238 CONCLUSION 



Land-law reform would increase the powers of life tenants 

 to promote high farming, which hitherto has never enjoyed 

 a fair chance of proving its capabilities. Increased facili- 

 ties to transfer or charge land by the establishment of 

 land registries would increase its value for sale or mort- 

 gage, and, even if they did not extend the number of pro- 

 prietors, would remove all artificial hindrances to the 

 natural growth of small owners. At present land lies so 

 far beyond the general public that the masses have little 

 respect for, or desire to guard, the sanctity of real property, 

 Financial reform demands the readjustment of local taxa- 

 tion, which, as a burden on agricultural land, has lost its 

 original justification, and now imposes Protection taxes on 

 Free Trade prices. In this connection it may be suggested 

 that since the dead capital, in the form ot realised per- 

 sonalty, preys upon the living capital employed in industry, 

 and since the fall of prices increases the value of the first 

 in proportion as it diminishes the value of the second, a re- 

 duction of the interest upon the National Debt from 3 per 

 cent, to 2^ is not inequitable, and would attract capital 

 from consols to agricultural land by equalising the remu- 

 nerative value of the investments. The extension of 

 technical agricultural education, especially among labourers, 

 and the efficient equipment of a Ministry of Agriculture, are 

 so urgently needed as to be indispensable preliminaries 

 to the successful growth of a peasant proprietary or a pea- 

 sant tenancy. Finally, the present scale of differential rail- 

 way charges excludes English farmers from home markets. 

 Higher rates upon local traffic than for long distances, and 

 artificial competition between rival companies where land 

 and sea carriage are not equally available and where time 

 is essential, place premiums on distance at the expense of 

 proximity, protect foreign producers, and offer bounties to 



