XIX SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED 361 



price for each lot, or group of lots of the same kind of 

 land ; but such a reserve cannot be fixed without a careful 

 valuation by an expert ; so that we should require two 

 processes both involving some expense, first the valuation 

 then the auction. The result would be, that in some cases, 

 where there happened to be little competition, the land 

 would be let at the reserved rent, while in other cases — 

 perhaps a few months later, and in the same place — similar 

 land would be run up by competition to much higher 

 rents ; and this would inevitably lead to dissatisfaction 

 and inequality in the prosperity of the tenants — a dis- 

 satisfaction which would compel the authorities to adopt 

 the plan of letting all land at the reserved rent, that is 

 at that fair but low rent which should have been adopted 

 at first. 



I maintain, therefore, that it is essential to adopt from 

 the first the only just and equal method, which is, the 

 valuation of the lots by an expert, founded on what would 

 be fair rents of similar land to a large tenant farmer. 

 These lots, with the rents thus determined, would then be 

 open to selection, either on the system of " first come first 

 served," or if thought fairer, of a ballot for the order of 

 choice on certain fixed days. By either of these two 

 methods, supposing the valuation to be fairly made, there 

 would be no inequality of opportunities, no feeling that 

 either by chance or through any other cause, some of the 

 tenants were paying higher rents than others. 



Another point of some importance is, that men should 

 be allowed to have as much land as they wished, up to a 

 certain limit — say five or ten acres according to circum- 

 stances ; and also that the land first let should always be 

 that abutting upon roads or lanes, the inner portion of the 

 farms thus let being reserved for some years, so that any 

 man wishing to add to his holding could have it extended 

 by taking a plot or field behind it, thus avoiding the great 

 inconvenience and loss arising from the separation of plots 

 under one holding. In the meantime this central portion 

 of the farm could be let by the year to any adjacent farmer. 

 One other point arises in connection with this question 

 — the vital importance of security to the occupier and 



