THE THREE GRASPS AT THE LAND.
Ir may be useful to explain the position of the three great efforts now before the public to put the possession of lands and houses and county votes within the reach of the " industrious classes." The instruments are—Mr. Feargus O'Connor's Land Scheme, the Building Societies, and the Freehold Land Societies. Mr. Feargus O'Connor's Land Scheme is in the least hopeful condition. The receipts—an unfailing test of public confidence and favour—have almost ceased. This is attributed to obstruc- tions in the way of legalization ; the Registrar refusing to the " National Land Company" under the Joint Static Tom- pany's Act, on the ground chiefly that the details involve the principle of a lottery. The point of legality will by and by be argued in the Court of Queen's Bench ; a mandamus having been issued calling upon the Registrar to show cause why he refuses to confer upon the scheme the benefit of law. This explains the reason why the several purchases of land have been made in Mr. O'Connor's name ; a circumstance which has given rise to rumours unfavourable to his bona fides. A Com- mittee of the House of Commons, however, which inquired in 1848 into the object of the scheme and investigated the accounts, reported, amongst other things, that Mr. O'Connor had not per- sonally benefited by his operations, and that he was a consider- able creditor for money actually advanced. In the mean time, the " estates" are in law the property of Mr. O'Connor, but in equity they belong to the subscribers. Pay- ments commenced in 1845; and in the heyday of confidence, from 60,000 to 70,000 working men and small shopkeepers, spread all over the country, forwarded their weekly contributions. The lowest sum was 3d., being the subscription for two shares: no member could hold more than four shares. At the lapse of four years, or sooner if larger payments were paid than the mini- mum, those who held two shares and had paid the fixed amount stood all the chances which might occur of drawing two-acre allotments ; those who held three shares, had the chance of the three-acre allotments; and those who held four shares, the chance of getting the four-acre allotments. It was this arrangement which invested the scheme with the character of a lottery. The successful shareholders, however, did not become the absolute pro- prietors of their allotments without additional payment ; a yearly charge of 4 per cent being payable on the aggregate cost of the ground, the buildings, and the outfit. This rent-charge is per- petual, and goes to the general benefit of the shareholders. The debt may be redeemed under certain regulations.
At this moment the scheme is in practical operation on five "estates." The following are the names, with the number of allotments, and the date of taking possession.
O'Connorville, Hertfordshire, 35 allotments ; May 1847. Lowbands, Worcestersbire, 45 allotments; August 1847. Charterville, Oxfordshire, 80 allotments; March 1848. Snigsend, Gloucestershire, 70 allotments; August 1848. Great Dadford, 40 allotments; July 1849.
Not less than 100,0001. must have been laid out in purchasing the lands, building houses and schools, and in making advances to the allotteea to enable them to make a fair start.
Building Societies have for their object the acquisition of house Property. They are legalized under especial act, the 6th and 7th William IV. cap. 32. The funds consist of the monthly payments of the shareholders ; and the money so collected is turned to pro- fitable account, by being lent to such of the shareholders as may wish to expend the money in the erection or purchase of a house. The house so built or purchased is mortgaged in security to the company; care being taken, in the first case, that the house is actually built, and in the second, that the property purchased ex- ceeds the value of the loan. The advantage to the borrower is
twofold: first, as a shareholder, he participates in the profit which arises out of the building operations of the company ; and next, as a borrower, the principle of repayment is such that at the end of a fixed term of years the payments cease and the property becomes his own. For the most part, Building. Societies are limited in duration to ten years; and the expectation held out is that at the expiry of that period the amount of the payments made by the non-borrowing shareholders will be returned two- fold. There are about a hundred in London and around it. Of the half-dozen which have closed, none have realized the doubling process ; but this is attributed to the imperfection of the " old rules. A dozen may have closed in the provinces ; but, with few exceptions, the result has been such as to render it necessary to have recourse to the same scapegoat. Of the societies established under the " new " rules, too few have run their course to test the soundness of the twofold repayment. They are springing up every day ; and M.P. s seem to be in great request as trus- tees. Recently a change has taken place in the mode of select- ing applicants for loans. Formerly, when the demand exceeded the supply, the sums were put up to a kind of auction, the highest bidder cceteris paribus being preferred. The prevailing mode now is to allot the sums to be advanced by ballot; and one hardly sees why the Registrar should have been so squeamish
i about the ballot in Mr. O'Connor's case and so facile in this.
Freehold Land Societies are just breaking their egg, Mr. Cobden advancing as chief of the accoucheurs. Persons club together to
create funds by fortnightly payments to be expended in the pur- chase of "estates," to be portioned out amongst them in patches of the yearly value of forty shillings. Besides the profit on the outlay, a county vote is promised : votes are easier to get than profits. These Vote-Clubs are enrolled under the Building Societies Act, in the view, perhaps, that it is possible that dwellinghouses may be erected on the plots. The cost of a forty-shilling freehold 11^^
till the other day, been set down at 20/. ; when Mr. Cobden claim' d a margin of more than double to enable him to preserve the-cha-
racter of being a man of his word. In London there are three Freehold Land Societies—the Westminster, the St. Paneras, and
the Metropolitan. The first two only-bean ir_gnee for a few months, and the number of shareholders may lit ptiltdown•..
at 1,000: with regard to the Metropolitan little is known. There "re about thirty societies scattered over the country, with an aggregate number of shareholders of 10,000; but this supplies no criterion by which to judge of the number of votes secured. That depends upon the payments, the purchase, and the allot- ment of the land, and the shallows of the Registration Court being safely steered through. Not one acre of land has yet been i acquired by any of the Metropolitan Societies. The most is doing at Birmingham ; but even there the number of county votes se- cured does not reach a thousand.
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