The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser

I THE PRjCE OF WHEAT IMPORTANT FACTS FOR THE ELECTORATE. LIBERAL CABINET IGNORANT OF ANCIENT LAWS. I We have been privileged to publish the follow- ing interesting letter received by a Carmarthen I gentleman from a friend:— "1 have been too busy lately to get out to look I for snipe, but according to my promise I send you a list of the prices( which before Fro Trade became the fashion under the auspices of Bright, Cobden, and Co)—which that portion of the British public I which prefers Home-grown, home-ground, and home-made British Bread, would have to pay at the I, present time, were the Ancient Laws concerning the Assize of Bread and Ale (passed or made in the days of Henry III., son of John, King of England), now in force. J This will not be so tedious for you to read as. a long comparative list, taken either from Smith's "Wealth of Nations," some edition between 1784 and 1798, or from the statistical tables in Whittaker's Almanacks since 1883, a work of reference I sup- pose no library table should lack. The enclosed cutting gives an average price at present of 30.2 5-7d. per Imperial quarter of eight bushels:— Wheat. Barley. Oats. s. d. s. d. 8. d. Berwick 30 6 22 1 16 3 Cambridge 30 0 26 8 16 3 Canterbury 30 11 26 8 17 7 Ipswich 30 10 26 3 16 8 Norwich 30 5 24 9 17 0 Peterborough 23 9 26 3 16 4 Salisbury 30 2 23 *9 16 5 30.2 5-9 x 7. 1 According to the Tables given in Barton's "Justice of the Peace," Edition 1745, and a work of great, merit and use to those engaged in a study of our laws and institutions in Britain, the 6d. Wheaten j I' Loaf should weigh-as per following table—from Standard 21st October, 1910:— II Present Per Win- Weight of 6d. Weight of 6d. Price of chester loaf of Wheaten Household Ii Home-grown or Bread per Loaf per Wheat Busheil. table at table at qr. these prices. these prices, s. d. lb. oz. dr. lb. oz. dr. 30s. 3 9 6 15 4 9 4 5 32s. 4 0 6 8 4 8 11 0 40s. 5 0 5 3 7 6 15 4 50s. ••• 6 3 4 2 12 5 9 0 1 60s. 7 6 3 7 10 4 10 2 I If Messrs. Askwith, Lloyd George, and Co. are so ignorant of the Ancient Laws and Constitution of this country as not to have studied the Act 51, Henry III (Aixo 1268, A.D., or thereabouts) con- cerning the Assize of Bread and Ale in England and the English Settlements in Wales, they are evidently unfit persons to interpret the laws of the land, owing to their legal ignorance. P.S.-The lists of price of wheat given in Whit- taker's Afmanacks are, I believe, sufficiently correct for all practical purposes, as all the Clergy and tithe owners in Britain depend for the payment of the tithe due to them by law on the averages of Corn prices shewn by these lists, since at least 1836. Under the present system of so-called Free Trade, a working man or working woman, with a family to keep, can easily ascertain what a sixpenny loaf of wheaten bread weighs, or a coarser kind of Bread called Household—by going into a shop, paying sixpence and seeing the loaf weighed before paving for it. This table sent with letter shews that when wheat is at 50s. per quarter the Household loaf, coarse wheaten flour, should weigh 5lbs. 9 ozs., and I the finer Wheaten loaf at the same price, viz., 6d., should weigh 41bs. 2ozs. 12drs. I very much doubt if any baker in Carmarthen at present would sell any loaf over 41bs. weight for 6d., though average price of British Home-grown corn is about 30s. or 3.9 per bushell—or Winchester; and Foreign-grown corn is freely imported at about 38s. to 39s. per quarter, or under 5s. per bushell. I think this shows that the legislature in the davs of Queen Anne (8th year of her reign) and of King George (1st, 5th, and 10th year of that King's reign) took more care of the well-being of the people re- garding bread-then the legislature has since the Corn Laws were abolised-but the worst of it is- the people themselves will listen to ignorant orators and not study the laws under which they and their (ancestors have lived for many generations, and very few of the legal lights of the land have time to study these laws, under which the British Empire has attained to its "rescnt position amongst the nations of the earth. To put these points on naper is. I think, better than to discuss these things in Dublic-with persons who possibly have not studied the subject but are led about by what they read in newspapers and hear lectured about on public platforms under the name of politics. As the number of men and women with fatnilies to support is vastly inferior in number to the males and females who have only to support themselves individually, the majority give the minority a very small chance of the truth of the matter bping generally known. Possibly a horse race, a football match, or a Crippen case, possesses a far greater interest for the general public than these dry statistical matters which how- ever some of us are bound to study if we wish to obtain a clear conception of the material well being of the nation at home, and this must be the apology for the length of these notes. MR. J. W. J. CREMLYN. i• I

OWNEBS, TENANTS AND LAND VALUES When a man buys a piece of land, the price to him is fixed once and for all. When a man rents land, his rent will rise or fall with the variation in the value of the land. And rightly, because, tenancy being in tl4- nature of a partnership, the owner— whether a private person or a public body is en- titled to a fair share in increased value, just as he or it must bear a fair share of diminished value. Some people say that this tells in favour of tenancy as against ownership, because they have seen the value of English land steaidly declining for many years. But if we look abroad, the balance of argu- ment is all the other way. There land has increased in value, because it has been improved by the in- tensive culture of small farmers. Thus we find that, Belgium the average value is £ 60 an acre; a Danish ex-Cabinet Minister has stated that the value of land in a small holding is worth 50 per cent. more than that of land cultivated in large farms; in Guernsey and Jersey agricultural land has fetched E250 per acre. And in this country the rents of small holdings and allotments are higher than those of large farms. With a larger subdivision of land, with intensive culture and co-operation, it is as certain as anything can be that land in Great Britain will appreciate, probably greatly appreciate, in value, just as it has done on the Continent. In that case the position of the owner will be infinitely better than that of the tenant. The owner will get all the increment, for no Chancellor of the Exchequer would dare to take from him that which he has himself created. The tenant will have to share the increment with the owner. Mr. Rowntvee. in "Land and Labour Lessons from Belgium," shows us the process at work. Page 211: "What makes the lot of the small holder so hard is the necessity for meeting a constantly increasing de- mand for rent. Thus his hard work and in- telligence under the present system* (tenancy) actually militate against him in the long run. But for this fatal drawback. his lot would be one which any country might envy for her own people." Page 153: "Unfortunately, a farm tenant cannot per- I manently better his position to any great extent by improving his methods of cultivation for no sooner does he do so than his improved position tempts more men to seek for land, thus forcing land values up still further. Indeed, it may be said that farmers are in the long run penalised for improving ol ts their cultivation." Mr. Rowntree further points out, as we have done above, that the same results will accrue in England—the land will rise in value under a better system, and tenants will have to pay under a better system, and tenants will have to pay higher rents. And not the tenants of private landlords only: the County Council tenants will suffer too. When the present leases to the County Councils fall in, they can only be renewed at the enhanced prices. Here in conclusion are a few points for considera- tion:— 1. Under small cultivation and co-operation the value of land will increase. 2. That increased value will be created by the cultivators. 3. Tenant cultivators will be putting up the value against themselves. 4. Owners will reap the whole result of their energy and skill.

Who arc food-taxers? In the House of Commons I on November 23, 1910, Mr. H. S. FOSTER, M.P. (UXIOXIST), moved that the duty on tea should he reduced from fivepence to fourpence a pound. Anions those whose votes defeated this amendment were MESSRS. BURNS, BUXTON, the MASTER OF ELIBANK, L. HARCOURT. HOBHOUSE, OF ELIBANK, L. HARCOURT. HOBHOUSE, LAMBERT, PEASE, SEELY, MACNAMARA, SIR J. SIMON, McKINNON WOOD, GULLAND, and SIR J. M. FULLER, members of the Radical Government; and MESSRS. BARNES, EDWARDS, HUDSON. RAMSAY MACDONALD, WILKIE. and JOHN WILSON, prominent members of the Labour Party. I POWDER AND SHOT. Mr. John Burns claims that he himself passed I twenty Bills through both Houses of Parliament. This in itself is a fair answer to Radical assertions that the House of Lords rejects Bills because thev are Radical measures. r '=-{;C5'<i!-¡g:}. if* orr n TARIFF REFORM will enable the Farmer to make a decent living for himself and family when he has purchased his Farm with the approval of the State. m'2k Kim mm TARIFF REFORM means better and steadier Wages for the Collier, and more money for the people to buy with. TARIFF REFORM will bring prosperity and contentment to the country, and diminish unem- ployment. More work and better pay will follow in its train, and your FOOD WILL NOT COST imumookk agpmmm YOU MORE. I GWNA TARIFF REFORM Lesoli y Ffermwr, y Labrwr, a'r dosbarthiadau Gweithiol, AC NI CHOSTIA EICH BWYDYDD DIM YN RHAGOR. ?i};J.t1i¡r.¡F;¡¡¡, _n- GOLlYGA UNDEBAETH PPIOGELWCH YOTrWCH DROS OIRIEIMIILrsriN" low& min &&I YR UNDEB A LLWYDDIANT YR YMHERODRAETH. I l'