178 LAND IMPROVEMENT ACT. 



the landlord at the expiry of his lease — that difference 

 of value being the just property of the tenant, as it has 

 arisen from his unassisted outlay and labour. But it is 

 quite clear that, without such a guarantee, the landlord, at 

 the end of twenty-two years, will receive an addition to his 

 rental of 6J per cent, on the amount expended in drain- 

 ing — a sum amounting to a fifth, a fourth, in some cases 

 even a third, of his rental — obtained by him without 

 risk or labour, and diverted from the returns justly due 

 to the tenant, who has repaid the whole outlay. For 

 the experience of the past does not entitle us to believe 

 that landlords will refuse to avail themselves of the in- 

 creased rent to be obtained at the end of an improving 

 lease, even though that increased rent is the result 

 entirely of the tenant's labour and capital. It may 

 therefore be fairly concluded, that, if the operation is 

 sufficiently remunerative to enable the tenant to repay 

 the whole expense to the Government in the course of 

 twenty-two years, the landlord will then divert into 

 his own pocket the 6£ per cent hitherto paid to the 

 Government. In short, the landlord who has had the 

 shrewdness to apply for, and the good fortune to obtain, 

 £10,000 or £20,000 of the public money for land im- 

 provement, and who has been able to persuade his tenants 

 to pay the whole 6i per cent, will at the end of twenty- 

 two years just find himself a richer man by £10,000 

 or £20,000, though he has submitted to no present out- 

 lay or inconvenience to obtain this very important future 

 advantage. 



At the end of twenty-two years, no doubt, there will 

 be repairs necessary to maintain the benefits of the out- 



