CHAPTER VII. 



RECENT RISE IN THE VALUE OF LAND. 

 Great rise THERE has been, within the last twenty years, 



in tnc 



value of a ver y considerable increase in the value of land 



land since J 



oftheCom * n ^ s country. The income-tax returns are 



partly due 7 most instructive on this point, and, as they 



outlay of show the rental of land in England, Scotland, 



improve" an ^ Ireland separately, they afford the means of 



ments. 



comparing the rate of improvement in each 

 country. That improvement does not seem to 

 have begun in England till 1858, the gross 

 annual value of "Lands" in 1857 having been 

 returned at 50,000 less in that year than in 

 1846. From 1858 the rise has been progressive 

 and continuous, and with an average increase of 

 470,000 a year. The rise seems to have begun 

 somewhat earlier in Scotland, and the average 

 yearly increase has been 82,000. The returns 

 from Ireland cannot be distinguished prior to 



