44 THE LANDED INTEREST. 



of the soil. When reckoned as heads of families 

 they comprise more than one-fifth of the total 

 male adult population ; and it is thence not un- 

 reasonable to infer that, in that proportion, the 

 people of this country are more or less interested 

 in the preservation of landed property. 



When we come more closely to analyse 

 the purely landowning class, the aggregation of 

 land amongst small numbers becomes very con- 

 spicuous. One-fourth of the whole territory, ex- 

 cluding those under one acre, is held by 1,200 

 persons, at an average for each of 16,200 acres ; 

 another fourth by 6,200 persons, at an average 

 for each of 3,150 acres; another fourth by 

 50,770 persons, at an average for each of 380 

 acres ; whilst the remaining fourth is held by 

 261,830 persons, at an average for each of 70 

 acres. An interesting compilation from the 

 Domesday Books by the Scotsman newspaper 

 One-fifth shows that the Peerage of the United King- 



ofthe 



land held dom, about 600 in number, possess among them 



by the 



Peerage, rather more than a fifth of all the land, and 

 between a tenth and an eleventh of its annual 

 income. 



