At an agricultural luncheon at Easingwold, Yorkshire, on Wednesday, Lord
Randolph Churchill attempted to com- fort the farmers, not, we are glad to see, by holding out, as he was once inclined to do, any hope of a duty on corn„ but by the prospect that the middleman may somehow or other be squeezed out, and that the coming Local Govern- ment Bill will immensely relieve the rates. While the farmer gets ruinously low prices for beasts, the consumer pays as much as ever for his meat. The middleman must therefore be making excessive profits. If possible, these profits should be got hold of by the farmer. Since, however, "foreign imports of wheat are illimitable," it is useless to hope that the price of grain will rise. Lord Randolph Churchill, after sketching the aid the farmers might obtain from the new Local Government Bill, ended his speech bx declaring that " a measure of legisla- tion which doubled, or nearly doubled, what the local authorities draw from Imperial sources," was a measure not unworthy of the support of the farmers, and one on which they might base very considerable hope. Apparently, Lord Randolph Churchill believes that £6,000,000 worth of Imperial taxes are to be handed over to the new local authorities, and that since they now get grants only amounting to £3,000,000, they will have the
balance to the good.
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