
 out of farming ” (p. 860). 
 
 Next to the tenant farmers, the landowners of the 
 country have suffered most, though the fall in rent (includ- 
 ing temporary abatements) has not yet kept pace with the 
 fall in prices. 
 
 “ The diminution of income has affected chiefly those landowners, 
 owners whose land is almost entirely agricultural. In some 
 cases we have reason to believe that even the comparatively 
 slight decline in the income of the estate has led to consider- 
 able embarrassment. The estate owners of Wales have 
 naturally lived, partly from inclination and partly from 
 the necessities of their position, in a way that has (when 
 the claims of their relatives and dependants have been 
 satisfied, and the expenditure required for the maintenance 
 of the estate and the payment for interest on incumbrances 
 have been made) left little or no margin. 
 
 “ Many a man with a considerable rent-roll finds it 
 increasingly difficult to pay his way, and in many cases 
 any advantage resulting from the general fall in the prices 
 of the necessaries of life has been more than counterbalanced 
 by more luxurious living, and by the continal and restless 
 travelling and indulgence in expensive amusements which 
 are characteristic of modern times. In such a condition of 
 things the estate owners are no doubt finding the lowering 
 of rents a cause of serious inconvenience and even real 
 trouble. But though this is the case, there is, so far as 
 W ales is concerned, no sign as yet that the landowning class 
 (with the exception in some cases of those members of it 
 who are entirely dependent upon agricultural rents) is in a 
 position of embarrassment.” 
 
 Agricultural labourers, on the other hand, have not, as and labourers, 
 yet, been prejudicially affected in any sensible degree, if at 
 all, by the depression. There has been no fall in their wages, 
 and owing to the demand for men in mining and manufactur- 
 ing districts no men have been thrown out of employment, 
 
356 
 
 Permanent 
 character of 
 present 
 depression. 
 
 °2.— REMEDIES FOR THE DEPRESSION, OR, 
 HINTS FOR WELSH AGRICULTURISTS. 
 
 The account which is thus given of the depression is of 
 the the gloomiest character — not only as to the effects of that 
 depression, which are undoubtedly serious, but even more so 
 as to its cause. Railway rates, local taxation, and the cost 
 of labour are but dust in the balance as compared with 
 foreign competition which, day by day, pours into our country 
 an unceasing volume of agricultural products from abroad, at 
 prices against which the British producer finds it almost 
 hopeless to compete. 
 
 The picture thus drawn is gloomy — nor does there 
 appear to be much, if any, light in its perspective. People 
 have hitherto been accustomed to think that however bad a 
 depression may be, the bottom is touched some time or other, 
 and times are then bound to improve. Political economists 
 have taught that these things run in cycles — that according 
 to the general and almost inevitable operation of economic 
 laws, prosperity and depression succeed each other in alter- 
 nate periods. 
 
 Many who know nothing of political economy as such 
 have cherished this kind of fatalistic doctrine, and have 
 derived solace and support from it. The depression in 
 agriculture must after all come to an end some time, they 
 think ; it has now lasted pretty long, so presumably times 
 must soon improve. “ The tide in the affairs of men ” 
 which is noticed in other industries must ere long begin to 
 flow again in British agriculture. Reluctantly, however, 
 but emphatically, the Commissioners say — no. The present 
 agricultural depression is not temporary — it has come to 
 stay, it is permanent. 
 
 “ Unless great wars happen in which the British empire 
 is hard pressed, and even threatened with disruption, or 
 unless civil disturbances arise within its limits, and especially 
 the limits of the British islands, or unless sudden and 
 unforeseen causes produce economic revolutions throughout 
 the world, we see no reason to suppose that the processes 
 and movements which have been going on during the 
 nineteenth century should be violently or suddenly altered. 
 
 If so, then we must face this truth, that agricultural 
 depression in Great Britain and Ireland (especially the former 
 island under existing conditions of tenure) is not a mere 
 passing wave similar to that which from time to time 
 disturbs the even tenour of the markets in regard to 
 manufacturing and other industries, but a permanent 
 
357 
 
 alteration in the relative position of the diverse industries of 
 of the country— in short, a permanent fact ” (p. 861). 
 
 Personified, the United Kingdom is at present “ the 
 world’s greatest producer, the world’s greatest store-keeper, 
 and the world’s greatest carrier.” The population of the 
 kingdom — in other words, the number of those dependent on 
 these industries — is so great that it is mainly or very largely 
 dependent upon foreign and colonial supplies for its food. 
 “ It is tolerably clear that if the area of agricultural production 
 and the average yield of the different kinds of farming 
 remained constant or even were considerably added to, the 
 population of the country could not be fed by the produce of 
 the British islands. It is certain it could not be sustained 
 without a considerable lowering of the average standard of 
 comfort. 
 
 “ The economic position of these islands is, therefore, one 
 of a very remarkable kind. We have a condition of great 
 and unexampled general prosperity, coupled with an acute 
 and apparently permanent condition of depression in regard 
 to a particular industry, and that industry the one which is 
 undoubtedly the primary industry of every nation. The 
 only condition on which the situation can be maintained is 
 that the United Kingdom should continue to keep its unique 
 position as a manufacturing and trading community.” 
 
 If, therefore, the agricultural depression is permanent, 
 and will not pass off in course of time, more or less of its 
 own accord, or in consequence of the operation of certain 
 economic laws — can nothing be done to remove it? Is the 
 pharmacopoeia of British statesmen and economists — not to 
 speak of the Commissioners themselves — so poor as to con- 
 tain no antidote, no effective remedy which can be applied to 
 it ? 
 
 To this the Commissioners reply that “ nothing short of 
 measures striking at foreign competition in the interest of 
 the classes directly concerned with agriculture can sensibly 
 raise the profits of the agricultural industry.” In other words 
 — nothing but protection can be an effectual remedy — but 
 this the Commissioners are not prepared to recommend. 
 
 It is most significant that they do not put it out of court 
 entirely and absolutely - they say it is outside the domain of 
 practical politics, but they do not pronounce it to be, in any 
 case, an impossible remedy ; in fact they leave it somewhat 
 of an open question, which the people may decide for 
 themselves after being first informed as to what its adoption 
 will mean. 
 
 Nothing but 
 Protection can 
 be an effective 
 remedy. 
 
 But Protection 
 is not recom- 
 mended. 
 
358 
 
 “ If the United Kingdom is prepared to regard the 
 restoration of prosperity to agriculture — meaning by pro- 
 sperity, the securing of a fair return upon his capital to the 
 British producer — as a paramount and absolute political 
 necessity, the real and effective remedy would be protective 
 duties upon foreign agricultural produce. Now, nothing can 
 be clearer than this, that the adoption of such a fiscal policy 
 would in effect amount to the levying of a tax upon all those 
 classes who are not directly or indirectly concerned in this 
 particular industry for the benefit of the classes who are. 
 From the rigid point of view of the economist it would be a 
 wasteful process. Whether the indirect results of such a 
 policy, in better equipping the nation for possible wars or by 
 keeping a larger number of the people in the country and 
 preventing the competition of labourers now residing in the 
 country with workers in other districts, would justify such a 
 policy are difficult problems which it hardly comes within 
 our province to discuss. The controversy upon this matter 
 in the thirties and forties must, in our judgment, be taken to 
 have settled the matter until, at any rate, the situation of the 
 whole country has become very different from what it is. 
 The difficulties of reversing, even if it were expedient, the 
 fiscal policy of the country, are enormous. The treaties with 
 foreign States, the whole business arrangements of the 
 civilised world, and the actual pecuniary interests of the 
 majority of the British people stand in the way. The 
 position, from the economist’s point of view, of the United 
 Kingdom, may be thus expressed. The United Kingdom is 
 an aggregate of producers ; its capital is invested, and its 
 labour is annually expended in a large number of industries 
 of different kinds. The greater number of these industries 
 pay, some do not, and amongst the latter is the agricultural 
 industry. We are, therefore, as we have said, in a condition 
 of general prosperity and particular depression. 
 
 How far it is necessary or expedient for the State to attempt 
 by legislation, or by any Government financial or fiscal 
 operations to benefit the non-paying industries, obviously 
 raises fundamental questions and a discussion as to the theory 
 of the State, We must decline to enter further into this 
 matter, as it would be impossible adequately to consider it 
 without unduly prolonging our Inquiry and Report. We 
 therefore set aside protection by the imposition of duties on 
 imported produce as being not within the range of practical 
 politics” (p. 872). 
 
 But though the Commissioners express themselves as 
 “ not able to recommend the adoption of protection, or of a 
 
359 
 
 bounty system, which might afford a real remedy for 
 agricultural depression by raising prices,” they, however, 
 recognise that there are “ certain palliative remedies or lines 
 of action which would distinct^ tend to improve the 
 agricultural situation.” 
 
 The question which the Welsh farmer has to ask himself, 
 and which the Commissioners have considered on his behalf 
 is — As to what kinds of commodities is the competition 
 least, and in respect of which there is the greatest chance of 
 underselling the competitor ? 
 
 “ Now foreign competition is naturally greatest as to 
 those agricultural products which 
 
 (1.) Are most easily and most cheaply conveyed in ships 
 and by railway companies, 
 
 (2.) Are least perishable, or run the least risk of damage 
 in transit, and 
 
 (3.) Are produced with the least expenditure of capital 
 and labour in competing foreign districts. 
 
 These conditions are, on the whole, best fulfilled in 
 regard to cereals and commodities produced on a large scale, 
 especially in new and virgin soils. That this is so is clearly 
 proved by the fact that of the main commodities produced 
 by the British farmer, it is cereal crops that have fallen in 
 the largest ratio of price ; on the other hand, competition is 
 most difficult in regard to what the British farmer usually 
 considers the less important produce of his farm, we mean 
 dairy produce (milk, potted cream, butter, and cheese), 
 poultry, eggs, and so forth. 
 
 In the next place, the agriculturist should ask himself, 
 whether he cannot, by greater skill and sounder judgment, 
 produce a commodity more suited to the taste of the consumers 
 who purchase in the available markets. And thirdly, he 
 should endeavour in every way to lower the cost of production. 
 
 The palliative remedies which the Commissioners have 
 to recommend fall, therefore, into three classes : — 
 
 ( 1) those designed to improvement in the general method 
 of British farming ; 
 
 (2) those tending to an improvement of quality ; and 
 
 (3) those directed to a diminution in the cost of pro- 
 duction. 
 
 The system adopted on a typical Welsh farm is that 
 usually described as “ mixed farming.” This is especially the 
 case on the vast majority of small farms. The Commissioners 
 observe (pp. 850-1) that “speaking broadly, and taking a rigid 
 •economic standpoint, the average small farmer does not make 
 the most of his holding. We do not say it is wholly his own 
 
 Palliative 
 
 Remedies, 
 
 however. 
 
 Recommended. 
 
 Neglect of the 
 subsidiary 
 departments of 
 farming 
 
360 
 
 fault, but believe that it is very large!}' due to the rigid and 
 complicated form of the agreements in vogue, the defects of a 
 traditional and antiquated method. Very often, with no 
 capital, or very insufficient capital, he carries on cereal pro- 
 duction to an extent quite out of keeping with the size of the 
 holding and character of the soil, and with the means at his 
 command. So, again, even if he does not make this blunder,, 
 he overstocks the holding and tries to carry on his under- 
 taking on too large a scale; but more often, on the other 
 hand, the holding is from want of capital or enterprise under- 
 stocked. Again, oftentimes, there is gross neglect as to the 
 quality of the stock, and the breed is allowed, sensibly, to 
 deteriorate. In many instances, again, the farmer does not 
 employ enough labour. 
 
 “ But the great, the capital blunder of the small Welsh 
 farmer, is his refusal to look the facts of the situation in the 
 face, and to accommodate himself to the production of those 
 commodities as to which competition is least keen or most 
 easily fought, we mean his neglect of dairy farming and 
 poultry farming. He has not learnt even yet that to make a 
 profit he must approach his business with the astuteness of 
 the manufacturer, and that his best chance lies in making' 
 butter and cheese of the best qualities, and in the general 
 development of those departments of farming which he lias 
 looked upon hitherto as subsidiary and comparatively unim- 
 portant.” 
 
 The difficulties in the way of successful butter and 
 cheese making, fruit, vegetables, and poultry farming, have- 
 been partly due to want of facilities for distribution, and to 
 the want of any system of co-operation among farmers and 
 producers as well as to lack of skill and knowledge. 
 
 The palliative remedies which the Commissioners, there- 
 fore, suggest (p. 873) may be briefly summed up in the two 
 words: — (A.) Co-operation, and (B) Agricultural Education. 
 
 A. Co-operation. — As to the first, the suggestions of the 
 Commission bear a close analogy to the principles on which 
 is based the British Produce Supply Association, which owes 
 its origin chiefly to Lord Winchilsea’s activity.* 
 
 * The following is a recent statement of Lord Winchilsea’s as to this 
 Association : — “ The movement aims at organizing, on modern and 
 businesslike lines, the collection and distribution of British produce, and 
 by so doing to regain for it that position in our home markets of which 
 foreigners are fast depriving it, not so much by the excellence of their 
 wares as by a more perfectly organised system of supply. 
 
 Eventually we hope to effect this by means of a net work of 
 local associations, established on co-operative lines, and affiliated to the 
 Central Society, which will receive their produce and distribute it through 
 its depdts in London and other great centres of population.” — Times, 13th 
 October, 1896. 
 
361 
 
 The Commissioners point out that a distinction must be 
 drawn between (1) Co-operation in production, and (2) Co- 
 operation in distribution. 
 
 1. Co-operation in Production . — There are certain fairly 
 obvious limits to the field within which a co-operative system 
 of agricultural production is likely to prove beneficial to 
 farmers. This is notably the case as to stock-rearing, and 
 the Commissioners also add poultry farming — though at the 
 same time the latter “ might be carried on successfully on a 
 considerably larger scale than is customary on Welsh farms. 
 The prices obtained for poultry in the great towns, notwith- 
 standing the foreign competition, are still very high, and we 
 have not the least doubt that by proper organisation there is 
 great profit to be made in this branch.” But the organisa- 
 tion in question refers chiefly to the carriage and disposal of 
 the produce — in other words, it is co-operation in distribu- 
 tion and not in production. 
 
 It is in regard to dairying — and more especially the 
 making of butter and cheese — that, in the opinion of the 
 Commission, co-operation in production would be likely to 
 be most successful. 
 
 The suggestions which are thrown out under this head 
 are so important that we reproduce them in full : — “ We are 
 of opinion that the general establishment of butter factories 
 to which groups of farmers might send their milk to be 
 manufactured would in a short time, when the advantages of 
 proximity to the markets are taken into account, compete 
 successfully with almost any of the countries that now 
 import butter into the United Kingdom. More than one 
 witness suggested that the County Councils might to some 
 extent assist in the formation of such factories as exist in 
 Denmark and other countries. No plan of a definite kind 
 for the creation of such factories through the agency of the 
 County Councils was laid before us, and we feel it difficult to 
 specify precisely the method which should be adopted. The 
 general principle, the adoption of which we recommend, is 
 this : the County Councils, by way of experiment, should 
 purchase -the site and make the proper buildings and appoint 
 an expert controller of the factory. A definite group of 
 farmers should be encouraged to send agreed and regular 
 supplies of milk to the factory. The controller should make 
 contracts with railway companies and with agents in the 
 towns for the distribution and sale of the produce, taking- 
 care to eliminate so far as possible all middlemen. Accounts 
 should be made up at convenient intervals, say every month, 
 showing the profit made by the whole transaction. A fair 
 
 Co-operation : 
 
 in establishing; 
 butter factories, 
 
 either by County 
 Councils, 
 
362 
 
 interest on the capital outlay of the County Council should 
 be a first charge on the profits, and of course the expenses 
 of working would be debited in arriving at the amount of 
 profit. The balance of the profit should be divided among 
 the contributing partners in proportion to the quantities of 
 milk sent by them respectively to the factory, 
 or by the owner “Legislation would be required to enable the County 
 
 forhisown ate Councils to carry out such an operation as we have glanced 
 tenants. at. Of course the intervention of a local authority is not 
 absolutely necessar 3 r for securing the benefits of the system. 
 We have more than once referred to an estate as “ an 
 economic unit,” and we cannot help thinking that many 
 estate owners would, in the long run, find it much more 
 profitable to expend their capital in erecting and carrying 
 on such a factory as we have been considering, rather than 
 continuing the present system of providing and repairing 
 buildings necessary for arable farming and cereal production 
 alone. 
 
 “There can be no doubt that the matter would be experi- 
 mental at first, but if there is no considerable economic 
 change in existing conditions sooner or later, we are convinced 
 that an estate owner will have to modify the existing methods. 
 The tendency in every business appears to be in favour of 
 production and distribution on a large scale by syndicates, 
 trusts, and other forms of combination, and we are of opinion 
 that 50 farmers on separate holdings, each pursuing his own 
 course, cannot hope, even if prices improve, to make so 
 satisfactory a profit out of the aggregate individual operations 
 as they might reasonably expect from prudent combined 
 operations” (p. 874). 
 
 unsatisfactory Apart from the necessity for co-operation, many useful 
 
 co»ait r ° f hints are also thrown in in another part of the Report where 
 aines. the question of dairying is dealt with (p. 760). 
 
 Throughout the greater part of Wales, the dairy accom- 
 modation is at present in a most unsatisfactory state and 
 urgently needs improvement. Dr. Wyndham Randall, of 
 Bridgend, as Medical Officer of Health, speaking of the 
 dairies in Glamorganshire, said they were generally built at 
 the back of the house, often in close proximity to manure 
 heaps, which would undoubtedly tend to contaminate the 
 milk, and be the cause of spreading disease. 
 
 Mr. Dudley Drummond, of Ferryside, pointed out what 
 the local authorities could do in the matter by suggesting 
 that dairy inspectors might be appointed for each poor-law 
 union : — “ I think that will improve them, if the inspectors 
 did their work properly.” 
 
3G3 
 
 As to cheese, it was frequently stated in evidence that 
 in many farmhouses, there was no proper room for storing 
 it, except in bedrooms or attics, along with wool, corn, 
 feathers, and lumber. 
 
 2. Go-operation in Distribution . — It is observed that the 
 two chief points in which this form of co-operation is likely 
 to be beneficial are — 
 
 (a) in dealing with railway companies and other 
 carriers, 
 
 and ( b ) in eliminating the middlemen, each of whom, at 
 present, is receiving something for the services 
 which he renders in bringing the producer and 
 consumer together. 
 
 This is, moreover, the solution which the Commission 
 offers to the Railway Rates Question : 
 
 “ The chief answer made by the railway companies in co-operation for 
 reference to complaints of high rates and inadequate facilities seiung 1 produce! 
 for the carriage of Welsh farming produce is that the 
 supplies are irregular, and that some kinds of produce are 
 packed so unskilfully as to make expensive precautions on 
 the part of the railway company necessary. It is perfectly 
 obvious that if a group of farmers, instead of each making 
 their weekly or bi-weekly arrangements, would combine 
 together and make contracts with the railway companies, 
 they could do so on much more favourable terms than at 
 present. So, if instead of each packing and delivering the 
 produce in his own way to the railway company, a group 
 combined to employ at some convenient place near the 
 railway station a competent packer or packers furnished with 
 suitable boxes or appliances, the railway companies could 
 afford to lower the rates very considerably and leave the 
 group in a more advantageous position after all payments 
 incident to the packing had been satisfied” (p. 874). 
 
 The Commissioners then quote an interesting statement what is being 
 made before them by Mr. H. W. Wolff, a gentleman who done in Frailce ' 
 may be described as an enthusiast in the cause of co- 
 operation. His statement has reference to the wonderful 
 change that has been wrought in France since 1883 by the 
 organisation of the peasants and farmers into agricultural 
 syndicates, which are of course only a French form of 
 co-operative agricultural societies. 
 
 The moral is that what is being accomplished by the 
 French peasants may be worth imitation by the small 
 farmers of Wales. 
 
 B. Agricultural Education . — “A great deal remains to education-. 
 be done for the improvement of the quality of some kinds of 
 
364 
 
 Extension of 
 college work. 
 
 Appointment of 
 dairy experts. 
 
 Hints for Welsh 
 farmers. 
 
 Welsh produce,” especially butter and cheese. To this 
 end the Commissioners recommend 
 
 I. — The continuance of the system of agricultural educa- 
 tion that is now getting into working order. 
 
 It may be observed that the Bangor College Scheme, 
 which is regarded as a model for purposes of agricultural 
 education, contemplates the acquisition of a farm within 
 convenient distance of the College, which will be used : 
 
 (i) as an experimental station for original research, 
 
 (ii) as a residence for agricultural students following the 
 
 College course, enabling them to obtain practical 
 experience, 
 
 and (iii) possibly of a location for the dairy school of the 
 district. 
 
 This scheme has been submitted to and received the 
 approval of the Board of Agriculture, and the Commissioners 
 express their opinion 44 that the carrying out of the scheme 
 is most desirable, and recommend the Board of Agriculture 
 to take the necessary steps for bringing it into practical 
 operation” (p. 816). 
 
 II. — The appointment of dairy experts, either under the 
 County Councils or under the Board of Agriculture, who 
 might be consulted by the Welsh farmers on all the topics 
 connected with the business, not simply in reference to the 
 manufacture of butter and cheese, but in reference to prices, 
 railway rates, and all the topics on which the average farmer, 
 residing as he does in the country, is not likely to be so well 
 informed as a person the ordinary business of whose life is 
 to obtain all kinds of useful knowledge, including an 
 acquaintance with the most suitable centres for butter 
 factories. 44 We may remark,” the Commissioners add, 44 that 
 in Denmark, which has developed such a large dairy business, 
 consulting dairy experts have for some years been appointed 
 and actively assisted in the development of the trade; and we 
 have no doubt that the success of Danish daily farming is 
 largely due to the energy and skill of the experts appointed 
 by the Government” (p. 875). 
 
 III. — The extension of the work already done by the 
 Board of Agriculture for the diffusion of useful knowledge 
 among farmers. 
 
 In connection with this question of agricultural educa- 
 tion, it may be observed that emphasis is throughout laid on 
 the necessity of producing commodities for which there may be 
 a special demand, or in respect of which foreign producers 
 cannot so easity enter into competition. A large number of 
 hints, useful for Welsh farmers, are thrown out in various 
 
365 
 
 parts of the general Report (signed by all the Commissioners), 
 and it may be well to try and collect the more important of 
 them here. 
 
 As Wales is chiefly a stock-raising country the greatest Necessity for 
 care should be exercised in the selection oi sires — especiaiy breeding, 
 entire horses and bulls. The opinion was frequently expressed 
 that no horse should be allowed to travel any district without 
 canying a certificate of soundness from a veterinary inspector 
 appointed by the Government, but the Commission have 
 not formally endorsed this suggestion, though they appear 
 thoroughly to approve its principle. 
 
 “ Bad horses cost as much to rear and keep as good 
 ones, and every encouragement should be offered to select 
 sound, well shaped mares, b}^ prizes given to mares’ classes 
 at shows, whilst, on the other hand, there is no doubt that 
 some means should be taken to prevent unsound stallions 
 travelling the country, every facility of access being given 
 to the Queen’s premium stallions ” (p. 746). 
 
 The breeding of light horses, cobs, and ponies, might be Thedeveiop- 
 made much more profitable than at present. As to ponies, welsh po y. 
 it is observed (p. 745), that “the stoutness and endurance of 
 the Welsh pony is proverbial, and if attention were paid to 
 selection in breeding, separation of the sexes, and feeding 
 and shelter in the winter, an exceedingly valuable addition 
 to the mountain farmer’s profits might be found at a small 
 cost. It is only necessary to look at the large sums paid for 
 polo and harness ponies to realize the market that there is 
 now for this class of animal.” The extension of Queen’s 
 Premiums to cob and pony stallions is also recommended. 
 
 The suggestions as to cattle breeding are of a most 
 valuable character, but the cardinal rule here again is that 
 “ no effort should be spared in breeding by the best sires that 
 can be procured — it being impossible to calculate the 
 enormous loss to the country by breeding from inferior 
 sires.” The “ points ” of a good cow and a good bull are 
 then explained in great detail, instructions are given as to the 
 rearing of the young, and a warning is given against 
 injudicious crossing. 
 
 deteriorated bj^ injudicious crossing as to become valueless as 
 rent-paying animals, a disgrace to the man who breeds them, 
 and an injustice to the land on which they graze. A walk 
 through the Pembroke monthly market or fair is quite 
 sufficient to convince anyone as to the uselessness of this 
 indiscreet crossing.” Unless Pembrokeshire men look to 
 
 Many an excellent herd of cattle m the count} 7, of injudicious 
 *oke, within the last 40 years, have so dwindled and avoided^ to be 
 
The provision of 
 adequate shelter 
 for sheep. 
 
 Accommodation 
 and general 
 treatment of 
 pigs should be 
 improved. 
 
 their laurels, “Ichabod” will soon be pronounced over their 
 famous Castle-martins ! 
 
 As to sheep, the worst enemy that the typical sheep- 
 farmer has to fight against is the inclemency of the weather. 
 “ During 40 years’ experience, one sheep farmer found that 
 in the worst year he ever had, he lost one sheep in every four, 
 and in the best, one in every 50.” The provision of adequate 
 shelter is therefore of vital importance. “ Natural shelter 
 will be found on some mountains, but, as a rule, it is ver}^ 
 inadequate, and should be supplemented by plantations, the 
 erection of earthen mounds, or the construction of sheds. 
 The latter are by far the most satisfactory, for facilities are 
 thus afforded for storing hay and feeding sheep, as well as 
 providing protection from storms. This is a class of 
 improvement that would naturally fall to the landlord, but 
 we think it would be a very profitable outlay to both landlord 
 and tenant.” 
 
 Something might also be done by a more satisfactory 
 adjustment of mountain and low-lying land, and the 
 suggestion is also thrown out that flock-owners might 
 possibly lessen risks by personal effort and co-operation (e.g. 
 providing common shepherds to look after several flocks) and 
 also by insuring their flocks. 
 
 More might also be made of the wool than at present, in 
 spite of its extremely low price. A little more attention to 
 winter feeding, and the provision of shelter would improve the 
 growth and quality of the wool, while the utmost cleanliness of 
 the fleece both before and after shearing is also most essential 
 to secure a good price. Moreover, if properly cared for and 
 preserved in an undamaged condition, the skins of Welsh 
 mountain sheep are specially suitable for “roller leather” for 
 which there is a great demand in the cotton industry 
 (P- 756). 
 
 As to pigs the chief necessity is an improvement in their 
 Accommodation. “ Some of the principal requisites in 
 breeding pigs successfully are a warm, well- ventilated sty 
 paved with bricks or wood blocks, having a southern aspect, 
 good drainage, great cleanliness, frequent feeding, and 
 personal attention. To the ordinary observer it is quite 
 obvious that these requisites receive but little attention in 
 Wales. The styes are frequently of the most ramshackle 
 description, facing north, east, or anywhere but where the 
 rays of the sun are felt, and fixed in low, damp corners, 
 because useless for any other purpose, and convenient for 
 the accumulation of filth. As to food, the animals have to 
 live for a great part of the year by their wits, and it is 
 
367 
 
 scarcely necessary to add that animals reared under such 
 circumstances as these lead most precarious lives, and it says 
 much for their energy and hardiness that they succeed in 
 picking up a subsistence at all.” 
 
 As to the most suitable breed, it is pointed out that the 
 Tam worth pig (which is red with darkish spots, has an 
 unusually lengtty nose, and is generally long-bodied 
 with deep flat ribsj has by far the largest proportion of 
 lean meat of any breed, and on this account they are 
 becoming greater favourites in Wales. 
 
 Bacon factories are much needed in Wales. In railway 
 rates alone they would effect a considerable saving. If 
 butter and cheese factories were established, bacon factories 
 would, doubtless, follow. Agricultural education may also 
 lead farmers to give winter employment to labourers by way 
 of curing bacon at home instead of selling all their pigs. 
 
 As to diseases prevalent among Stock, it is observed (p. Firsfc aid in 
 760) with approval, that extension lectures dealing with this animal diseases, 
 subject are given by the University College of North Wales, 
 while the Pembrokeshire County Council have also employed 
 a veterinary surgeon of the district to give lectures on first-aid 
 in animal diseases, in various places throughout the county, 
 generally on fair or market days, at which farmers attend in 
 large numbers. 
 
 One of the chief points dwelt upon in connection with combination for 
 cultivation is the need of much judiciousness in the selection and analyst of 
 of artificial manures, which it is therefore necessary to have 
 analysed. Under the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act 
 1893, the services of a chemist are now available in each 
 county for the analysis of agricultural samples on very 
 moderate returns, but hitherto very few farmers have availed 
 themselves of facilities thereby afforded them. The following 
 is quoted from a statement on the subject supplied to the 
 Commission by Professors Dobbie and Winter, of Bangor 
 (p. 732): — 
 
 “ The best practical means of helping them to obtain a good article 
 at a moderate price, is to encourage combinations for the purchase of 
 manures on the basis of analysis. Such combinations already exist in a 
 few localities and in recent years many farmers, especially in Mont- 
 gomeryshire and Denbighshire, have joined the Lincolnshire Farmers’ And suggestions 
 Association, which was established in 1868 for the purpose of purchasing as to the 
 manures at wholesale prices. It is to be regretted that so few farmers manaria l 
 thoroughly appreciate the fact that the value of artificial manures depends welsl^soils, 
 almost entirely on the amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash 
 which they contain, and on the condition in which these ingredients 
 exist in the manures. If this were better understood, it is probable that 
 farmers would prefer to purchase the manurial constituents and mix 
 them themselves in the proportions best suited to their requirements, 
 rather than buy mixed manures the price of which must necessarily be 
 
368 
 
 fixed at a figure which will not only cover the cost of the material, but 
 recompense the manufacturer for the labour of mixing and for skill in 
 compounding the mixture.” 
 
 Mr. Alan Murray, of the Aberystwyth College, in a 
 statement as to the manurial requirements of that part of 
 South and Mid- Wales which falls within the area of the 
 College, remarks that his observations, so far as they go, 
 tend to show that : — 
 
 “ 1. The soils are fairly well supplied with potash, and that potash 
 manures are not necessary for grass or grain crops, but may be 
 advantageously employed for turnips. 
 
 “ 2. The soils are characteristically deficient in lime, except in a feAV 
 localities, and these not of very wide area. 
 
 “ 3. Phosphatie manures are indispensable. 
 
 “ 4. With respect to nitrogen, I consider that the farmers of these 
 districts might with advantage adopt one of three courses, namely — 
 purchase more of concentrated nitrogenous feeding stuffs ; employ more 
 nitrogenous manures ; or grow more leguminous crops.” 
 
 The Commissioners also make the following suggestive 
 remarks on laying down permanent pasture (p. 740) : — 
 
 “ Although the amount of pasture land in Wales is so considerable, it 
 would be wrong to say that any great portion of it has been laid down 
 systematically for permanent grass, for the majority of Welsh farmers 
 who have converted arable land into pasture have allowed the land to 
 “ find its own sward.” A few kinds of seeds of a temporary character 
 have been sown and where these have died out, nothing has remained but 
 what nature provided. Generally speaking, there is but little attempt to 
 consider the conditions essential to the production of grass of a profitable 
 nature. In the first place, the land is not properly drained, the soil is 
 not clean, the manure applied is scanty and poor, and the seeds are 
 selected quite heedless of the object in view. It is obvious that Welsh 
 farmers have yet much to learn in the way of “ making ” and managing 
 pasture land. 
 
 Although Wales, generally speaking, lends itself well, from the nature 
 of its soil and the humid character of its climate, to the laying down of 
 land to grass, still it may be well to state that this process of converting 
 arable land to pasture may be carried on to too great an extent, since a 
 larger stock may be maintained, and a larger quantity of meat and dairy 
 produce obtained upon a mixed arable and grazing farm, provided the 
 arable land be good and suitable for roots— than if the whole farm were 
 grass.” 
 
 Attention to these and similar suggestions may tend to 
 make the lot of the Welsh farmer less hard than it is at 
 present ; if adopted they may alleviate to a slight extent the 
 crushing burden of agricultural depression, but they cannot 
 remove it inasmuch as they cannot possibly cause a general 
 rise in prices. They are simply “ palliative remedies.” They 
 may lessen the losses of Welsh farmers, or where the 
 loss is small, they may actually convert it into a profit. 
 
 But Welsh farmers will do well not to neglect them on 
 the mere ground that their adoption will not forthwith 
 restore complete prosperity in agriculture. 
 
369- 
 
 3.— THE UNSATISFACTORY NATURE OF THE 
 YEAR-TO-YEAR TENANCY. 
 
 To the question of the agricultural depression, its causes, 
 effects, and remedies, a very considerable portion of the 
 evidence of all classes of witnesses was naturally directed. 
 
 But the Commissioners observe that it was upon the subject 
 of agricultural tenure that they received by far the largest 
 amount of evidence. “ If we were to judge from the 
 quantity and character of the evidence alone, we could not 
 avoid the inference that it is the unsatisfactory character of 
 this system that forms the chief grievance of the cultivators 
 of the soil” (p. 876). 
 
 But to what extent are the two questions related ? Is Thedissatisfac- 
 not the alleged dissatisfaction with the S 3 r stem of tenancy tenure 
 largely, if not entirely, due to the depression ? df^es£on d by 
 
 The view which the Commissioners take of this matter 
 
 has been already disclosed in summarising the history of the 
 land question (pp. 96-104), but their conclusion is further re- 
 stated here in the following terms : — 
 
 “In our judgment the facts that we have collected show that the 
 dissatisfaction of Welsh tenant farmers, with their economical and legal 
 position, has existed for a very considerable period. If so, it would not 
 be true to allege that it is the economic depression of the industry that is 
 the cause of a persistent demand in all parts of Wales for such a reform 
 in the system of tenure as will secure to the tenants a fairer division of 
 profits as between himself and his landlord, and an improved and secure 
 position upon his holding. No doubt, so long as times were good, and 
 tenants could pay their rents, and yet get some return for their capital 
 and labour, the anomalous and unsatisfactory position that they occupied 
 was not felt in the same acute degree as at the present time. Probably 
 agricultural depression has accentuated the feelings long entertained by 
 Welsh tenants. So long as it was only individuals here and there who 
 suffered from undue exactions in the form of rent, or arbitrary and 
 capricious action on the part of the less wise and generous landlords, the 
 demand for reform was chiefly made by those who themselves suffered. 
 But the great fall in prices has made practically every tenant farmer 
 inquire into the legal and economic conditions on which he is carrying on 
 his business. 
 
 As the evidence before us shows, it is not only a few discontented 
 persons relying on exceptional cases that condemn the existing law and 
 practice ; but responsible men of all classes, and tenants in all parts of 
 Wales on large and small estates alike who have come forward to 
 complain of the unfair character of a tenancy from year to year. 
 
 “ The relation between landlord and tenant,” in its legal 
 and economic aspects, — what is it ? This is the question 
 with which the Commissioners start once more, and though 
 it has already been answered in what was necessarily a some- 
 what diffuse manner, they now find it expedient to sum up 
 their conclusions, so that they may be enabled to focus 
 their attention on those points in which the present system 
 appears to be defective and capable of amendment. 
 
 z 
 
•370 
 
 The legal rela- 
 tion between 
 landlord and 
 tenant, 
 
 essentially 
 
 uncertain, 
 
 so that con- 
 tinuity in 
 tenancy is 
 largely 
 attributed to 
 other causes. 
 
 As to the legal aspect, two points are mentioned : first, 
 that the law recognizes no absolute ownership in land ; con- 
 sequently the view which is ordinarily held that the estate 
 owner or landowner is an owner in the same sense as the 
 owner of a personal chattel is not accurate. Secondly, apart 
 from the Agricultural Holdings Act, and apart from an 
 express or implied agreement, every pound that the tenant 
 spends upon the land accrues to the benefit of the landlord ; 
 every building and every fence that he erects becomes annexed 
 to the freehold, and does not, in case of a determination of 
 the tenancy, in the slightest degree affect his legal position. 
 
 “ It might have been expected that a tenure, from the 
 lawjrers point of view so obviously insecure, would have re- 
 sulted in frequent changes of tenancy and be deemed so 
 entirely unsatisfactory by free and capable persons as to be 
 refused on all hands ; but one, of course, cannot help in this 
 connection noticing the abundant testimony we have to the 
 long-continued duration on the same holding, or under the 
 same family of landlords of a particular family of tenants. 
 One is, of course, tempted to infer from this that, whatever 
 the legal theory, in practice a tenancy from year to year in 
 the majority of instances has been practically secure.” Three 
 qualifications have, however, to be made to such inference, 
 though it is readily acknowledged that it has a basis of truth : 
 
 (a.) That tenancy from year-to-year is, in most instances, 
 of comparatively modern introduction. 
 
 ( b .) That the increase in the value of land as an 
 instrument of agricultural production as well as in other 
 respects, has, since the time when tenancy from year to year 
 became prevalent, been so great and so continuous that it 
 has not been necessary for most landlords to exact competition 
 rents, while the position of the tenants as agricultural 
 producers has improved, not indeed at the same rate as the 
 value of the land, but still at such a rate as to enable them 
 as a whole to comply with the landlord’s demand for a 
 continuous increase of rent. 
 
 (c.) “That the relation of the parties, speaking collec- 
 tively, was, until recent times, determined not so much by 
 economic and competitive considerations as by custom, 
 tradition, and sentiment. In proportion to the extent to 
 which the relation of landlord and tenant becomes com- 
 mercial, there appears a tendency to change. Down to the 
 commencement of this centuiy, it can hardly be said that 
 either land-owning or farming was conducted on commercial 
 principles, or with the main aim of making and realising a 
 money profit. Both classes were imbued with notions 
 
371 
 
 •concerning politics and society that belonged to a time even 
 then fast receding into the past, and the change from older 
 systems of tenure, which, whether economically better or 
 not, yet afforded greater legal security to the tenant, was 
 brought about silently and obscurely under the influence of 
 those sentiments without the realization by either party of 
 the actual and ultimate effect. 
 
 •“ Whether we are right or not in these inferences, it 
 seems clear enough that it is in proportion as tenancy from 
 year to year has become prevalent that the complaints of 
 tenants have become most grave and loud. But at the same 
 time we must readily admit that a tenure which from the 
 lawyers’ point of view is as short and uncertain as it could 
 well be, having regard to the nature of an agricultural 
 holding, has been in practice even during this century more 
 enduring than could be expected” (p. 879). 
 
 So much for the legal aspect of the relation between 
 landlord and tenant. Its economic aspect has been already 
 -explained at some length — the Commissioners’ view being 
 that “ economically, landlord and tenant are partners in the 
 business of production,” but it is necessary to re-state it 
 briefly here. “ The general assumption on which landlords 
 and tenants act is that the landlord does all the permanent 
 improvements and makes and repairs all buildings on the 
 farm, while the tenant provides the capital and labour 
 necessary to carry on the business of farming on the holding 
 in its given condition. The total capital, therefore, employed 
 in carrying on a particular farm (as distinct from the land in 
 its unimproved condition, as an agent of production) may be 
 divided into two kinds, first, landlord’s capital, and, second^, 
 tenant’s capital. Landlord’s capital includes that portion 
 which has been expended by him and his predecessors upon 
 converting the unimproved land into a properly equipped 
 farm. The tenant’s capital consists of that portion which he 
 expends at the commencement of the undertaking for its 
 sufficient carrying on, and which he has to expend from 
 year to year to continue the business ” (p. 880). 
 
 The theory is not capable of rigid application in Wales, 
 for “ the holdings are nearly all of them of great antiquhy, 
 and in many cases there can be no doubt that long before 
 tenancy from year to year came in vogue there were buildings 
 upon them, the fields had been arranged, the fences made, 
 and they were, in short, definite agricultural areas. It must 
 not, therefore, be assumed that all the buildings and perma- 
 nent improvements have been made by landlords. Before 
 tenancy from year-to-year became prevalent, in most cases it 
 
 The economic 
 relation between 
 landlord and 
 tenant : 
 
 A partnership 
 to which l>ot li 
 landlord and 
 tenant have 
 contributed. 
 
372 
 
 Each being a 
 capitalist. 
 
 was the tenant who erected the buildings and made those 
 improvements. If, therefore, we ask ourselves the question : 
 which class, the estate owner or the actual cultivator of the 
 soil, has in fact done most to improve the land, and to con- 
 vert it from its original unimproved and prairie condition 
 through many centuries, it would probably be found that at 
 the end of the Great War, or at any rate in the middle of 
 the Eighteenth Century, the greater portion of the cost of 
 the economic transformation of the country had fallen upon 
 the class actually cultivating the soil.” 
 
 In Anglesey and some other parts of the countiy 
 distinct traces were found of the earlier system under which 
 the tenant erected and repaired buildings, while in other 
 parts, especially on particular estates, e.g., the Margam and 
 Garthmeilo estates, the theory of the new system was, in 
 actual practice, only imperfectly carried out, inasmuch as 
 there was, or had been, much neglect on the part of the owner 
 in repairing the buildings and making necessary improve- 
 ments. 
 
 But “ on the whole, at any rate until the recent depres- 
 sion set in, the landlords of Wales have endeavoured to 
 follow the example of the English owners by expending 
 money on the development and improvement of their estates 
 as agricultural concerns. We feel bound to say that a great 
 deal remains to be done on many of the estates, especially 
 those situate in the more distinctively Welsh-speaking 
 counties, before the theory we have described can be said to 
 
 be properly in operation However this may be, 
 
 for practical purposes and clearness of thought, it must be 
 assumed that at the present moment farm buildings and 
 permanent improvements represent for legal and economic 
 purposes landlord’s capital, though in estimating the equities 
 of the situation for the purposes of legislation the share of 
 the work of transforming Wales from an undeveloped 
 country into an aggregate of farm holdings borne by the 
 ancestors of the existing race of tenants ought not to be 
 ignored.” 
 
 There are, therefore, two classes of capitalists employed 
 in the business of agriculture : first, a landlord, and secondly 
 a tenant (p. 890). 
 
 “ But the landlord occupies a double position : — (i.) So 
 far as he is the owner of the land in its unimproved condition, 
 he is not, strictly speaking, a capitalist, and as such he is by 
 an automatic process able to exact for the use of the inherent 
 capacity of the soil some part of the return or profit of the 
 joint adventure. 
 
373 
 
 ii. So far as the land is improved by the expenditure of 
 capital bv himself or his predecessors he is a capitalist. 
 
 The tenant is also a capitalist investing his capital 
 under the terms of the contract of tenancy. The periodic 
 payment or rent represents : (a.) The true economic rent. 
 
 (b.) Profits on the landlord’s capital. 
 
 The first peculiarity of this partnership is that the share Peculiarity of 
 ■of profit to be received by one partner is fixed beforehand, par ners ip ' 
 .and that the other partner makes his agreement to pay it 
 before actual operations have commenced and without know- 
 ing with any certainty whether he will or will not make a 
 profit in carrying on the business. In practice the arrange- 
 ment is not so risky as it seems, because (most of the farms 
 being old holdings on which tenants have been carrying on 
 business for many years), a rough and ready estimate can be 
 formed of what the average skilful and prudent farmer can 
 make out of the holding. We say “rough and ready” 
 because we were struck on more than one occasion with 
 the difficulty which valuers had in giving sound reasons for 
 their estimate of the annual value of land. In fact we note 
 few tenant farmers keep accounts, or are competent to keep 
 them, and few make any real calculation, when applying for 
 a farm, as to what rent they ought, upon a sound business 
 footing, to offer to pay for their holdings. In order to under- 
 stand the operation of the existing system, it is necessary to sheet of a iand- e 
 make up a hypothetical account on true principles between y° e r ^fy account s ' 
 a landlord and a tenant from year to year (see p. 374), and 
 then we can, by considering the incidence of the different 
 items, form an opinion as to its fairness to the respective 
 parties.” 
 
 “ Now, if at the end of every year, or at some convenient 
 intervals, an account on this business basis were taken 
 between landlord and tenant and the amount of the profit 
 properly ascertained and fairly divided between the landlord 
 and the tenant, no serious objection could be taken to the 
 system from a business point of view. But the operation 
 of the system as it exists is that whether the tenant makes a 
 profit or not, or whether or not he gets a sufficient money 
 return to afford a proper sum for his own actual labour, or 
 for wages of superintendence, or for interest on his capital, he 
 is bound to pay the agreed rent (= rent + profit) to his 
 landlord, and cannot recover any portion of the sum even if 
 he is able clearly to demonstrate that no profit has really 
 been earned upon the joint adventure. 
 
 We have seen that many Welsh farmers actually them- 
 selves work upon the farm, and not one in ten ever thinks 
 
374 
 
 The best method 
 of dividing the 
 profit and loss 
 of the joint 
 undertaking. 
 
 BALANCE SHEET OF FARM. 
 
 Lady-day , 1894 to Lady-day , 1895. 
 
 Dr. £ 
 
 1. Capital at Lady-day, 1894, 
 
 value of : — 
 
 (i.) Live stock 
 
 (ii.) Growing produce ... 
 
 (iii.) Stored produce 
 
 (iv.) Farm plant 
 
 (v.) Furniture 
 
 Total capital £ A. 
 
 2. Current out-goings : — 
 
 (i.) For materials : — 
 
 (a) New stock ... 
 
 (b) Manures 
 
 (c) Seeds 
 
 (d) New implements ... 
 
 (e) Sundries 
 (ii.) Labour : — 
 
 (a) Wages of superin- 
 
 tendence 
 
 (b) Wages generally to 
 
 labourers con- 
 stantly employed 
 
 (a) indoors, and 
 
 (b) outdoors 
 
 (c) Casual labour (far- 
 
 riers, &c.) 
 
 3. Maintenance of indoor 
 
 labourers ... 
 
 4. Rates, tithes, taxes... 
 
 5. Insurance of stock and 
 
 furniture ... 
 
 6. Cost of conveyance to 
 
 market 
 
 Total ... £ X. 
 
 £: If in this account X exceeds Y, there has been a loss on the particular 
 year. If Y exceeds X, there has been a gain. 
 
 Now, it will be seen that in the table we have omitted all rent. But r 
 ex hypothesis if he can afford it, the tenant is to pay rent. 
 
 Rent on what ? Not for access to the land only, but for permission to 
 utilise the land in its condition on the 25th March, 1894, with all its 
 equipments of buildings, fences, roads, &c., and its advantages of situation 
 in regard to available markets. 
 
 But, on the other hand, we have not brought into the account any 
 interest on capital invested on the farm at Lady-day, 1894. Now, assume 
 Y exceeds X by Z. Then, if the landlord claims Z as rent, and that is 
 payable, there is no interest on the tenant’s capital, and he is a loser. If 
 z is so large that a fair interest can be taken on capital A. then the surplus 
 (Z — interest on A) can be paid to the landlord. 
 
 Now, if Z interest on A is so large as to amount to a fair interest on 
 the total capital of the landlord invested in the farm, the whole adventure 
 is profitable. Both landlord and tenant get a fair return on their money — 
 a fair interest on the capital employed in the joint adventure” (p. 892). 
 
 Cr. £ 
 
 1. Stock sold : — 
 
 Horses 
 
 Cattle 
 
 Sheep ... ... # 
 
 Pigs 
 
 Poultry 
 
 2. Produce sold : — 
 
 (i.) Cereals 
 
 (ii.) Other crops 
 
 (iii.) Milk 
 
 (iv.) Cheese 
 
 (v.) Butter 
 
 (vi.) Eggs 
 
 3. Capital at Lady-day, 1895 : 
 
 (i.) Live and dead stock ) 
 
 (ii.) Growing produce | 
 
 | (iii.) Stored produce B 
 
 (iv.) Farm plant 
 (v.) Furniture ... J 
 
 Total ... £ Y. 
 
3/5 
 
 that if he were a really good business man he w r ould have, in 
 estimating his profits, to debit his account with the value of 
 his own labour. So, again, he never properly considers the 
 question whether he is obtaining any interest at all upon his 
 own capital. He goes on from year to year, contented if he 
 can just pay the rent and keep his family, and get some little 
 money in hand at the end of the year to provide against 
 contingencies. The notion that he is engaged in a business 
 which is only economically justifiable in case he is getting a 
 proper return upon his capital never occurs to him. We are 
 convinced that on many a Welsh farm, even in years of 
 agricultural prosperity, if some more than usually intelligent 
 farmer had gone to an accountant and had his accounts for 
 two or three years properly adjusted, he would have found 
 that it would have been better for him to clear out of his 
 farm, take the residue of his capital awa} T , invest that capital 
 with reasonable safety at reasonable interest, and hire him- 
 self out as an artisan or labourer for wages. There can be 
 little doubt that he w r ould have found himself, economically 
 speaking, much better off. The whole position is of course, 
 due to the force of tradition and of custom. 
 
 On the other hand it is very noticeable that even the 
 most generous landlords never seem to have realised the 
 economical relation between themselves and their tenants. 
 
 They have found it necessary to make abatements or per- 
 manent reductions in recent times, but, so far as we can find, 
 in no instance has any landlord thought fit to return rents 
 to-day, even though the tenant alleged that he was a loser, or 
 if the tenant were going into bankruptcy or obliged to leave 
 the holding. 
 
 The more this partnership agreement is considered the Economic 
 more unbusinesslike and unfair it appears. In practice there fjJm of partner- 
 can be no doubt that it works in such a way as to secure to s]lip * 
 one partner either the whole or at any rate such larger share 
 of the profit as he may, under the disguise of re-valuation or 
 re-fixing rent, choose to exact, while it presents this curious 
 feature, that either partner may determine the arrangement 
 by a year's notice to quit. So that, looking at the matter 
 from the tenant’s side, after carrying on, it may be, the 
 business for 20 years with perhaps onty a very moderate 
 profit, just when times have become better, and partly in 
 nonsequence of his own long-continued attention to the farm, 
 he finds himself in a position to make a larger share of profit, 
 he may be then face to face with a demand from his partner 
 for such an increase in rent (= profit) as will absorb the 
 additional percentage that he might rationally expect to 
 
376 
 
 In what propor- 
 tions should the 
 profits (if any) 
 be divided be- 
 tween landlord 
 and tenant? 
 
 enjoy, or else of having to give up the business under cir- 
 cumstances which entail an inevitable shrinkage of his 
 capital. We cannot conceive a more unjust arrangement 
 from a true business standpoint, and the existing situation 
 is obviously only maintained because the great bulk of the 
 tenants are swayed not purely by intelligent application of 
 business motives, but by sentiment and custom” * (p. 893.) 
 
 The Commissioners put the situation more concretely 
 thus : — “ If a tenant were a really sensible man, he would 
 not remain on his farm except upon the terms, first, that he 
 could support his wife and family without borrowing money, 
 secondly pay his taxes, and thirdly, get some interest on his 
 own capital. And it would only be when these three 
 conditions were fulfilled that he would undertake to pay any 
 rent at all. On no other conditions is it really worth his 
 while to remain on the holding. It will be said, why should 
 he get interest on his capital before the landlord gets interest 
 on his ? The answer is, there is no reason in the nature of 
 things, but, if it be unreasonable for him to insist on some 
 return on his capital, it is equally unreasonable for the 
 landlord to get his share of profit on his capital without the 
 other partner obtaining any. The true solution from a 
 business point of view, would undoubtedly be that the 
 accounts should be periodically made up, and the share of 
 profit or of loss properly adjusted between the parties. 
 
 This brings us to the question : in what way — assuming 
 that upon the prevailing tenure a profit has been made upon 
 a particular farm for a given year — should the profit be 
 divided between the partners. Ought the rate of interest on 
 landlord’s capital and on tenant’s capital to be the same? If 
 not, what should be the ratio between the rates of interest on 
 the former and on the latter? This is a matter of some 
 difficulty, but we think that most persons would agree that 
 under the conditions prevailing in Wales, and the condition 
 of a rapid fluctuation of prices in the British markets, the 
 venture is more risky from the point of view of the tenant 
 than from the point of view of the landlord. It is, on the 
 whole, a safer thing for the landowner to invest his money on 
 his own land than for a man to come and take a farm on 
 ordinary terms at the present time. Consequently we think, 
 that in the division of profits, the rate of interest on the 
 tenant’s capital ought to be higher than the rate of interest 
 on the landlord’s capital” (893). 
 
 * Compare the statement of Sir William Harcourt at Rhymney on 
 October 6th, 1896 : — “ The landowner and the farmer are partners in the 
 cultivation of the soil, and if there is loss, the loss ought to be pretty 
 fairly shared.” — D. Ll. T. 
 
377 
 
 It is observed that Professor Low in his work on 
 ■“ Landed Property ” (pp. 14-15), takes the same view as to 
 the division of profits between landlord and tenant, and the 
 following extract from his work is therefore quoted : — 
 
 ‘ With respect to the proportion of the value of the produce that 
 ;8hall be paid in any case as rent, this depends on many considerations 
 not reducible to rule. It depends on the quality and productiveness of 
 the land. The poorer soil will require a greater expenditure of labour, 
 -consequently leaving a smaller proportion of produce available as rent 
 than the richer. It depends, further, on the nature of the returns, as 
 whether there shall be corn or animal produce, and lastly, it depends in a 
 gjreat degree on the modes of agriculture adopted, and the habits and 
 conditions of the tenantry . . . The actual profit to be derived by the 
 
 farmer should in every case bear a ratio to the capital employed by him. 
 The lowest calculation that can be fairly made is 15 per cent, on the 
 -capital outlay employed, out of which the farmer must support himself 
 .and bear the risks of his trade. The farmer, therefore, who takes the 
 land, should calculate in the first place the fixed capital he must advance, 
 allowing 15 per cent, for interest, the profit of stock, his own maintenance 
 and the risks of his trade. The remainder of the produce is left for 
 •expenses, and the landlord’s rent. . . . Were the price of farm 
 
 produce to be always the same or nearly the same, little difficulty would 
 present itself in the fair adjustment of rents. But these prices vary from 
 the greater or less supply, and sometimes from causes which could not 
 have been foreseen or provided against at the time of the contract.’ 
 
 “ The remarks of Professor Low strike us as pointing 
 out the true line upon which the problem of what is a ‘ fair’ 
 rent is to be solved. In much of the discussion that has 
 taken place in regard to the Irish land question, and in 
 regard to measures like the Crofters Act, we are inclined to 
 think that much difficulty has been raised by the ambiguity 
 of the term £ rent,’ and by the fact that no sufficient analysis 
 of the notions involved in current theories has been made. 
 The term ‘ fair,’ like the term ‘ reasonable,’ and other words 
 of uncertain import, but which have secured a certain popu- 
 larity in current controversy, do not solve difficulties, but 
 only enable a person to evade the real issue. 
 
 Every landlord who came before us professed not to 
 require anything more than a fair rent, and a fair rent, he 
 usually indicated, meant something less than a rent deter- 
 mined simply and solely by such conflict and competition as 
 is involved in the bidding of an auction room. 
 
 So, on the other hand, tenants demanded one and all a 
 fair rent, and, looking at the matter from our position at 
 first sight, one might have thought that the parties had 
 .arrived at an agreement; but in fact the agreement was 
 verbal and apparent, not substantial and real. 
 
 The same landlord who says that he only asks a fair 
 rent, would object a short time afterwards to the intervention 
 •of any impartial third party between him and his tenants to 
 determine the fairness of any rent, and insist that the valua- 
 
 Or what per- 
 centage of 
 interest each 
 should have for 
 liis capital ? 
 
 When this is 
 answered, the 
 question of what 
 is a “Fair Rent” 
 is solved. 
 
878 
 
 Wliat is at 
 present meant 
 by ’‘Fair Rent,' 
 
 as used by 
 tenant 
 
 tion of his agent or of som£ valuer appointed by himself was- 
 a sufficient and adequate test of fairness. On the other hand, 
 tenants have demanded a fair rent, and sometimes used 
 language which indicated that in their view a fair rent was 
 such a periodic payment as placed them in a most advan- 
 tageous position without any regard to the large sums of 
 money which many landlords have sunk in the work of 
 production. But the great difference between the evidence 
 on the landlord’s side and the evidence on the tenant’s side 
 was this, that the immense majority of the latter were always 
 ready and willing to submit their cases to any impartial out- 
 side tribunal. The question of what is the measure of the 
 fairness or justice of a particular rent is usually assumed to 
 be a matter of very great difficulty. . . . But it is not 
 
 much greater than that presented by the condition of many 
 other industries, especially in regard to the determination of 
 a fair rate of wages as between the capitalist and the workers 
 employed in great industrial undertakings 
 
 When there might be a large or comparatively largo 
 profit to divide, an impartial arbitrator could easily share it 
 without marked dissatisfaction on either side ; but when 
 profits are low, and, above all, when the prices fall to such an 
 extent that profit disappears, the adjustment of the relations 
 of the partners would become more difficult. On the one 
 hand you have the landlord saying, “ Even if no profit at all 
 “ is made yet you have occupied my land. At the worst you 
 “ had house accommodation for yourself, stable accommoda- 
 “ tion for your horses, and accommodation for your stock ; 
 “ something is due to me in this respect, because, quite apart 
 “from the business of agriculture, my land would have- 
 “ commanded some return if let to a person who required 
 “ that kind of accommodation, though not embarking in the 
 “ business of agriculture.” 
 
 On the other hand, the tenant says, “ That is all very 
 “ well, but I am simply a business man, and if I were not a 
 “ farmer myself, but simply a capitalist going in for the 
 “ business of farming, I should have had to put a bailiff upon 
 “ the land, and either pay him sufficient wages to cover house 
 “ rent or else appoint him on the terms of giving him the 
 “ house and paying a less rate of wages for superintendence.” 
 
 The difficulty of determining a “ fair rent,” or in other- 
 words a reasonable division of the profits of the partnership 
 between landlord and tenant arises chiefly from the fact that 
 the parties concerned will not agree to “ certain definite- 
 businesslike first principles.” 
 
379 
 
 “ Under the actual circumstances, what a landlord means 
 when he says that he is willing to accept a fair rent seems to 
 be this : — 
 
 ‘ I am an estate owner ; I have several farms ; I could let them in and landlord 
 their present condition and upon the terms of the usual tenancy from respectively ? 
 year to year by putting them up to auction at such or such an annual rental. 
 
 That is to say, I might, using the exceptional position which I have in face of 
 a community of men who know no other business than that of farming, and 
 who have the keenest desire, quite apart from any rigid business motives, 
 for carrying on that business upon my estate, exact the highest possible 
 rent which anyone foolishly or otherwise might be disposed to offer for 
 the farm — without regarding the interest of my possible tenant at all ; in 
 other words, a real competition rent and a rent increased by the very 
 circumstances that, by virtue of my ownership of this definite tract of 
 territory, I am in the position of a monopolist. But I do not do that. I 
 make allowance for the circumstances of the tenant and of the holding, 
 not, I am bound to say, wholly in the interest of the tenant, but partly in 
 my own interest. I do not care whether I get the highest nominal rent. 
 
 What I do want is the highest rent that a fairly competent and skilful 
 farmer, possessing a proper amount of capital, can, taking one year with 
 another, pay without going into the bankruptcy court’ (p. 895). 
 
 “ Then, having said this, the landlord, or his agent or 
 valuer, proceeds to determine in advance what the tenant 
 shall be compelled to pay. 
 
 Such, without exaggeration, but upon a fair interpreta- 
 tion of the statement of some of the best landlords, is the 
 actual position which they take up. It is perfectly clear that 
 from the position which the existing law, and the existing 
 economic circumstances in Wales, gives the landlord, he 
 occupies a position of a kind so commanding as to be 
 practically coercive as against men of the habit and temper 
 of mind of the average Welsh farmer. When, therefore, 
 landlords and agents came before us to say that their rents 
 were fair, that statement must be interpreted in the light 
 of the actual circumstances, and as meaning that, from the 
 point bf view adopted by the landlords, their rents were not 
 the amount which they might possibly under any circum- 
 stances be able to wring from the tenants, but that the rents 
 were fair as being something less than they might possibly 
 be able to obtain. 
 
 Between the conception of fairness present to the minds 
 of the landlords and the conception of fairness from a strict 
 business point of view, there is a considerable divergence. 
 
 The evidence discloses, even in regard to an estate belonging 
 to landlords admittedly of generous impulse and just mind, 
 that there is a considerable difference of opinion between 
 them and their tenants as to the fairness of the rents which 
 are exacted and with or without abatements paid from time 
 to time. It is not too much to say that in the opinion, even 
 of farmers oftentimes of the same political opinions as their 
 
380 
 
 Welsh Land- 
 owners have 
 hitherto secured 
 an excessive 
 share of the 
 profits of 
 farming. 
 
 Evil results of 
 the present 
 system : 
 
 “ Sweating,” 
 
 landlords, there is a deep seated conviction that the landlord 
 under the existing circumstances obtains too large a share of 
 the profits of an undertaking to which the tenant’s capital 
 and labour have contributed as well as the landlord’s capital. 
 
 Putting aside the special circumstances of the Welsh 
 estates, the fact that, on the whole, Welsh agriculture has 
 lagged behind that of the more progressive parts of Great 
 Britain, that the difference between the landlord class and 
 the tenant class is more accentuated because of the absence 
 in the agricultural area of a numerous middle class, we have 
 no doubt whatever that from the time that the existing 
 system of tenancy from year to year became general, there 
 has been good ground for complaining that the profits of this 
 important industry have been unfairly and unevenly divided 
 between the two capitalist classes concerned. We think that 
 the lines of progress, the lines upon which such progress as 
 has taken place in the Principality has gone, have distinctly 
 tended to give the estate owners a larger share of the wealth 
 of the country produced by agricultural operations than the 
 equities of the situation, judged by an average standard, 
 would have permitted (p. 896). 
 
 But apart from the foregoing definite economic defects 
 of the prevailing system of tenancies in Wales, the Com- 
 missioners express the opinion that it also results in one 
 serious evil which is usually and chiefly associated, in the 
 popular mind, with industrial operations, especially in large 
 towns — that is: the evil of “sweating.” “The evidence shows 
 that the average Welsh tenant farmer works for unduly long 
 hours, and that, in order to save, in his labour bill, he often 
 presses into his service his own children of tender years, and 
 that they have to devote hours which ought to be allotted to 
 recreation before or after going to school, to the work of the 
 farm. It must be admitted that it w'as not the tenant farmer 
 himself who complained of the hardship of his lot in this 
 regard, but this is really only in accordance with what was 
 found in regard to other industries. So again, there can be 
 no doubt that the indust^ is carried on oftentimes under 
 insanitary conditions, and we could not but be struck with 
 the general difficulty felt by the officers of sanitary authorities 
 in fully and properl y carrying out the intention and provisions 
 of the Public Health Act, 1875. It appears to us that 
 considerations very similar to those which have led to the 
 necessity of Legislature’s interfering to regulate other 
 industries, make it advisable in the public interest to impose 
 rules, or at least undertake legislation for similar purposes in 
 connection with agricultural business.” 
 
381 
 
 But, as the Commissioners observe, the tenant farmer and other 
 did not complain of “ sweating” as such. His complaints fiSydeait 
 were directed against other alleged grievances which, upon Wlth; 
 analysis, fall under the following four heads : — 
 
 1. Arbitrary fixing of rent ; 
 
 2. Unreasonable conditions hampering his cultivation 
 
 of the soil ; 
 
 3. Insecurity of tenure ; 
 
 4. Inadequacy of compensation upon a determination 
 
 of the tenancy. 
 
 The evidence as to these alleged grievances has been nio jj fc serio . u& 
 already dealt with m previous chapters. One observation, m tion of the rem 
 the nature of a re-statement, is here made (p. 897) with tenant ^ tmg 
 reference to a hardship which seems to combine some of the revaluatl0n 
 evils of three if not all the grievances in question. 
 
 “It is not in regard to rents fixed upon the commence- 
 ment of a new tenancy that the best founded complaints are 
 made. It is in the case of the variation of the rent of the 
 sitting tenant that, in our judgment, a real and substantial 
 ground of dissatisfaction exists. To understand the extent 
 of the grievance involved in the raising of rent of sitting 
 tenants according to the present method, it is necessary to 
 bear in mind the general condition of Welsh agricultural 
 society, and especially the remarkable duration of the con- 
 nexion of the same families in particular holdings to which 
 we have drawn pointed attention. Having regard to the 
 history of tenure in Wales, and the comparatively late intro- 
 duction of the system of tenancy from year to year, and to 
 the fact that formerly the improvements were, in the majority 
 of cases, effected by the work of the present tenants’ 
 ancestors, and that commercial ideas are only very imper- 
 fectly carried out in the relation of the parties, one can 
 understand the sense of injustice which a Welsh tenant 
 farmer feels at the raising of the rent at the will of the 
 landlord or the agent. The right of raising the rent without 
 appeal gives enormous power to the landlord. It enables 
 him to take advantage of every improvement in the condi- 
 tion of the farm, whether due to the actual tenants’ exertions 
 or to those of his predecessors. 
 
 The controversy as between the sitting tenant and the and especially 
 landlord usually arises in individual cases in reference to a after sales ' 
 particular farm, but sometimes, especially after sale or 
 succession, the whole estate is re-valued, and whether in 
 dealing with the whole estate or in dealing with the individual 
 farm, in order to enable the new owner to make the modifica- 
 tion which he may desire in the rent, and to obtain good 
 
382 
 
 prices from intending purchasers, the landlord is, of course, 
 before the sale, bound to determine existing tenancies by 
 giving a notice to quit, and the sitting tenants are thereupon 
 face to face with the question whether they can afford to pay 
 the higher rent demanded or to leave their holdings upon the 
 terms of receiving compensation under the Agricultural 
 Holdings Act, 1883, or under their agreements. Even 
 assuming that no amendments were required in the Act of 
 1883, it is perfectly clear that the transference of his capital 
 from the particular farm in which it is invested to a new 
 farm, assuming that he is enabled to obtain one, involves a 
 sensible loss of capital to the tenant. The best authorities 
 estimate this loss at not less than 20 per cent, of the tenant’s 
 capital. But the grievance is aggravated in Wales by the 
 attachment of tenants to holdings with which they or their 
 families have been long associated, and by the difficulty of 
 obtaining farms in Wales in the existing state of competition 
 upon vacancy. We received an immense amount of evidence 
 in regard to the hardship inflicted upon tenants by the 
 raising of rents at the simple will of the landlord or the agent 
 without any appeal to a third party. It is perfectly clear, as 
 we have pointed out, that the majority of landlords do not, 
 according to their own view, demand anything higher than a 
 fair rent, and they all, practically, disclaim any intention of 
 charging competition rents, that is, the highest money rent 
 which might possibily obtained for the holding. But, as we 
 have explained above, the question of fairness is one of such 
 indefiniteness, as ordinarily expressed, that it admits of the 
 widest possible divergence of opinion. However this ma}^ be, 
 there have been numberless instances in Wales during this 
 century in which a tenant has either had to leave his holding 
 or else consent to payment of a rent which, under the 
 circumstances, he deems to be excessive, and in respect of 
 which, according to the present system, no impartial person 
 has intervened between the parties in order to §olve the 
 question” (p. 898). 
 
 Many of the grievances alluded to occured before the 
 passing of the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883, and had 
 that Act been in operation at the time or had adequate 
 compensation been claimable under custom or agreement, 
 many of the hardships in question would have been to some 
 extent alleviated. 
 
 “ But in a large number of instances, both before and 
 after the Act of 1883, improvements of a permanent 
 character had been made by tenants without the written 
 
383 
 
 -consent of the landlord, and even if the Act of 1883 had 
 l>een in operation long before, would have not come within 
 its practical effect.” 
 
 i.- SUGGESTED REMEDIES FOR THE EXISTING 
 SYSTEM. 
 
 The principal suggestions which were made from time 
 to time by various witnesses, for the purpose of remedying 
 the defects of the present system of tenancy fall under three 
 heads, namely : — 
 
 1. The gradual creation of a peasant proprietory by 
 means of a Land Purchase Scheme similar to that which has 
 been in operation in Ireland. 
 
 2. An amendment of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 
 
 1883, with a view to securing ample compensation to the 
 tenant upon the determination of the tenancy. 
 
 3. The regulation by Statute of the terms of tenancy 
 through the operation of a court of justice or compulso^ 
 arbitration, or, in other words the establishment of a Land 
 Court. 
 
 As to the creation of a peasant proprietory, which means Land Purchase 
 the “ ending ” rather than the “mending” of the present “° e t n ^ l e e t J“' 
 system, the Commissioners are by no means enamoured with 
 it. In fact, they express the opinion that it is by no means 
 suited for a country like Wales. In may be somewhat better 
 than the present state of things under yearly tenancies, so that if 
 the present system be not satisfactorily remedied by giving 
 tenants the right to have their rents fixed by an impartial 
 tribunal and security of tenure — then, “ of two evils choose 
 the least.” “ If the relation of landlord and tenant in Wales 
 is not adjusted in some such way as we recommend below, 
 so as to give the tenant an appeal upon the question of rent 
 to an impartial tribunal and security of tenure upon his 
 holding afforded, we should prefer a peasant proprietary, 
 with whatever ills may result, to the continuance of the 
 -existing state of tension, friction, and unhappiness” (p. 899). 
 
 But the Commissioners are careful to give no encourage- an d an increa«<> 
 ment to tenants to buy their freeholds under the ordinary jj 
 conditions which have generally prevailed, especially in not to be J 
 
 t o jl * j v * pucourftffcd* 
 
 Cardiganshire. “ Upon the whole we think that production 
 in a country like Wales, having regard to its climate and the 
 character of its agricultural produce, is best carried on by a 
 system of large estates. From the mere point of view of the 
 producer, we think that the agricultural industry is likely to 
 he carried on more profitably upon a well regulated system 
 
384- 
 
 Necessity for 
 amending the 
 Agricultural 
 Holdings Act 
 universally 
 admitted. 
 
 of tenancy than by yeomen proprietors. We could not fail 
 to be struck by the evidence given to us concerning the 
 condition of the existing small freeholders. One and all 
 appeared to be in circumstances of more or less difficulty. 
 This may, of course, have been caused to some extent by 
 their having bought at absurdly high prices. But, making 
 due allowance for this, it seemed pretty clear that, for the 
 kind of farming carried on in Wales, it is better to be a 
 tenant on a good estate than a freeholder carrying on the 
 business upon one’s own resources only. Apart from merely 
 economical considerations, we are inclined to think that the 
 multiplication of small agricultural owners is not an advantage 
 in the general interests, and that in the long run it tends to 
 lower the standard of comfort and to oppose obstacles to 
 progress in every direction. The description of the condition 
 of things in rural France given by competent writers goes a 
 long way to confirm the opinion that we have here expressed.” 
 What to do for the existing race of freeholders is of course 
 another question and has alread}^ been dealt with (p. 333) ; but 
 it may be gathered from this statement that their gradual 
 re-conversion into tenant farmers on large estates — or their 
 painless extinction as freeholders, by natural processes, is 
 what the Commissioners seem to regard as most desirable — 
 provided only, however, that as tenants they are given fair 
 rents and security of tenure on the lines which shall be 
 presently explained. 
 
 As to the second suggestion for remedying the present 
 system of tenancy — namely, an amendment of the Agricul- 
 tural Holdings Act of 1883 : — 
 
 “ Nearly every witness, with experience on the matter, 
 represented that the Act required considerable amendment 
 in many respects.” 
 
 But there was a divergence of opinion as to the adequacy 
 of such an amendment, if it were entirely confined to making 
 more effective the principles on which the Act is based. 
 Should it be merely an amendment — or should there be an 
 extension of the Act? 
 
 “ Many witnesses who, on the whole, were on the side of 
 the existing system, admitted that it was open to abuse, and 
 that in the case of a landlord who allowed himself to be 
 swayed entirely by motives of self-interest, the existing law 
 afforded him an opportunity of inflicting considerable in- 
 justice upon his tenants, and in effect they alleged that all 
 the grievance, whether actual or imaginary, of the tenants 
 would adequately be met by a measure which would give, on 
 a determination of the tenancy, full compensation for unex- 
 hausted improvements” (p. 900). 
 
385 
 
 This attitude is illustrated by a question which was Many witnesses 
 frequently put by the representative of the Landowners’ r^ffieient 18 a8 
 Association (Mr. J. E. Vincent) to witnesses who complained any e «wcwS^°of 
 of the confiscation of their improvements. the Act. 
 
 Generally it was to the following effect : — “ Would not 
 a full measure of compensation for unexhausted improve- 
 ments meet the difficulty of which you speak ?” 
 
 The position of those who advocated this limitation for 
 any amending law as to agricultural holdings is thus stated 
 by the Commissioners : — “ They postulate an absolute private 
 property in land. They admit that, logically carried out, 
 this involves the theory of the common law that everything 
 permanently annexed to the freehold, and every improvement 
 by a person having a limited interest in the soil becomes, 
 when the relationship between the owner and the person 
 having a limited interest comes to an end, the property of 
 the former. They recognise the substantial injustice of such 
 an arrangement, and they cordially adopt the principle of 
 the Act of 1883. They acquiesce in interference between 
 landlord and tenant to the extent of providing for compen- 
 sation, if and when the tenancy comes to an end, and the 
 agreement between the parties does not secure the occupier 
 adequate return of the value which his capital and his labour 
 have given to the land, and which has not been exhausted or 
 run out at the time when the relationship ceases. They say 
 — ‘ Really you have in such compensation a solution of the 
 questions which the tenants are raising. No man, unless he 
 denies the right of private property in land, can complain of 
 being turned out of a holding in accordance with the terms 
 of the contract of tenancy, if the law gives him a right to ask 
 for the added value caused by his work and expenditure of 
 his capital, so long as there is no breach of the agreement 
 under which he holds.’ To go beyond giving such compensa- 
 tion is, so this class of witness urged, either to deny the right 
 of private property in land, or to interfere to a large and 
 inexpedient extent with freedom of contract between man 
 and man” (p. 900). 
 
 This is not, however, the view which commended itself But aii the 
 to the Commission. They do not admit that “ any attempt thi^TSe!^ 8 
 within that limit to regulate the relation of landlord and ™^ t ment of 
 tenant is an adequate solution of the problems” raised by the insufficient, 
 evidence ; nor do they admit such a private property in land 
 as is involved in the foregoing argument. 
 
 But the main objection is this : — “ What the argument 
 does not meet is the case of a sitting tenant who has not the 
 slightest wish to leave his holding, but every inducement to 
 
 AA 
 
386 
 
 and therefore 
 agree as to its 
 extension. 
 
 remain and carry on his business there, provided he can do 
 so upon fair and reasonable terms. It only deals with the 
 case of a man who, upon receiving notice to quit from his 
 landlord, leaves his farm ; it only affects to regulate the con- 
 ditions on which an arrangement previously arrived at shall 
 be determined. We are of opinion that nothing short of a 
 legislative regulation of the term of tenancy is adequate, 
 whether we look at it from the point of view of a statesman 
 concerned in the well-being of the whole community, or from 
 the point of view of one who is anxious to secure fair and 
 equitable treatment of the large class of sitting tenant 
 farmers, and to remedy the grievance of the Welsh popula- 
 tion who are now farming upon the usual terms of a tenancy 
 from year to year.” 
 
 At the same time the Commissioners recognise that the 
 suggestions made for an amendment and a partial extension 
 of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, to the extent to 
 which they apply, are reasonable and will be productive of 
 great benefit to the farming community. 
 
 Even if the statutory regulation of tenancy by means of 
 a Land Court (which the Commission recommend later) be 
 not adopted they are willing to admit that half a loaf will be 
 better than none, and that even a limited amendment of the 
 Act, stopping short at compensation, will be a decided 
 improvement on the present state of things. In other words, 
 the Majority have two alternative sets of remedies : one — - 
 the less radical — which they agree to adopt with the Minority 
 as better than nothing ; the other — recommending a Land 
 Court — which they sign by themselves. 
 
 Accordingly, while denying that any mere amendment 
 of the Act of 1883 is sufficient to meet modern requirements 
 they therefore approach the subject of the modification and 
 improvement of the Act of 1883 in a friendly spirit, and after 
 a careful and detailed examination they make a number of 
 suggestions as to its improvement. 
 
 The amendments which are thus suggested were adopted 
 by the whole Commission, and we shall therefore not deal 
 further with them here in the midst of our analysis of the 
 Majority Report. At a later stage, however — in the 
 “ Summary of the Recommendations” — we shall reproduce in 
 full the actual text of the amendments agreed upon, as signed 
 by all the Commissioners. 
 
 Though, as to the actual amendments thus suggested, 
 there is unanimity among the Commissioners, the process of 
 reasoning followed by the Majority differs from that of the 
 Minority. With the view of illustrating the attitude of the 
 
387 
 
 former we shall quote some brief extracts from their remarks 
 as to (1) Substituted Compensation for Improvements, and 
 {2) Compensation for Disturbance. 
 
 In regard to the former subject, it is observed (p. 904) “XictingSut* 
 that “ while experience shows that tenants readily accept be allowed in 
 clauses giving substituted compensation in lieu of compen- JSbstitSed* 
 sation under the Agricultural Holdings Act, it must not be com pensation ? 
 assumed from this circumstance that justice is in that way 
 done to the tenant or that the real intention of the 
 Legislature is carried out. As a rule, in bargaining for a 
 vacant farm, the applicants, or a sitting tenant upon a 
 re-valuation or re-arrangement of the terms of tenancy, does 
 not employ a solicitor or have any professional assistance. 
 
 He troubles himself very little indeed about the form of the 
 written agreement, and the only matter in respect of which 
 he is particular is the amount of the rent. In regard to the 
 agreement, he signs it in many cases, we are persuaded, 
 without any understanding of its legal effect, and in the 
 distinctively Welsh-speaking districts (seeing that the 
 agreements are in English), it will be readily understood 
 that tenants are often wholly ignorant of the precise terms 
 under which they hold. We refer above to the opinion 
 expressed by a very competent and experienced agent, Major 
 Birch, in reference to the value of these complicated 
 agreements, from a landlord’s point of view, and his readiness 
 to accept a statutory form of agreement in regard to the 
 points that are or should be essential or common to all 
 agricultural tenancies. This point does not necessarity arise 
 in the consideration of amendments to the Act of 1883, but 
 it is well to bear in mind that if Major Birch’s idea were 
 •carried out it would be necessary to provide in the statute a 
 kind of common form such as the Act of 1883 affects to give 
 in respect of compensation on determination of the tenancy. 
 
 It cannot be too often repeated that if legislation of this 
 kind is to be effective it must be drawn, not upon the 
 assumption that a landlord is what he very often is, a 
 generous and fair-minded man, not by any means inclined to 
 insist upon his “ pound of flesh, but upon the assumption 
 that he is a person intending to exact the utmost rigour of 
 the bargain. It is against persons of the latter class that 
 Acts like that of 1883 are required, and if the act is not 
 drawn in a manner sufficiently guarding against possible 
 evasion it will fail in effect in precisely those cases in which 
 the tenant most needs the protection of the Legislature.” 
 
 It is pointed out that there are considerable difficulties 
 as to the interpretation of the clauses in the present Act 
 
388 
 
 permitting substituted compensation. For example, such 
 compensation to be valid, must be “ fair and reasonable, 
 having regard to the circumstances existing at the time of 
 making the agreement.” But what is “fair and reasonable?” 
 They are vague general terms. 
 
 SanTothe U vfew “ su dden increase in prices, for instance, or in the 
 that it should value of the land, to affect the fairness or reasonableness of 
 not be allowed. com p ensa tion ? On the whole we must confess that we 
 consider the sections in regard to substituted agreements for 
 compensation, whether specific or fair and reasonable, are not 
 drawn with sufficient clearness, and require amendment, 
 even if we suppose that any future Act will permit the 
 substitution of compensation by agreement for compensation 
 under the Act. We think, after_ looking at the sort of 
 agreements that have come into use of recent years, and 
 listening to opinions like that of Major Birch, that it would 
 be better in the interest both of landlords and of tenants not 
 to allow any contracting out whatsoever, but to make 
 compensation under the Act the only legal right of the 
 tenant and duty of the landlord.” 
 
 The leading principle of the Act of 1883, is that a 
 quitting tenant should be compensated for the value of all 
 his unexhausted improvements. But even though the 
 admitted aim of the Legislature in that respect be carried 
 out to the fullest possible extent by means of amendments 
 to the Act, that in itself w r ould be insufficient to meet the 
 case. (p. 907). 
 
 S^sSbance “ I n order to put the tenant upon a fair footing on the 
 should also be dissolution of what we regard as a business partnership,” the 
 tenant evicted Majority observe, “ it is in our judgment necessary to permit 
 unreasonably. cour t or the arbitrator to take into account the general 
 
 circumstances of the case, and to allow as compensation for 
 disturbance, or under some other general head, a sum of 
 money in addition to the exact amount of the compensation, 
 determined properly under the rules of the Act, to the tenant. 
 Evidence given before us, and a larger body of evidence given 
 before the Boyal Commission on Agricultural Depression, 
 shows that under the fairest present systems of assessing 
 compensation, whether under the Act or under an agreement, 
 or under custom of the country, the fact of having to take 
 his capital from one farm and to invest it in another, inflicts 
 a substantial loss upon the tenant farmer. Competent 
 witnesses state that as an average it may be calculated that a 
 tenant loses 20 per cent, of his capital by a change of farm. 
 To some extent this loss is, of course, not due to anything 
 unfair in the actual relationship between landlord and tenant 
 
389 
 
 but is the inevitable economic result of transferring the capital 
 from one business to another. But the peculiar character of 
 the agricultural partnership, involving the power of the land- 
 lord to send away the tenant without any adequate reason 
 whatsoever in one year, and thus to inflict a pecuniary loss 
 of some 20 per cent, on his working capital, seems to us to 
 impose a very strong, honourable, and moral obligation upon 
 a landlord not lightly to terminate an existing tenancy to the 
 pecuniaiy prejudice of the tenant. Of course we, who believe 
 that all agricultural tenancies should be completely regulated 
 by law, largely found our demand upon this obligation of the 
 landlords. But without going so far as we are prepared to 
 recommend [that is, a Land Court], we think that to some 
 extent this obligation on the part of the landlords might be 
 enforced, without in the least prejudicing the position of a 
 good and prudent landlord, by providing compensation for 
 disturbance where a notice to quit is given capriciously or 
 without any good cause. 
 
 We do not recommend that compensation for distur- 
 bance should be given in the case where a tenant has 
 allowed his rent to fall considerably in arrear, or where he 
 has been guilty of breach of covenant, or of waste, or he is 
 of bad character, or in any way undesirable as a tenant.” 
 
 ***** 
 
 “ With the addition of such a clause under which the 
 court or an arbitrator would have the power to look at the 
 whole circumstances of the case in a broad and equitable 
 manner, we think that an Agricultural Holdings Act com- 
 prising also the amendment we have suggested, would be an 
 immense advantage in the relation of landlord and tenant. 
 But we repeat that while we regard this as desirable, we do 
 not, under existing circumstances in Wales, think that any 
 amendment of the Act of 1883 upon the lines we have 
 suggested, and simply dealing with the relation of the parties 
 upon the determination of the tenancy, would be an adequate 
 remedy for the grievances and the ills which the evidence 
 discloses” (p. 908.) 
 
 The Majority thus express the opinion that the defects 
 and evils of the present system of tenancy cannot be effectively 
 remedied either by (1) the creation of a peasant proprietary, 
 or (2) by a mere amendment, however thorough of the 
 Agricultural Holdings Act. The other remedy suggested for 
 their consideration was the establishment of a Land Court, or 
 as it is somewhat euphemistically described by the Majority 
 themselves, “ the regulation of the agricultural industry” by 
 
 But not after 
 breach of cov- 
 enant, &c. 
 
 But even such 
 an extension of 
 Agricultural 
 Holdings Act 
 would — in the 
 view of the maj- 
 ority ,be insuffi- 
 cient. 
 
390 
 
 a court of justice. It is only with reference to the- 
 desirability of a Land Court that the Commissioners have 
 really differed among themselves, and have been divided into 
 a Majority and Minority ; should there be a Land Court or 
 not ? — that is the only real issue between them. Owing to 
 the great importance of the answers which each group 
 of Commissioners give to this question, we have thought it 
 desirable to reproduce their remarks under this head without 
 any abbreviation whatsoever, but to facilitate the reader in 
 following their respective arguments we have placed in the 
 margin a brief summary of the points dealt with successively 
 in the text opposite. 
 
391 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 
 MAJORITY.— ( continued.) 
 
 l.—“ REGULATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL 
 INDUSTRY ,” OR THE NECESSITY FOR 
 A LAND COURT (pp. 908-917). 
 
 “We have now to ask ourselves the question whether an 
 amendment of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, in the 
 direction indicated by ourselves, and by the three Com- 
 missioners who have presented a supplemental report, is 
 really adequate to remove the inconveniences and the griev- 
 ances of the tenant farming class in Wales. We say “in 
 Wales” because we are prepared to state that the circum- 
 stances of agriculture there, both existing and historical, 
 are so special as to require particular treatment by the 
 Legislature. We will not, however, in this section, discuss 
 this question from the merely Welsh standpoint, but approach 
 the problem in a broader manner. 
 
 We desire in the first place to point out that it is un- 
 necessary to discuss the abstract question of freedom of 
 contract. 
 
 In regard to nearly every industry carried on upon a 
 large scale, a desire for the well-being of all concerned has 
 induced the Legislature to make, by Act of Parliament, and 
 by the creation of special administrative departments, rules 
 for the regulation of industrial operations and the relations 
 of the different classes engaged in diverse capacities in pro- 
 duction — rules especially designed to protect those who are 
 most likely to suffer from the unchecked sway of economic 
 and social forces. The Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, is 
 itself an obvious interference with freedom of contract, and 
 seeing that those Commissioners who do not wholty agree 
 with our recommendations do not seek to repeal that Act, 
 but are themselves willing to extend its scope, we take it 
 that it must be admitted that it is right and necessary for 
 the State to interfere, to some extent, at least, with the 
 
 Freedom of con- 
 tract need not be 
 discussed, State 
 interference as 
 to land tenure 
 being already 
 admitted : its 
 extension there- 
 fore only a ques- 
 tion of degree. 
 
392 
 
 Factory legisla- 
 tion a precedent 
 for State regula- 
 tion of the 
 Agricultural in- 
 dustry. 
 
 relations of landowners and the cultivators of the soil. The 
 matter therefore resolves itself into a question of degree. 
 On the one hand it may be asserted that a good Act of 
 Parliament, giving to the tenant, at the expiry of his term, 
 compensation so extensive as to amount to a return of all 
 the capital that the tenant has invested in the business, or 
 sunk upon the holding, meets the equities of the situation as 
 between the parties, and affords a sufficient guarantee for the 
 general well-being of the important farming class. On the 
 other hand it may be contended that it is fundamentally un- 
 just, especially in the case where a tenant has spent the best 
 years of his life upon a holding, or it may be one who belongs 
 to a family connected for centuries with such holding, to 
 leave, even with his whole capital, at so short a notice as one 
 year. As we understand the recommendations in the 
 minority report, to this extent the principle is conceded, 
 and it is admitted that what is in effect a three years’ notice 
 to quit is the minimum which the justice of the situation 
 between the parties demands. However, it may be alleged, 
 and it is our opinion, that no Act of Parliament merely 
 dealing with the relation of the parties at the time of the 
 determination of the tenancy is really adequate ; that it is 
 just as important to secure fair play, a proper apportionment 
 of profit and proper conditions of business, between landlord 
 and tenant during the continuation of their relationship, as 
 at its termination. We may put our principle more simply 
 thus : Quite apart from any special circumstances connected 
 with Wales, and apart from the special kind of ills that the 
 Welsh tenants are enduring, or the special grievances which 
 they, owing to circumstances disclosed in our survey, are 
 suffering under the prevailing system of tenure, we think the 
 time has come when the Legislature, following the precedent 
 set in regard to other important industries by the Factory and 
 Workshops Act, by the Truck Acts, and by the Coal Mines 
 Regulation Act and other similar statutes, should undertake 
 the regulation of the agricultural industry. 
 
 ****** 
 
 When the whole circumstances which led to the com- 
 mencement of modern legislation restricting free competition 
 between employers and employed by such Acts of Parliament 
 as we have above mentioned are considered, it is found that 
 the real necessity for that kind of legislation arose from the 
 fact that competition between one class, smaller in numbers, 
 very intelligent, very active, commanding large amounts of 
 capital, acting together according to common rules, whom 
 
393 
 
 we may group together as the capitalist class, exercised a 
 continually increasing and perpetual pressure upon the class 
 •of artisans and labourers who were infinitely larger in 
 number, but whose average intelligence, whose poverty and 
 dependent position, prevented a fair insistence upon their 
 own well-being and interest, and who were not able to change 
 their place of occupation with a reasonable prospect of 
 obtaining a means of subsistence on any easier terms. In 
 fact, the postulates of those who talk about freedom of 
 •contract and economic harmonies do not exist except among 
 men gifted with a high degree of energy, intelligence, and 
 knowledge, coupled with an almost total absence of home 
 sentiment or attachment to the places in which they have 
 been born and brought up. This consideration, which has 
 led to the regulation of the industries carried on, since the 
 industrial revolution in England, on large scales, appears to 
 apply not only with the same, but a greater, degree to the 
 agricultural industry. We have seen that neither legally 
 nor economically is the so-called ownership of land the same 
 as the absolute dominion which is possessed over chattels ; 
 and this fact itself renders interference on the part of the 
 State with contracts concerning land less liable to the 
 objections urged on the basis of the principle of freedom of 
 •contract than in regard to other productive industries. We 
 •cannot help here quoting a remark made by the late Professor 
 Cairnes : — 
 
 “ Sustained ” [he says] “ by some of the greatest names — I will say by 
 every name of the first rank in political economy, from Turgot and Adam 
 Smith to Mill — I hold that the land of a country presents conditions which 
 separate it economically from the great mass of the other objects of 
 wealth — conditions which, if they do not absolutely, and under all circum- 
 stances, impose upon the State the obligation of controlling private enter- 
 prise in dealing with land, at least explain why this control is, in certain 
 stages of social progress, indispensable, and why, in fact, it has been con- 
 stantly put in force whenever public opinion or custom has not been 
 strong enough to do without it. And not merely does economic science, 
 as expounded by its ablest teachers, dispose of a priori objections to a 
 policy of intervention with regard to land, it even furnishes principles 
 fitted to inform and guide such a policy in a positive sense. Far from 
 being the irreconcilable foe, it is the natural ally of those who engage in 
 this course, at once justifying the principle of their undertaking, and 
 lending itself as a minister to the elaboration of the constructive design.” 
 
 Now, applying these principles to the state of Wales as 
 •disclosed in the evidence, we find, on the one hand, a small 
 but wealthy class, owning, in some instances, large tracts of 
 the country, and in many instances, considerable areas. We 
 find, on the other hand, a peasantry or farming class, not, for 
 the most part, distantly removed from the agricultural 
 labourer, unfitted by their training, by their habits of mind, 
 and by their want of opportunity, from competing with the 
 
# 
 
 394 
 
 other class, trammelled in all their dealings in reference to- 
 their holdings, partly by sentimental considerations, and 
 partly by the economic expense of changing farms and 
 obtaining other holdings, exposed to competition from mem- 
 bers of their own class who are seeking farms, in the large 
 majority of cases, speaking habitually a language which 
 makes it difficult for them to seek occupation outside the 
 area of their country, and wholly disinclined to leave the 
 surroundings in which they and their ancestors have been 
 brought up and lived. 
 
 It appears to us that the effect of the prevailing system 
 is to place the tenant-farming class completely at the mercy, 
 economically speaking, of the estate- owning class. The in- 
 security of tenure, the absolute right of the landlord to de- 
 mand what rent he pleases, the knowledge of the tenant that 
 there are many competitors for every vacant farm, are circum- 
 stances which exert continuous pressure upon the tenants, 
 enabling the estate owner to take more than a fair share of 
 the produce of the soil in the form of rent, in the broad 
 sense, and seriously to affect the well-being and happiness 
 from day to day of the cultivators of the soil. We cannot 
 help pointing out that, though the total number of tenant 
 farmers who are actually sitting tenants is not very large in 
 proportion to the total population of Wales, yet it is very 
 large indeed as compared with the number of estate owners ; 
 and we cannot yield to any argument founded upon the 
 recognition of some inherent right on the part of estate 
 owners to be treated in a separate or more advantageous 
 manner by legislation. We start in our consideration of the 
 subject from the theory that the well-being of each man, 
 estate owner, or tenant farmer, is equally important to the 
 State, when we are considering the necessity for a reform of 
 of land tenure, and we are entirely unimpressed by the 
 argument advanced from time to time by witnesses before us, 
 that any diminution of the power of the landlord, or the 
 further introduction of legislative interference, would de- 
 prive a landlord of a good deal of that social consequence 
 and amenity of life which induce him now to reside upon 
 his estate. We doubt if the argument be, in fact, well 
 founded. But even if it were so important as we regard the 
 existence of a class of leisured and cultured persons in every 
 rural district, and even assuming that legislation, such as 
 we are about to suggest, would result in their disappearance 
 from the country (a result that we do not anticipate), we 
 should feel bound to look rather to the general interests of 
 the whole, and to the happiness of the majority, than to the 
 interests and happiness of the few. 
 
395 
 
 We have pointed out above that, even in regard to special prece- 
 
 i ° 1 dents in the land 
 
 England and Wales, there are precedents closely analogous legislation of 
 for legislative interference between landlord and tenant. l^oUand. 11 
 Rightly or wrongly, the Legislature has not only undertaken 
 to regulate industries carried on upon a large scale, but, in 
 regard to this very matter of agricultural tenancjq has re- 
 linquished that principle of freedom of contract which we 
 have briefly discussed. The question whether the principle 
 ought to be further enlarged raises, therefore, a question of 
 degree rather than of kind. Furthermore, in regard to 
 Ireland, and in regard to Scotland, circumstances have forced 
 the Legislature to adopt agrarian legislation, going far 
 beyond the scope of the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883. 
 
 We must briefly examine the nature of that legislation, and 
 the causes which produced the Irish Land Act of 1881, and 
 the Crofters Act, 1886. 
 
 First of all, let us ask ourselves to what extent the Ireland : its 
 
 • • . n -r tt -I ii . i p i condition bcforo 
 
 agrarian circumstances ot Wales resemble those formerly the Land Acts, 
 existing in Ireland, and in the Scotch crofting areas. With 
 regard to Ireland, we have taken no evidence as to the work- 
 ing of the Irish Land Acts, and we form oui opinions from 
 the reports of other Royal Commissions, and from the 
 numerous sources of information which Irish controversy has 
 furnished in abundance. We do not attempt to reproduce a 
 full statement of the condition of Ireland before the Land 
 Act of 1870. Its features are too familiar to those who may 
 be interested in our report to need any general re-production 
 in these pages. The main points were — a great sub-division 
 of holdings, the congestion of population in a backward state 
 of culture upon the land, a landlord class who did not, in the 
 districts most affected, attempt to make any permanent or 
 other improvements upon the land, exorbitant rents, and 
 gross ignorance of the art of farming. It was under these 
 circumstances, and in deference to a long continued agitation, 
 that the legislature of this country attempted to improve the 
 relation of landlord and tenant, and the general condition of 
 affairs in the backward parts of Ireland. The main lines of 
 argument upon which the Act of 1881 was based, appear to 
 have been these. 
 
 (1) That such buildings and equipment as existed upon 
 most of the holdings, wretched as they were, had been 
 created, not by the capital of the landlord, but by the labour 
 and capital of the tenants. 
 
 (2) That the existence of a land hunger of a very acute 
 character, and the survival of the ancient ideas among the 
 cultivators of their rights in the soil, together with an in- 
 
396 
 
 Points of differ- 
 ence between 
 Wales and Ire- 
 land 
 
 tense attachment to their native land, gave landlords or their 
 agents the opportunit}^ of raising rents to a wholly unjust 
 point; and 
 
 (3) That the existence of the evils of the system en- 
 dangered law and order in the island. 
 
 The result of this economic and political agitation was 
 the Land Act of 1881. Within the limits to which the 
 Act applied, and in regard to the holdings it proposed to 
 deal with, it created a statutory tenancy which conferred 
 upon the tenant : 
 
 (a) The right to have the rent of the holding fixed by 
 a specialty constituted land commission. 
 
 (b) Fixity of tenure in his holding; and 
 
 (c) The right of freely assigning, with or without 
 consideration, his interest therein. 
 
 Its effect is sometimes described as creating a dual 
 ownership, but, in its practical operation, at any rate, it may 
 be more accurately said to have been the conversion of the 
 landlord into a rent-receiver or rent-charger. We need not 
 further describe the Act. 
 
 The condition of things in Wales presents some points 
 of resemblance and some points of difference to the condition 
 of things in Ireland before recent legislation. We have 
 said in the earlier part of the Report that the yearly tenancy 
 has not become associated in Wales, as in Ireland and the 
 crofter districts of Scotland, with that sub-division and sub- 
 letting which leads to the congestion of a rural population 
 upon holdings too small to maintain the occupiers. It cannot 
 be contended that in Wales, when we visited it, there were 
 any districts congested or sub-divided to the same extent as 
 such districts existed in Ireland. There are in Wales a very 
 large number of very small agricultural holdings, but the 
 occupiers of those small holdings are generally persons who 
 are carrying on some other occupations than that of farming, 
 or who have been carrying on such occupations, and are 
 living in practical retirement from the normal work of their 
 life, with their children or some of their children, who assist 
 in the maintenance of the whole family living upon the 
 holding by working as labourers or artisans. Nor can it be 
 alleged that the average farm holding in Wales is too small, 
 upon a proper system of tenure and in reasonably prosperous 
 times, to maintain an ordinary family. Any tendency to the 
 creation of a condition of things strictty analogous, in regard 
 to congestion and sub-division, to that of Ireland has been 
 checked during this century by the action of the landlords of 
 the more considerable estates in developing their property 
 and consolidating rather than multiplying the farms upon it. 
 
397 
 
 So far we must point out that a very considerable differ- 
 ence exists between the case of Wales as a whole and the 
 case of those parts of Ireland to which the Act of 1881 was 
 applied. Nor, — save so far as the custom of Glamorganshire 
 and similar customs to some extent existing in other coun- 
 ties, or the operation of the Act of 1883, may be said to 
 create a tenant right, — do we find existing at the present 
 time anything really analogous to the Ulster tenant right 
 which existed in part of the neighbouring island. We found, 
 indeed, some evidence that occasionally, especially in times 
 when agriculture had been prosperous for a series of years, 
 that incoming tenants either paid something to agents or 
 sub-agents, or else that in valuing as between the incoming 
 and the outgoing tenant the amount was fixed, not by a rigid 
 ascertainment of the value of the goods and chattels trans- 
 ferred on a forced sale, but on a liberal scale, so as to include 
 something for goodwill. Transactions of this kind, however, 
 appear not to have been assented to clearly and definitely by 
 many estate owners, and we do not think that at any recent 
 time it has been general throughout the Principality for an 
 incoming tenant to pay anything to an outgoing tenant for 
 goodwill or for the value of the holding. 
 
 But though there are these points of difference between points of resem- 
 the condition of Ireland and the condition of Wales, yet l^ies and^iS- 
 there are many points of resemblance. There is the same land, 
 land hunger exhibited in almost if not quite as great a 
 degree. There is the same attachment to the native land, 
 and to the pursuit of farming under the same general tradi- 
 tional conditions. There is much of the same divergence in 
 temperament, idiosyncrasy, and habits between the actual 
 cultivators of the soil and the aristocratic class who own the 
 land. There is the same hostility, more veiled, but not less 
 felt, to the agents of the landlord. Religious and social 
 differences between the cultivators and the owners are just 
 as well marked in Wales as they were in Ireland, if, indeed, 
 not more highly developed. There is the same fear among 
 the tenants that they may be ousted from homes to which 
 they are passionately attached. There is the same conviction 
 that the pressure of legal rules and economic circumstances 
 is depriving them unjustly of the fruits of their labour. 
 
 Besides these general points of resemblance, there is permanent 
 the important fact that, when the circumstances of the for- b^whommade 
 mation of the holdings are considered broadly and in the 
 light of the past, it cannot be denied that a very large part 
 of' the improved value of the land is due to the work and the 
 capital of generations of cultivators who have never received 
 
398 
 
 The case of the 
 Scotch Crofters 
 — how far simi- 
 lar to those of 
 Welsh farmers ? 
 
 adequate compensation in respect of what has been done, 
 but who, year after year, have felt that the power of the 
 landlord has enabled him to appropriate without acknow- 
 ledgment the additional value of the land due to the cultiva- 
 tors’ exertions, by arbitrarily raising rent. We have above, 
 with as much accuracy as the facts enabled us, endeavoured 
 to determine the share of the landlord and the tenant in con- 
 verting the soil of the greater portion of the Principality 
 from a prairie, or natural condition, into an aggregation of 
 more or less equipped agricultural holdings. We content 
 ourselves here with repeating that, although for about 100 
 years the theory of the larger number of landowners has 
 been that it is their duty, in carrying on the estates, to make 
 the permanent improvements and so forth, it has not in 
 practice been efficiently carried out on many estates and in 
 large parts of the country. In particular we may recall the 
 fact that it is only on very few estates that the landlord affects 
 to do the permanent improvements entirely at his own cost, 
 for the English theory is in some respects departed from, 
 especially in regard to the great burthen of hauling materials. 
 
 While, therefore, we cannot say that in Wales, as it 
 appears was the case in Ireland, the greater portion of the 
 buildings and permanent improvements have been made by 
 the existing and previous tenants, we are distinctly of opinion 
 that a very large share of the expenditure of capital and 
 labour with that object that has taken place has been borne 
 by the tenants and not by the landlords. So far, therefore, 
 as the legislation of 1881 is founded upon an equitable claim 
 arising from the expenditure of labour and capital upon the 
 land, the Welsh case must be admitted to be not as strong as 
 that of Ireland ; but still the contribution of the Welsh 
 tenants has been so large that, in considering the expediency 
 of similar legislation for Wales, it cannot be ignored, and 
 affords not the only, yet an additional ground for such an 
 alteration of the law as will give them security of tenure and 
 fair rents. 
 
 We must next advert to the case of Scotland. Ity the 
 Crofters Act, 1886, principles fundamentally similar to those 
 of the Irish Act of 1881 were introduced into that part of 
 the United Kingdom. We have had the benefit of hearing, 
 from divers witnesses, some account of the circumstances 
 under which the Crofters Act was passed, and of the way in 
 which it has been carried out. As we have observed in 
 regard to the Irish cultivators, we have to make the remark 
 that the case of the Scotch crofters is not entirely analogous 
 to that of the Welsh tenant farmers, but that the case of the 
 
399 
 
 tenants dealt with by this Act does present many points of 
 resemblance. In the report of the Crofters Commission of 
 1884, which preceded the passing of the Act, it is stated : — 
 
 ‘ The population belonging to the class of crofters and 
 •cottars engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, in 
 addition to the evils attached to an unproductive soil, high 
 elevations, and a variable and boisterous climate, suffer from 
 several causes of indigence, discouragement, and irritation, 
 which are subject to remedial treatment. These may be 
 •enumerated as follows : undue contraction of the area of 
 holdings, undue extension of the area of holdings, insecurity 
 of tenure, want of compensation for improvements, high 
 rents, defective communications — many parts of the crofting 
 •districts being inadequately supplied with ordinary roads — 
 and such landing-places for boats as might easily be afforded ; 
 withdrawal of the soil in connection with the purposes of 
 sport. To these we may add, as contributing in our opinion 
 to the depressed condition of the people, defects in educa- 
 tion, which, however, have been largely remedied by the 
 Act of 1872, defects in the machinery of justice, and want of 
 facilities for emigration.’ 
 
 Many of these observations strike us as applicable to a 
 considerable number of the agricultural holdings of Wales. 
 It is continually sought by apologists of existing systems of 
 land tenure to justify such an Act as the Crofters’ Act by 
 the special circumstances of the Scotch case ; but when one 
 comes to examine the evidence given before the Crofters’ 
 Commission, and carefully reads the evidence given before us 
 by Sheriff Brand, the head of the Court constituted by the Act,* 
 one can see that the ultimate and fundamental grievances 
 of the crofters were the insecurity of their tenure, and the 
 exorbitancy of the rents charged for crofting holdings, while 
 the matter was aggravated by the belief prevalent among the 
 tenants concerned that, “ the small tenantry of the Highlands 
 “ have an inherited inalienable title to security of tenure in 
 “ their possession, while rent and service are duly rendered, 
 “is an impression indigenous to the country, though it has 
 ■“ never been sanctioned by legal recognition, and has been 
 “ long repudiated by the action of the proprietor.” 
 
 We are quite aware that it would be incorrect to identify 
 the agricultural tenantry of Wales with the crofters of Scot- 
 land, but it is equally apparent, from the evidence which has 
 been given before us, and from the statistics which we have 
 -collected in the First Book of this Report, that there are 
 
 * Sheriff Brand’s evidence is printed in full in Yol. V., pp. 399 — 414, of 
 the Minutes of Evidence. 
 
400 
 
 classes of Welsh tenants who, in essential points, hardly 
 differ from the crofter class. There are tenants who are 
 living upon “ an unproductive soil ” at “ high elevations,” 
 and who are subject to a “ variable and boisterous climate.’ 7 
 There are numerous tenants who are suffering from “ several 
 causes of indigence, discouragement, and irritation.” There 
 are many tenants of small holdings who, like many of the 
 crofters, do not wholly depend upon the agricultural produce 
 of their own holdings for the means of subsistence, but upon 
 Upon the whole, the exertions of themselves or of their children in other kinds 
 
 not “ on all W nrlr 
 
 fours” with the 01 WOrK * 
 
 Welsh case, but But, upon the whole, we are bound to admit that the 
 chief grievances, crofter case, m its strict sense, is not upon all fours with the 
 of z tenure 6 and ty Welsh case ; though when every allowance is made for 
 rent bltancy ° f differences, the real evils are practically the same. It is a 
 significant circumstance that when competent witnesses, like 
 Mr. Macrae, and Mr. Sheriff Brand, came to deal with the 
 practical effects of this crofter legislation, the points in which 
 they alleged that it had been most successful in its workings 
 were in regard to the satisfaction produced by affording 
 security of tenure, and the fixing of a fair rent ; and the true 
 inference from these observations is that among the crofters 
 of Scotland, as among the tenants of Wales, when stripped 
 of mere accidents, their complaints in substance resolve 
 themselves into the unhappiness and misfortune created by 
 an absolute dependence upon the owner, and the owner’s 
 right to exact, at his own will, an arbitrary sum from year 
 to year. Notwithstanding, therefore, that if we look upon 
 the tenant farmers of Wales as a whole, and compare them 
 with the Scotch crofters dealt with by the Act of 1886 as a 
 whole, the astute and critical observer may be able to point 
 to many differences, we are of opinion that there is a sub- 
 stantial similarity between the position of the great bulk of 
 the Welsh tenants of small holdings and the bulk of the 
 crofter tenants of the Highlands of Scotland. 
 
 We cannot, in this regard, omit to notice that the passing 
 of this Act, and experience of its operation, have led to a 
 wide agitation in Scotland for an extension of the operation 
 of the Act. For party and political reasons, the official 
 supporters of the Act of 1 886 appear to have endeavoured to 
 draw an acute distinction between the crofters of the High- 
 lands (and especially the crofters of the sea-board), and small 
 tenants in other parts of Scotland, economically and in 
 essence not very different. It is probably true to say that it 
 was only the accident that agitation of a natural and justifi- 
 able kind having first arisen among crofters or small holders 
 
401 
 
 in the counties of Argyle, Inverness, Boss, and Cromartie, 
 
 Sutherland, Caithness, and Orkney and Shetland, that really 
 caused the Legislature to differentiate their position from 
 that of small holders in the other counties of Scotland. 
 
 This being so, we cannot admit that the mere limitation 
 of the Act of 1886 to a portion of the Scottish area of small 
 holdings can be taken as an admission that the principle of 
 the Act is really applicable only to those who came to be 
 known under the special name of “ crofters,” and who were 
 concerned in what Sheriff Brand described as a “ seething 
 agitation,” and which, in the recollection of most of us, pro- 
 duced a state of disorder which almost became one of open 
 rebellion. 
 
 We conclude, therefore, from this necessarily brief scotch, 
 
 account of legislation in regard to Scotland and Ireland, applicable, in 
 that the precedents afforded by the Act of 1881, and the Act notTnSaiis^ 
 of 1886 are, upon the whole, applicable to Wales. We do the Welsh case - 
 not assert that the case of Wales as a whole is, on the one 
 hand, on all fours with that of Connaught or Munster, nor, 
 on the other hand, with that of the Highlands of Scotland. 
 
 We think that there are portions of Wales in which a con- 
 dition of things remarkably analogous to that of some of the 
 districts of Ireland, and remarkably analogous to that of the 
 Highlands, may be pointed out. But we are content to rest 
 the matter, so far as precedent is concerned, upon the 
 proposition that the case of the Welsh tenants presents 
 circumstances remarkably analogous to both, and that the 
 same fundamental lines of reasoning which led to the Acts 
 of Parliament that we have mentioned are just as applicable 
 to the case of the Welsh tenant farmers considered in the 
 aggregate. 
 
 We must not be understood, in the observations we have 
 just made, as unduly relying upon precedent in matters of aii-impor- 
 legislation. It is a mistake to be trammelled by preceding 
 attempts to remedy economic ills and social grievances, 
 and if no Irish Act of 1881, and no Crofter Act of 1886, 
 had ever been passed, we do not think that our views 
 would be materially altered. But at the same time we 
 recognise that something may be learnt from considering the 
 effect of legislation in regard to circumstances more or less 
 similar to those to which a new law is proposed to be applied. 
 
 It consequent^ becomes distinctly relevant, in a fair 
 treatment of the Welsh question, to consider, whether, on 
 the whole, the Acts of Parliament to which we have referred 
 have or have not been successful. 
 
 BB 
 
402 
 
 Has the Irish 
 Land Act prov- 
 ed a success ? 
 
 Its results. 
 
 To ask the question whether the Irish Land Act of 1881, 
 coupled with Acts that have since been passed with the view 
 either to amending its provisions, extending its operation, or 
 modifying in other respects the tenure of land in Ireland, 
 has been successful, is to ask a question which even at the 
 present time must raise a controversy to some extent em- 
 bittered and acrimonious. We do not affect to have any 
 special qualifications for deciding so important an issue, but 
 availing ourselves of information which is at the hand of 
 every competent observer, we have no hesitation in saying 
 that upon the whole it is the land legislation of the last few 
 years that has done most to restore content and prosperity to 
 the sister island. We understand that, as judged by the 
 prices obtained for the sales of estates, either as a whole or 
 by lots, the value of land has risen in Ireland during the last 
 20 years. Numerous indications suggest that the condition 
 of the Irish peasantry is far better than it was in the year 
 1880. The value of individual holdings cultivated during 
 the last 14 years under the provisions of the Act of 1881 has 
 distinctly risen. The general condition of the country, 
 looked at from the point of view of the practical administra- 
 tor, has undoubtedly improved. Agrarian crimes, rife 
 enough, unfortunately, during the period of agitation and 
 during the former tenure, have become practically unknown. 
 A portion of the United Kingdom, which, up to the date of 
 the operation of this Act, was in a state of continual agita- 
 tion, verging upon insurrection, has, under the quiet and 
 continual operation of the courts constituted by that Act, 
 become to all appearances as peaceful and calm as any parts 
 of the Empire. 
 
 Not the least remarkable phenomena leading us to this 
 conclusion have been the facts connected with the Home 
 Rule movement. The agrarian demands of the majority of 
 the Irish people have, for many years, been coupled with a 
 demand for a national or local autonomy, and, even after the 
 passing of the Act of 1881, this demand was persistently 
 pressed in a remarkable manner by the Parliamentary repre- 
 sentatives and other leaders of the Irish people ; though this 
 demand secured the approbation in 1892 of a large majority 
 of the electors of the United Kingdom, yet it failed to 
 secure realization in consequence of the action of the House 
 of Lords, and in the year 1895 was condemned by the 
 verdict of the constituencies. This result has been received, 
 not indeed with an}?- marked modification of opinion in 
 Ireland, but without any of the traditional symptoms of 
 Irish discontent. 
 
403 
 
 These circumstances afford, to our minds, a very con- 
 clusive proof of the immense benefit and of the great success 
 of modern agrarian legislation in regard to that long mis- 
 governed country. Without, therefore, prolonging this 
 report, or further arguing the matter, we content ourselves by 
 .asserting, whatever views may be urged to the contrary in 
 regard to matters of detail, that the Act of 1881 has been 
 eminently successful. 
 
 Nor, when we come to consider the case of Scotland, Kesuits of the 
 can any real attack be made upon the beneficent operation of Crofters Act - 
 the Act of 1886. We will not, in considering this matter, 
 rely upon the evidence of Donald Macrae,* or of Mr. Malcom, 
 who speak mainly to its defects and the necessity of its ex- 
 tension, but who bore ready tribute to the soundness of its 
 essential principles, for they must be looked upon rather in 
 the light of advocates than of judges. But we were greatly 
 impressed by the evidence of Mr. Sheriff Brand, the Chief 
 Judge of the Court or Commission appointed to carry out its 
 provisions. We have carefully considered the valuable 
 evidence which he was good enough to give us, and the effect 
 left upon our minds is that, whatever the imperfections of the 
 Act, considered from the point of view of the tenant or from 
 that of the landlord, its practical operation has been to res- 
 tore peace and a considerable degree of prosperity where 
 before discontent and misery were the prominent features of 
 society. We cannot forbear mentioning, as having a distinct 
 relevance to the condition of things in Wales, his statement 
 in regard to the positive and direct results of the Act : — 
 
 ‘ The most important of these is security of tenure. In other words> l.— Security of 
 a crofting tenant, who possesses under the Act from year to year, cannot tenure its chief 
 be removed from his holding so long as he complies with the statutory be^efit^ Q ^ 
 conditions enacted in section 1 of the Act. The principal of these are 
 that he pays his rent at the terms at which it is due and payable, that he 
 does not execute any deed purporting to assign his tenancy, that he does 
 not injure the holding by the delapidation of buildings or by the deterior- 
 ation of the soil, and that he does not, without the consent of the landlord 
 in writing, sub-divide his holding or sub-let the same or any part thereof, 
 or erect or suffer to be erected any dwelling-house otherwise than in sub- 
 stitution for those already upon the holding at the passing of the Act. 
 
 This security of tenure I regard as a great moral and legal benefit, 
 as it has not only imbued the crofter community over the greater part of 
 the crofting area with a sense of independence, but has greatly encouraged 
 him in the matter of improving his holding, both by the erection of a 
 better dwelling-house and by better steading, but by more careful cultiva- 
 tion of the arable land he had, and the more willing reclamation of some 
 part of his outrun. 
 
 * Mr. Macrae, whose evidence is given in Yol. V., p. 270 and 523, was 
 Secretary to the Highland Land Law Reform Association, while Mr. 
 Malcolm (see Yol. Y., 511), was Secretary to the Highland Property Asso- 
 ciation.— D. L1.T. 
 
404 
 
 2. — Fair Kents 
 judicially fixed. 
 
 The Crofting 
 districts before 
 and after the 
 Act: “a seeth- 
 ing agitation.” 
 
 It has been said that this matter of security of tenure is of less im- 
 portance than is sometimes supposed, because on many estates the 
 crofters had practically security of tenure from their landlords, and, no* 
 doubt, many landlords can point to the fact that for long periods of years- 
 prior to 1886 evictions were almost unknown, and, where they did occur,, 
 could be amply justified. While I am not concerned to dispute this state- 
 ment, I have to explain that, nevertheless, even on these estates, there was 
 a constant sense of insecurity of tenure ; indeed, the ordinary and normal 
 mode of bringing a crofter to book for some real or supposed short- 
 coming on his part, either in the matter of rent or otherwise, was to serve* 
 him with a notice of removal ; and, when such eviction was carried out, 
 anyone who was evicted from one estate was in a sense branded, and 
 experienced great difficulty in getting a holding on another estate.’ 
 
 After explaining the general improvement consequent 
 upon the Act with regard to dealings in reference to the 
 general agricultural management of the holdings, including' 
 drains, fences, and roads, Mr. Sheriff Brand went on to* 
 remark that the system of fair rents, judicially fixed after' 
 hearing both parties, and making careful inspection of the 
 holdings, has been of great benefit. He pointed out that — 
 
 ‘ Within the last 30 years many Highland estates have changed hands, 
 and between 1865 and 1880 these estates were sold at high prices, and 
 under reference to rent-rolls wherein crofters’ rents appeared at a con- 
 siderable figure. But, unfortunately, some of the purchasers, not satiffied 
 with the rents stated in these rent-rolls, proceeded to raise the rents, 
 in some cases even to double the rents. The effects of this step on the* 
 minds of the crofters may readily be conceived. It led to great bitterness 
 of feeling and great dislike to the newcomer. It led, in short, to the in- 
 tolerable state of matters which culminated in the Act of 1886, the true 
 remedy being that which the Act introduced, of having a rent fixed, after 
 full inquiry, which should be fair to both parties.’ 
 
 We find, therefore, that the two points which a Com- 
 missioner, who discharges most onerous and delicate duties* 
 with the aid of able colleagues, points out as being most 
 efficacious in the operation of the Act of 1886, are its opera- 
 tion in giving security of tenure to the tenants and in fixing 
 a fair rent. 
 
 Under these circumstances, in order to appreciate the 
 immense benefit conferred upon this distinctively Celtic part 
 of Scotland by the Act of 1886, we must ask ourselves what 
 was the condition of things before and after the passing of 
 the Act. According to Sheriff Brand, whose words may be 
 unhesitatingly accepted as presenting a true picture, un- 
 coloured by the disturbing effect of actual participation in 
 political controversy : — 
 
 ‘ In 1882 and 1883, and possibly in some quarters at an earlier date, 
 seething agitation prevailed, with a considerable tendency in some 
 districts, at least, to open and defiant breaches of the law. So alarming,, 
 indeed, did matters appear to the authorities at the time that expedition 
 after expedition of police, or of military and police combined, were sent 
 to various parts of the crofting area. Thus a large force of policemen 
 from Glasgow were drafted to Skye in 1882, and took part in ademonstra- 
 tration which was called at the time £ the battle of the Braes,’ the Braes 
 
405 
 
 being a locality in which several crofting townships are situated. Sub- 
 sequently a body of marines and police marched through Kilmuir and 
 Glendale, in Skye, and at different times troopships and gunboats, as well 
 as the passenger steamer 1 Lochiel,’ which was made into a sort of floating 
 police office, cruised around the shores of the island. Indeed, if I mistake 
 not, a considerable number of marines took up their abode in Skye for the 
 whole or greater part of the winter. As showing the intensity and bitter- 
 ness of feeling which prevailed throughout almost all classes of the com- 
 munity in certain districts I may mention this fact, that for a considerable 
 time all official telegraphic messages, as to the movements of the military 
 or police force, were despatched in Foreign Office cypher, and during the 
 jirst stages of our proceedings we, in official communications, used the 
 .same cypher.’ 
 
 He mentioned other facts of a similar kind, and then 
 went on to say that : — 
 
 ‘ These various movements did not stop the agitation, nor stamp out 
 the discontent. They did not produce any more friendly feeling between 
 crofters and landlords, and I very much doubt if they led to any general 
 paying up of rent or arrears. After the Act of 1886 began to be carried 
 out, the scene gradually changed, the crofters crowded anxiously to the 
 -Courts of the Commission, waited patiently upon the proceedings of the 
 •Commissioners, and lay before them in all their fulness the complaints 
 they had to make and the grievances of which they sought redress. Most 
 of the evidence tendered and allowed bore more or less upon the two 
 main questions at issue — namely, what ought to be the fair rent of a 
 particular holding and how should the arrears standing against a crofter 
 occupant be dealt with? Tranquility, combined with an abiding belief 
 that justice would be done, by degrees took the place of the discontent 
 and agitation which previously prevailed. That tranquility has since con- 
 tinued without interruption over the whole crofting area, and warships 
 and marines, or police from the Lowlands, are no longer required. The 
 people live in harmony with each other, and, as a rule, with the land- 
 owners, and are law-abiding and law-observing.’ 
 
 The effect left upon our minds by the unchallenged 
 evidence of Sheriff Brand, and by the facts, which from 
 sources of information open to all, we have obtained, led us 
 to conclude that the Crofters Act of 1886 has been entirely 
 successful in attaining the object of the Legislature. 
 
 Putting the case of Ireland and the case of Scotland 
 together, and asking ourselves what were the essential griev- 
 ances under which they laboured, we believe that the ultimate 
 grievances were the insecurity of tenure and the exorbitancy 
 of rents. As we have not only from an economic, but from 
 a strictly practical point of view, pointed out, they are in- 
 herent in the existing system of tenancy from year to year. 
 Though the manifestations of discontent among the Welsh 
 tenantry, or for the matter of that, among the English ten- 
 antry, may be less accentuated and less rebellious, yet the 
 same ills are not less felt, and whatever criticisms may be 
 directed against the attempt to bring the case of the Welsh 
 tenants into the same class as the cases of Ireland and Scot- 
 land, we feel that, when the matter is probed to the bottom, 
 there is a substantial similarity between the conditions of 
 *each case. 
 
 Has given place 
 to an undisturb- 
 ed tranquility. 
 
406 
 
 hTtherto R con° n We cannot help noticing that the Act of 1881 for Ire- 
 ducted ou con- land and the Act of 1886 for Scotland were both the results 
 s.titutionai lines. 0 f an a gft a tion in some respects revolutionary or unlawful. 
 
 We are, of course, also aware, and it is a matter of satisfac- 
 tion to us to be able to report to that effect, that the demand 
 put forward by the Welsh tenants is not made in the midst 
 of turmoil or of insurrectionary movement. The utmost 
 that has been alleged throughout our inquiry by any landlord 
 is that there is considerable violence of language on the pub- 
 lic platform and in the public press, and that emissaries, paid 
 or not, are endeavouring to stir up strife between landlord 
 and tenant, and that the existence of this Commission itself 
 is due to party agitation. No one has come forward to say 
 that the tenants are not law-abiding upon the whole, and that- 
 they are not content to rest the enforcement of their just 
 demands upon the use of constitutional means. This does 
 not seem to us to be an argument against, but one for, a 
 modification of the existing law. 
 
 “PROPOSED LEGISLATION, ” OR THE CONSTI- 
 TUTION OF THE LAND COURT (pp. 917-924). 
 
 Difference be- There is a considerable difference between the Irish Act 
 o7i88i and^crof- of 1881 and the Crofters Act, 1886. The former was designed 
 ters Act 1886. ^ an( j j n f ac ^ ^ 0 es, confer on the tenant what are known as- 
 
 the three F’s — fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale. The 
 Crofters Act of 1886 has a much more limited application in 
 the area to which it applies. It only affects to deal with 
 the tenancies that existed when the Act came into operation. 
 In regard to those tenancies it provides for the fixing of a- 
 fair rent and giving fixity of tenure as long as the conditions 
 As to principles, of tenancy as defined by the Act are observed. It does not 
 confer upon the tenant the right of freely selling or assigning 
 his tenancy, but confines all alienation to bequest by will or 
 by act, inter vivos, to a class of persons who may be called 
 near relations. 
 
 There is, too, considerable difference in the machinery 
 provided for carrying out the intention of the Legislature. 
 In Ireland a court possessing the powers of the High Court of 
 Justice, acting in accordance with the rules with which juris- 
 diction is exercised in the ordinary courts of law, is created, 
 and a very large number of officers, principal and subordinate, 
 are appointed to discharge the various functions incident to- 
 the application of the Act. We need not go into details in 
 regard to the matter. They are easily accessible by reference- 
 
 As to Machinery. 
 
407 
 
 to the Act itself, or to text-books on the law connected with 
 it. The machinery of the Crofters Act is much more simple. 
 
 It creates a commission with full power to determine fair 
 rents and all questions in dispute between the landlord and 
 crofter coming within the scope of the Act. The commission is 
 not limited in its mode of action by many of the formalities 
 of a court of justice. The initial process and the subsequent 
 stages of procedure are simple and easily intelligible. The 
 commission does not deliver its judgment accompanied by a 
 statement of reasons, as is usual in a court of justice. The 
 commission has no executive authority and cannot enforce its 
 own decrees, but the execution of the judgment is entrusted 
 to the hands of other judicial and executive officers. It is 
 obvious from these considerations that the Irish Act may be 
 looked upon as a permanent Act, and as creating a perma- 
 nent organization, while the Crofters Act will cease to apply 
 if and when all the tenancies to which it is applied gradually, 
 from some cause or another, cease to exist. 
 
 It has been necessaiy to state this much in order to a welsh Act 
 understand the detailed questions that we have had to consider Se^fai^ 0 rents 
 with reference to proposed legislation, analogous in character, “* u ^ cnrity of 
 for Welsh tenancies. For the reasons that we have discussed 
 above, inadequately but as exhaustively as we can without 
 unduly extending our report, we have to come to the opinion 
 that an Act of Parliament conferring a right upon the tenants 
 to have fair rents fixed, and so constructed as to secure them 
 fixity of tenure, is required, both from motives of general 
 expediency and by the equities arising under the circum- 
 stances that exist in Wales. It is not, of course, within our 
 power to draft a Bill, and if we attempted to do so we should 
 become involved in details that are not vital to the principles 
 which we recommend. The Bills which have been brought 
 into the House of Commons, as appears in our historical 
 retrospect of the land question in Wales,* are attempts to 
 carry out the principle which we recommend, and it may be 
 that they are adequate for securing the objects we have in 
 view. In our judgment, however, they do not by any means 
 cover the whole ground, and are capable of much important 
 revision both from the point of view of the landlord and from 
 the point of view of the tenant, if the general principle of 
 farther interference by legislation between landlord and 
 tenant is conceded. 
 
 * Namely the Bills of Mr. Bryn Roberts, M.P., and of Mr. Thomas 
 Ellis, M.P., respectively. — D.L1.T. 
 
408 
 
 County Court 
 should be 
 utilised for the 
 purpose. 
 
 We think, therefore, that it is well for us to state in some 
 greater detail what should be the leading principles of such 
 a Bill as we would think is required for Wales. 
 
 The right of The essence of the legislation we propose is the right of 
 
 court 1 of usu e a a con f rac f °f tenancy to have the power of apply- 
 
 for the fixing of ing to a court of justice for the fixing of a fair rent. 
 bei f ugthe e es~ The first question, therefore, that we have to discuss is 
 
 posed Biu he pr °" ^ ie nature of the court, either to be specially created 
 
 or utilized for the purpose of carrying out the Act. The 
 whole working of the Act will obviously depend upon the 
 ability and general efficiency of the court. The efficiencjr of 
 the court will largely depend upon considerations of the 
 capacity of the judges or other officers, the simplicity of the 
 procedure, and the lowness of its fees. 
 
 Two courses maj^ be taken : either a new organization 
 similar to the Irish Land Court, or a commission similar to 
 that of the Crofters’ Act, may be created on the one hand, or 
 else the county courts which have jurisdiction over the area 
 of our inquiry may be utilized for the purpose. 
 
 We have considered this question, and, having regard 
 to considerations of public economy, and to the general 
 interests of the parties, we have come to the conclusion that 
 the requirements of Wales would be best met by utilizing 
 the countjr courts. The principal reason which leads us to 
 this conclusion is the great facility which is given by the 
 existing county court machinery in the service of summonses, 
 in the subpoenaing of witnesses, the serving of all kinds of 
 notices, and in regard to the execution of judgments. Fifty 
 years’ experience has made the county court one of the best 
 devised and equipped organizations in the country, and it 
 would be impossible to create any fresh organization which 
 would be superior in its plan or in its working to the existing 
 sj^stem. The county court has its offices in districts of mod- 
 erate size, situate as a rule at convenient centres which are 
 easily accessible from all parts of the district, and the posi- 
 tions of which are well known to all persons residing in the 
 district. Furthermore, its fees for commencing proceedings 
 and for hearing are, on the whole, reasonable, and its fees for 
 service of process are remarkably low. 
 
 It would be quite impossible, without serious loss to the 
 Treasury, to create a new land court system which would do 
 the work at anything like the same expense to the parties, 
 and even if the scale of fees in matters coming within the 
 proposed Act were made lower than the fees now chargeable, 
 the result would probably be no loss to the Treasury at all. 
 No doubt the imposition of this fresh jurisdiction upon the 
 
409 
 
 county court would, if tenants largely availed themselves of 
 the Bill, add a considerable burden to the work of each rural 
 county court. But a very slight addition to the existing 
 subordinate staff would probably meet any fresh demands 
 upon the powers of the court. 
 
 We are strongly opposed, for many reasons, to the dup- 
 lication of judicial organizations, and think it would be 
 extremely wasteful to provide in rural districts two sets of 
 judicial offices, two sets of registrars or clerks, and two sets 
 of bailiffs. Consequently we think that it should be a prin- 
 ciple of the proposed Bill to utilize the machinery of the 
 county courts. 
 
 So far we have been adverting to the procedural part, or An Agricultural 
 machinery, or the court, and we have now to ask ourselves appointed for 
 whether the duties devolving upon the court in agricultural luany dedde to 
 matters could be entrusted to the judges of county courts, or g ^ t question8 of 
 whether, if they were entrusted, they could be reasonably 
 asked to perform them without unduly adding to their 
 judicial labours. We think that it would not be possible for 
 the judges to exercise jurisdiction under the Act themselves, 
 without imposing undue strain upon them, and running the 
 risk of damaging the efficiency of the courts in regard to 
 their ordinary business. 
 
 We think, therefore, that it would be necessary to SiowS^ques- 
 appoint on each county court circuit one or more c^ t ?court to 
 agricultural judges, the sphere of whose jurisdiction should Judge sitting 
 be limited to cases coming under the Act, but who, in the turai judge” 1 " 
 exercise of such jurisdiction, should have all the powers of 
 the county court judge. If this plan were adopted, we think 
 that the decision of the agricultural judge should be final in 
 regard to questions of fact, but that in regard to questions of 
 law there should be an appeal to the county court judge, or 
 the county court judge sitting with the agricultural judge, 
 or judges of the circuit. 
 
 As to the qualifications of an agricultural judge, the who should be 
 principal question that arises is whether the office should be agr^uiture” 
 tenable only bj^ lawyers, or only by laymen skilled in agricul- 
 tural matters, or whether he should be required to be a 
 barrister or solicitor who is also an expert in land-valuing, 
 farming, and cognate matters. Upon the whole, we think 
 that an agricultural judge should not necessarily be required 
 to be a barrister or a solicitor, but that the preliminary quali- 
 fication for the office should be the possession of a sound, 
 practical knowledge of farming obtained either by actual 
 -experience in the art, or by practice as a land agent and 
 valuer, but, at the same time, we recognise that if, in addition 
 
410 
 
 Should, as a rule 
 personally in- 
 spect the hold- 
 ings, 
 
 And in giving 
 judgment, 
 
 to this knowledge, a candidate also had legal knowledge and 
 training, it would be a distinct advantage. We think it un- 
 necessary to go into further detail upon this matter or to 
 deal with the mode of appointment, or the amount of remun- 
 eration of the agricultural judges. 
 
 With regard to the general method of exercising juris- 
 diction, we think that the agricultural judge should proceed, 
 in the main, upon the traditional or prescribed lines of an 
 ordinary court, but that, of course, in discharging his functions, 
 he should habitually — in all cases where it is necessary, or 
 he may be required to do so — visit and inspect the holding 
 personally, and that more latitude in unessential matters 
 should be permitted than in the exercise of the ordinary 
 jurisdiction of the court, with a view to avoiding prolixity on 
 the part of the parties, or their agents and advocates, and 
 undue lengthening of the proceedings. 
 
 There is one other matter in connexion with the court 
 should state his to which we think it right to refer. It has been pointed out 
 that under the Crofters Act the practice of Sheriff Brand and 
 the other Commissioners has been, after listening to tho 
 parties, to fix a fair rent without publicly stating the reason- 
 ing by which they arrive at the particular amount, and it is 
 observable that the Crofters Act, 1886, lays down no defini- 
 tion of what a fair rent is, nor as to the way in which it is 
 arrived at. It leaves the question entirely to the Commission. 
 The Duke of Argyll, in his evidence before us, complained of 
 this method of deciding cases, and asserted that neither the- 
 Irish Land Commission, nor the Scotch Commission was 
 really a judicial court at all, because it did not administer a 
 known code of law, and that in his opinion, “ People ought 
 to know the principles on which their property is assessed.” 
 We are of opinion that there is justice in this complaint, and 
 that, even if the proposed Bill were to lay down no rules for 
 estimating fair rent, we think that the agricultural judge- 
 should state the reasons for his decision in such a way as to 
 enable landlord and tenant alike to understand its grounds,, 
 and the principles upon which he has proceeded. But, as 
 will appear below, we go further. We think that the decision 
 of what is a fair rent ought not to be left to the mere judicial 
 discretion, however impartial, and however competent, of art 
 individual judge, but that the Legislature itself ought to lay 
 down the broad principles upon which the court should 
 proceed in deciding whether a particular rent is or is 
 not fair. 
 
 Assuming, then, that a competent tribunal for the- 
 decision of disputes within the Act is provided, we have next 
 
411 
 
 to consider the question, what shall be its jurisdiction as ^ ct j^eiias 
 between landlord and tenant, and how and under what cir- existing tenan- 
 cumstances it shall become vested with power to decide such 
 controversies. And here we have to ask ourselves whether 
 the proposed Bill should be limited in its operation to the 
 cases of existing tenancies, or whether it shall apply to 
 tenancies which may be created after the Act comes into 
 force. We have come to the conclusion, as might have been 
 expected from our view of regulating the agricultural 
 industry, that the Act should be permanent and apply to 
 future as well as existing tenancies. 
 
 The next point that arises for consideration is whether 
 the Act should be compulsorily applied to all agricultural the court by 
 holdings coming within it3 scope as a matter of course, or ofteuaS^ 10 ^ 
 whether the Act should only be brought into play upon the 
 application either of the tenant alone, or upon the application 
 of the landlord or the tenant. 
 
 In regard to the first branch of this question, we are of 
 opinion that there is such variation between the circumstances 
 existing in different parts of the area of our inquiry that we 
 think it unnecessary and inexpedient to make the Act 
 applicable in every case whether the parties want it applied 
 or not. We think it quite possible that, in regard to some 
 holdings, the tenant himself would not think it necessary to 
 take proceedings, and that in other cases the knowledge 
 which the landlord would possess, that if he did not treat his 
 tenant reasonably the latter might at any moment bring his 
 case before the court, would act as a check upon capricious 
 conduct. 
 
 Upon the other branch of the question, whether the ^n^tquai 
 landlord should have an equal right with the tenant to risht o£ “S?® 4- 
 initiate proceedings, we unhesitatingly determine that he 
 ought to have the opportunity of bringing the circumstances 
 of the holding before the court, if for any reason he think it 
 would be expedient to take that course. 
 
 Another point of a very essential character is the defini- ^JJicuitSki 
 tion of the agricultural holding to which the Act is to apply. Voiding” to 
 The definition of “ agricultural holding ” for the purposes of should apply, 
 the Act presents little difficulty, so far as the character of 
 the land and its appurtenances are concerned. It should 
 apply to every holding that is “ either wholly agricultural, or 
 wholly pastoral, or in part agricultural, and as to the residue 
 pastoral, or in whole, or in part cultivated as a market garden.” 
 
 These are the words of the Act of 1883 (s. 54), and they 
 appear to us to be fairly clear in their interpretation. The 
 matter of difficulty is the determination of the extent of the 
 
412 
 
 holding to which the proposed Bill should apply. The words 
 we have just adopted from the Agricultural Holdings Act of 
 1883 are so wide as to include the smallest market garden 
 and the smallest allotment land for spade industry. We do 
 not think that any proposed Bill for Wales should apply to 
 very small holdings, but that it should be limited to holdings 
 of such a size as in normal seasons, and under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, would absorb the whole time of the tenant, and 
 enable him to maintain himself and his family out of the 
 proceeds of the farming industry. It is extremely difficult to 
 fix a limit without doing some injustice or creating some 
 inconvenience on the one side or the other. If the margin 
 is placed too high, it is quite possible that the Act may be 
 largely evaded by the sub-division of the holdings ; if it is 
 placed to low, it is introducing principles which, for the 
 reasons we have mentioned above, we think ought to be 
 applied as to real farms to holdings which, though nominally 
 agricultural in character, are so small, that the industry is 
 carried on upon such a scale as hardly to amount to a 
 business. While we do not attach any vital importance to 
 the precise acreage, we think that the limit of size of the 
 holdings to which the Act is to apply should be fixed at not 
 more than 20 acres, nor less than 10. So much for the class 
 of holdings to which we propose the Bill should apply. 
 
 In regard to the holdings to which the proposed Act is 
 to apply, we recommend that every tenant occupying such a 
 holding at the time the Act comes into operation, or at any 
 time thereafter, and the landlord, or any future landlord of 
 the same holding, shall have the right to apply to the court 
 constituted by the Act to have the rent of the holding fixed 
 for a certain period, and to have reasonable conditions of 
 tenancy settled by the court. Upon such application, 
 whether made at the instance of the landlord or made at the 
 instance of the tenant, it should be the duty of the court to 
 fix a fair rent and to determine whether the existing condi- 
 tions, or any proposed conditions of tenancy, are reasonable, 
 and to settle the same between the parties, 
 perfo^far which Another point which, in regard to this part of the Bill, 
 the rent should we have had to consider has been the question : for how long 
 " ^ ' a period the rent ought to be fixed ? Various terms occurred 
 
 to us in the course of our discussions. Three, five, seven and 
 14 years were suggested. We are of opinion that 14 years is 
 too long a term, and three years too short. The problem is 
 to determine what number of years’ operations that may be 
 regarded, taking one year with another and one season with 
 another, to be a sufficient and convenient time for taking an 
 
413 
 
 account of the profit or loss of the undertaking. If the 
 conditions of the market were, on the whole, constant, or at 
 any rate not subject to any considerable fluctuations, there 
 would be no harm in fixing the rent for a considerable 
 number of years : but, in the existing condition of the 
 British markets, fluctuations in prices are both very frequent 
 and very great. Accordingly the right to readjustment of 
 rent, once the principle is conceded, ought to be one enforce- 
 able at reasonably close intervals. We need not elaborate 
 the arguments for and against a particular number of years, 
 but may content ourselves with stating, that, having given 
 the matter our careful consideration, and bearing in mind the 
 necessity of avoiding expense, we think five years would 
 probably be found the most convenient period in practice, 
 while it would not entail any substantial injustice, under any 
 circumstances, either to the landlord or to the tenant. 
 
 The next matter in this connexion that we have dis- principles 
 cussed has been the question whether the courts should be §^g iU a S 1 
 directed, in determining a fair rent, to observe certain definite rent -” 
 principles laid down in the Act, or whether there should be 
 no attempt to define “ fair rent,” and the court should have 
 power to determine what is, in the particular case, a fair rent 
 according to its judicial discretion. 
 
 The Irish Act of 1881 lays down no complete rules or 
 methods for determining a “ fair rent.” The only instructions 
 of a definite kind are set forth in section 8 of the Act, and 
 they direct the Court to have regard to the interest of the 
 landlord and the tenant respectively, and not to allow any 
 rent in respect of improvements made by the tenant for 
 which he has not been paid or otherwise compensated by the 
 landlord. The Scotch Act of 1886 gives no definition of a 
 fair rent. We do not think it right to give the Court an 
 uncontrolled discretion in the matter, and think that some 
 leading principles should be laid down for its guidance. The 
 consideration of the true business-like account between land- 
 lord and tenant, an analysis of which in a hypothetical case 
 we have given above, clears the way for arriving at certain 
 principles upon which the court may be directed to proceed, 
 not necessarily as excluding the application of other elements 
 in the problem, but as principles which in all cases it shall, 
 in the first instance, be bound to attend to. 
 
 The first principle which should be laid down is, that 
 the Court should separate the value of the land, in its 
 improved condition, from its value in its unimproved con- 
 dition, i.e., its “prairie” value; next it should distinguish 
 between the value of the land of the holding and that of the 
 
 to 
 
 in 
 
 ‘ fair 
 
414 
 
 buildings — an operation that would be greatly facilitated by 
 the calculations made for the purpose of applying the Agri- 
 cultural Rating Act, 1896. The value of the landlord’s 
 capital expended ( a ) on the buildings and (&) on the land 
 (e.g., for gates and fences, reclamation, drainage, &c.) should 
 be assessed. On the other hand, the value of the improve- 
 ments made by the tenant or his predecessor should be 
 ascertained. The producing capacity of the farm in the 
 hands of a reasonably skilful tenant should be estimated as 
 well as the probable movements of prices of the principal 
 kinds of produce. In endeavouring to arrive at the possible 
 profits, the account of the operations should be properly 
 made up and the division of the estimated profits should be 
 made upon a fair basis, having regard to the respective risks 
 of the parties. The leading principle to be followed by the 
 Court in fixing the rent upon the basis of these data should 
 be the separation of the value of the land from the value of 
 the capital. The value (if any) of the land considered as un- 
 improved, that is, of “ the inherent capacity of the soil,” 
 should be deemed a first charge, and payable by the tenant, 
 quite apart from the calculation of possible profit produced by 
 the joint operation of landlord’s and tenant’s capital or the 
 question of interest thereupon. If full wages of superinten- 
 dence are allowed in making the account, care should be 
 taken that the annual value of the farmhouse as a residence 
 should be allowed to the landlord, but, of course, in that case 
 the capital value of the farmhouse would have to be deducted 
 from the landlord’s capital in the division of profits. 
 
 We think that a clause embodying the suggestions we 
 have just made (or similar principles) should be inserted in 
 the proposed Act, as directions to the court, but at the same 
 time we would give a certain latitude in their application. 
 We recognise that a 4 ‘fair” rent cannot be determined with 
 mathematical precision by reference solely to a set of rules 
 formulated in an Act of Parliament without reference to 
 other elements in the question. Allowance must be made by 
 a Judge for the special character, circumstances, and history 
 of the holding. What we desire to emphasise is that the 
 Judge should arrive at his decision not in an arbitrary or 
 capricious manner, however conscientiously so far as his 
 intention is concerned, but in a rational and business-like 
 way (for which proper reasons can be given) from ascertained 
 data connected with the holding and the business carried on 
 upon it. 
 
 We may here incidentally mention that in the case of 
 every holding coming before the court particulars relating 
 
415 
 
 to the holding in considerable detail should be inserted in a ^avea^tenants’ 
 book to be kept at the court for future reference, and that holding book” 
 the determination of the court with regard to the amount of particulars. 111111 ^ 
 rent should be entered therein, together with a concise state- 
 ment of the reasons given by the agricultural judge for his 
 estimation of the amount. The creation of such a tenant’s 
 holding book was suggested in a Bill which was discussed in 
 Parliament during the current session, and appears to us to 
 he an admirable suggestion that might be carried out without 
 unduly adding to the cost of proceedings under the Act. 
 
 We pass now to another branch of the proposed juris- court may also 
 diction to regulate the agricultural industry. We think that condiUons 01 of ble 
 •either landlord or tenant ought to have the power to apply to tenancy, 
 the court to fix reasonable conditions of tenancy. If, for 
 instance, a tenant thinks that the clauses of the agreement 
 under which he holds are unjust or injurious, he ought, in 
 our judgment, to have the right of appealing to the court. 
 
 The agricultural judge, in dealing with this matter, should 
 be allowed considerable latitude of discretion, and should be 
 ■especially directed to consider the characteristics of the 
 particular holding, and the district in which it is situate, and 
 the kind of farming which can be most profitably carried on. 
 
 So far we have only dealt with the fixing of fair rent and determfnabie'by 
 fair conditions of tenancy, but it will be obvious that no ®jJ 1 t er ( J 1 ar ^ n ex ' 
 provisions of the kind suggested would be really operative, compliance with 
 unless security of tenure is given to the tenant, because, if such condltlon8 * 
 the matter were left at this point, the landlord, — the moment 
 after the court had given its decision, — might serve a notice 
 to quit upon the tenant. Accordingly, in order to make the 
 proposal practically efficacious, it must contain a proviso that 
 no notice to quit given by a landlord to his tenant shall be 
 of any avail so long as the tenant pays his rent and complies 
 with the conditions of his agreement, or with the reasonable 
 conditions of the tenancy as determined by the court. This 
 brings us to consider the question whether the legislation 
 should be one-sided in the sense that the landlord should be 
 thus bound, but the tenant be at liberty to throw up his 
 holding upon giving one year’s notice to quit, or such notice 
 to quit as is provided for by his agreement. In the actual 
 condition of things in Wales, and so long as competition for 
 farms continues, no substantial injustice would probably be 
 involved to the landlord in such an unequal arrangement, 
 because if a tenant does give up his holding, no difficulty 
 appears to be felt in any part of Wales in obtaining a fairly 
 good tenant. But this consideration does not seem to us to 
 justify departing from principles of strict justice between the 
 
416 
 
 Unrestricted 
 Assignation 
 tenancy or 
 “ Free Sale ” 
 goodwill by 
 occupier © 
 demned. 
 
 parties in the proposed legislation, and we recommend that 
 no notice to quit given by a tenant who has applied to the 
 court, and whose rent has been judicially fixed, or the condi- 
 tions of whose tenancy have been determined by the court, 
 should be operative unless the landlord without good cause, 
 in the opinion of the court, refuses to make permanent 
 improvements as defined by the Agricultural Holdings Act, 
 1883, or any amending Act, within a reasonable time, or he 
 does not consent to the tenant’s making such improvements. 
 
 The effect of such provisions as we now suggest would 
 be to create, in the cases dealt with by the Act, a statutory 
 or judicial tenancy binding upon both parties, and only 
 dissoluble by mutual consent, or bj r notice to quit given on 
 the conditions above-mentioned or by death of the tenant, 
 leaving no member of his family as defined by the Act 
 competent to take his place. 
 
 of The next question, in considering the principles of the 
 proposed Bill, that we have had to consider, is the question 
 ° to what extent, if anj T , the tenant ought to have the right to 
 ,n ' assign his tenancy ? We may say at once that we do not 
 think it is just or expedient to give a tenant the absolute 
 right of assigning his holding. To do so would be, in effect 
 — supposing that the value of the land should rise — to give 
 him a share in the ownership of the land, to the pecuniary 
 detriment of the landlord. According to the view that we 
 take, if a tenant wishes to give up his holding, and the land- 
 lord consents, he would leave upon the terms of receiving 
 compensation for unexhausted improvements under the Agri- 
 cultural Holdings Act, 1883, or any similar Act. If the 
 landlord does not consent to his quitting the holding, we 
 think the tenant ought to have the right, on conditions to 
 which we will advert directly, to assign to a third person 
 approved by the landlord or by the court. 
 
 The difficulty of the matter consists in this, that if a 
 court fixes the rent of a particular holding for five years, and 
 the prosperity of the country should increase and the price of 
 agricultural produce go up, or for some other reason the 
 value of the holding should, before the period of five years 
 has elapsed, greatly increase, it is obvious that something 
 could, upon assignment, be obtained from an incoming 
 tenant for the improved value of the holding as compared 
 with its value at the time the rent was fixed. Now, we think 
 that such improved value, so far, of course, as it is not due to 
 the mere expenditure of tenant’s capital ought not to find its 
 way into the pocket of the tenant as it would assuredly do if 
 he has a free and unfettered right of assignment. On the 
 other hand, it seems practically inexpedient, from man}?- 
 
417 
 
 points of view, to compel a man 1 o continue farming after he 
 wishes to retire, and when there is another competent and 
 respectable person ready to take his place upon the holding. 
 
 To permit unlimited alienation would be an injustice to the 
 landlord ; to forbid all alienation, except by consent of the 
 landlord, would be a public inconvenience and a private mis- 
 fortune. 
 
 We have, accordingly, endeavoured to devise means by ^ fc u ^be C per- ier 
 which the value of the tenant-right, or the value of the good- mitted to assign 
 will or improved value of the land (or by whatever name the ing the term, ur 
 price which an incoming tenant would be willing to pay for assignee be^n- 
 the residue of a judicial tenancy may be called), shall find its ^®°\ ionable as 
 way into the hands of the landlord, without, at the same 
 time, fairly free and easy assignment being prevented. The 
 method which we suggest for the attainment of this end is 
 the following : — 
 
 If the tenant should desire to assign his holding he 
 should be at liberty to give notice to that effect to his land- 
 lord. If the landlord, by a counter notice, signifies his 
 dissent from the proposed assignment, the tenant shall be 
 entitled to give up possession at the end of the then current 
 year of the tenancy, if the proposed assignee or new tenant 
 is a person of good character, of competent skill, and with 
 sufficient capital for the holding. The landlord shall then be 
 bound to pay compensation for unexhausted improvements 
 according to the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, or any 
 amending Act. If the landlord does not give a counter 
 notice, the tenant may assign his holding, provided that the 
 assignee is a person of good character, of competent skill, and 
 with sufficient capital. In such case the landlord shall not 
 have the right to refuse the proposed new tenant unless he 
 is not of good character, of competent skill, and of sufficient 
 capital. If any dispute arises upon these points the court 
 shall have power to determine whether the proposed assignee 
 is or is not a fit person. 
 
 The practical application of such a method would be 
 this : — If we suppose that the judicial rent of a tenancy is 
 fixed, say on September 29, 1897, and two years afterwards, 
 in September, 1899, the tenant wished to retire, he would 
 serve a notice upon the landlord signifying his intention to 
 assign to A.B. If prices had gone up, if the general value of 
 farms had risen, seeing that the judicial rent would have still 
 three years time of operation, it would manifestly be to the 
 interest of the incoming tenant to pay something by way of 
 bonus for the holding. It would not matter to him whether 
 it goes to the landlord or to the tenant. The landlord’s posi- 
 tion, therefore, would be this : — If he did not care whether 
 
 CC 
 
418 
 
 Court may, on 
 application 
 authorise land- 
 lord to resume 
 possession for 
 reasonable pur- 
 poses, je.g., im- 
 provements. 
 
 the old tenant went or not, he would, before giving any 
 counter notice, approach the intending tenant, and say that 
 he would accept him if he would pay some reasonable sum. 
 If, on the other hand, the value of the holding has fallen, it 
 cannot matter to the landlord whether the tenant remains or 
 whether a new tenant comes in, provided the latter is a fit 
 and proper person. It appears to us that the adoption of 
 some such method for dealing with assignments as we have 
 now suggested would practically check the creation of any 
 right to goodwill, or improved value, to the detriment of the 
 landlord. 
 
 With regard to cases of assignment upon death, we 
 recommend the insertion of provisions to much the same 
 effect as those contained in the Crofters Act, 1886. 
 
 In discussing the general lines of such a Bill for the 
 creation of a judicial tenancy as we propose, one of the diffi- 
 culties that naturally occurred to us was that its effect would 
 be to stereotype the existing holdings, and create consider- 
 able difficulty in regard to improving and developing estates, 
 and, it may be, the general progress of the district. We 
 think, however, that any evils that may arise from this fact 
 may be overcome by making suitable provisions for the re- 
 sumption of possession of part of a holding by the landlord for 
 some good cause. In every case to which the Act applies, 
 we would give the landlord a right to apply to the court for 
 retaking possession of a part of a holding for some reasonable 
 purpose, e.g., the erection of labourers’ cottages, the providing 
 of gardens, allotments, planting trees, the working of coal or 
 other minerals, the making of watercourse, the making of 
 roads, sanitary works, and so forth. The court would, upon 
 such application re-adjust the incidents of the tenancy by 
 making a proper abatement from the rent, and, if necessary, 
 modifying the conditions of the tenancy. 
 
 We have now dealt with the principal matters that 
 carrying the principle of legislative interference further in 
 the concerns of agricultural industry seem to raise, except one, 
 viz., whether the proposed Bill should apply to tenants from 
 year to year only, or to tenants who hold, or may hold, on 
 lease for a term of years. It might be urged, on the one 
 hand, that it is quite inexpedient to apply the Act to lease- 
 holders for considerable terms, because in such case security 
 of tenure, which is one of the objects intended to be secured 
 by the proposed legislation, is provided by the voluntary 
 action of the parties themselves. 
 
 No doubt this circumstance is a formidable argument 
 against the application of the Act to the leaseholders for any 
 term which is longer than the period for which judicial rents 
 
419 
 
 rare fixed. But on the other hand a lease at a fixed annual ca^e of leases 
 rental does not any more than a tenancy from year to year what from that 
 necessarily imply that in the changing circumstances of the an C ies. arly ten ~ 
 .agricultural business the rental is in any particular year 
 fair. In the case of a very long lease, it may frequently 
 happen that in some years, or one series of years, the rent 
 may be unfair to the tenant, and, in another year or series of 
 years, unfair to the landlord. So that it is only, at any rate, 
 one of the objects which we propose to attain that is met by 
 the leasehold system While we are bound to admit that 
 there is very considerable difference in the relation of land- 
 lord and tenant under a lease for a considerable period of 
 years, and the relation of landlord and tenant under a 
 tenancy from year to year — especially in the case where 
 the tenant covenants to repair the buildingsand to do 
 permanent improvements — we think that many of the 
 broader considerations upon which we base a claim to the 
 proposed legislation, apply with as much weight in the . case 
 of persons farming under agricultural leases for considerable 
 terms, as in the case of the ordinary tenant farmer. Accord- 
 ing to the best conclusion we can form from the evidence, 
 there are comparatively few leaseholders of purely agricultural 
 land in Wales. The question, therefore, so far as it affects 
 existing leases (id est, the question whether the landlord or 
 tenant of a holding demised for a term, say of 14 or 21 years) 
 is not a very large one, or one that would affect any consider- 
 able number of persons. We are inclined, therefore, to draw 
 .a distinction between the case of leaseholds existing at the 
 time of the proposed Acts coming into operation, and leases 
 made thereafter. 
 
 Let us consider for a moment the position of things 
 after such a measure as we have suggested has come into 
 play. The landlord, the owner of a considerable estate, will 
 be face to face, in all probability, with applications to the 
 court from some of his tenants, and he will then ask himself 
 the question whether he cannot arrange to give them security 
 of tenure by freely offering them leases for considerable 
 terms of years. Most of the tenants, we are inclined to think, 
 would not entertain such proposals, because the rent question 
 is quite as important as the question of their security of 
 tenure. But supposing that a landlord should be able to 
 arrive at an agreement with the tenants, and the parties are 
 willing to enter into a lease for, say, 14 years, at a particular 
 rent and on certain covenants — ought such an arrangement 
 to be permitted, or ought the tenant or the landlord who has 
 made such an agreement to have a right to go to the court just 
 ..as he would in the case of an ordinary yearly tenancy, 
 
420 
 
 and ask for a determination of fair rent and reasonable condi- 
 tions ? Should the land court, proposed to be constituted, 
 have the power, in other words, to set aside the leases made 
 after the Act upon the application of either party? The 
 matter is certainly not an easy one to solve. On the whole 
 Nevertheless a t we are ^ nc ^ ne( ^ f 0 think that the interests of the community 
 should be simi- at large, and the interests of the landlords as well as those of 
 toaii ^rms'of 6 the tenants combine to show, that it is expedient to discourage 
 tenancies. a leasehold system and to insist upon the judicial system of 
 tenure. Accordingly, upon the whole, we have come to the 
 conclusion that it would be well to give every landlord and 
 every tenant (whatever the terms of the tenancy, whether 
 yearly or leasehold created after the passing of the Act) 
 a right of coming to the court to have the tenancy placed 
 upon the judicial and statutory basis, 
 if the parties But, on Bie °th er hand, it need not be assumed that in 
 privately or by every case there should be actual litigation or actual con- 
 settie conditions, troversy between the parties, even if both or either wish to 
 maybe e regl™ ent secure the characteristic advantages of the judicial ten an c}^ 
 anes holding*”’ an( ^ we think that provision should be made in the proposed 
 book, and should Act for those cases in which a landlord and a tenant agree 
 binding 6 effect as upon what shall be the amount of rent for the statutory 
 th^court? 1 ° f period, and upon reasonable conditions of tenancy, and where 
 they do so there should be a registration of the agreement in 
 the tenant’s holding book, to which we have just referred, as 
 if the court had pronounced a judgment on the matter, and 
 with the effect that the entry in the tenant’s holding book 
 should place both the parties in the same position in regard 
 to the particular holding as if the court had determined the 
 rent and the reasonable conditions. 
 
 So also, if the parties prefer to refer the determination 
 of a fair rent and reasonable conditions to an arbitrator, we 
 suggest that his award should be registered and have the 
 effect of a judgment for the statutory period. 
 
 But no “ con- Lastly, we have to point out as a result of our discussion 
 
 sSmid g b^ per- of the application of these new principles, that in order to 
 nutted. make the Act really operative, every agreement inconsistent 
 
 in the whole, or in part, with the tenour of the Act, ought 
 to be made null and void.” 
 
 (; Signed ) Carrington. 
 
 David Brynmor Jones. 
 John Rhys. 
 
 John Morgan Griffiths. 
 Edwin Grove. 
 
 Richard Jones. 
 
421 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SEPARATE REPORT.* 
 
 (Pages 933-946). 
 
 have been anxious, as far as we honestly could, to 
 V V agree with our colleagues in the Report of the facts 
 which have come before the Commission and in the 
 general inferences to be drawn from them. And with that 
 view we have signed the first part of the Report as a pains- 
 taking endeavour to place on record a broad view of the 
 conditions under which land is held and cultivated in Wales. 
 There may be parts of the Report as to which, in our view, 
 undue regard may have been paid to statements of those 
 naturally under political bias, and undue prominence given 
 to matters more or less the subject from time to time of 
 political agitation. We have regretted the frequent intro- 
 duction of personal matters by reference to individual cases 
 by name. However carefully a short statement of facts often 
 imperfectly disclosed in the evidence may be drawn, it is 
 impossible to avoid the danger of not fully representing 
 aspects of the case which to the individual may be of personal 
 importance as more or less implying moral blame; and we 
 should deeply regret if in the statement of these cases in the 
 Report any unjust moral aspersion should have been un- 
 intentionally cast upon any individual, whether landlord or 
 tenant. With these reservations as regards this part of the 
 Report we have not thought it needful to withhold our 
 general concurrence. 
 
 * To avoid confusion, this Report, which is signed by a minority of 
 the Commissioners (namely, Lord Kenyon, Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn and Mr. 
 F. Seebohm) has been referred to in this Digest as the Minority Report, 
 though it is not so called by its signatories. Nor is it, in fact, a dissen- 
 tient Report in the sense in which “ Minority Reports ” usually are, inas- 
 much as it embodies all the recommendations of the Majority except that 
 in favour of the establishment of a Land Court. The process of reasoning 
 is different, but the conclusions, with the one exception mentioned, are 
 identical, as will be more clearly seen from the “Summary of recommend- 
 , ations ” printed at the end of this book. 
 
 General reserva- 
 tions. 
 
 D. LI T. 
 
422 
 
 Freedom of Con- 
 tract not lightly 
 to be abandoned. 
 
 Nature of the 
 Welsh problem. 
 
 Smallness and 
 family character 
 of Welsh farms. 
 
 The case is somewhat different when that part of the- 
 Report is reached which deals with “ conclusions and re- 
 commendations.” 
 
 With regard to these unanimity could hardly be 
 expected. There must arise differences of opinion resulting 
 from variety in the point ol view from which the same facts 
 are regarded and in the economic and political principles 
 applied to the solution of social problems. 
 
 We do not wish to exaggerate the amount of difference. 
 We are in general agreement with our colleagues as regards 
 the greater part of the conclusions and suggestions detailed 
 in Book 2 as far as the chapter “ On the prevailing System 
 of Agricultural Tenure.” As to the rest, whilst heartily en- 
 dorsing the suggestions for the amendment of the Agricul- 
 tural Holdings Act and approving the sections which deal 
 with the “ Occupying Freeholders ” ( see p. 333 above), “ La- 
 bourers ” (p. 339 above), “ The Law of Distress” (pp. 192-4 
 above), “ The Game Laws ” (pp. 190-1 above), “ Commons 
 and the Woods and Forests Department” (pp. 317 and 329). 
 we cannot agree with those sections of the Report which, in 
 our opinion, lead up to the creation of a judicial tenancy 
 and the constitution of a land court. 
 
 We candidly confess that we approach the subject with, 
 a strong leaning towards freedom of contract rather than 
 judicial interference between landlord and tenant. After all, 
 the working of economic laws and the foundation of civil 
 society must largely rest upon a general faith in human 
 nature and the assumption that men are in general capable 
 of making their own bargains. It is not thought necessary 
 to take out of the sphere of free contract every class of com- 
 mercial or social transactions in which grievances arise from 
 ignorance or inability or other defects of human nature. 
 
 It is generally found better to leave human beings to 
 learn by experience how to fight their own battles and gather 
 strength in the process, rather than to permanently enervate 
 them by an attempt to guard' them like children from the 
 results of their own actions. 
 
 Having said this at the outset we proceed to make the 
 following observations. 
 
 Notwithstanding the conclusion arrived at after careful 
 examination of the historical evidence that since the time of 
 Queen Elizabeth the tendency towards large estates on the 
 one hand, and towards year-to-year tenancy on the other 
 hand, has been very similar in Wales and in England, we 
 are fully sensible that there may nevertheless be economic 
 differences between the agricultural problems of the two 
 countries requiring careful consideration. 
 
423 
 
 There can be no doubt that owing to geographical and 
 physical as well as historical causes there are great differ- 
 ences. 
 
 One main difference lies in the size and character of the 
 farms. 
 
 Nothing can perhaps more clearly bring before us the 
 facts as regards this point than the comparison made at 
 pages 148-9 of the Report [see pp. 154-7 of this work] of the 
 average number of labourers employed on the farms. The 
 figures of the census of 1861 were quoted as showing that 
 whilst the average number of labourers to each occupier of 
 land in the various counties of England varied from about 
 ten in the eastern to five in the western counties, in Wales 
 the number did not exceed one and a half to two labourers 
 to each farm. Hence we have to deal with a multitude of 
 small farms, and the peasant or family character of these 
 farms was very clearly shown by the number of cases in 
 which they were carried on by widows and also by the house- 
 hold character of the labour employed upon them, the 
 farmers’ families and the labourers boarded by the farmers 
 doing about two-thirds of the labour in Wales instead of 
 about one-third as in England. 
 
 The counties most resembling Wales in these respects 
 are Cumberland and Westmoreland, where again the character 
 of the country and the prevalance of pasture over arable 
 bring the farms most nearly to Welsh conditions. 
 
 These general peculiarities of the Welsh farms must Eiemeuts in the 
 obviously be always borne m nnnd, but it is no less necessary absent from the 
 to bear in mind also the differences, on the other hand, Welsh - 
 between Welsh and Irish conditions. Happily, in Wales 
 there is (except in a very few districts) almost an entire 
 absence of the practice, so prevalent in Ireland, of throwing 
 upon the tenant the building and repairing of the buildings. 
 
 As a general rule, both the buildings and the larger repairs 
 fall upon the landlord, and hence one main element in the 
 Irish problem is absent from the Welsh problem ; and, 
 further, the landlord’s control has happily in Wales almost 
 entirely prevented that sub-division of holdings which, in 
 the congested districts of Ireland and in the case of the 
 Scotch crofters, has led to so much chronic suffering. Speak- 
 ing generally, there are no congested districts in Wales. 
 
 The recognition of these differences seems to us to be essential 
 to any true understanding of the Welsh problem. 
 
 Furthermore, there are differences in Wales itself 
 between one district and another of an essential character. 
 
 There are all stages of difference between the secluded sheep 
 
424 
 
 The family hold- 
 ing the prevalent 
 type. 
 
 Large Estates 
 with hundreds 
 of tenants, under 
 year to year 
 tenancy, but 
 often continuing 
 for generations. 
 
 Prevalence of 
 Estate rules and 
 customs in the 
 main beneficial. 
 
 farm on the mountains and farming in the populous mining 
 and manufacturing districts, where land has become what is 
 generally known as “ accommodation land ” and the once 
 agricultural farm often acquires the character of a country 
 home occupied by a family engaged more or less in other and 
 more lucrative pursuits than farming and farm labour. 
 
 Recurring, however, to what may be described as the 
 most general type of Welsh farms, their peasant or family 
 character is their most prominent feature. 
 
 In the fact that so much of the labour on this class of 
 Welsh farm is done by the farmer, his unmarried brothers, 
 and sons, it is quite possible that there may be something in 
 the nature of a survival from the tribal custom or instinct of 
 family as contrasted with individual holding. But, if it be 
 so, the tribal instinct does not seem to go much further than 
 the family holding. The instinct of jealous competition for 
 farms, arising from land hunger, of which we have had often 
 repeated evidence, seems to have obliterated any survival of 
 the wider tribal feeling, whilst the personal and family cling- 
 ing to a family occupation on the same or a neighbouring 
 estate remains very strong. 
 
 The largeness of many of the Welsh estates, measured 
 by the number of the farms they contain, presents another 
 great difference between the agricultural economy of Wales 
 and of England. 
 
 On an estate with many hundreds of tenants, most of 
 them comparatively small, and many of them very small, the 
 relation between landlord and tenant cannot be precisely the 
 same as in the case of an ordinary English estate composed 
 of a comparatively small number of large farms. There must 
 needs be a greater gulf in circumstances, in education, and 
 in habits, between the landowner and his more numerous 
 tenants in Wales than in England. 
 
 On the other hand, it becomes necessary in the nature 
 of things that large estates, with numerous tenants, should 
 be managed as regards most things under general rules and 
 recognised customs applying to all tenants alike rather than 
 on the principle of special agreements framed to meet the 
 various views of individual tenants. 
 
 Thus, in one sense, the range within which freedom of 
 contract can be oxercised is narrowed, whilst the tenant is 
 compensated in part by the increased protection of rules and 
 customs generally representing the results of long experience. 
 An incoming tenant has to accept the rules of the estate in 
 lump whatever they may be. He exercises his choice be- 
 tween the advantages secured by the substantially beneficent 
 
425 
 
 uniformity of a large estate and the possibility of making the 
 best particular bargain he can in the exercise of a less re- 
 stricted freedom of contract with the owner of a small one. 
 
 Some of the advantages of the well-managed large estate 
 are occasionally secured by several smaller ones being put 
 under the management of a single agent who may be the 
 agent also of larger ones, and in all cases the necessity for 
 some amount of uniformity fixed by custom or public 
 authority is recognised by law, particularly as regards the 
 rights of the outgoing and incoming tenant and compensa- 
 tion for improvements. No doubt on the side both of land- 
 lord and tenant this limitation of the area of freedom of 
 action by custom and general rules, as well as by law, is 
 acknowledged to be beneficial in its action. And certainly 
 the evidence given would not lead to the conclusion that on 
 the whole the tenants of the larger estates are placed by it 
 in a less advantageous position than those on the smaller 
 ones. 
 
 Complaints have come before us from both classes 
 of estates of the undue exercise of the landlord’s power in 
 particular cases, and they have sometimes been brought for- 
 ward apparently in support of a preconceived theory that 
 apart from the necessary gulf in circumstances already 
 alluded to, there must needs be a certain clashing of interests 
 between landlord and tenant arising from differences in race, 
 language, politics, and religion. In regard to many of these 
 instances rebutting evidence has been given, but cases no 
 doubt have occurred in the past of notices to quit given 
 apparently on political and religious grounds, especially after 
 hotly contested elections. And resting on this unfortunate 
 foundation of fact, rightly or wrongly, there has no doubt 
 arisen in the minds of tenants in some districts what is prob- 
 ably an exaggerated suspicion of improper motive whenever 
 a vacancy in a farm has been filled by a tenant who may 
 happen to be of the landlord’s own way of thinking in religion 
 or politics. 
 
 The action of landlords is naturally very jealously 
 watched under these circumstances : and the repetition of 
 isolated cases of individual hardship or suspicion, seldom of 
 recent date, and viewed sometimes without regard to the 
 proportion they bear to the total number of tenants, may 
 easily produce an exaggerated impression on the mind of the 
 extent to which even in the past the power of landlords has 
 been improperly used. 
 
 Hence conclusions drawn solely from the examination 
 of individual and exceptional cases of hardship or wrong 
 
 Difficulties in 
 the relation of 
 Landlord and 
 Tenant. 
 
426 
 
 would be very likely to mislead. To arrive at a correct 
 judgment it is obviously needful carefully to consider from a 
 wider point of view what are after all the main facts of the 
 position. 
 
 Notwithstanding the number of cases of grievance 
 brought forward, almost universal testimony has been borne 
 to the fact of general experience that, to a very remarkable 
 extent, the families of tenants have remained on the estates 
 for generations. 
 
 Even the cases of exceptional grievance often afford, 
 
 in the hardship complained of in individual cases brought 
 before the Commission, often, and perhaps generally has 
 been, that owing to some recent difficulty, a tenant has been 
 
 for generations. 
 
 The Welsh case, viewed as a whole, is certainly not one 
 of any general or wholesale severance of the Welsh people 
 or of ancient tenants from the land by the wrong use of 
 power on the part of landlords. Making due allowance for 
 
 difficult to find any other equal area in the United Kingdom 
 where there had been less severance of the old families of 
 owners and occupiers from the land. And this remarkable 
 general result has been attained notwithstanding all the 
 alleged difference in race, religion, and politics on which so 
 much stress has been laid. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, also, that, so far as the abuse 
 of political influence is concerned, tenants have now the 
 protection of the ballot as well as of an ever growing public 
 opinion. 
 
 This general view is so far dwelt upon, not for the pur- 
 pose of minimising the gravity of the cases of grievance 
 which must be judged on their own merits, but as having a 
 very pertinent bearing upon the practical question how the 
 causes or occasions of future grievances can best be lessened 
 or eliminated. A system which has on the whole worked 
 beneficially as regards the great mass of tenants, and which 
 has produced good general results, whilst not free from 
 
 becomes in such a case a grave point to be considered 
 whether the substitution of a radically new system of judicial 
 and State control, though honestly aiming at the prevention 
 of the wrongs to which the present system may be liable,. 
 
 piainea ot 111 m- — — ~ — — -- — * 7 
 
 divMuai cases from this point of view, strong corroborative evidence of 
 
 felt all the more , n ± , 
 
 because ex- what has been the general rule. The point most acutely felt 
 
 /•onfinnal . , 
 
 because 
 
 ceptional. 
 
 obliged to quit the holding which his family had occupied 
 
 the above-mentioned cases of grievance, perhaps it would be 
 
 certain defects, has to be considered from the point of view of 
 correction and reform rather than radical destruction, and it 
 
427 
 
 would after all secure the same general beneficent results 
 which the old one founded on long experience and custom 
 has secured, and, if perfected, might secure still more fully 
 in the future. 
 
 The actual and exceptional continuance of the same 
 families in the same holdings or other improved holdings 
 on the same estates is largely the result of sentiment and 
 tradition, on the side of both landlord and tenant. And it 
 does not at all follow that a hard and fast statutory tenancy, or 
 even peasant proprietorship, would have resulted in the past 
 in securing anything like the same permanence of occupation 
 as the present system has secured, or that it would equally 
 well promote the same result in the future. 
 
 There is another point which the evidence brought before Tenant pro-^ 
 us has very forcibly emphasised. Following true principles evils of land 
 of political economy, and in the pursuance of their own tme g inteLst s e of 
 interests, backed no doubt by sentiment and tradition, and the Landlord 
 regard for the well-being of their tenants, the landlords of Estate rules. 
 Wales as a whole have protected the tenants very generally 
 from the burden and ruin which would otherwise have long 
 ago resulted from extreme competition rents. Land hunger, 
 added to the scarchy of farms to let, owing to the practically 
 permanent occupation of families from generation to genera- 
 tion, has resulted in great competition for any vacant farm, 
 and it has been given in evidence that, owing to the number 
 of applicants ready to outbid one another, quite exorbitant 
 rents are offered, so that landlords if they chose to take the 
 highest bidder for a farm, could very greatly add to the rent. 
 
 On well managed estates, when a farm has been to let, a 
 
 relative of the old tenant, or an old tenant on the estate 
 
 wishing for a larger farm, has been generally preferred to 
 
 outsiders, and even when an outsider has been chosen it Eents in general 
 
 has been the man judged most likely to make the best have been living 
 
 tenant, and not the highest bidder who has been very than rack'rents r 
 
 generally chosen. Agents have repeatedly explained that in 
 
 such cases they are doing what is best for the estate as well 
 
 as for the tenants, inasmuch as it is in the long run not the 
 
 interest of the landlord to take a tenant at a rent on which 
 
 he cannot live and succeed on his farm. 
 
 So that whilst it may be true that individual cases of 
 rack-renting may have taken place, and that rents have not 
 followed the fall in prices as fully or as quickly as tenants 
 would have desired, yet the general tenour of the evidence 
 has made it quite evident that as a general rule, and apart 
 from the present depression in prices the rents for a great 
 number of years have been on well managed estates what it 
 
428 
 
 Chance afforded 
 to labourers to 
 rise into farmers 
 
 is the fashion to call “ living ” rents and not competition 
 ones. In fact the amount of the rent of a farm on a well 
 managed estate is based upon the experience of landlord and 
 tenants spread over a long period of years. 
 
 There is yet another point in which the present system, 
 whatever its defects, has acted beneficially. 
 
 Besides the tenant farmers, and sons and other relatives 
 of the farmers waiting to succeed to the family holdings, 
 there are labourers watching for opportunity to get into 
 farms. 
 
 We have had it in evidence again and again and from 
 different quarters that a large proportion of the many indoor 
 labourers are young unmarried men, hiring themselves at 
 the statute fairs from year to year to the farmers, living in 
 the farmer’s house or in some loft in the farm premises, 
 sitting down to meals with the farmer’s family, and, besides 
 lodging and keep, receiving wages varying from £15 to £20 
 by the year. Now this class of labourers can easily lay by 
 in the course of ten or fifteen years enough capital to take a 
 little farm, should such become vacant. Many instances of 
 this have been given in evidence. Again and again have 
 we had before us also the complaint of farmers that their 
 own sons at home are not getting the same wages and have 
 not the same opportunity of getting farms for themselves as 
 the labourers. 
 
 From a national point of view and as a principle of 
 social policy, too great stress can hardly be laid upon the 
 advantage possessed by the Welsh agricultural labourer in 
 thus having, at his feet, the lower rungs of the ladder by 
 which, with prudence and foresight, economy and self- 
 denial, he may rise from a labourer into the occupier of a 
 farm. 
 
 It is obvious on consideration that the maintenance of 
 this important ladder is very largely dependent upon the 
 continued prevalence of the year-to-year tenancy. For had 
 the labourer to purchase a holding, or the tenant right of a 
 holding, in addition to finding the capital for its working, he 
 not only would have to wait much longer before he could 
 have saved the required capital to obtain possession of a 
 holding, but also when he did so he would come into pos- 
 session under a competition rent and with but a small chance 
 of making a living, and still smaller chance of fuither as- 
 cending the ladder by saving additional capital enough to 
 embrace any opportunity of removal to a larger farm. 
 
 These considerations of general policy on the side of the 
 tenants and labourers afford very weighty reasons for the 
 
429 
 
 greatest caution in entertaining proposals on altogether new 
 lines which, however plausible at first sight as affording a 
 royal road out of present difficulties, might if adopted do 
 more general harm than particular good. 
 
 There are two lines upon which radical* proposals of posai^mad^for 
 changes in land tenure naturally move, viz., those followed change in land 
 in the case of Irish tenants and in the case of the Scotch 
 crofters. 
 
 We have already stated that the case of the Irish tenant The Irish "three 
 differs altogether from that of the Welsh tenant, in the Free tale recog- 
 essestial point that in Wales as a general rule the cost of °ire d for 110 w 
 buildings and of additions and improvements, and even the hun e er - 
 repair of them, falls upon the landlord. Still, even in W ales, 
 the existence of what is called “ land hunger,” i.e., the exces- 
 sive competition for farms, is no doubt sufficient in itself to 
 create a value in the right to the occupation of a farm if the 
 right of occupation were made saleable at law. But although 
 from time to time suggestions for the introduction of the 
 principles of Irish legislation, commonly known as “the 
 three F’s,” have been made here and there by witnesses who 
 had caught up a political cry, but who when questioned 
 evidently did not understand the words “ free sale ” in the 
 Irish sense, it is believed that no prevalent desire has been 
 shown on the part of Welsh tenants generally, or of their 
 responsible leaders, to promote the introduction into Wales 
 of what in Ireland is meant by free sale. We regard this 
 important fact as the keystone of the whole position, and we 
 are glad to recognise that our colleagues are at one with us 
 upon it. 
 
 Although at first sight the conferring on the sitting 
 tenant of the right to sell his tenant-right and goodwill, in 
 addition to his tillages and improvements, to the highest 
 bidder, might seem to be a boon to the sitting tenant, it 
 seems to be generally recognised in Wales that it would 
 involve the capitalisation as it were of the effects of land 
 hunger for the benefit of the sitting tenant alone, and result 
 permanently in the rack-renting of all future tenants. If 
 every fresh tenant had to buy the goodwill of the tenancy 
 in the open market at a competition price from the outgoing 
 tenant, he would lose all the advantage which he now 
 possesses of entry into a farm at a rent which is (in intention 
 
 * It is scarcely necessary to say that the word “radical ” as used here 
 and elsewhere in this Report has no political significance whatsoever, but 
 is used in the sense of “fundamental,'’ or, more literally, anything going 
 to the very root of the subject referred to. 
 
 D. LI. T. 
 
430 
 
 The statue of the 
 Welsh farmer — 
 quite different 
 irom that of the 
 .Scotch crofter. 
 
 and apart from the results of recent depression in prices, very 
 largely in practice) generally allowed to be a “ living rent ” 
 andnot a competition one. 
 
 The injustice to the landlord in the recognition of the 
 right of free sale is equally obvious, for it would force his 
 hand and oblige him against his own interests to accept 
 tenants who had paid a competition price for the tenancy, 
 and were likely to be too heavily handicapped to be success- 
 ful and satisfactory tenants. The Irish example has in fact 
 been an object-lesson. The problem of land hunger in 
 Ireland has been solved by giving the whole advantage of it 
 to the sitting tenant at the expense of all future tenants, and 
 there appears to be a wholesome jealousy in Wales against 
 the adoption of so one-sided, and in the long run — from a 
 national point of view — disadvantageous and disastrous a 
 remedy for present evils. 
 
 The other legislative precedent — that of the Crofter 
 Commission — appears to be much more in favour. But here 
 again, except in the common point of the existence of land 
 hunger, the difference between the crofter’s case and that of 
 the Welsh tenant is too radical to admit of there being much 
 force in the precedent. (1.) The crofter is a small farmer 
 with a rent under £30 and generally with other employment 
 besides the cultivation of his farm. (2.) The crofters are 
 usually in townships where nearly all are of one class. 
 There is a gulf between them and the large farmer. 
 (3.) Owing to the sub-division of holdings population had 
 become injuriously congested. 
 
 There is no question of placing all the farmers of Scot- 
 land under the Crofter’s Acts. Their provisions are limited 
 to defined areas and only apply to present tenants, and these 
 are treated as an exceptional class ; and they are exceptionally 
 treated in the hope that with increased intelligence and 
 enterprise they may ultimately rise into a position of greater 
 independence and no longer need special treatment. 
 
 To reduce the mass of Welsh farmers into the status of 
 the Scotch crofter would be to degrade them into a status 
 much inferior to their own. 
 
 The ground being thus cleared of those two modern 
 political and legislative precedents, as not applicable to the 
 conditions of the Welsh case and as affording no royal road 
 out of existing difficulties, except by the creation of much 
 greater ones, we return to the consideration, on their own 
 merits, of the practical points of difficulty in Wales, with a 
 view to forming a judgment as to how they could best be 
 met, under all the circumstances of che case. 
 
431 
 
 It has already been admitted that the one point in com- 
 mon between the Irish, the Scotch, and the Welsh difficulties 
 is that of the existence of land hunger. 
 
 Let us analyse the Welsh land hunger. In what does it Analysis of 
 •consist f hunger. 
 
 It is admitted on all hands that the lot of the Welsh 
 farmer is not too favoured, that his standard of comfort is not 
 too high, that it involves his constant labour and that of his 
 family through life. Why, under these circumstances, is there 
 the land hunger from outside ? Why is there the jealous 
 craving to attain what seems to the tenant himself a lot suffi- 
 ciently hard, but which seems to outsiders an exceptionally 
 favoured one ? 
 
 Something may be put down to sentiment, the clinging 
 to a family farm which has passed from father to son, and 
 the occupation of which only one son can inherit. It does 
 not seem to be merely a blind attachment to the home of 
 ^ancestors or of childhood, because it has been pointed out 
 that there is no indisposition to move from a small farm into 
 a larger or better one, but it no doubt embodies the natural 
 preference of a pastoral or agricultural people for the occupa- 
 tion of their fathers, and for the continuance of an occupation 
 in which a farmer’s sons have been brought up from infancy. 
 
 If there were no other occupation providing a living for 
 the sons of farmers, this would probably be a sufficient ex- 
 planation of land hunger ; but no legislation could satisfy it. 
 
 Everything which tended to secure the tenant farmer in his 
 holding would foster and increase it, and nothing would 
 perhaps foster it so much as the abolition of rent altogether 
 and the promotion of absolute and uncontrolled ownership. 
 
 Irish and Scotch experience would suggest that special legis- 
 lative control would have to be substituted for that of the 
 landlord to prevent the sub-division and sub-letting of 
 holdings which unchecked land hunger promotes and the 
 consequent evils which need not be dwelt upon. 
 
 There are obviously absolute reasons in the constitution £ f he 
 of things why, as the world is now constituted, it is impossible engaged inf arm- 
 for all the sons of farmers in any country to follow that limited™ 3 e 
 occupation. As the standard of comfort rises higher and 
 higher in the world at large, a smaller and smaller proportion 
 of the population can be occupied in agriculture, and a 
 larger and larger proportion must be occupied in supplying 
 the other wants of mankind. 
 
 Wales itself is a notable example of this. A single 
 instance will suffice. The population of Glamorganshire 
 ~and Monmouthshire alone has increased owing to their great 
 
432 
 
 Land hunger 
 only to be met 
 by increased in- 
 telligence and 
 enterprise. 
 
 industries till it embraces more than half the population of 
 Wales, although only one-sixth in area of the whole; and 
 many other districts have their mines and quarries. The 
 proximity of other industries has sometimes been brought 
 before us as one of the causes of land hunger and the compe- 
 tition for farms. The farmer who seeks to get a living out of 
 his farms complains that competitors who have other occupa- 
 tions and get their living in other ways can afford to pay 
 higher rents than the farmer who is dependent for his living 
 solely on his farm. This is obviously inevitable in populous 
 districts, and one of the natural economic results which must 
 be left to find their natural level. The prosperity of a 
 district cannot be restricted for the supposed benefit of an 
 exceptional class, and the farmer has his compensation in 
 nearer markets and greater demand for his produce, as well 
 as in the greater opportunities and chances of success in life 
 placed within reach of himself or his sons. 
 
 Advantage has alread} T been taken of these commercial 
 and industrial opportunities, and besides this it is an inter- 
 esting fact that already the professional classes in Wales — 
 religious, literary, medical and legal — have been very largely 
 recruited by the sons of Welsh tenant farmers. 
 
 With increasing enterprise, intelligence and education 
 — and no part of the United Kingdom is more alive to the 
 diffusion of educational facilities than Wales — the natural 
 process of transfer to other trades or other countries where 
 labour and skill are wanted ought to drain off the surplus 
 pressure of agricultural population which produces land 
 hunger. Probably it will do so more and more in the future. 
 
 The most instructive analogy on this point is, perhaps, 
 supplied by the dales of Yorkshire and Lancashire. In the 
 course of this century these dales have been drained of their 
 surplus agricultural population to feed the great industries 
 which have risen up in the large towns of those counties. 
 The prosperity resulting has been the fruit of energy and 
 enterprise, and readiness to take advantage of opportunities 
 and openings in other occupations than farming. 
 
 Wales may, indeed, have some special hindrance in its 
 local language preventing this outflow to other occupations 
 and countries. No one can help observing in Wales how 
 great an obstacle the ignorance of any but the local language 
 must be. It may be measured by the help the fact of 
 common language has been to English emigration to the 
 United States and the Colonies. But great numbers of 
 Welshmen have overcome this obstacle, and with growing, 
 intelligence it will probably more and more vanish. 
 
433 
 
 The care for land hanger, therefore, appears to be some- 
 thing qnite other than legislation expressly intended to 
 satisfy it. A healthy tonic in increased education and 
 everything which ministers to intelligence, self-reliance, and 
 enterprise would seem to be the only way out of it. 
 
 And so in this connection it may also be observed that 
 the sentimental difficulties between landlord and tenant 
 arising from diherences in religion and language are not to be 
 met by any change in land tenure. The remedy lies rather 
 in the rapidly increasing means of education, in the gradual 
 working of county and parish councils, in the rubbing of 
 classes together, and, perhaps, even in the habits of indepen- 
 dent thought and action provided by competition between 
 rival churches and sects, although the full benefit will hardly 
 be realised till that competition shall have eventually arrived 
 at the stage of mutual regard and tolerance. 
 
 Turning attention to the more strictly economic and under year to year 
 practical question of the actual grievances complained of in the losses from Agri- 
 connection with the present prevalence of year-to-year 
 tenancy in Wales, there is, first, the question brought home ^J^^Mtenant 
 by the depression in agriculture, and the complaint that perhaps as quickly 
 Tents have not been reduced adequately or fast enough to system** any ° 
 meet the altered circumstances and diminished prices of 
 agricultural produce. 
 
 The question is a pertinent one whether under any 
 other system than that of year-to-year tenancy rents would 
 have been reduced more quickly. 
 
 Under a system of judicial rents fixed every 15 or 10 or 
 7 or even 5 years, a fall of prices, unless happening just 
 before the close of one of the periods, would not result in an 
 immediate adjustment of rent. Had a five years term com- 
 menced five years ago, the farmers must have waited long 
 before the time for reduction came. English experience 
 during the recent depression has shown that whilst year-to- A judicial term 
 year tenants have generally received large voluntary abate- Jgadvantag^of 
 ments, the cases of greatest hardship have been those of a lease, 
 farmers with unexpired leases under the Court of Chancery or 
 under trusts and settlements where the dispensing power was 
 not easily exercised and solvent tenants must almost of 
 necessity be held to their bargain and the letter of their 
 leases. The greatest cause of loss and sometimes of ruin has 
 been the absence of the power to throw up a farm before the 
 tenant’s capital has all been lost. 
 
 So, again, under a system of peasant proprietorship, 
 especially when the tenants have recently purchased their 
 farms by money borrowed on mortgage, the whole brunt of 
 
 D D 
 
434 
 
 reduced prices and of bad seasons must fall on the owner r 
 without help from anyone else. The disastrous condition of 
 large numbers of such purchasers especially in Cardiganshire 
 has been the subject of special mention in the G eneral Report, 
 
 The annual loss comes upon the owner in such a case at 
 the same time that the margin in value after the amount of 
 his mortgage has so far diminished as to make the mortgagee 
 anxious about the security of his loan and all the more 
 exacting in demanding the punctual payment of his interest, 
 
 • Thus it appears that on the whole with all its faults the 
 present system of year-to-year tenancy even during the 
 present period of depression, if it has not acted with sufficient 
 rapidity to meet the needs of the tenants, has to some extent 
 at least secured in Wales as in England a sharing between 
 landlord and tenant of the loss which inevitably must fall on 
 someone. 
 
 Statistics were adduced before the Commission was 
 appointed, with the purpose of showing that Welsh landlords 
 had not made equally liberal reductions or abatements as 
 those of English landlords. It is obvious that in a wheat- 
 growing country larger reductions have been needful than in 
 more pastoral districts like Wales, and the true comparison 
 between Wales and the most similar districts of England 
 does not in our view show the wide difference on which Mr. 
 Gladstone’s historical speech was founded.* 
 
 * The most reliable evidence of the fall in the value of land is admitted 
 to be that of the income tax assessments. The following comparison of 
 analogous counties seems to us to be more to the point than any average 
 which treats Monmouth, Glamorganshire, and Cardiganshire as equally 
 important items. 
 
 Percentage of Decrease from about 1879-80 to 1893-94 in the 
 Income Tax Assessments Schedule : — 
 
 Monmouth 
 
 16-2 
 
 Denbigh ... 
 
 147 
 
 Radnor . . . 
 
 13-4 
 
 Brecon ... 
 
 12*8 
 
 Flint 
 
 11-7 
 
 Merioneth 
 
 8-5 
 
 Montgomery 
 
 7-7 
 
 Glamorgan 
 
 6*46 
 
 Pembroke 
 
 6-3 
 
 Anglesea 
 
 4-9 
 
 Carnarvon 
 
 2-07 
 
 Carmarthen 
 
 1*5 
 
 Cardigan... 
 
 1-1 
 
 Devon ... 
 
 13 9 
 
 W estmoreland 
 
 13-8 
 
 Cumberland 
 
 121 
 
 Cornwall 
 
 6-2 
 
 Cheshire 
 
 6-07 
 
 N.B. — It must also be remembered that the Income Tax assessments 
 do not show the amount of abatements as apart from permanent reduc- 
 tions. Thus taking th ree large estates in the counties of Pembroke, 
 Carmarthen, and Cardigan (embracing 114,400 acres) while the reductions 
 did not exceed 1 per cent., the abatements averaged 10 per cent, during 
 the years 1885-92. (Qu. 48,422.) Cardigan has an exceptional number 
 of small owners who have purchased their farms as above mentioned. 
 
435 
 
 These considerations lead to the conclusion that whilst , llie difficulty of 
 
 . ,. ... leases with falling 
 
 so long as the period of tailing prices may continue it is prices, 
 conceivable that Welsh tenants, at the spur of the moment, 
 might grasp at anything which would promise immediate 
 reduction of rent, yet after full consideration they will be 
 hardly likely in the long run to welcome anything which 
 would fix their rent hard and fast for a term of years, or 
 exchange their present year-to-year tenancy for anything in 
 the nature of a statutory lease. 
 
 We readily acknowledge the deference paid to many of 
 the foregoing views in the proposals of our colleagues with 
 regard to the establishment in Wales of a statutory tenancy 
 with judicial rents, fixed by a land court. 
 
 The care taken to avoid the evils arising from the proposals of^ nerg 
 capitalisation of the effects of land hunger involved in “free for judicial fixing of 
 sale ” for the benefit of the sitting tenant at the expense of ^ e £ ts wlthout free 
 future tenants who, paying the competition value produced 
 by land hunger, would be rack-rented, is in itself of great 
 value. 
 
 But after all, the interference with free contract in this 
 matter seems to us almost certain to lead in practice to 
 greater grievances than it cures. 
 
 Such an Act would obviously have no binding effect 
 without a prohibition of “ contracting out of it,” and if there 
 is to be no contracting out of it, if it is to be unlawful by 
 special agreement to let land on special conditions for a 
 special term by a fairly drawn lease embodying the wishes of 
 both parties the tendency must be to create a permanent 
 uniform statutory tenancy of all agricultural land throughout 
 Wales, and to admit of no other. 
 
 If the landlord as well as the tenant is to have power to 
 apply for a judicial rent, the natural tendency must be for 
 the landlords to apply to the court in prosperous times in 
 order to fix the rent for the term under favourable circum- 
 stances, and for tenants to apply when a bad year induced 
 them to think that a lower rent would be fixed. In other 
 words, the tendency would be to place the rent of the tenants 
 on an estate at the mercy of the accident whether their land- 
 lord had dragged them into court after a prosperous harvest, 
 or whether the tenants had dragged their landlords into 
 court in a time of depression. 
 
 At the present moment Welsh tenants fight shy of 
 leases, and yet, by Act of Parliament, all the tenants of 
 Wales would be put, by the proposal of our colleagues, under 
 the liability of, against their wishes, being converted into 
 permanent leaseholders, with quinquennial re-adjustment of 
 
436 
 
 rent, and dependent for the amount of their rent, to some 
 extent at least, upon the accident of whether the end of the 
 septennial period might fall in good or bad times. They are 
 to have no power to throw up their holdings except by 
 assignment, even though they find that they are annually 
 losing their capital. If they cannot find anyone to take 
 their farm off their hands, they are to go on losing their 
 capital to the bitter end. And if, on the other hand, the 
 necessity to give up the farm should happen to come in good 
 times, they may not, like an ordinary leaseholder, assign the 
 remainder of the judical term when it has a market value 
 from the relative lowness of the rent. As the only way to 
 prevent the evils of free sale the landlord is to have option 
 to resume the holding and let it to someone else. 
 
 /nvoived hl^Sdaf We fully appreciate the intention of our colleagues by 
 Rents. these special provisions to prevent the sale of tenant right 
 
 and the consequent rack-renting of future tenants, inevitably 
 involved in the payment of a competition price for the good- 
 will of a holding. As we have already said, we take this 
 recognition of the evils involved in “ free sale ” as the 
 keystone of the position. But it seems to us that the legal 
 provision of a permanent statutory tenure at a judicial rent 
 presumably below the competition rent caused by land 
 hunger would of necessity, and in spite of all provisions to 
 the contrary, create a value which sooner or later would claim 
 recognition as a market value. This would almost certainly 
 lead to political agitation in favour of the legal recognition 
 of free sale and the abolition of the option of the landlord, 
 which alone would stand in the waj^ of an outgoing tenant 
 receiving whatever an incoming tenant might be induced by 
 land hunger to offer for the holding. 
 
 The experience of Ireland seems to us to show clearly 
 that one step in judicial interference leads to another. The 
 fixing of judicial rents leads logically to free sale, and the 
 only way out of the evils of the dual ownership thus arti- 
 ficially created is, we believe, generally understood to be a 
 scheme of land purchase. 
 
 The evils which our colleagues have been at such pains 
 to avoid on the one side and on the other, appear to us to be 
 inherent in the system of permanent statutory tenancy and 
 and judicial rents. And we can hardly believe that, viewed 
 from a broad point of view, this system, with or without free 
 sale, can be accepted as a satisfactory solution of the problem. 
 to^Tudkia? 10 ^- There is another objection to a system of statutory 
 
 terference. tenancy and judicial rents as to which almost unanimous 
 
 evidence was given to the Commission by the landlords and 
 agents of some of the best managed estates. 
 
437 
 
 It was alleged again and again that State interference 
 would seriously injure the relations between landlord and 
 tenant, and result in the abstention of landlords from the 
 free expenditure on their estates, which has hitherto been 
 usual. We append extracts from the evidence of witnesses 
 — landlords, agents, and tenant farmers — from all parts of 
 the Principality on this subject.* 
 
 It may be said, and with more or less truth, that such 
 fears may easily be exaggerated. But if the view already 
 expressed be correct, as we believe it to be, that the fixing 
 of judicial rents would logically and inevitably lead up, 
 sooner or later, to free sale of tenant right, and the consequent 
 double-ownership, then there can hardly be a doubt that 
 such fears would be found to have a solid foundation, and 
 that the thin edge of the wedge would ultimately lead to the 
 introduction into Wales of those strained relations which are 
 such a potent factor of mischief in the Irish problem. Upon 
 this point the weighty words of the Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland under the late Administration may be quoted as dis- 
 interested and emphatic evidence. f 
 
 Nor can we think it w T ould be advantageous to attempt 
 by Act of Parliament to enforce the uniformity of the same 
 statutory tenure throughout all districts of Wales alike. In 
 the populous manufacturing districts, notably throughout 
 large parts of Glamorganshire, even agricultural land becomes 
 more or less, as already pointed out, what is known as 
 “ accommodation land,” and to enforce upon such land a 
 purely agricultural rent and the same statutory tenancy as 
 upon mountain farms would hardly be likely to promote the 
 prosperity of either landlord or tenant, to say nothing of the 
 general prosperity of the district. 
 
 After all, in the absence of a saleable tenant right, rent 
 must in the long run be subject to the laws of supply and 
 demand, and what is really wanted is not to attempt to set 
 aside these laws but to promote more promptness and in- 
 telligence in their action on the side of both landlord and 
 tenant. 
 
 * These extracts are not reproduced in this Digest, but an analysis of 
 the witnesses whose statements are quoted is given below. 
 
 D. LI. T. 
 
 f Daily News , 27th February, 1896. — On 26th February [1896] Lord 
 Crewe said : — u There were some who would like to see imported into our 
 English land system a fixity of tenure such as that which existed in the 
 country over which he had lately presided as Viceroy. From his point of 
 view he thought that would be a distinct misfortune for English farming. 
 The Irish land system meant a very considerable increase of income to 
 the landlord, because he immediately stopped all expenditure on his 
 estate.” 
 
438 
 
 Freedom of Coutract 
 — a better remedy if 
 it can be made more 
 real and protected by 
 reasonable condi- 
 tions 
 
 The “Custom of 
 Glamorgan ” and the 
 Agricultural Hold- 
 ings’ Act aim at 
 securing the tenant 
 from undue loss on 
 termination of 
 tenancy 
 
 Whilst, therefore, under perfect freedom of contract if 
 such could be attained, no system could lend itself so readily 
 to prompt changes in rent when needful as the year-to-year 
 tenancy, it becomes all the more important to give a careful 
 and unprejudiced consideration to the real hardships (apart 
 from the question of rent) to which the prevalent year-to- 
 year tenancy is subject and which indirectly may affect even 
 the question of rent, by placing the tenant at a disadvantage 
 and preventing pro tanto the exercise on his part of real free- 
 dom of contract at the moment when it is most required. 
 
 It has already been fully admitted that on an estate 
 embracing a large number of tenants the general terms and 
 incidents to the tenancy cannot in each individual case 
 be to any great extent varied to meet particular desires, 
 especially when the tenants are hereditary tenants who have 
 succeeded to their father’s tenancy. The necessity for the 
 practical substitution of estate rules and customs for individual 
 contract is perhaps most obvious in the case of a large estate 
 without written agreements. On such an estate there must 
 be uniformity as to most things and where there is a custom 
 like that of South and East Glamorgan, which has grown up 
 round the year to year tenancy from generation to generation, 
 the general view of the tenants themselves seems to be that 
 such a custom on such an estate confers a better security of 
 tenure than agreements which whilst resting nominally on 
 freedom of contract are very likely to be drawn with a more 
 or less bias on the side of the landlord. 
 
 It is also alleged generally that this custom of South and 
 East Glamorgan is far better than the Agricultural Holdings 
 Act, though itself open to extension or improvement. 
 
 Now it is the chief virtue of this custom that, being the 
 result of long local experience, it is adapted to the wants of 
 the districts in a way that no hard and fast schedules in an 
 Act of Parliament for all the varying districts of Great 
 Britain could have been. 
 
 Had such a local custom grown up everywhere adapted 
 to the wants of each district, landlords and tenants would 
 have long ago adapted themselves to it, and it would have 
 become an unwritten law, treating everyone alike and i ender- 
 ing unnecessary the cumbrous agreements generally framed 
 from the point of view of the landlord’s solicitor, and often 
 containing clauses penal in their character, the only excuse 
 given for which is that some control is needful and that they 
 are not put in force except in extreme cases. The statute 
 law, though often a dead letter to the tenant may, from a 
 legal point of view, over-ride and render nugatory many 
 
439 
 
 antiquated clauses ; still it must be owned that their contin” 
 ued insertion sometimes amounts almost to a reductio ad 
 absurdum of the pretence of free contract. It is taking 
 .advantage of the far too great ignorance of tenants to de- 
 mand their signature to obviously unjust clauses on the one 
 hand, or to clauses which are contrary to the terms of the 
 Agricultural Holdings Act or the Ground Game Act. 
 
 It has been generally admitted by landlords and agents 
 that it would be well that agreements should be made in 
 future to conform strictly to the actual legal position, both 
 .as to game and compensation for improvements. 
 
 It is also admitted on all hands that the tenant’s security 
 as regards compensation for improvements cannot be made 
 too complete, provided that the landlord is protected against 
 useless or improvident outla}? - or injury to his land under a 
 mistaken view of what is an improvement. 
 
 The greatest difficulty seems to occur in cases where the 
 written consent of the landlord to an improvement is almost 
 necessarily the condition of compensation. Obviously there 
 are cases in which the landlord’s consent to the improvement 
 must be required before a claim can be set up by the tenant 
 for compensation in respect of it. But even in these cases 
 there is a point about the landlord’s consent which appears 
 to us to be fairly open to amendment. Hitherto the land- 
 landlord’s written consent has been necessary, and hardship 
 has sometimes arisen for want of it in cases in which it is 
 obvious that a real, though not written, consent has been 
 given. It is suggested that there are cases in which the 
 landlord’s consent might well be implied unless there was 
 express agreement or notice in writing to the contrary. 
 When the landlord has contributed to the improvement the 
 consent of the landlord surely ought to be implied. The 
 case of haulage is a common case in point and there may well 
 be cases in which more than haulage has been contributed by 
 a tenant to an improvement to which the landlord has also 
 contributed his part. In such a case it seems to us that the 
 landlord’s active contribution to the improvement ought, in 
 the absence of written agreement to the contrary, to be pre- 
 sumptive evidence of consent, and upon the death or change 
 of tenant full compensation in such cases, taking all things 
 into account, ought to be legally recognised, as we have been 
 assured it is practically on many if not most well-managed 
 estates. 
 
 How best to secure in each locality the framing of regu- 
 lations giving adequate security as regards compensation for 
 improvements, and the fairest general rules as between the 
 
 The consent of lan l 
 lord necessary in 
 some cases but 
 should be implied 
 when a landlord as 
 contributed to 
 an improvement 
 
440 
 
 Perfection of Agri- 
 cultural Holdings' 
 Act a tine qua non ; 
 but not in itself 
 sufficient. 
 
 outgoing and the incoming tenant, is a point upon which there 
 have been many suggestions, whether to be best attained by 
 local conferences of landlords and tenants and surveyors, or 
 in any other way, some more full and elastic system to meet 
 the needs of various districts seems to be required, and 
 probably would be welcomed by landlords and tenants- 
 generally. 
 
 The necessary security of the tenant’s capital and of the 
 landlord’s land in these respects is hardly an open question, 
 however much difference of opinion there may be as to 
 details. An improved Agricultural Holdings Act, with 
 schedules elastic enough to meet the needs of varying dis- 
 tricts, is a sine qua non. 
 
 It must be admitted that the attainment of substantially 
 fair security as regards improvements would go a long way 
 towards lessening the risk of grievances incident to a year- 
 to-year tenancy. It would tend, at any rate, to lessen the 
 acuteness of grievances involved in a forced termination of 
 the tenancy upon no default on the part of the tenant. 
 
 The perfection of the provisions of the Agricultural 
 Holdings Act is also of great importance incidentally as help- 
 ing towards placing the tenant in a position to exercise a 
 practical freedom of contract in the fixing of rent. The- 
 tenant would no doubt be relieved from a great disadvantage 
 by the certainty of a perfectly just treatment in case of leav- 
 ing his farm. He has hitherto been placed at a disadvantage 
 by the knowledge that, under the present law, on leaving hi& 
 farm much of his capital must be left behind him. He has 
 been unduly handicapped by this knowledge of the loss he 
 will sustain if he does not accede to his landlord’s terms 
 as to rent. 
 
 We do not disguise from ourselves that however perfectly 
 the tenant may be protected from loss in these respects he i& 
 still placed at a great disadvantage by the mere fact of the 
 expense involved in changing from one farm to another and 
 the uncertainty whether he can obtain another farm when 
 
 required. 
 
 And this consideration leads us to suggest an alteration 
 in practice which seems to us to be within the spirit and in- 
 tention of the law which prescribes a term of notice before 
 the determination of the tenancy. 
 
 Notice to quit before W e refer to the practice, more or less general, of giving 
 
 re-settlement of rent . . r . . . , P P 
 
 infringes free con- notice to quit as the preliminary to a readjustment or rent, 
 
 tion^of 1 the^i^w 1 . nten " whether in an individual case or, as sometimes happens, on a 
 projected re-valuation of a whole estate. In the latter cas& 
 all the tenants on an estate may receive notice to quit. 
 
441 
 
 The object of this notice is to bring the old tenancy to 
 an end and to place the tenant in the position of having to 
 leave his farm unless during the period of notice he agrees 
 with his landlord as to the rent. 
 
 Sometimes on the other hand the tenant gives notice to 
 quit as a means of getting his rent reduced. And in this 
 way a notice to quit becomes the more or less recognised 
 preliminary to an alteration of rent. 
 
 In our view, though within the letter of the law and 
 hitherto sanctioned by usage, this is an infringement of its 
 spirit and intention. 
 
 The manifest intention of the law in requiring a term of 
 notice as already said is to secure to the tenant time and 
 opportunity to withdraw his capital and to remove into 
 another farm. The extension of the term of notice to a year 
 under the Agricultural Holdings Act is a sufficiently obvious 
 proof of intention of the law to protect the tenant from too 
 sudden a removal from his farm. 
 
 But when, the notice to quit having been given, the 
 question of rent is raised or the re-valuation takes place 
 during the period of notice the beneficent intention of the 
 law is evaded. The tenant is called upon to make up his 
 mind whether he will accept the new rent after the term of 
 notice is more or less nearly expired, and if he cannot agree 
 with his landlord he is placed at a disadvantage not contem- 
 plated by the law and not within its intention. To put an 
 extreme case the delay in the re-valuation or re-settlement of 
 rent may be so great as practically to leave the tenant quite 
 insufficient time to secure a new farm. 
 
 We think that in such a case it would be strictly within 
 the spirit of the present law that the tenant should be 
 allowed to remain on the farm for a full period of notice 
 made to run from the next Lad} r -day after the date when the 
 result of the re-valuation or the amount of the new rent is 
 made known to him. In other words we think that the 
 preliminary notice to quit should be void and that a new one 
 should be required after the failure in coming to terms has 
 taken place. 
 
 We think too, that whenever an old tenancy is ter- 
 minated and a new one set on foot by means of a notice to 
 quit, the provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Act should 
 be such as to secure a just settlement of the equities of the 
 tenants at that juncture, or that for the purposes of the Act 
 the old tenancy should be held to continue, notwithstanding 
 the notice to quit and the alteration of rent. It seems to us 
 to be obviously just that if the notice to quit is to be regarded 
 
 Notice to quit, 
 except for breach of 
 conditions, should 
 be subject to legal 
 obligations for the 
 tenants’ protection. 
 
442 
 
 Case of^Sale of an 
 Estate. 
 
 General notice to 
 quit often given so 
 as to give the pur- 
 chaser a free hand at 
 (the tenant’s expense. 
 
 as terminating the old tenancy, the tenant should be com- 
 pensated for improvements under the Agricultural Holdings 
 Acts before the new tenancy begins, and that this should not 
 be dependent on notices given, but be as much a matter of 
 course as the payment for tillages, &c., by an incoming tenant. 
 
 We are also of opinion that whenever a notice to quit is 
 given it should state the reason why it is given, and that 
 whenever the reason is other than a breach of the legal con- 
 ditions of tenancy, it would be fair that, in recognition of 
 the cost to the tenant of an enforced change of tenancy, a 
 longer notice should be required than in a case where the 
 tenant is in default, or else that in such a case the rent 
 should be made to cease in respect of the last year of the 
 tenancy. 
 
 There are other circumstances to which the foregoing 
 considerations seem to us to apply with still greater force. 
 The evidence brought before the Commission has again and 
 again proved the possibility, and almost the certainty, of 
 hardship arising in the natural course of things, and without 
 any evil intention, in the case of the sale of an estate by the 
 landlord over the heads of his tenants, and that the dread of 
 this is a potent cause pf a feeling of uncertainty in the minds 
 of year-to-year tenants. 
 
 Here again it seems to have been a frequent and perhaps 
 even a general custom previous to the sale of an estate to 
 give all the tenants formal notice to quit, so as to place the 
 estate, so to speak, “ in hand,” for the purchaser to deal with 
 at his own discretion. Mow, if it be asked why this course is 
 pursued the answer must presumably be to secure a free hand 
 to the purchaser as regards the future rents of the tenants, 
 and further to close the old tenancy, and thus to secure the 
 purchaser from any liability to the tenants for any rights or 
 equities of which notice is not given in the conditions, and 
 articles of sale. 
 
 Now, when regarded from the side of the tenants, this 
 device of the seller’s solicitor seems to be open to question 
 on principle. It surety ought to be the object of the seller, 
 in handing over his tenants to an unknown and untried pur- 
 chaser, to protect their interests as completely as possible. 
 He should not seek by a legal device to extinguish any 
 equities that may exist, or to deprive his tenants of the 
 advantage which the law intends to secure to them, in requir- 
 ing the prescribed notice before termination of a year-to-3 T ear 
 tenancy. The intention of the prescribed notice as already 
 said is to give the tenant the time and opportunity to come 
 to fresh terms with his landlord, or to make provision for the 
 
443 
 
 safe withdrawal of his capital and his future living, on giving 
 up his farm. But obviously, if the notice be so arranged as 
 to expire near to the time of the sale, with the express 
 purpose that the purchaser may have power to turn out the 
 tenants in case of their disagreeing with his terms without 
 further notice, it must be admitted that the intention of the 
 law is evaded, aud that tenants are placed in a corner, that is 
 in a position in which complete freedom of contract cannot 
 be said in any real sense to exist. 
 
 It is suggested, therefore, that as far as possible the 
 tenants should be secured by law against the risk of being 
 placed in this position of extremity. And that in this 
 case also it would be strictly within the spirit of existing law 
 that the tenant should be entitled to a fresh period of notice 
 made to run from the next Lady-day after the time when the 
 necessity to make a new contract of tenanc} 7- is forced upon 
 him, and when for the first time he is able to ascertain 
 whether it will be needful for him to leave the farm or not. 
 
 We are not sure whether the protection of the tenant 
 might not be carried one step further. 
 
 On the whole, in a case in which it is necessary to choose 
 between the interests of the selling landlord who naturally 
 d.esires to obtain the highest price attainable for his property, 
 and the interest of often a considerable number of tenants 
 to whom it is more or less a question financially of life or 
 death, we are disposed to think that the law ought to lean 
 on the side of the weaker party. And we are disposed to 
 suggest that the equity of the case would not be more than 
 reasonably met by the provision that in case of the death of 
 an estate owner, or the sale of an estate, the tenant shall be 
 protected by law in the occupation of his farm at the old 
 rent for say three years from the date of the death or sale, 
 except in case of nonpayment of rent or the infringement of 
 the conditions of the tenancy which, under the circumstances 
 of the case should be stringent enough to protect the land- 
 lord from the depreciation or exhaustion of the farm. 
 
 We think further that in the case of a sale, any equities 
 that may exist between the selling landlord and the tenants 
 should continue and follow the land in the purchaser’s hands 
 notwithstanding the sale, unless a proper written agreement 
 has been previously come to for their settlement. And that 
 it should be required that a statement should be made in the 
 •conditions of sale that such a settlement had been made, or 
 the contrary, in order that the purchaser should be put upon 
 his guard in respect to the possible existence of such equities. 
 Looked at from the side of the landlord this might involve 
 
 Suggested pro- 
 tection of the 
 tenants’ freedom 
 of contract in 
 such cases. 
 
444 
 
 The same pro- 
 tection required 
 when tenants 
 are purchasers. 
 
 Loans of public 
 money to 
 purchasing- 
 tenants would 
 increase 
 competition , 
 
 some inconvenience, but we think it more reasonable that' 
 the selling landlord should be put to some trouble than that 
 the equities of the tenants should be sacrificed or unduly 
 endangered. 
 
 Some protection of this kind to the tenant appears to be- 
 quite as necessary when the tenant himself has the oppor- 
 tunity of purchasing his farm at a sale by auction. It is 
 becoming more and more usual to put up a landed estate for 
 sale by auction in lots representing the separate farms, and 
 the tenant in such a case is exposed to the competition of 
 his fellow-tenants as well as outsiders. 
 
 The landlord in such a case capitalises the increased' 
 value resulting from land hunger. The tenant is suddenly 
 exposed to the risk of losing his farm or having to purchase 
 it at an exorbitant competition price. And regarded from a. 
 public point of view the result is the sudden creation of a^ 
 local system of land purchase converting year-to-year farmers 
 under moderate rents into owners mortgaged up to the hilt,, 
 and paying for ever after, in interest on the excessive pur- 
 chase money, what is practically a competition rent. 
 
 Now, if this were the result of free contact, and mem 
 were foolish enough to pay too high a price for the land, the- 
 sooner land hunger was cured by the example of the speedy 
 ruin of ill-advised purchasers the better. 
 
 But the case of the farmer is not of this kind. He is; 
 suddenly forced, by no fault of his own, to choose between, 
 the horns of a dilemma — between at once losing the farm 
 which he looks to for his living and in which he has invested' 
 his farming capital, or purchasing his farm at an excessive' 
 value. 
 
 The loan of public money in such cases at low rates of 
 interest has been urged again and again on the Commission 
 as at least an alleviation of the hardship. But it is difficult 
 to see how this could be arranged without adding fuel to the 
 fire of competition. A still higher price at a lower rate of 
 interest would mean increased mischief rather than relief. 
 
 The purchasing tenant-farmer is not the only person 
 with regard to whom the loan of state funds is demanded. 
 
 A wisely arranged system of loans on landed security to' 
 farmers who .have already purchased or desire to purchase 
 their farms might well form a part of a general national 
 system, if such were desired, to promote on public grounds 
 the gradual transformation of labourers and small tenant 
 farmers into owners of their cottages or farms, but such a 
 system could hardly be arranged on the basis of exaggerated 
 competition prices without due regard to intrinsic value. 
 
445 
 
 Loans of this character would by no means avoid, or 
 ^even much alter the problem how to secure to the year-to- 
 year tenant adequate protection or compensation for loss in 
 the case of the forced determination of his tenancy without 
 any default of his own. 
 
 The knowledge that he could not be disturbed for a 
 definite period of, say three years, would strengthen his posi- 
 tion and probably afford him protection in a better form than 
 the loan of public money at a low rate of interest. 
 
 There remains the question of the best mode of providing 
 .a cheaper and better method of the settlement of disputes 
 between landlords and tenants. 
 
 The more perfect the provisions of the law are made suggested im- 
 protecting the tenants’ interests and canying out the princi- the method of 
 pies of compensation for improvements the more important disputesStween 
 becomes the provision of some cheaper and better mode of tenant^ a ” d 
 settling disputes, and of ascertaining the value of improve- 
 ments than that afforded by the present clauses of the 
 Agricultural Holdings Acts. General complaint has been 
 made on this head, and it is greatly to be desired that some 
 practical means should be found of meeting the difficulty 
 -especially in the case of small holdings. 
 
 It has been suggested that if in addition to the usual 
 two valuers an official umpire could be provided whose 
 decision should be final, many disputes might be referred to 
 such arbitration and litigation and loss avoided. Whether 
 the county court judge himself, or a skilled official under his 
 supervision, would be able, acting as a judge in chambers, to 
 fulfil this want, or whether an agricultural expert acting 
 under the Board u c Agriculture within a certain district, and 
 able first to mediate uetween the parties and finally to settle 
 a question at issue on the spot, would better meet the cases 
 which arise in connection with small tenancies is a question 
 requiring careful attention when the attempt is made 
 practically to deal with the question. But we wish to 
 record our conviction that whatever mode of settlement may 
 be ultimately adopted it should take the form of mediation or 
 arbitration out of court rather than of public litigation. 
 
 We fully admit that, notwithstanding the suggestion 
 we have made aiming at placing the tenants on an estate in 
 a generally better position than now to exercise freedom of 
 contract as regards the amount of their rent, and notwith- 
 standing the suggested perfection of the Agricultural Hold- 
 ings Act, and the procedure under it, there will remain the 
 possibility of difficulty and hardship in exceptional cases 
 
446 
 
 And for media- Bound, as we conceive ourselves to be, to approach the 
 a^enerai dispute subject with a general faith in human nature and the sense 
 lord* and tenan t. of justice common to both landlords and tenants, without 
 which the prospect of any industrial progress must be hope- 
 less indeed, we nevertheless recognise that cases may arise 
 between landlords and tenants, as they do between masters 
 and workmen, in which some outside assistance may fairly 
 be claimed. 
 
 We have already mentioned the position of trustees, and 
 even of the Court of Chancery itself, when in the position of 
 landlord or acting for others whose interests they are bound 
 to protect, as one often placing the tenant in a more difficult 
 position than if he were a tenant on the well-managed estate 
 of an ordinary landlord. Nor can we ignore the existence of 
 estates sometimes recently purchased at high prices where 
 the tendency is towards what we may call a merely mercan- 
 tile view of the relation of landlord and tenant. In these 
 cases the position of tenants in case of exorbitant rents, 
 or the refusal of reductions or abatements, is sometimes 
 peculiarly helpless. 
 
 Whilst as a matter of principle w r e have urged com- 
 pulsory compensation for improvements under amended 
 clauses of the Agricultural Holdings Act, and suggested 
 longer periods of notice in certain cases, we have stated our 
 objections to the judicial or compulsory fixing of rents. But 
 this in our view affords no reason why in cases of great hard- 
 ship amounting possibly sometimes almost to public scandal, 
 the State should remain wholly inactive. 
 
 We would suggest that if on an estate there should be 
 what may roughly be described as a general dispute between 
 landlords and tenants tending to disturbance, or public scandal 
 or manifest injustice, both the landlord on the one hand, and 
 a certain proportion of the tenants on the other hand, under 
 proper restrictions, and upon engagement to pay a certain 
 maximum fee, should have the right to call in to their aid an 
 expert from the Board of Agriculture, or some other 
 recognised authority, to act as mediator with a view, if 
 possible, to bring about a friendly settlement. We would 
 suggest that trustees, &c., acting according to the advice of 
 such an expert should be exonerated from responsibility as 
 regards abatements or reductions of rent. 
 
 That in some cases resort to such a mediation would fail 
 in success is obviously possible ; but we believe that even in 
 such cases wise and impartial mediation by a recognised 
 expert could not be without some favourable moral result. 
 
447 
 
 We believe that there is a province within which skilled 
 mediation may play a useful part even where the State is 
 unwilling to enforce a conclusion. The State may rightly 
 refuse to fix the rent as between landlord and tenant, or the 
 rate of wages between masters and workmen, and yet quite 
 consistently with this it may do its best by the mediation of 
 a skilled official or Board of Conciliation to bring the dispu- 
 tants to a friendly settlement. 
 
 It is believed that, were the law' regarding year-to-year 
 tenancy amended as we have ventured to suggest, a great 
 step w r ould be gained towards the removal of the feeling of 
 insecurity and of other causes of dissatisfaction betweeen 
 landlords and tenants without unduly infringing upon the 
 principle of freedom of contract, and without destroying the 
 great advantages which, on the whole and in spite of defects, 
 the present agricultural system affords to the various classes 
 of the Welsh people whose living is connected with the 
 land.” 
 
 ( Signed ) 
 
 Kenyon. 
 
 John Talbot Dillwyn Llewelyn. 
 Frederic Seebohm. 
 
 The 
 
 amendment 
 proposed would) 
 help to remove 
 the feeling of 
 *• insecurity.” 
 
448 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE DEMAND FOR A LAND COURT, AND FOR 
 SEPARATE LEGISLATION. 
 
 Opinions 
 against a Land 
 Court quoted by 
 Minority : 
 
 Five 
 
 landowners. 
 
 To the Separate Report, the text of which has now been 
 reproduced in full, there is appended a number of extracts 
 from the evidence containing opinions adverse to the 
 establishment of a Land Court. With reference to these 
 extracts the Minority say : — 
 
 “ With the view of keeping our conclusions and recom- 
 mendations in as concise a form as possible we have not 
 interpolated into our report any portion of the evidence 
 tendered to us, but as stated above, we think it well to add in 
 a compressed form the following extracts, so as to show T the 
 feeling that prevails with the great majority, if not the entire 
 class, of landlords and agents, concurred in also by a large 
 section of tenant farmers, among whom may be reckoned 
 many of the most enterprising and thoughtful of their class.” 
 
 Probably the objects of the Commissioners will equally 
 be served if instead of attempting to summarise these extracts 
 a brief analysis be given of the personnel of the witnesses 
 whose opinions they quote. The total number of witnesses 
 thus quoted are 55, of whom five are landowners, eight 
 land agents, and 42 tenant farmers, including in the last 
 mentioned number one witness who was a tenant as to one- 
 fifth only of his farm, and four witnesses who w 7 ere consider- 
 able land agents as well as tenant farmers. 
 
 The landowners whose opinions are quoted are : — 
 
 (1) Lord Penrhyn ; 
 
 (2) Mr. W. R. M. Wynne, of Peniartli (both Conserva- 
 
 tives in politics, in may be observed) ; 
 
 (8) Col. Cornwallis West, a Unionist, who was formerly 
 Liberal M.P. for Denbighshire ; 
 
 (4) Mr. Edward Davies, of Plas Dinam, another 
 
 Unionist, and the son of the late David Davies, 
 sometime Liberal M.P. for Cardiganshire ; and 
 
 (5) Mr. W. 0. Brigstocke, of Park y Gors, the first 
 
 Chairman of the Carmarthenshire County Council, 
 and a Liberal in politics. 
 
449 
 
 The opinion to which the Commissioners appear to 
 attach the most importance in this group is that of Mr. 
 
 Edward Davies, two pages of the Report being devoted to 
 his evidence, its chief point perhaps being that with a Land 
 Court, 44 We are placed at the mercy of the most litigious, 
 incompetent, and unworthy tenant who may come upon the 
 estate at any future time, either to allow him to do as he 
 pleases with our own property, or to drag us into court and 
 incur all the risks and expenses of a lawsuit.” 
 
 The following are the eight agents whose opinions are Eight iau t i 
 similarly quoted : — 
 
 (1) Col. Hughes, the present chief agent for Sir W. W. 
 
 Wynn’s estates ; 
 
 (2) Mr. 0. S. Wynne, the former agent for the same 
 
 property ; 
 
 (3) Capt. Preston, of the Baron Hill Estate in Anglesey ; 
 
 (4) Mr. T. Halford, of Newtown, Montgomery shire ; 
 
 (5) Mr. Osborne Sheppard, of Neath ; 
 
 (6) Mr. J. M. Davies, of Froodvale, Carmarthenshire ; 
 
 (7) Mr. T. Rule Owen, of Haverfordwest ; 
 
 (8) Mr. C. E. Morgan Richardson, of Cardigan. 
 
 Col. Hughes’s argument, which is quoted at length by 
 the Commissioners, appears to be based on his belief in 
 44 4 freedom of contract,’ which would be destroyed if an 
 owner of landed property be precluded from letting it, except 
 upon terms prescribed by an Act of Parliament.” 
 
 If we analyse the 42 tenant farmer witnesses according Forty-two 
 to their geographical distribution the result is as follows : 1 armei> 
 
 Anglesey 3; Carnarvon 6; Merioneth 1; West Denbigh 
 (including the whole of the Yale of Clwyd) 5 ; East Denbigh 
 and Flint 15 ; Montgomery 2. Total for North Wales=32, 
 
 South Pembroke 1 ; North Pembroke 1 ; Carmarthen 
 2 ; Brecknock 2; Glamorgan 3; Monmouth 1. Total South 
 Wales (Radnor and Cardigan being unrepresented)=10. 
 
 Or if the distinction be made between Eastern (or 
 border) counties, and Western counties the numbers are 
 Eastern counties 28, Western counties 14. 
 
 Something may also be inferred perhaps from another 
 group of facts as to the size of the holdings of these 
 witnesses, and of the estates on which they are situated. 
 
 The great majority of those quoted appear to be occupying 
 very large farms — some of the largest probably in Wales, 
 and in connection with this fact it may be borne in mind 
 
 EE 
 
450 
 
 chiefly large 
 tenants 
 
 holding farms 
 on large 
 estates. 
 
 that competition in Wales is keenest for the small and 
 middle-sized holdings, while owing to the dearth of capital, 
 it is practically non-existent so far as the large farms are 
 concerned. On the other hand, as the Commissioners point 
 out, some of these large holders may be reckoned as “ the 
 most enterprising and thoughtful of their class.” The more 
 notable names among them are those of Mr. Stratton of 
 Dyffryn, near Newport, Mon., the occupier of 3 holdings 
 measuring about 1,900 acres ; Mr. W. S. Miller of Forest 
 Lodge, Brecon, who, besides being an auctioneer and land 
 agent, farms several thousand acres ; Mr. D. H. Thomas of 
 Derllys Court, near Carmarthen, also a land agent and 
 auctioneer, farming about 500 acres as tenant ; Mr. J. M, 
 Jones of Mathrafal, Montgomeryshire, holding a farm of 295 
 acres with a sheep run of about 300 acres, belonging to the 
 Earl of Powis ; and Mr. William Davies of Llysfasi, who 
 occupies 200 acres of enclosed land in the Vale of Clwyd and 
 a sheepwalk of 300 acres belonging to Col. Cornwallis West. 
 
 But besides being large farmers themselves, most of 
 these witnesses were tenants of large estates. Thus nine 
 of them were tenants of Sir Watkin W. Wynn (seven of 
 whom hailed from the immediate neighbourhood of Wynn- 
 stay), while the estates of Lord Kenyon, Lord Penrhyn, 
 Mr. Hughes, of Kinmel, Mr. Davies-Cooke, of Gwysaney, 
 and Col. Hughes, of Ystrad (Sir Watkin’s agent), were 
 represented by two tenants each. Among the remainder 
 were representatives from each of the following estates : — 
 Powis, Glynllifon (Lord Newborough), Ruthin Castle, Rhiwlas, 
 Bodorgan, Cefn Mably, and Derllys (Sir James Drummond’s). 
 
 Eight of the tenant farmer witnesses gave their evidence 
 in Welsh, while the remainder were examined in English. 
 
 Four, or possibly five of the tenant farmers quoted, gave 
 evidence in a representative capacity, while all the others 
 expressed their own personal opinions only. Perhaps the 
 most important of the statements made by one of this class 
 against a Land Court was that of Mr. Stratton, of Dyffryn, 
 who stated that the Monmouthshire Chamber of Agriculture 
 had some time previously passed a resolution that anything 
 in the nature of a Land Court was, in their opinion, not 
 desirable, though the County Council of the same county 
 had subsequently passed a contrary resolution. He himself 
 was of opinion “ that in Monmouthshire 99 out of every 100 
 tenant farmers would set their faces dead against anything 
 of the kind.” 
 
 On the other hand a large amount of evidence wa3 
 similarly given in favour of the establishment of a Land 
 
451 
 
 Alourt, but this ha3 not been in the like manner summarised 
 in the Report of the Majority, who state that they did not 
 think it necessary to do so, “ having regard to the length of 
 their report.” But they make the following statement on 
 the point (p. 924) : — 
 
 “Not only did the great majority of the tenant-farmers 
 who gave evidence upon the point earnestly advocate the 
 fixing of fair rents by a third party or a judicial tribunal, 
 and the necessity of legislation giving securities of tenure, 
 but many responsible witnesses of a representative character 
 took the same view. For instance, Mr. Thomas Gee was of 
 this opinion.* Now, this gentleman is not only a farmer 
 himself, but is the editor of one of the most widely circulating 
 Welsh newspapers — the newspaper in fact that is especially 
 the farmer’s organ — a politician of weight in local and 
 parliamentary affairs, and a man who has been for many 
 years well acquainted with the whole of Wales, and in close 
 touch with the movements of opinion among the Welsh- 
 speaking people. So again Mr. Darbishire, a landowner and 
 farmer, deposed to the necessity of the intervention of a third 
 party. f We might cite the testimony of many other men 
 entitled to speak with authority for the tenant-farming class, 
 but these instances will, in our judgment, suffice. We have 
 no doubt that nearly all the tenants who have applied their 
 minds to the subject would welcome legislation in the 
 direction that we have suggested. 
 
 “ The matter stands thus : The landlords and the agents 
 (practically without exception), while conceding that rents 
 should be fair, conditions of tenancy reasonable, and compen- 
 sation upon quitting ample, resolutely oppose the tenants 
 having the right to appeal to any third party or court upon 
 any question. They deny that the tenants, speaking broadly, 
 want any such right. Directly or indirectly, they suggest 
 that there is no Welsh Land Question, that the whole move- 
 ment was suggested by Irish action, and by the Act of 1881, 
 and fostered by “ agitators.” The representatives of the 
 tenants deny each of these propositions. We, after con- 
 sidering the evidence, and also the facts that came under our 
 observation, have come to the conclusion that the latter are 
 right. 
 
 “ It ought to be noticed that while 516 tenants gave 
 evidence before us, the diligence of our colleagues can only 
 ■discover 37 who, in more or less definite language, disclaimed 
 .a desire for a Land Court, or the fixing of a fair rent by a 
 
 Opinions in 
 favour of a Lan d 
 Court quoted by 
 Majority. 
 
 * Q. 63,995, 63,999. et seq. 
 
 f Q. 12,874, 12,894. 
 
452 
 
 The claim of 
 Wales to a 
 special 
 Land Bill. 
 
 third part}^. In considering their evidence, the practically 
 complete dependence of a tenant from year to year on the 
 landlord must be borne in mind. On the other hand it may 
 be urged with truth that, even assuming that all the 516 
 tenants (except the 37 referred to) expressed their desire for 
 a judicial or statutory tenure, they form but a small propor- 
 tion of the whole tenant farmers of Wales. It may be asked 
 how is it that more of them did not come forward to press 
 the demand ? The answer to this is that many of the 
 witnesses were representatives of their districts at meetings 
 of tenant farmers, and the mere reiteration of the same 
 evidence was unnecessary. But the main answer is that 
 rightly or wrongly the tenants believed that their landlords 
 and the agents were opposed to this inquiry, and that it 
 would be imprudent to give evidence before us. 
 
 We conclude, without hesitation, that the immense majority 
 of the tenant farmers would welcome the institution of a 
 tribunal to which they could appeal from landlord or agent 
 in case of dispute. It must not be supposed that we think 
 that in every case the tenant would go to the proposed court.. 
 It would be a matter for the exercise of his discretion ; but 
 the right to do so that we propose to confer upon him would 
 enable him to discuss matters upon an equality with his 
 landlord, and would, as we believe, very generally lead to an 
 agreement on the points in difference.'’ 
 
 The Majority Report concludes with an eloquent 
 peroration dealing with the special claims of Wales to 
 separate legislation as apart from England (p. 931), as to 
 the necessity of which all the Commissioners are moreover 
 agreed. What is remarkable about this epilogue to the 
 Report is its strong imperialistic tone. 
 
 “It is not as 4 Little Englanders,”’ the Commissioners 
 seem to say “that we have considered the question, but as 
 imperialists and statesmen eagerly desirous to promote the 
 best interests of the Empire at large.” They admit the 
 desirability of the same or similar legislation in the domain 
 of private law (e.g., as to marriage, &c.), for England and 
 Wales alike, but they fail to see any tenable objection to a 
 want of uniformity in land legislation, especially considering 
 that the “ Courts have always been ready to recognize 
 particular customs in this regard.” 
 
 But the Welsh are a nation of their own and their 
 special circumstances, as disclosed in the Report, form, it is 
 claimed, a sufficient justification for separate treatment in 
 legislation. 
 
453 
 
 “ In advocating their claims to separate legislation, we 
 do so, not as men careless of the interests of, but eagerly 
 desirous to maintain the integrity and power of the Empire 
 ..at large. Your Majesty’s Empire is an aggregate of many 
 peoples, and its strength depends not on uniformity of law, 
 but on the well-being of its members, and especially of those 
 inhabiting Great Britain and Ireland. The halls and farm- 
 houses of Wales have been the nurseries of a race which has 
 at all times borne an honourable share in the formation and 
 defence of this mighty state, and we claim that the legislation 
 we propose, tending as it will to Iceep estates and holdings in 
 the same families under improved conditions, will also tend 
 to perpetuate a gifted, sturdy, and healthy people, and by so 
 doing, assist in maintaining the strength of the British 
 Empire unimpaired, and its glory undiminished.” 
 
 The words which are here italicised — the italics being 
 our own — may be said without much exaggeration to be the 
 key-note of the whole report. 
 
 The principle of the Agricultural Holdings Act is the 
 protection of the interests of the quitting tenant — but what 
 the tenants of Wales require, and what the present Act does 
 not provide, is that they should obtain not facilities for 
 quitting their holdings but such conditions as will enable 
 them to continue their occupation. 
 
 One obvious way of doing this would be by means of 
 land purchase, — by the giving of advances (such as those 
 given to Irish tenants under the Ashbourne Acts) for the 
 creation of a peasant proprietary, in other words, by buying 
 out the landowners. But the Commissioners, it should be 
 observed, wish to preserve the present system of land owner- 
 ship, with its large estates, and resident gently ; they desire 
 to keep the “halls” and “the estates in the same families 
 under improved conditions.” The splitting-up of large estates 
 is a policy that receives no sort of sanction or support from 
 the Commissioners ; not a word is said about any scheme 
 of land registration or the cheapening of the transfer of 
 land, though the expenses of conveyance are referred to 
 (p. 248), and many of the freeholders from the western 
 counties complained bitterly of the heavy fees they had to 
 pay first on the purchase of their farms and then on their 
 mortgage deeds. One of the indirect results of the Finance 
 Act, of 1894, it has frequently been asserted, would be the 
 breaking up of the monopoly of land ownership, and the 
 creation of a much larger number of small owners. Assuming 
 that to be so, the whole tendency of the present Report is in 
 sl contrary direction. The Commissioners see no necessity 
 
 Keynote of 
 Keport. 
 
454 
 
 for the abolition of primogeniture and entail, and they 
 express the belief that the disadvantages of the old system 
 of strict entail have been largely removed by the Settled 
 Land Acts and the Conveyancing Act (p. 245). 
 
 The estates should be preserved and their “ solidarity as 
 economic units ” emphasised and increased. In other words, 
 the estate-owner should exercise his influence to combine the 
 tenantry of the whole estate as partners in the work of 
 co-operative production : for example an estate butter-and- 
 cheese-factory might be established. On the other hand, the 
 tenants might be induced to combine in purchasing their 
 manures and feeding stuffs at wholesale prices, while in the 
 sale of their produce or stock, better prices could be obtained 
 by their dealing as a body with buyers in towns or with the 
 railway companies. In short, an estate could be converted 
 into a kind of large co-operative society. 
 
 T e”ort C towards Where, owing to the scattered position of the holdings 
 coUectivisnf, r s belonging to an estate or for other reasons, estates cannot be 
 individualism . thus organised, the local authority, e.g. the County Council, 
 might be empowered to step in and organise the occupiers, 
 start their factories and exercise a guiding control over their 
 co-operative business. Or — though these instances are not 
 
 mentioned in the Report — a system of co-operation might 
 be developed on the lines which Mr. Horace Plunkett is 
 following in Ireland, or the English Land Colonisation 
 Society is recommending for small holders in this country. 
 Lord Winchilsea’s scheme, to which reference has been made 
 above (p. 360), is also another form of agricultural co-opera- 
 tion that might be adapted to cany out the Commissioners’ 
 recom m end ations . 
 
 It is also to be observed that the Commissioners suggest 
 that local authorities should have the control of common 
 land, be empowered to erect labourers’ dwellings, and to 
 purchase manorial rights. These and other suggestions 
 indicate that the tendency of the Report is towards collec- 
 tivism rather than individualism — collectivism in the form 
 of co-operation and collectivism in the ownership and control 
 of land by local authorities. The Land Court itself is more- 
 over only another form of this collectivist public control. 
 
 But beyond this the Commissioners do not go ; as to 
 land nationalisation — the ultimate form of collectivism as to 
 land — the Commissioners have nothing to say, and the term 
 is not even once mentioned among their conclusions and 
 recommendations. 
 
455 
 
 Whether these proposals for co-operative organisation, 
 and for the ^asi-municipal control, or ownership of labourers’ 
 cottages, of common lands and manorial rights generally, 
 would, if adopted, eventually lead to that wider national 
 control over landed property, which is implied by “ land 
 nationalisation,” is too remote a speculation to be considered 
 here, but it may be borne in mind that the advocates of 
 collectivism, generally regard the organisation of industries, 
 whether by means of co-operative societies, of huge 
 monopolies, or of legislative interference as a necessary step 
 towards that co-operative commonwealth which, for the 
 Socialist, is the ideal State of the future. 
 
456 
 
 Agents should 
 be specially- 
 trained experts 
 — and members 
 of an organised 
 ‘•profession.” 
 
 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 “For the convenience of those who may consult this 
 Report ” the Commissioners (as a bo<fy) give in conclusion 
 (p. 955J a summary of “ the principal recommendations as to 
 voluntaiy, administrative, and legislative action,” made in the 
 Report. Where a recommendation has been already given at 
 greater length in an earlier part of this Digest, a reference is 
 added to the page where such fuller treatment is to be found 
 — all the references from here to the end being to the Digest 
 and not to the Report — and, by consulting the Index, other 
 references can also, in many cases, be discovered. 
 
 The following is the full text of the “ Summary” as 
 given in the Report : — 
 
 “I. As to Estate Management, we make the following 
 suggestions, many of which are derived from our observation 
 of the methods in use on the best managed estates. 
 
 (1). We recommend that great care should be taken by 
 estate owners in the appointment of agents. In the Welsh- 
 speaking districts we think it essential that the agent should 
 be able to converse with the tenants in Welsh ; while in 
 regard to all parts of the principality we think that agents 
 should be men having a practical acquaintance with farming 
 in Wales, and also possessing adequate scientific knowledge 
 of agriculture, land-surveying, and land-valuing. As sub- 
 sidiary to this recommendation we suggest that those who 
 are now practising as agents either for one estate or generally 
 as land surveyors and valuers, auctioneers, &c., should take 
 steps to organise themselves into a profession, carried on 
 according to rules and understandings similar to those 
 adopted by accountants and the medical and legal professions. 
 With the view to making any organisation of this profession 
 successful, we urge on the University Colleges the creation 
 or continuance of departments specially designed for the 
 training of students fit to become members of such a body.* 
 
 * [It may be mentioned that an organisation already exists — namely 
 the Surveyors Institution — “which is inter alia specially charged by 
 Royal Charter with the duty of regulating the practice and promoting 
 the technical education and training of the general body of Land Agents 
 throughout the United Kingdom and which imposes as a condition of 
 membership the passing of a very searching examination in all the sub- 
 jects in which a Land Agent should ^be professionally informed. More- 
 over the Institution has,” it appears, “ special organizations of its Land 
 Agent members in both North and South Wales,” through whom candi- 
 dates are sent up year by year for the Diploma Examination of the Insti- 
 tution. These facts, I should state, have been brought to my notice, 
 subsequent to the issue of the Report, by the Secretary of the Surveyors 
 Institution. — D. LI. T.] 
 
457 
 
 (2.) We recommend that the estate owners of Wales 
 should conduct the business of the estate through a com- 
 petent agent, according to general rules recognised as 
 customary upon the estate : That ample authority should be 
 given to every agent to settle all disputes, whether between 
 the estate and the tenant, or between tenants thereupon, or 
 between tenants and other servants and officers (e.g., 
 gamekeepers) in the employment of the landlord. In other 
 words, we desire to emphasize the public character of every 
 considerable estate as an economic' unit in the county in 
 which it exists. Every agent ought in our opinion, or every 
 landlord, if he is his own agent, to approach the consideration 
 of every complaint and of every difference from a judicial 
 point of view. His efforts should be directed to avoiding 
 friction, capricious treatment of individual cases, or the 
 creation of a suspicion that those in authority are really 
 influenced by gossip emanating from the subordinate officials 
 of the estate. We think that the greatest care should be 
 taken that no tenant farmer should believe that any landlord 
 or agent will act to his prejudice upon the unsupported 
 testimony of a gamekeeper, a woodman, or servant engaged 
 in some capacity of a similar kind. 
 
 In case, for instance, in regard to game, any complaint 
 is made by a gamekeeper against an individual tenant 
 farmer, we think that the person complained of should be 
 permitted such an opportunity of explaining his own action 
 as will entirely remove ground for belief in the neighbour- 
 hood that he has been unfairly treated, or that the 
 gamekeeper in question is a person whose word is believed 
 in preference to that of a tenant of the estate. 
 
 (3.) In reference to the general economic management 
 of an estate, we think that the influence of the landlord 
 should be exerted towards emphasizing its solidarity as an 
 economic unit upon which a particular industry is carried on. 
 The general character of the land, the peculiarities of the 
 holdings, and their capacity for development in this or that 
 direction, ought to be ever present to the minds of the agent 
 and the landlord. The estate office should be looked upon 
 as the centre of a business organisation. The conditions 
 upon which the different departments of agriculture can be 
 'Carried on with a view to profit should be rightly appre- 
 hended, and every effort made by individual tenant farmers 
 in an original direction should be considered and possibly 
 encouraged. Where practicable, co-operation and combina- 
 tion between the farmers of the estate should be aided ; and 
 the agent, as part of his duty, should endeavour to promote 
 
 Principles of 
 management 
 should be well- 
 known and 
 recognised as 
 customary. 
 
 Estate should 
 form the basis 
 for co-operation 
 in production 
 and 
 
 distribution. 
 
458 
 
 Freedom of 
 cultivation and 
 free sale of 
 produce, subject 
 to reservations. 
 
 Non- 
 interference 
 with politics or 
 religion. 
 
 such collective action, both in regard to production and in 
 regard to distribution, as is likely to create a better profit for 
 the tenant farmer, [pp. 361-2.] 
 
 (4.) We think that, assuming that the existing condi- 
 tions remain much the same, the landlords’ expenditure 
 should in most districts be directed to the better equipment 
 of the holdings, not for arable farming, but for stock and 
 sheep farming, dairy farming, butter and cheese making, the 
 poultry and egg business, and market gardening. And, as 
 a corollary to this recommendation, we think that the forma- 
 tion of small holdings suitable for the kinds of farming to 
 which we have just alluded should be encouraged. 
 
 (5.) Assuming that the proposals made below [p. 467J 
 for the virtual substitution of a statutory tenancy for that 
 voluntary tenancy entered into between landlord and tenant 
 are not adopted, but that the existing system remains, the 
 agreements on the different estates should conform strictly 
 to the law, especially the Ground Game Act, 1880, and the 
 Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, or any amended Act that 
 may take its place. As to the substance of the agreements/ 
 we think that all restrictive and penal clauses should, so far 
 as possible, be cut out ; and, basing our argument upon the 
 principle so carefully laid down in the Separate Keport [p. 423], 
 that upon the whole we must have confidence in human 
 nature, we think that each tenant ought to be allowed to 
 carry on his business in such a manner as his skill and know- 
 ledge suggests, provided always that the landlords’ interests 
 are properly safeguarded. For instance, as to the sale of pro- 
 duce ( e.g ., hay and straw) off a particular farm, we think that 
 no practical advantage is attained by the existing restrictive 
 conditions, and that the demand persistently made by tenant 
 farmers that they should be allowed to sell such produce in 
 accordance with their discretion at the moment is well! 
 founded, provided always that manure of adequate value is 
 returned to the land. [p. 178.] Furthermore, we recom- 
 mend that in all cases written agreements should be intro- 
 duced, and that in the case of Welsh tenants a Welsh, 
 translation should be handed to them [p. 121]. 
 
 (6.) Lastly, we earnestly recommend that questions 
 of politics and religion and other topics irrelevant, from an 
 economic point of view, should be rigidly excluded from 
 consideration in the management of estates. We think that 
 no owner or agent ought to interfere directly or indirectly 
 with the exercise of that discretion in regard to religious 
 belief and observance and, in regard to voting at elections 
 for Parliamentary or local purposes which the law allows to* 
 
459 
 
 every registered elector. We regard it as very important 
 that the landlord should be known, whatever his politics, to 
 set an example of loyal support of the law. 
 
 II. — As to FARMING generally, we desire to impress on The need of 
 all classes concerned m agriculture m W ales the necessity ot Education, 
 carrying on the business on modern economic principles, and 
 of recognising that farming is an art demanding, if carried 
 on for profit, the adoption of every method that tends to 
 improve the quantity and quality of produce and to diminish 
 the cost of production. With this object in view we 
 recommend — 
 
 (1 .) The extension of facilities for agricultural education. 
 
 (2.) The diffusion, under the direction of the Board of Srming ti011 ° f 
 Agriculture, of intelligence useful for farmers : intelligence. 
 
 (a) By the distribution of literature on agricultural 
 
 topics ; 
 
 ( b ) By the exhibition at the village post offices or 
 
 telegraph stations of the weather forecasts issued 
 
 by the Meteorological Office ; and 
 
 ( c ) By the distribution of periodical information as to 
 
 the prices of agricultural produce. 
 
 (3). The introduction and creation of associations for Co-operation, 
 co-operation similar to those that exist in some of the 
 countries on the Continent of Europe. In regard to butter 
 and cheese making, we think that co-operation in production 
 would have a distinctly profitable effect, and that the institu- 
 tion (under the auspices of the Board of Agriculture, of local 
 authorities, or of landlords themselves) of butter and cheese 
 making factories would give a beneficial stimulus to farming. 
 
 We do not think that it would be expedient on our part to 
 develop any plan for such factories in detail, but we desire to And intensive 
 point out that, quite apart from the action of the central or farmiDg - 
 local government, if our idea of the solidarity of the estate is 
 adopted, we think that some of the owners in Wales at any 
 rate would find it advantageous to themselves to contribute to 
 the formation of such institutions. In regard to co-operation 
 in distribution, we think that syndicates or associations 
 might well be formed in regard to stock and sheep farming, 
 with the view to the supply of the great towns with meat, 
 and similarly, also, in regard to the dairy business proper, 
 the supply of eggs, poultry, and so forth. 
 
 (4,) We think that more attention ought to be paid by a closer study- 
 farmers generally to those departments of their art in which ° mar e s ’ 
 competition is most easily combated. We have pointed out 
 that the farmers of Wales as a whole adopt a merely 
 traditional method, and from year to year hardly vary their 
 
460 
 
 system. Greater flexibility ought to be introduced into the 
 methods, and, above all, everyone should recognise that the 
 best chance of a profit is to be found in supplying to the 
 great towns and populous places of Wales and of England 
 those articles in regard to which producers in foreign 
 countries are naturally placed in a less advantageous situation 
 for the competition of the market [pp. 359-368]. 
 
 Taxation. III. As to Buhthens ON Land, due to rating by local 
 
 authorities, and to Imperial taxation — we recommend that 
 the whole question of local as opposed to Imperial taxation, 
 and the question of the taxation of personalty as compared 
 with that of realty, should be inquired into by a properly 
 constituted Commission ( see pp. 194-7). 
 
 Railway Rates. As TO Railway Rates — we do not recommend any special 
 action, because we regard the recent legislation on this 
 matter as tentative, and to some extent experimental. We 
 are pleased, however, to find that the leading railway com- 
 panies are recognising the fact of the present depression in 
 agriculture, and are endeavouring to meet it by lowering 
 their charges ; and we trust that after the necessary ex- 
 perience of the working of the recent Acts they will see their 
 way to give further facilities in rural districts as well as 
 lower rates on agricultural produce generally, (p. 363.) 
 Agricultural IV. As to the amendment of the Law of Landlord 
 — amSdmeht’ and Tenant, our recommendations fall into two classes : — 
 or - first, those directed to an amendment of the law regulating 
 
 the rights of landlord and tenant at the dissolution of a 
 tenancy of agricultural land ; secondly , recommendations for 
 the regulation of the agricultural industry during an existing 
 tenancy. In regard to the former, we have, though not 
 entirely by the same reasoning or from the same standpoint, 
 arrived at a substantial agreement. We are all agreed that 
 an amendment of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, is 
 desirable and even necessary, and that, without going so far 
 as to recommend the complete statutory regulation of agri- 
 cultural tenancies, some extension of the Act of 1883 is 
 imperative [pp. 384-9 ; 440-4]. 
 
 The principal Amendments that we recommend are 
 these : — 
 
 Notice of claim (1.) We think that the requirement of a notice by the 
 
 under Act not to , \ . ... p , 7. i i* j 
 
 be an indispeus- tenant, m writing, ot his intention to make a claim under 
 able condition, ^ct, as a condition precedent to his right to compensa- 
 tion, ought to be done away with ; and, on the other hand, 
 we think that the requirement of a similar notice by the 
 landlord of his intention to counter-claim under the Act 
 should be dispensed with. If this course is not taken, we 
 
461 
 
 think that the county court or other tribunal which has to 
 adjust the rights of parties, ought to have power to relieve 
 against omission either by landlord or by tenant to give the 
 notice required by section 7, uponsuch terms as might appear 
 just. So also, if the notice by the tenant is insisted upon as 
 a condition precedent to the right to claim compensation, 
 we think that such provision ought to be made in regard to 
 the determination of the tenancy by the forfeiture clauses of 
 an agreement as would prevent the loss of all right to 
 compensation by causes over which the tenant has only a 
 very indirect control. 
 
 (2.) As to the machinery of the Act we think that it Procedure 
 is unduly dilatory, expensive, and complicated. We think simpMed! 
 that it would be advisable to leave disputes under the Act 
 to be dealt with either under the Arbitration Act, 1889, or 
 simply by the county court according to its ordinary 
 procedure, subject to the making of any such rules by the 
 Committee of County Court Judges as might be necessary 
 in this particular class of disputes. 
 
 (3.) We think that the clauses in regard to substituted and discretion 
 compensation require amendment and simplification. In our umpire or judge, 
 view any amendment with this object should be in the 
 direction of leaving a large discretion to the arbitrator or 
 tribunal which has ultimately to decide the question [p. 387]. 
 
 (4.) With regard to sections 6, 7, and 59, which con- 
 tain regulations as to the mode of ascertaining the amount 
 of compensation, we think amendment is necessary. 
 
 (5.) As to the schedule we think that there is no Amendment of 
 objection to its general form, but that items 3, the laying schedules > 
 down of permanent pasture ; 6, so far as it relates to the 
 enlarging of gardens ; 7, so far as it relates to the improving 
 of roads or bridges ; 8, the making or improving of water- 
 courses, ponds, wells, or reservoirs, or of works for the 
 application of water power, or for the supply of water for 
 agricultural ur domestic purposes, ought to be removed from 
 Part 1 to Part 2 of the schedule. Next as to Part 3 we 
 recommend that item 23, consumption on the holding by 
 cattle, sheep, or pigs of cake or other food stuff not produced 
 on the holding, might be amended by adding the words, 
 
 ‘‘horses exclusively engaged or kept on the holding”; and 
 also that the following items ought to be added to Part 3 of 
 the schedule ; namely, 
 
 ( a .) Consumption on the holding, of corn grown thereon 
 by horses (exclusively engaged or kept on the holding), 
 cattle, sheep, or pigs ; 
 
462 
 
 ami addition 
 thereto. 
 
 Agricultural 
 Holdings Act. 
 — Extension 
 
 OF. 
 
 So far, quitting 
 tenant alone 
 protected . 
 
 But Act should 
 also protect 
 sitting tenant, on 
 re-settlement of 
 terms of 
 tenancy, 
 
 And variation 
 rent. 
 
 (6.) Continuous good farming and cultivation or good 
 husbandry in excess of the standard of cultivation, or good 
 husbandry which the tenant was bound to maintain ; 
 
 (c.) Any other improvement increasing the value of the 
 holding as an agricultural holding, and 
 
 (d.) Haulage done by the tenant at the landlord’s 
 request in the course of making improvements in the 
 holding. 
 
 The above recommendations, unanimously made, are 
 matters which, without any extension of the principle of the 
 Act of 1883, expediency and justice alike require. Apart 
 from the recommendations which the majority of us make 
 below, we think that the equities of the situation as between 
 landlord and tenant require a modification of the existing 
 law in accordance with the principle of the Act of 1883 and 
 in the directions set forth in the separate report. 
 
 We are impressed with the fact that the Act of 1883, 
 dealing as it does only with the rights of the parties if and 
 when the tenant leaves the holding, leaves untouched a 
 possible grievance. Notices to quit on the side of the 
 landlord are frequently given, not with the view to the 
 determination of the tenancy, but to an alteration of its 
 terms, so far as rent is concerned, when, upon succession 
 or otherwise a revaluation of the whole estate is made or 
 else as a preliminary to the sale of the estate as a whole, 
 or in lots. In practice when, under either of these circum- 
 stances, a revaluation is made, the new rental is assessed 
 upon the improved value of the holding, id est, its actual or 
 apparent value at the time of the valuation, we think that in 
 adjusting the relations of landlord and tenant under these 
 circumstances, if, on the revaluation, the rent is assessed 
 upon the improved value of the holding, it is clear that the 
 tenant, if he is to have the advantage of the principle of the 
 Act of 1883 (id est, the return of the capital that he has 
 placed in the land so far as it is then unexhausted), ought 
 to receive at the commencement of what is virtually a new 
 tenancy such compensation in money as he would receive if 
 he were leaving the farm, or else an adequate allowance 
 should be made in respect of the value of his unexhausted 
 improvements in the final assessment of the new rent. 
 
 We accordingly suggest that proper sections should be 
 introduced into an amended Agricultural Holdings Act 
 appropriate for carrying out this principle. 
 
 Furthermore, struck as we are with the injustice which 
 often occurs upon the sale of an estate (a matter wholly 
 outside the control of the sitting tenant) or in the case of the 
 
463 
 
 death of an owner and succession of his heir or devisee by 
 the raising of the rent, and by the ignoring on the part of a 
 new owner or a new agent of promises and understandings 
 impliedly come to under the old regime; we recognise that 
 the equity of the case is not reasonably met under the 
 existing law. We think that in these special cases the 
 tenant ought to be protected by law in the occupation of his 
 farm at the old rent for a longer term than one year, and we 
 suggest three years from the date of the death or sale, except 
 in cases in which the tenant does not pay the rent or 
 infringes the conditions of the tenancy, which under the 
 circumstances should be stringent enough to protect the 
 landlord from depreciation or exhaustion of the farm. 
 
 Lastly, we recommend that where a tenant is capriciously 
 evicted, that is to say, receives notice to quit for inadequate 
 reasons, or for any cause other than the following : — (1) 
 That he has not paid the rent due in accordance with the 
 contract of tenancy; (2), that he has persisted in committing 
 or permitting waste after notice has been given by the land- 
 lord to him not to commit or permit such waste, or that he 
 has committed such a breach of any condition of the tenancy 
 as materially affects the value of the holding to the prejudice 
 of the landlord — the tenant ought to be permitted to claim 
 in addition to the compensation due under the regulations of 
 the Act of 1883, or any amended Act, some compensation 
 for disturbance [pp. 308; 44*1]. 
 
 We have no right to pronounce on the question whether 
 .such an amendment of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883, 
 and of the law of landlord and tenant as to agricultural 
 holdings, is required for England as well as Wales ; but 
 without prejudice to this question we think that the circum- 
 stances disclosed in regard to Wales by our inquiry urgently 
 call for legislation such as we have above sketched, and 
 that it would be expedient to deal with the case of Wales in 
 a separate Bill for this purpose, however desirable it be, as a 
 general rule, to avoid separate or particular legislation. 
 
 V. As to the Game Laws — we recommend that the 
 statutes dealing with offences connected with game should 
 be simplified and codified. We do not recommend the ex- 
 tension of the principle of the Ground Game Act, 1880, to 
 winged game [ See pp. 187-191]. 
 
 VI. — As to Distress, — according to our view of the 
 evidence, the balance of advantage to the agricultural 
 community is in favour of the landlords retaining the limited 
 power of distress for rent which they at present possess. 
 [See p. 192]. 
 
 On sale of 
 property, or 
 death of owner, 
 tenant should be 
 secured in the 
 holding for 3 
 years. 
 
 Tenant to have 
 
 comi>ensation 
 
 for disturbance 
 
 if evicted 
 
 without 
 
 adequate 
 
 reason. 
 
 Need of special 
 Bill for Wales 
 embodying 
 these 
 
 amendments. 
 
 No alteration as 
 to game. 
 
 Distress 
 
 retained. 
 
464 
 
 State loans for 
 
 mortgaged 
 
 freeholders. 
 
 Cottage accom- 
 modation for 
 labourers should 
 be improved. 
 
 Eegulation of 
 Commons by- 
 local 
 
 authorities. 
 
 Inquiry as to 
 Crown lands in 
 Wales, 
 
 VII. — As to Occupying Freeholders, — we recommend 
 that State loans, subject to a low rate of interest, be granted 
 to a limited class of occupying freeholders, — id est, freeholders 
 farming their own land, who have purchased their own 
 holdings since 1868 and borrowed on the security of the 
 holdings — with a view to their paying off existing mortgages 
 in respect of which a high rate of interest is paid. 
 
 We, however, feel that it is very difficult to confine the 
 suggested relief within the desired limits, and we support the 
 scheme only on condition that the proposed operations may 
 be effected without loss to the Treasury. We further feel 
 that the scheme is only justified by the special circumstances 
 disclosed in our Report. — [p. 333.] 
 
 VIII. — As to Cottagers and Labourers,— we are much 
 
 impressed with the fact that where farm labourers live in 
 cottages on or near the farm where they work, it is desirable 
 that they should have a small holding of land, with a view 
 of rendering them more satisfied with the conditions under 
 which they live, and we recommend that the Allotments 
 Acts, 1887, 1889, and the Small Holdings Act, 1892, should 
 be put into operation more freely than hitherto, and we also 
 advise the extension of the provisions of the Housing of the 
 Working Classes Act, 1890, to rural districts, with such 
 amendments as may be necessary to adapt them to the 
 requirements of country places. We also make certain 
 
 recommendations with the view of the better enforcement of 
 sanitary laws. — [See pp. 339 — 340.] 
 
 IX. — As to Commons, — we think that powers for the 
 making of bye-laws for the regulation of the use of commons 
 by the commoners should be conferred on County Councils 
 and District Councils, and also that enlarged powers should 
 be given to the public for the use of commons for the pur- 
 poses of health and recreation, subject to proper bye-laws or 
 rules to be made by those authorities, care being taken not 
 unduly to interfere with the enjoyment of their rights by 
 lords of the manors or commoners, or for the payment of 
 adequate compensation where there is any substantial inter- 
 ference with the profitable exercise of such rights. 
 
 And we also think that power ought to be given to local 
 authorities (County Councils and District Councils J to pur- 
 chase on fair terms the rights of the lord of a manor, by 
 agreement, in accordance with the Lands Clauses Consolida- 
 tion Act, 1845, or some similar provision. — [See p. 327.] 
 
 X. — As to Crown Lands, — we recommend that a 
 commission, the members of which should have individually 
 and collective^ the powers of Judges of the High Court of 
 
465 
 
 Justice should be appointed to survey the Crown lands in 
 Wales, and to make a proper Extent of the rents, dues, &c., 
 payable from land in Wales to the Crown. [See p. 317.] 
 
 XI. — -As to the Witnesses Protection Act, 1892, — 
 we recommend, in view of the complaints made by persons 
 to us that they have been damnified by having given 
 evidence before this Commission, to the difficulty in which 
 we have been placed from time to time in dealing with these 
 complaints, and the action of the Public Prosecutor disclosed 
 above, that a public enquiry should be made into the 
 operation of the Act, and as to the desirability of amending 
 it, and in this connection we express an earnest hope that 
 landlords and agents will not allow themselves to be 
 influenced in their dealings with any tenant by the fact that 
 he has given evidence before this Commission . — ( See p. 20.) 
 
 The carrying out of the plan of this Report, which we 
 explained in the introduction, necessarily involved the 
 making of a report of considerable size. The extent which 
 it has necessarily reached is such that we recognise that it 
 would be hardly expedient in the public interest to cause the 
 whole of it to be translated into Welsh and published 
 officially in that language. At the same time we think it 
 very desirable that Welsh tenant farmers should be ac- 
 quainted with many portions of the Report, and we feel that 
 unless such portions are translated into Welsh, there will be 
 great difficulty in making them cognisant of our views and 
 recommendations. We therefore think that it would be 
 expedient for the Treasury to undertake officially the transla- 
 tion and publication of parts of this Report, and w T e humbly 
 suggest that the determination of the parts wdiich it is most 
 desirable to translate into Welsh should be left to a com- 
 mittee of our own body acting in conjunction with the Lords 
 Commissioners of Your Majesty’s Treasury. 
 
 (Signed) Carrington. 
 
 Kenyon. 
 
 John Talbot Dillwyn Llewellyn. 
 David Brynmor Jones. 
 
 John Rhys. 
 
 John Morgan Griffiths. 
 
 Edwin Grove. 
 
 Richard Jones. 
 
 Frederic Seebohm. 
 
 Daniel Lleufer Thomas 
 Cecil Edgar Owen, 
 
 Secretaries. 
 
 August 26th, 1896. 
 
 FF 
 
 And as to the 
 operation of the 
 Witnesses 
 Protection Act. 
 
 Translation into 
 Welsh of parts 
 of Report. 
 

« 
 
 WELSH HOUSING & DEVELOPMENT 
 ASSOCIATION. 
 
 (Incorporating The Welsh Housing Association and The South Wales 
 Garden Cities and Town Planning Association ). 
 
 NON-COMMERCIAL UNSECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN 
 
 OFFICERS 1917. 
 
 President — Major DAVID DAVIES, M.P. 
 
 Deputy Presidents — THE RT. HON. LADY BOSTON. 
 
 THE RT. HON. LORD ABERDARE. 
 
 Chairman— D. LLEUFER THOMAS, Esq., J.P. 
 Vice-Chairman— Dr. EVAN JONES, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.H. 
 Treasurer — CHARLES T. RUTHEN, Esq. 
 
 Secretary and Offices — EDGAR L. CHAPPELL, 38 Charles Street, Cardiff. 
 
 OBJECTS. 
 
 The objects of the Association are to collect and disseminate informa- 
 tion, to educate public opinion, to assist on non-party lines in influencing 
 promoting and improving legislation, and to take other private or public 
 action in regard to the following matters. 
 
 (a) The development of towns, villages and suburbs on Garden 
 
 City lines. 
 
 (b) Town, village, and regional planning ; the promotion of civic 
 
 surveys ; the amendment of street and building bye-laws 
 and estate regulations ; and the provision of improved market- 
 ing facilities and means of communication. 
 
 (c) Civic design and the practice of the arts and sciences as applied 
 
 thereto. 
 
 (d) The provision of houses, small holdings and allotments by local 
 
 authorities, public utility and co-operative societies, and other 
 approved agencies. 
 
 (e) The improvement of housing and hygienic conditions generally, 
 
 including the better ventilation of all public buildings, and the 
 increased provision of health and recreational facilities. 
 
 (/) The promotion of village institutes, halls, museums and libraries. 
 
 (g) The preservation of footpaths and commons, and, as far as possible, 
 scenery and objects of historical interest ; the regulation of 
 public advertising ; the provision of public view points and 
 outlook ‘rests’ ; the securing, wherever practicable, of access 
 to mountain^ and river banks ; the prevention of river pol- 
 lution ; and the abatement of all avoidable industrial 
 nuisances arising from smoke, dust, and noxious effluents. 
 
 (A) The utilisation wherever possible of local materials in building 
 construction, and the encouragement of local craftsmanship. 
 
(?) The advocacy of affc 
 public improvement 
 industries, including 
 soil, and the improv 
 estuaries of Wales. 
 
 (j) The betterment of the conditions of rural labour. 
 
 (k) The improvement of rural education by securing due regard 
 for the needs and ideals of country life and the establishment 
 thereby of a strong enduring type of rural civilisation in hat 
 mony with the best social traditions of Wales. 
 
 H 
 
 ORGANISATION. 
 
 The Association consists of a North Wales Branch and a South Wales 
 Branch. Each Branch has its own Council, elected by the members resident 
 in its area, and a Central Council is elected jointly by the two Branch Councils. 
 The Central Council, in turn, elects an Executive Committee to deal, with 
 matters of detail. 
 
 MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 i 
 
 Membership of the Association is open to all persons paying a minimum 
 Annual Subscription of 2/6. Societies and Local Authorities may affiliate 
 upon payment of a minimum Annual Fee of 10/6. Any Society ot Local 
 Authority subscribing two. guineas or more may appoint a representative 
 on the ‘Rra.nrh Connr.il of the area in which it is situated ; ; Iinfl 
 
 
 Societies and Members subscribing not less than 7/6 per annum are 
 entitled to receive copies of the Association’s publications. 
 
 METHODS. 
 
 In order to attain its objects the Association adopts a variety of 
 methods, of which the following are amongst the more important : — W 
 
 x. Investigations into housing conditions in different areas and the 
 preparation of reports upon suitable methods of reform. 
 
 2. The publication of literature dealing with various phases of Housing, 
 
 Town-Planning, the Garden City Movement, Rural Develop- 
 ment, etc. 
 
 3. The dissemination of information regarding social conditions, the 
 
 Public Health and Housing Acts and their administration, re- , 
 vision of street and building bye-laws, formation of housing 
 societies, pit-head baths, rural organisation and kindred matters. 
 An Information Bureau has been established at the Association's ^ 
 office, and enquiries will be welcomed. 
 
 4. The arrangement of conferences and lectures and the provision of 
 
 competent speakers. 
 
 5. Deputations to Local Authorities and Government Departments. 
 
 6. Interviews with landowners, architects, builders, and others, for 
 
 the purpose of urging the adoption of improved methods of estate 
 development, etc. 
 
 7. The publication in the newspaper press of informative letters and 
 
 articles upon new housing developments, methods of reform, etc. 1