Wednesday's Times contains an important letter from Mr. Steel-Maitland about
Lord Lansdowne's speech on the land policy of the Unionist Party. Mr. Steel-Maitland shows that Lord Lansdowne in no way desired to suggest a gigantic scheme of land purchase, under which, as Lord Eversley imagines, the State might be called upon to advance a thousand millions. What Lord Lansdowne proposed was a very much narrower scheme, intended to deal with a particular grievance, the grievance which exists when landlords, under the pressure of taxation and the threats of the Single Land Taxers and those who encourage them, sell their estates. In the case of such sales the tenants, Lord Lansdowne believes, are placed in a difficulty so serious that they may well claim some State help. As a rule their farms are offered to them on reasonable terms, but it may well be that the sitting tenant may be quite unable to raise the money to purchase his farm. Yet he may feel that if he does not purchase, his holding may be bought by someone who will either raise his rent or else at once give him notice to quit. These cases of hardship Lord Lansdowne would meet by State loans. Mr. Steel-Maitland goes on to point out that the sales of estates in 1910 were only £1,500,000 and in 1911 £2,000,000, and such a sum would be the very maximum which the State might be asked to lend in one year.
Previous page
