Mr. Goschen's reference in his speech at Bristol to the.
vast agglomerations of land held by corporations created some surprise, not unmixed perhaps with a little alarm among many of the corporate bodies holding land. The Times now endorses the theory that marketable Britain is diminishing year by year, and is passing into the hands of companies which do not sell, Ecclesiastical, commissioners, City companies, almshouses, colleges, charities, and the holders of glebe. This, it contends, is an injury, and it- appears willing to support a proposal to compel the sale of such land, and its investment in consols. We have no objec- tion, provided that Parliament at the same time appoints a State Trustee, to whose hands all such funds, and by-and-bye all; trusts which the public desires to create, shall be confided. If this is not done, every corporation in the kingdom will in a cen- tury be insolvent. Dishonest servants cannot steal land, because- they cannot give a title, but they can steal personalty, and they will. The experience of the Ecclesiastical Commission in former- times is quite enough evidence on that point.
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