Cheshire Observer

THE Ei>UlSHni\ I T ? I i '() 1 MEETING XI ILS ON. MR. CHARLTON'S STIRRING SPEECH. I MR. BARNSTON* AS A LANDLORD. PRAJSE BY FARMERS. Oa Friday evening an enthusiastic Un.onist meeting was hisld at Ti-sion. n" a; Ma.pas. Mr. J L. Randies presided in xtic absi-nce of Lord Arthur Grosvenor owing :o his hunting accident. Mr. Hariy Barnston was unfortu- nately absent through a chili, this being the rkst of over twenty Unionist meet rigs that be has missed this winter. In his ab.^enoe, s-tii ring addresses were given by Mr. St Jo tin Char*.ton and Mr. Joseph Beecioft.. They were accom- panied on the platform by Mrs. Chariton and the Misses Barnston. Among others present were the Rev. Morris Jones and Messrs. J. Fathenscn, Evans, A. Glutton, G. I asoii, G. Dutton, J. Dxitton, C. Ferguson, Nixon, Bras- ecy, F. W. Taylor, G. Price. Davies, Dutton, Piggott, Cheaters, Cbesworth, W. Beecioft. Bourne, W. Aldersey, Jonee, Fox, C. F. Pnchard (agent), etc. The Chairman said that in addition to haying to preside in the absence of Lord Arthur Gros- venor, he b&d another disappointment for the meeting, and that was that Mr. Barnston was also unable to be present. Mr Barnston wro-,o: "I am sincerely disappointed I cannot come to Tilston to-night; I have got a chill and dare l not go out this evening. I need not say how sorry I am, as I had much looked forward io meeting my friends at Tils ton; though i have no doubt that with Mr Charlton and Mr. Bee- cioft you will have a most interesting meeting. Please express my rc-gret to i.he meeting, and givo them my good wishes for 1907. (Cheers.) Mr. Charlton, in the course of a racy speech, said: Many things have happened during the last twelve montfts, and one is the advent of the preset Liberal Government. I don't think we should do wrong if we consider some of the manoeuvres by which they got Into power. I think them was a reaction from the long reign of tho Unionist Government. but that was not euSficient to account for the very large majority which the Radical's got. Foremost among the reasons we must put the fact that they gave vent to some very remarkable statements. We ma.y safely call them some very great political falsehoods. (Hear, bear.) It has been said that if a tax could be put on Radical politicians for ave-ry falsehood they told at the last election, lonte of them would go far to paying off the National Debt. (Laughter.) I am not Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, therefore I cannot, ex- actly vouch for the accuracy of the statement; but if it would produoo such an amount of money it is worthy of the consideration of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer. (Laugh- ter.) WhruJ. Liberals go into polities, they seem to lose all sense of decency in stating what is truthful and untruthful. I am very sorry to say so. but it is right. I can give you an instance at an election in Norfu!k. The successful can- didate said most dreadful tiung3 of his n-cigl- bours, particularly the farmers and some of the landowners, because be was particularly anxious to curry favour only with the labourers, who j in a groat degree a preponderating- ele- ment. After one of his speeches a friend of mine said to him, "You cannot possibly believe all those dreadful things you said. It is im- possible that you oan believe t.hem." He re- plied, "Of course, I am obliged to lay it on a bit thick; they only take in half of it." (Laugh- ter. ) Therefore- we must t:ot believe all the RadioaJs say, because we may take if for granted that they believe only half of it. (Laughter.) I hope you will bear that in mind. (Hear, hear.) There was one thinG- that made !I. great sensation, and no doubt looi. us many lliouaands of votes, and that was the question of Chinese labour. It is riot a question merely affecting the South African millionaires whether the gold is raised or not, but the question affects the welfare of t,he whole of this country It was not the wish of the Conservative Govern- I meat or any Government to employ Chinese labour, but it was impossible to avoid it The fact was the Kaffirs had become so idle after the South African war, and they had received so much money, that many of them had become rich. ft is the custom of the Kaffirs when they have saved money to buy a number of wives and let thorn do the work. while they took on. (Laughter.) When they are in that. happy posi- tion they do not feel inclined to work in the mines, and the consequence was that there was mich a shortage of labour that it was impossible to cxtraot the gold, and NOTHING BUT INSOLVENCY I stared the Colony in the face. Only the day beforo yesterday. General Botha, the great Boer leader, made a. speech, in which he said he was against the repatriation of a single Chinaman, until that Chinaman bad been replaced by a Kaffir. That is exactly what we all wanted. No ono wished to push back the native because of the Chinaman. It was because they could not get the natives for the mines that they had twcxxirse to Chinese Labour. (Hear, boar.) Tha! was very grossly misrepresented to the electors. I heard at a Radical meeting a speaker describe the Chin-roo as going to work in cha.ins and beaten with whips and bleeding. That is a perfectly untrue statement*. There is evidence from the Commission that met in South Africa that. they have been treated as well as, and even better than, the soldiers, and that the com- pounds are thoroughiv healthy and satisfactory. All that nonseneo about Chinese labour was really got up to draw a sort of red ht-rring across the soont at the last election (Cheers.) I read this paragraph in the paper the other day "The evil results of Radical interference in South Africa have seldom I)c.Em more happily put than by a correspondent of the 'Telegraph' this morn- ing'. who writes from Johannesburg: 'The.m is universal depression out here Many are 'broke,' and more are starving. Unemployed fill the streets in Johannesburg. I went over a Chinese compound last woek They are treated better than the soldiers. So indignant were the Chinese at Churchill's repatriation notice that they tore it ifown It. has now to be kept in a glass ease surrounded by iron bars to prevent their getting at it.' If the Government which ordered the proclamation to be made were also put iu a glaiss case, it might be better for England as well as South Africa." As to the output of gold, t,he whole of the increase in the quantity of gold extracted that has taken place in the world is nearly all due to South Africa. In the year 1900 fifty-six millions of gold were produced in tho v.ok> world, and in the last year there 'W". nearly eighty-three millions. That in- cre; *e must make a vast difference in the gon- sral prosperity of t.he world, tvncau.se whenever you get a large gold output you get a grea.t revival of trade. It is in a great degree due to the gold cutput in South Africa, coupled with the reaction after the South African and Russo- Japanese wars, that we have this greaffc revival of trade not only in England, but in Germany and America and other countries, whatever their Fisoal policy may be. That shews that. the question is not one for South Africarl- million- aires, but for the whole country, for the gold must; be got out of the earth. Tho education question has also been exercising tlie country vorv much, and in the district in which I live we are very glad that the BiU has oome to an end. (Cheers.) I am sorry that there if so much sectarian strife thrown into this question. I cannot help thinking that if the subject was brought up in a way that the question of Sun- day observance was broached, it would be better for all concerned. (Hear, hear.) The Arch- bishop of Canterbury, the Roman Catholic Arch- bishop of Westminster, and the head of the Free Churches united in an appeal to the world an Sunday observance, and if those people oould be united on eucn a question, 1 should hke to see aomo unanimity in the question of educa- 1 tion. (Cheers.) This education difficulty is a political difficulty. (Hear, hear.) I have been manager of schools in different parts of the country for more than forty ycars. and during bhe whole of that time I have never known a Jingle difficulty of the kind in those schools. (Cheers.) The reJigious difficulty has been raised not by the religious Nonconformists, who make their rdigion their ch:ef interest, but bv THE POLITICAL NONCONFORMIST, who is quite a different man, and who places his politics beforo his religion. and goes into these sfm«t ions with a. distinct polit.ica.! bias. Tbeeo latter want.ed all children to be taught a speci- fiod watered-down religion to suit the Board schools, which tbey said ought to suit the Church schools too. The Churcih of England has spent forty millions upon her schoo's, and slit3 has taken the education of the children entirely under hex control during- the last century, and she -uuaily tt&ts.s upon her own children being iie leligion which she believes. (Cheere) j.t we ask tor is a veiy simp e thing. We ;or tqliai n,ts for all chi:d;en, namely, r they shal be taught the religious belief :ii j.; ihtir pa:en s vvisn thern lo be taught (l vis.) Tfwy very nearly came to a setile- ui: u! o\or this Bil but the po nt on which they haay ciiriued wa.s an impo.iant one so far as "U0d schoo.s as l'i sioii schools and coun.ry ciioois generally we; e concerncd. They wou.d iwiow the under-teachers to give rc.i:ious in- struciion according to the Church of England if a certain majority of paients lequiicd it, but not in sehoo.s where tihere was a .ess aitcndanm- him 200, nor in districts where the population was L-e,ow a certain figure. Iliat excluded nearly every Church school in the country, for if they climinaled the Church schools in the country distiicts, there woti 'd not ba very many left. That was the point on which the Bill was wrecked, and which the House of Lords deter- mined to cariy or to allow the Bill to go to the dogs. (Cheel-s.) Of course we are threatened with all sorts of things. First of all, they arc going to destroy the House of Lord's. (Laugh- ter.) I see laige p.aoards of yellow paper are stuck up with the heading. "The Peers or the People." I have not had time to go into the question of what is going to happen to either the peers or the people, but my idea is that they will both go on for a very long time. (Laughter ) I don't think that the Lords need ba at all anxious. (Hear, hear.) It was thiea- toned by Mr. Gladstone's Government be- cause the peers threw out the Homo Rule Bili. The conscquenoe was that instead of the House of Lords being shattered, it was Mr. Gladstone s Government which went to the wall. (Cheers.) The Liberals will go to the country a.nd state what is a very unfair tiling, namely, that the House of Lords want to stand in the way of the people's wants. That is a most gross mis-state- ment. If the people really and truly want a particular measure, the House of Lords, even if they think the measure is not for the benefit of the country, will give way upon the point when they are thoroughly satisfied that the people want it. If an election took place, and-1 the people said they were determined to have the last Education Bill, the House of Lords would at once waive their objection, as they have done in other cases before. THE GOVERNMENT ARE AFRAID of appealing to the country on that question, (Cnecrs.) We shall see a certain amount of pro aure put on the echcols, and we shall see a revival of that curious creature called the Passive Register. Thore is another curious clas of people the Women Suffragettes. (Laughter.) Mind you, what they ask for is a vote, not when they have got a husband, but when they have got a house and no husband. (Laughter.) Can you tell me why a woma.n who pays r tes and taxes and has a house shall vote at a county oouncil or a district counoil or a parish council election, and yet ehe may not vote for a member of Parliament? I d,, u't see any sense in that. f am all for the women hav- ing votes, although I don't altogether approve of t.e ticties of the suffragettes. I think they have lather overstepped the bounds of moder- a'ion at any rate, and possibly of d.cency. They have made themselves very c-onsp:cuous, and what made me allude to them m unnection with P.sive Registers is the excel lent sug- gestion that I saw that every Passive Register should marry a suffragette, and that they should go away together for a very long honey- moon. (Laughter.) We should then get rid of a great deal of noise and a ficat deal of trouble (Liughter.) I only hcpo they would not have a hcn yrnoon in Cheshire at any rate. (Laughter.) There is a Radical member, who has ju-t succeeded his father, and while he was a Radical member he gave vent to very Radical views generally I refer to Mr. Leonard Couitney, and this is what appeared in the papers- "When Lord Courtney, then Mr. Leonard Courtney, seceded to the Radicals we congratulated the Unionists on having obtained a steadfast and vigorous ally. He has been! some time in justifying our forecast, but he made up for the delay yesterday It being the special cue of his party at the present tune to exalt the House of Commons at the expense of the House of Lords, Lord Courtney told his ad mirers yesterday thnt 'the Hcuse of Commons was the most inadequate and least trustworthy reflection of the public mind of England. It often distorted and sometimes misrepresented the mind of the community It was riot to be trusted as the embodiment of the judgment of the nation. That is really the whole point We cannot possibly do without two chambers (Cheers.) Whether the House of Lords is the best arrangement or not, it is not for me to say There are individual members in the House of Lords who, no doubt, many people may say are not fit to be there as stateemen, but you must took at the House as a whole There are 650 members, and if forty or fifty perhrips are not 88 you wish, you must take the fsense of the House as it stands, and as it stands the House of Lords will compare most favourably with the House d Commons. (Cheers. A Voice There are only a few Liberals in the House of Lords. ") There are plenty of Liberals in the House of Lords, but the only curious thing is that when they are put in as Liberals, after they have been there a little time, t.lWo!Y generally become Conservativee. (Cheers, and a voice "What has become of the big loaf that was promised.") Oh, I think it is in the cup- board still (Laughter.) It is a very old loaf, because it was always there at elections in my boyhood- f should think it is very stale by this time (Laughter.) What we really require is to f;ce that this Government do as little ha.rm as-poedble The time is not very distant when the country will find out the shortcomings of the present ministry, arul whether we look at what they are doing at the present moment or at the education question, which has not been satisfactory, or at the Navy, we shall spo a. repetition of the old things that have oc- curred in my recollection during the last thirty or forty years under successive Liberal Govern- ments. They have invariably run down the Army and Navy until the other side have had to put them right again. (Cheers.) Mr. Hal- dIne has promised great reforms, but he has re- duced the Army by more than ten thousand men, and & large proportion of artillery You mitet bear in mind there are difficulties ahead of us in all parts of the world. The condition of Ireland is quiet at present, but the Irish party are engaged in law suits against- one another That is a very HEALTHFUL STATE OF THINGS I It does not matter how much they quarrel among themselves if they would not be always quarrelling with us; but it dees not aiigur very well for a future government in Dublin. (Hear, hear.) One of the great dangers we shall have to face will lie an attempt by the Liberal party to give Home RuLe by instalments. Mr. Red- mond and members of his party had said that nothing will aatiftfy them except Ireland just as free from this country as one of our colonies, and we could not possibly permit that a few miles from our own coast. Whatever this Government may attempt, the people will unite against such a measure. (Cheers.) We have to look back at the antecedents of the Prime Min- ister. He was the Secretary for War in the time of Lord Rosebery's Government, and that Government was expelled frcm office because of the cordite vote. Such an excellent War Minis- ter was he that there was no ammunition for the soldiers if we had gone to war. Then you must recollect the Prime Minister's conduct during the Boer War. He always sided with the Boers and invariably traduced the English Army, and never shewed any spirit of patriot- ism during the whole of that very anxious time. (Hear, hear.) It is wonderful how he could have been tolerated in this country. Many thought he could never come to the front as a politician again, but things change quick- ly and memories sure short, but it did not in- spire one with very great oonfidenoe in his leadership. They are a curious Government because they have a very weak head in Sir H. Campbell-Bannorman, and an extraordinarily powerful tail in the Radical Socialists. They are very much like the ra.ttle-snake-ncarly all the oise comes from the tail. (Laughter.) Whether it is all noise, or whether there is much danger, we shall see as time goes on. It is rather amusing to watch the Prime Minister, because he has a promisouous crew to deal with. (Laughter.) There are, however, three or four able men in the Government. Sir Edward Grey is a first-rate man, and Mr. Haldane is a clever man, and Mr. Morley is doing very well in Incli& There are & I in India. There are some very dangerous men, such as the Under Secretary for the Colonies and the President of the Board of Trade. The Prime Minister reminds me very much of an old hen, who has sat upon a number <pf wild ducks' egge and hens' eggs. The cuickcns remain aoout her, but the ducklings go into the wu-tor, a;°d the hen tries to follow I Ihe.d. 1 h" Prime IViim-ot.r has dabbled away in trie waWrs of Socialism after men like ChLi?chiii and Hoyd-Ccurgo, and he has got veri wet and dirty ?nd uncomfortable in C(.I1-1 sequence. I do ILt know whether as time goee 0n we nhaH see ?renter di vióions in the party. I vv iL W AaT iVi O 11 II i'/v l1!(. lOl -i kJi%i-, .1 and moro measure* passed reaiiy for the good of trie co .ni-ry, not merely to caich votes. Eveiyt ing is now valued by the way it will go uown with t;ie Vv/ter. The question should De What measures are best for the general we"nre of tne cotintry (Ctieers.) We want lets bitterness of party spirit and more true patriotism suca as the Japanese shew. (Hear, hear.) In concluoion, Mr. Uharhon said he h, ped when the time came they would adopt Mr. Barnston as their candidate, and do their best to give him the position he ought to oc- cupy. (Laud cheers.) lIe hoped they would eupp -rt liiin for his own sake as a neighbour and friend, and because Le would give his vote II and support to a party who were in favour of constructing and building up the Empire I rather than the party ot destruction and pull- ing down the Empire. (Cheers.) If one man in ten would vote differently from the way he I did la t time, tr.e Unionists would sweep away I the whole Liberal party iCheers.) Mr. Josep.i B ecr-ft gave an excellent ad- dress on the agricultural questions before the. country. He said he had known Mr. Barnston a great many years, and Mr. Barnston had worked with him in connection with several associations such as the Chesnire Chamber of Agriculture, the Milk Producers' Association of Cliesh.re, and the Cheshire Dairy Farmers' A&- sociation. Mr. Barnston had always given his services to these bodies to do his very best for the welfare of agriculturists. Mr. Barnston was the right man in the right place. (Cheeis.) Proceeding, Mr. Beecroft said: 1 read in one of the Cnenter papers, which is in opposition to our way of thinking, that the time would be very short before Mr. Bartiston would have to answer some very straightforward questions. You have read the various speeches of Mr. Barnston no doubt with very great interest and pleasure. You have heard tHat severd of his tenantry, that have occupied positions on the platforms, have been speaking; of him as a very liberal landlord. (Hear, hear.) I assure the writer in that paper that someone else outside Mr. Barn- ston's tenantry knows something of Mr. Barn- ston as a landlord and a very good landlord. (Hear, hear.) To stiew you that we have a "entleman that deserves our support and re- | spect and interest, I have made it my business to enquire what sort of a gentleman Mr. Barn- ston is as a landlord. I am not one of his tenants, but I have made these inquiries from gentlemen in the neighbourhood, who are not tenant, and from gentlemen who are his tenants, and I am told there is no better landlord in One-hire than Mr. Barnston (Cheers.) There is no family better than the Barnston family, and everyth.ng that could be said that was GOOD IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD .r1.1 '7. was said for Mr. barnston tlinou r& i ivu say that this does not refer to politics. Granted, but this is a class of gentlemen we want to en- courage. (Cheers.) If I were to tell you all I have heard of him as a landlord, the whole of the farmers in Eddisbury would want a farm on the Barnston estate. (Laughter.) No one can contradict what I have told you. I find that the writer in this same paper calls attention to the great amount of good the Government has done for farmers I am not going to say the present Government lias not done something, but this paper says that in the land tenure Bill the Gov- ernment have given the farmers of Cheshire a Bill scoond to none. They had done more m one twelve months than the last Gover.iment had done 'a the whole time they were <n office I have perused the Land Tenure Bill very closely, I and I think very little of it. I say emphatically you are no better off for this great article. Don't be bought over by the statement that the Radioal party have given you a better bill than the Unionist party did. The Unionists gave us a Bill which well protected Lia, in 1900, and it is better than the present Bill. (Hear, hear.) The Education Bill was an unfair measure, and it met with tho death it was entitled to. (Hear, hear ) I agree that the children should be taught the religion that their parents desire them to be taught. I believe that if we took religious teaching out of the school it would have been the first step downwards of this great country. If anything has made this country great it u religion. (Cheers.) The Bill de- rverved what it got. When the Radicals isamo before the country and asked for votes, they said We will give you reduced taxation and take the burdens off the land." I say they have not attempted to do it. The taxation of this country is very unfair, but the Government dare not tackle it, and those who supported them at the 14ast election on this promise must have lost all faith in them (Hear, hear.) The Uninist party have done a very- great deal for us. They passed in 1900 an Agricultural Holdings Bill, 1 and they give us the relief of the Agricultural Rates Act. Where would you be to-day, with the great advance in taxation, if you had not had that relief? Bear in mind that the present Government would have taken it a way, and don't forget that the representatives of all the boroughs and towns have pledged themselves to take this meaaure feoin ua. If they do so it will be a most evil day for farmers Our rates have so increased that if we lost the relief the rates would go up by a third more than they were when the Act was passed The Unionist Gov- ernment have protected our flocks and herds from disease, and we can practically say that we are free from disease of a contagious nature. The Liberals ha-ve advocated an open door to live Canadian cattle. Is that what we want? I say we have been blessed in having the Unionist Government to keep the door shut. (Cheers.) I hope it will never be opened. There are a few people who know something of oontagious diseases, but they have to go back thirty or forty years. If tho same thing was to overtake us again it would mean NOTHING LESS THAN RUIN I Protection from disease during the last thirty or forty years has been worth a hundred times auch an article as the Land Tenure Bill. (Cheers.) In Cheshire we have had to fight very hard against foreign competition, and we are told that Cheshire has stood it better than any other county. I want you to go further ahead and look all over England, and you will find that agriculture is not successful, and the reason is because of foreign competition (Cheers.) We have hundreds and thousands of acres in Eng- land to-day that could be growing food for the publio, and it is practically out of cultivation for the simple reason that wheat cannot be grown at the present prices We all know perfectly well that if wheat was at a remunerative prioe land could be brought back into cultivation. It cannot be grown at 3s. 9d. and 3s. IOd. and 4a. per bushel, and you would have great difficulty in getting four shillings in any wheat market in the world. They are offering only 3s. lOd. Foreign competition is also driving out another great industry, namely, the feeding of beef. You all know we cannot afford to grow beef at 5d. to 6d. per pound. It would not leave a margin if the landlord gave you the land for nothing, and you allow foreign cattle to come in and knock down the prices, and say nothing about it When the prices are not remunerative things cannot be prosperous, and we get told that the agricultural labourer is to live on the land Why has he left the land? In the Mid- lands, where the land is adapted for wheat- growing, when the farmer began to lose money the labourer had nothing to do. We have had to reduce our labour to cope with the times. By cutting down the labour we are cutting down the protection of this country. The funny part is that Lord Carrington says we will bring him back to the soil by putting up small holdings. I have had several talks with Lord Carrington on this matter. Anyone will not make a farm labourer: he has got to be an educated man as a farm labourer. It is difficult now to find a man who can stack and thatch, and if thinga go on as at present that man will not be found at all. If Lord Carrington put? up small holdings, he will find they will not be so well farmed and managed aa he imagines they will be. I should encourage small holdings on every estate, and there ought to be a sufficient number for the various requirements of the district. Beyond that it would mean ruin for any landlord to out up any portion of his estate. The oost of putting up buildings for holdings of ten acres would be actually more than the value of the land itself. It would mean ruin to one half the landlords. The large farms of 300 acres are the best farmed to-day, because the holders have sufficient capital to put labour into the land, and it is that which keeps the farms going. A small farmer cannot do that, because he must keep hi8 noso to the grinding stono from Monday morning to Saturday night, and he cannot pay attention to the whole of the outgoings. If we get a change in the Government, and I hope we shall before long—(hear, hear)—you will find that the Unionists arc prepared to do a very great deal. The party with whom we are all in sympathy to-night, have their heads screwed on right, and they can see further what will be to the advantage of the farmers and labourers than the present Government. (Hear. hear.) A PERTINENT QUESTION. Speaking on the subject of Tariff Reform, Mr. Beecroft said: There is no sign of taxation going less in this country, and why should other Governments got a revenue from the tax- ing of the goods of other countries, and they send their goods here and pay nothing? Do you caU tha;t Free Trade? If all countries would open their doors to us, we would not complain. If you send anything to a foreign country, it is taxed up to the hiltv A short time ago pota- toes were B2 per ton here and £ 7 per ton in America, and I, with two friends, sent pota- toes out there; but the Americans took care we were not going to swamp them with English stuff The market over there was worse for us that the homo market. Dealing with the ques- tion of taxation. Mr. Beecioft said that if the country returned tho Unionists to power, Mr. Chamberlain would look after the welfare of the oountry, and Mr. Chaplin,, who was one of the finest men who ever lived, and one of the best friends agriculturists ever had, would look after agriculture. If the electors of Eddisbury returned Mr. Barnston, their prospective can- didate, to support the party, it would be a step in the right direction. (Cheers.) Was it fair that land should pay any portion of the educa- tion twte? Wha-t benefit did the land derive from the education rate or the sanitary rate? Those rates would continue to increase., and lie advised the electors to support a Government who would readjust the rates so as to relieve the land and make the foreigner pay something. (Cheers.) As to the farm labourer, the oode of education must be changed in rural districts, and that point must be pressed upon the Union- ist party. From the point of view of agricul- ture, it was a step in the wrong direction to keep boys at school until they were fourteen. Boys learnt nothing that fitted them for very muoh except being clerks in an office;, and they looked for some light work. and did not want heavy work. Education, shoult fit a boy for the life he was likely to follow. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Beecroft said he had a notice from the Education Administra- tion Sub-oommittce for the Bebington and Neston area that any parent or employer who k>ep& children from school for any purpose would be liable to a penalty. In the middle of tho bay harvest, a lad of thirteen would be very useful When he was young, farmers used to be able to get boys to help them by doing small jobs, and the boys themselves learnt a little farm-labouring. All the school education m tho world wouid never bring a. man back to tho soii A man must be educated to the soil Mr I Henry Chaplin had said t.ha.t the sooner tha p. ese nt. system was changed the better for the we:fare of agriculture. By a change of Govern- j mont. they would get those matters att-onded to. (Cheers.) Turning again to the subject of for- eign imports, Mr. Beecroft t.hus laid t.hc, "dear loaf" bogey: A tax of two shillings on wheat would not have been at alt remunerative to the tenant farmer. If the wheat Town repre- sented forty bushels to the acre, the two-shilling duty would represent ten shillings an acre, and that would not make a farm very much more prosperous The cost of a 41b. loaf in the Chester district is fivepence for the beef, bread and fourpence halfpenny for the secon.d beøt. bioad. Out of a sack of wheat of 2401 h an export baker can make 84 41b loaves. An or- dinary tx-tkor would get eighty loaves no doubt. That would meaji 160 loaves out of a quarter of wheat. An average man will not consume more than three Itwves a week. It would there- fors NOT RAISE THE PRICE I of his bread a half-penny per week, and would make the difference between his being out of work and being in work and able to buy the bread. (Hear, hear.) A family of six would con. eume about twelve loaves & week, and for them it would not raise the price of bread by three- pence wore week, and tt would put this oountry in a flourishing condition and enable us to grow wheat and get a fair prioe for everything wo grow We whould them be able to pay the labourer more than threepenoo per week to fetch die big toaf in. (Cheers.) Mr. Beecroft mentioned motor-oars, and said that farmers considered tliern very troublesome, and as motor- oars ate no hay or corn, they shouted1 very hard for some protection, and wanted to make motor- ists maintain the roads. All the while they allowed foreigners to send everything into the oountry and never asked them to pay anything It would be protection if they made their motor- ing friends pay an extra ten. pounds. yet why did they not ask for protection against the foreigner. (Chews.) He asked them not to de- lay that question 111 their minds for ono moment After advocating Colonial preferenoe. Mr. Boo. croft turned to the oritioism of Mr. Barnston by Mr George Cooke, and said,: Our friend Mr. Cooke told a meeting that Sir. Barnston bad aaid that if the election only came in a short time be would top the poll in this division. [ quite agree with him. (Cheers.) Mr. Cooke asked if Mr. Barnston thought the electors of Eddisbury had ohanged their ideas in twelve months If Mr. Cooke takes the last election as a criterion of bhe views of blu-, electors of Eddisbury, I do not, for the simple reason that the Radicals had been clamouring for office for a long time and when the election oame, wavering men said, "Let's give them a ohancei" It has not taken six months for the voters of Eddisbury to change their mincfe They are sick and disgusted with tho present Govern- ment. (Cheers.) The Education Bill disgusted the whole nation, and if they appealed to the nation on t-hat very Bill the Unionists would roll home. (Cheere.) Mr Cooke is a county councillor, and I say without fear of oon.tra.dic ouunaillor, and I s-ay w I tion that he is not the friend of the tenant far- mer, taking Inoe school for an example (Heair. hour.) He has helped1 to put two or three townships to an extraordinary expense, al- though the present school is sufficient, for the neighbourhood- Mr. Beecroft replied to a letter signed "W H. Chrimes," which had appeared in the Press He described it as a most diabolical letter. and he said the editor of the paper and the writer of the letter ought to be ashamed of themselves. If the writer of that letter shewed the class of followers Mr. Stanley had, may they be delivered from any more. (Hear, hear) The writer of that letter had said that Mr. Barnston was far below the level-headed electors of Eddisbury. No one bad any desire that Mr. Barnston should have more brains than the rest, but when Mr. Barnston used his brains, be used them as a gentleman— (cheers)--and not as a fool. Mr. Barnston did know what he was talking about, and lie.,acted as a gentleman, and the letter he had referred to would strengthen the Unionist caime in Eddisbury, and would convert a great number of men who might have been waverers. In conclusion, Mr. Beecroft said I want to give you some sporting advice as to which is the right man to back in this race when the oontcst comes, and r hope it will be soon. We don't want to keep our favourite in training too long He is well now, with the exception of a littlo cold to-night, and be is fit a.nd well, and sound in wind and eight. (Hear, hear.) The great number of preliminaries that he has passed through in various distriots in Eddisbury shews that, distance is no object. (Hear, hear.) From these facts, we may be sure that when he sta-rta he will be a very hot favourite. It will be odds on (Cheers.) I hope when the poll is recorded at the finish that it will shew that he has not only won, but by such a distance tha.t he will give our friends time to consider if it is even worth while again to attack tho strong- hold of Unionism that Eddisbury will prove it- self to be. (Cheers.) Mr. Willis Taylor proposed a vote of thanks to the speakers, and Mr. Piggott seconded. CHOLMONDELEY SMALL HOLDINGS. I Mr. Charlton, in responding, referred to the question of small holdings which had been men- tioned by Mr. Beecroft. He said he was very much in sympathy with that speaker's remarks. He had had a good deal to do with small hold- ings on the Cholmondeley property, where trlere was an unusual number-in fact three aorell and & eow were invented a good many years ago on the Cholmondeley estate, and some of the holdings must be 78 or 80 years old. There were 150 or 170 of them, and their great advantage to the workpeople was patent to all who had to deal with thera. when a man had some land and a cottage and was able to 1 keep a oow, he and his family lost their in- clination to emigrate to the towns. Lord Car- rington talked about bringing people back to the land, and the one difficulty he (Mr. Charl- ton) saw was the m ney difficulty. He thought the scheme should be carried out by private individuals, ss was the case very largely in the county of Chester. He did not sec that very much good would be done by parish or district pouncils taking up building echemes and charg- ing the oust out of the rates. He feared it I w uld be a costly experiment, because his ex- perience w e that a cottage with a cow-house and the necessary out.bulldings cost a.t lea6t £ 250, and when they were let at E10 a year, as they were let on the Cholmondeley estate, they did not make very much profit, and left noth- ing for the land. If they were put up at such prices as landowners let them at now, they must be a dead loss to the district councils who attempted to undertake the work. The balance will come out of the rates and other people will have to pay. Rither would he recommend another suggestion made by the Royal Com- mission which had gone into the question. It was that the money should be advanoed at ch ap rates to the owners of the soil, and that might be done with advantage, and a greater number of small holdings could be secured. In whatever way tb" echeme was carried out, he was perfectly convinced of the value they were to the lab uring clreses. (Cheers.) Mr. Charl- ton proposed a vote of thanks to the ohairman, who had taken the position at the last moment on account of the illnefs of Lord Arthur Gros- venor. Mr. Beecroft responded to the vote of thanks i to himself, and seconded the vote to the chair- man, which was carried and responded to by Mr. Randalls.