This may not be self-evident. Many a reader probably fails to see why a fall of 20 per cent. on the prices of agricultural produce must necessarily entail a total disability to pay the rent. “I can well understand the demand of a proportional reduction of rent in such cases,” he will say, “but not absolute non-payment.” To fully realise the situation, one must go into the details of a farmer’s life.
Let us take the case of Denis O’Leary, a Kerry man, with fourteen acres of good land. He seems to be in easy circumstances; his house is clean and pretty; he owns three cows, two sows, ten sheep, and about a score hens. Denis O’Leary is a good man, industrious and thrifty, who does all the work on his farm, with the help of wife and three children. He likes his pipe of tobacco, and on Sundays, a glass of beer over the counter with a friend or two, but otherwise indulges in no expensive habits. On the whole he can be considered a pattern tenant, as well as one of the most fortunate of his class. His rent, which had been gradually raised by his landlord up to the sum of £11 6s., was in 1883 put down at £8 7s. by the Land Commissioners.
Such being the case, when we are told that the same Denis O’Leary, who was for five years able to pay the larger rent, is now unable to pay the smaller one, this may look absurd. Still, it is the simple truth. To ascertain the fact, it is only necessary to make the budget of the O’Leary family.
The yearly expenditure, unavoidable and irreducible, is as follows:—
Expenditure.
| £ | s. | |
| Taxes, rates, and county cess | 1 | 15 |
| Turf (Royalty on) | 1 | 10 |
| Clothing and shoes | 6 | 10 |
| Meat | 2 | 15 |
| Bread | 6 | 18 |
| Beer and tobacco | 2 | 5 |
| Oil, candles, sundries | 2 | 15 |
| Sugar and tea | 6 | 5 |
| School fees | 0 | 7 |
| Church subscription | 0 | 10 |
| Total | 31 | 10 |
Most assuredly there is nothing excessive in such a budget of expenditure for a family of four. If even it is possible for Denis O’Leary not to go beyond its narrow limits, it is because he consumes in kind a large proportion of the produce of his fourteen acres, namely, some hundred stones of potatoes, with a good deal of milk, eggs, and butter. This alimentary deduction duly made, he has still a certain quantity of agricultural produce (which shall be supposed here a constant quantity) to sell, as follows:—
| 1800 | lbs. Potatoes. |
| 2200 | ” Wheat. |
| 1750 | ” Oats. |
| 38 | ” Wool. |
| 116 | ” Butter. |
| 1000 | ” Straw. |
| 25 | dozen Eggs. |
| 3 | Pigs. |
| 2 | Calves. |
| 3 | Lambs. |
The above commodities have not, unfortunately, a constant value. They sell more or less, according to the fluctuations of prices on the market. In 1882, 1883, 1884, prices were high. Denis O’Leary’s revenue was consequently as under:—
Revenue (Three years ago).