DESTRUCTION OF NATIONAL INDUSTRY 29 

 per acre more than pasturage, we have by our neglect Vast _ 

 encompassed a loss on this item alone of £34,000,000 Area 

 per annum in landlords' revenue. Add to this the 

 20,000,000 acres — the difference between what Govern- 

 ment calls the " cultivated area " of 43,673,000 acres 

 and what students of the subject call the " cultivable 

 area " of 63,500,000 acres — most of which could be 

 profitably tilled, and you have a vast area which, if 

 brought under the plough, would in time be worth £1 to 

 £2 or £3 per acre. Practically the whole of this land to- 

 day produces nothing. 



Assume again that this land would produce a small 

 all-round rental of £1 per acre, and allowing for a liberal 

 margin of from six to eight million acres of rocky land, 

 or other land unsuited for tillage, the landlords are 

 suffering a further loss here of about £12,000,000 to 

 £14,000,000 per annum in revenue. 



These two items alone represent a loss to landlords' 

 income of from £46,000,000 to £48,000,000 per annum. 



The next loss is to the State Exchequer. We all know 

 that if a man be taxed on his net income the State 

 revenue decreases in the exact proportion to the de- 

 creased income. If landlords' and farmers' income has 

 decreased to the extent of £46,000,000 annually, it is 

 clear that a great shrinkage in the taxable area of the 

 country must have taken place, while the Government 

 revenue from income-tax must also have decreased with 

 it. This means, at one shilling in the pound, an annual 

 loss to the State of £2,300,000 — two millions three hun- 

 dred thousand pounds sterling. 



Now it should be borne in mind that every penny of 



