William Neilson Hancock

“ As far as Scotland is concerned, the question of large and small farms remains to be tested; for all that the facts really warrant us in saying is, that large farmers, with perfect security for all the capital employed, are more successful than small crofters without any security at all. And yet, how many farms have been consolidated, how many tenants cleared off, on the belief that large farms must necessarily, under all circumstances, be more productive than small holdings? ”

“ In the next place, the cost of selling land in Scotland is very considerable. I made the most careful inquiries on this point, and, without troubling you with the results in detail, I may state generally, that all the impediments to the cheap sale of land which exist in this country exist in Scotland, only in each case in a less degree. The result is, that the cost of making out perfect title to land is less in Scotland than here, but is still so great as to operate as an effectual barrier to the sale of land in small enough parcels to admit of the creation of peasant properties. ”

“ I am satisfied there is nothing in either soil, climate, or inhabitants, to prevent a comfortable self-sustenance to the people, and improvement of the property by the appliance of the proper means; but this I venture to predict, whether they listen to me or not as to the all-important question of tenure, from the attention the subject is now claiming, with justice on its side, humanity for a motive, and expediency for a reason, that in ten years at farthest Highland croft leases will be inevitable and perhaps general. ”

“ This investigation into the causes of Highland distress teaches precisely the same lesson as the inquiry into the causes of the prosperous agriculture in the Lothians. It teaches that there are certain economic conditions necessary to successful agriculture. These conditions are satisfied in the Lothians, and are not fulfilled in the Highlands. These conditions are all comprised in one of the simplest of economic truths, namely, that capital will not be employed in any occupation, unless the profit arising from its employment be secured to the capitalist. ”

“ In going from the well-cultivated districts of Scotland to the Highlands, the most striking difference, respecting the agriculture, is the inferiority of the farm buildings, There is a prevalence of weeds, and the crops have a slovenly and irregular appearance. ”

“ It is, therefore, both the interest and the duty of the proprietors of the soil to arouse themselves, if they would continue such, to the duties that are imposed on them. There is a scope for energy and exertion, and some will ever be in advance of others; but there is one keystone to every exertion on the part of the crofter open to all, and that is, granting security of tenure by leases. ”

“ As long, however, as the various causes I have pointed out are allowed to remain in operation; as long as the law of Scotland practically prohibits the creation of peasant properties, however necessary they be in particular districts; as long as that law prevents the adoption of tenant-right, or improvement contracts; and as long as it makes the expense of granting or enforcing the obligations arising from leases so great that crofter leases are almost unknown; so long will the absence of all security for the investment of capital prevent the improvement of agriculture in the Highlands ”

“ But the real impediment to the existence of peasant properties is not so much in their creation as in their continuance. What is the value of a peasant property to a man, if he cannot mortgage it to raise capital without ruinous expense ”

“ It is not a tyrannical harshness or abuse of power that agitators complain of, for that I have been spared being the witness of in the districts under my charge. On the contrary, in spite of what may be said to the reverse, I fearlessly declare that, generally speaking, with an extensive knowledge of mankind, I know no greater instance of kindly feeling between rich and poor, than subsists reciprocally amongst Highland proprietors and their tenantry. ”

“ Hence, the natural parties to effect improvements on such holdings are not a staff of labourers employed by the landlord to go from holding to holding, but the occupiers themselves. This view is corroborated by the fact, that the system of peasant proprietorship is peculiarly successful in mountainous countries like Switzerland. In truth, the division of labour cannot be carried to the same degree in such districts as in those countries where the great extent of arable surface allows of the existence of large capitalist farmers, with labourers collected in towns and villages. ”

“ In this empire, although we have nominally equal laws, yet, from the structure of our system making so many transactions artificially costly and expensive, it comes to pass that there is practically one law for the rich and another for the poor. ”

“ The absence of peasant proprietors arises from the strict entails, and the cost of selling land. Until the passing of the recent disentailing Act for Scotland, similar to the disentailing Acts in force in England and Ireland, the greater part of Scotland was under strict entail, and was consequently perfectly inalienable. ”

“ It is a very mistaken notion that legal impediments to the enforcement of a punctual performance of express engagements can be beneficial to the tenants. On the contrary, nothing can be more really injurious to them, as a class, than any such defects in the law as those I am referring to, which almost, I may say, tempt them to disregard their engagements. ”

“ The large tillage farms situated in the fertile districts near the mountains, or in the vicinity of the mansions of the great proprietors, are held either in conjunction with grazing farms, or by the factors and under-officials of the proprietors.—These farms are held on the same terms, and exhibit nearly the same results as the improved farming in the other districts of Scotland. ”

“ In the Highlands there are three classes of tenants; the grazing farmers, the large tillage farmers, and the crofters. The holdings of the grazing farmers extend to thousands of acres, and their rent, amounting often to £1,000 or £2,000, is not determined by the number of acres they hold, which is often unknown, but by the number of cattle and sheep on each farm. These grazing farms are generally in mountainous districts, naturally adapted for grazing and planting, and not for agriculture. ”

“ Hence the cost, trouble, and risk in superintending the expenditure of £1,000 on one hundred crofter holdings, is infinitely greater than the cost of similar superintendence in the expenditure of the same sum in the erection of one farm-stead. It is also much more difficult for a proprietor to watch that these one hundred buildings are kept in repair, than to watch the state of the one large structure. ”

“ The defects in the Scotch law are the real causes of Highland distress. In other words, they are the causes which the ruling classes in the community are responsible for, and which they, and they alone, can remove. ”

“ The forces arising from the causes I have pointed out, making the proprietorship of land in small parcels less profitable than the proprietorship of land in large territories, will lead to the gradual absorption of the small estates. ”

“ What political economy teaches on the subject is, that it was intended by the all-wise Creator of the universe that there should always be producers on a small scale and producers on a large scale, each class having a special province assigned to them by those laws of competition which, when emancipated from human interference, completely regulate production throughout the world. ”

“ There can be little doubt, however, that the defects in the Scotch law respecting the cost of leases, and the cost of enforcing covenants, and the natural impediments to landlords undertaking improvements, arising from the small holdings and the mountainous nature of the country, are adequate causes to account for the non-extension to the Highlands of the Lowland system of farming. ”

“ This state of affairs has given rise to a claim for compensation for such improvements precisely similar to the claim for tenant-right founded on the same cause in Ireland. The name by which such claims are generally known is, "comprizements." They are sometimes called "meliorations." On the estates of some of the large proprietors, such as the Duke of Sutherland, there is a good understanding between landlord and tenant, by which the crofters interest is a saleable commodity, but under much greater restrictions than amongst us in Ulster. ”

“ Were the subject investigated with care, the results would, I believe, establish that each system has advantages peculiar to itself, which, in a perfectly free system, will always lead to its adoption in those districts and in those stages of social progress where its peculiar advantages make it more profitable than the opposite system. ”

“ On inquiring as to the mode of cultivation adopted, it turns out that rotation of crops is irregularly pursued, that economizing of manure is generally neglected, and that thorough drainage, until the recent crisis, was almost unknown. ”

“ In the last place, the cost and trouble of proving an expenditure in such numerous small improvements, so as to establish a charge on the inheritance, would be much greater than the expense of similar proof in the case of a few large holdings, when the whole work could be done by contract. ”