Sir Henry Holland, speaking as a Conservative sitting for an
agricultural borough (Midhurst), gave the Bill his hearty sup- port, though wishing for limitations in Committee. Mr. Duck- ham spoke strongly for the Bill, and Lord Elcho, of course, who, having once been a Liberal, now always goes beyond his new party, quite as strongly against it, describing it as an illustration of the spread of Socialism. Sir William Har- court, in a spirited reply, described, amidst great cheering, what he understood by confiscation :—" It was when a man obtained a fair rent for the agricultural value of the land, and then sought to make a few hundreds a year additional by contracting to let others destroy the game on that land." As for freedom of contract, he asked Lord Elcho, who was so plaintive about it, what he would say if, in a thunderstorm, he asked a cabman his fare, and was told, " My terms in such weather as this are £5." He supposed he would answer, " Oh, freedom of contract is not for the likes of you !" Sir Stafford Northcote made a very gingerly reply, evidently feeling the delicate relations in which his party now stand to the tenant- farmers, and then Mr. Brand withdrew his amendment, and the Bill passed its second reading.
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