TOPICS OF THE DAY.
PECULIAR BURDENS ON LAND.
TER Committee of the Lords have tacitly given up peculiar burdens on land as a plea against Corn-law repeal. They say in their Report*—" The Committee considered themselves limited to an inquiry into the relative burdens on different descriptions of property within the kingdom : a more important consideration would probably be, the proportion of burdens on the cultivators of the land in this country as compared with those borne by the cul- tivators of foreign countries intended to be admitted into compe- tition with them in the same market." It is difficult to conceive that their Lordships are sincere in the first assertion. The Com- mittee was appointed with a view to the pending Corn Bill ; and in reference to it, the inquiry which they call "more im- portant" was the only one which had for them a direct and im- mediate interest. The Report adds, that the Committee "were of opinion that their instructions precluded them from following up this description of inquiry." The instructions do not forbid them ; and this use of the omission to instruct them to institute an inves- tigation has a very suspicious aspect.
But this is not all : the Committee did receive evidence upon this head, and were challenged to declare their opinion on it. In the very able draft report proposed by Lord Monteagle, it is ex- pressly stated, that—" In making these suggestions the Com- mittee are fully aware that the burdens imposed by law directly upon land in England do not bear so high a proportion in Eng- land to the whole taxation of the country as is the case in many foreign states. So far as Prussia and parts of Germany are concerned, this fact may be deduced from the evidence of Mr. Bonfield." The Committee did not negative this assertion : they merely declined to adopt it. And they allude to another wit- ness, Mr. Cramp, who gave evidence respecting the North of France, entirely concurring with that of Mr. Bonfield. The silence of the Committee, at a time when it was (or when they thought it) of so much consequence to them to be able to show that land in England bore a greater proportional burden of taxation than in other countries, is an ample confession that it does not. The recommendations annexed to the report of their Committee may therefore be considered apart altogether from the quastio vexata of Corn-laws. This is what every unprejudiced person wishes, and what above all the landowners ought to wish. If these recommendations are in themselves just and necessary, it facilitates their adoption, to separate them from association with irrelevant and exciting controversies.
The recommendations are—we recapitulate them in the in- verse order of their importance-1. That experiments be instituted to test the process of fattening cattle by malted barley ; 2. "The adoption of the liability of the owner of houses, under the annual value of 10/., to the rates at which the same are assessed" ; 3. The charge of the Militia to be provided for by Parliament ; 4. The maintenance of pauper lunatics, and some branches of the expen- diture for the poor, to be undertaken by the general public 5. Counties and boroughs to be relieved from the cost of criminal 'prosecutions and other expenses relating to prisoners ; 6. Im- provements in the law of real property and conveyancing. The first of these recommendations being placed last in the re- port, has the air of an anti-climax. Surely the agriculturists can institute them experiments for themselves, without the aid of Government; else what is the use of their agricultural societies ? The bearing of the second recommendation on the question at issue is not very obvious. If these rates are a peculiar burden on the agricultural interest, they cannot become less so by merely being shifted from the occupant to the owner. The proposal looks generous ; but, as allowance will be made in the rent when the tenant pays, it will come to the same thing in the end. The proposal to make the Militia a general charge is fair in itself, Corn-law or no Corn-law.
The fourth recommendation, if adopted, would increase the centralization of the. New Poor-law. This is a proposal of very questionable soundness, and sure to encounter violent opposition. The recommendation to relieve counties and boroughs from the expenses of criminal proceedings, and to appoint a public prose- cuter—for that is the English of the fifth recommendation—is wise and important. It is difficult, however, to see what bearing it has upon the peculiar burdens on land, since from the language of the Committee it appears to press quite as heavily on the trading as on the agricultural portion of the community. The sixth recommendation is the really important one. It was worth while to appoint a Committee—it would have been worth while to organize the Anti-Corn-law agitation, had it done no more than bring their Lordships to adopt this conclusion. A Committee of the House of Lords hity,e deliberately recorded their opinion that the law of real property and the system of con- veyancing ought to be thoroughly reformed. They have declared that an indispensable preliminary to this reform is the establish- ment of an effective system for the registration of deeds. It is in the House of Lords that measures to accomplish these ends can be most effectively originated. In the House of Lords the, im- pulses of party-spirit are tamer and more regulated ; the Lords are less accessible to the influence of narrow local interests in the form of constituents ; the House of Lords has the con- Sant cooperation of the Judges. Again, Lord Stanley main- tains that the Lords form the opinions and sentiments of their neighbours : their Lordships can go forth as missionaries of • The Report is printed.at full length in the Supplement to the week's Spectator. law reform,—for it is outside of Parliament that it will expe- rience the most inveterate opposition. If a deputation of the Peers can persuade the Yorkshire attornies to assent with a good grace to the establishment of a general register for deeds, the battle will be more than half won.
After Catholic Emancipation was carried, the Marquis of Blandford and some others raised the cry of Parliamentary Re- form. Like most men, they have lived "to repent their own re- venge." Law reform will prove a much more worthy vengeance for the passing of the Corn-law Abolition Bill; and they who inflict need not fear that they will ever have cause to regret it.
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