Mr. Lloyd George pointed to the deer forests of Scotland
as another instance of feudal tyranny, scores of thousands of industrious, thrifty, happy crofting families having been swept away to provide a few weeks' pleasure every year for a few rich plutocrats. The Chancellor of the Exchequer subsequently enlarged on the need of security of tenure, the extension of peasant proprietorship, and the profligate finance of the Wyndlram Land Purchase Act, and drew a harrowing picture of the tenants who purchase their farms at extravagant prices when estates are broken up. That was the Tory ideal of land purchase, "something that puts into the pocket of the landowner hundreds and thousands of pounds more than the land is worth, and the tenant and the State between them have got to divide the loss." Viewed from the narrow party standpoint, the speech is to be welcomed, as it is bound to disgust moderate men and alienate the balancing elector. But unluckily it does not merely do mischief to the speaker's party; it sensibly lowers the tone of public life.
Previous page
