102 THE AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 



insolvent, and the millions of people who have invested the 

 savings of years in life and endowment policies, the pur- 

 chase of annuities, etc., as a provision against old age or 

 for their families in case of death, would lose the certainty 

 of getting what they had been paying for." After some 

 further elaboration and illustration of the point, the authors 

 conclude that " the proposal of giving no compensation is 

 too ridiculous to be discussed seriously," a statement which, 

 however self-evident it may be, seems a little disrespectful 

 to the " advanced section." 



Having reached this conclusion, it remains only for those 

 who advocate the acquisition of the land by the State to 

 fix the amount to be paid for it, and it is interesting to 

 note that on a basis of payment which does not claim 

 to be overwhelmingly generous, the total amount which 

 the State or in other words, the taxpayers would have to 

 find would be 4,000,000,000, a sum which, in the present 

 state of the national finances, there might be some little 

 difficulty in raising. 



The question of Land Nationalisation was one which I 

 was desirous the Club should discuss. I commented more 

 than once on the reluctance of members to come to grips 

 with it. It is idle to ignore the fact that the idea has 

 captivated the sympathy and support of very large numbers 

 of the people, especially in the rural districts. On the other 

 hand, there are many who regard it as equivalent to "red 

 ruin and the breaking up of laws," a kind of madness which 

 approximates to sacrilege. What is most needed is that 

 both advocates and opponents should descend from the 

 clouds of rhetoric to the sober level of serious consideration. 

 There is nothing inherently preposterous in the idea that 

 the State should own all the land. In new countries, at the 

 outset at any rate, it usually does, and in many countries 

 still the State is by far the largest owner of land. Even 

 in this country the State, in the name of the Crown, owns 

 large tracts and exercises all the functions of landlord, while 

 still larger areas are not in private hands, but are owned 

 and administered by public authorities, colleges, hospitals 

 and other corporations. In view of all that is claimed for 



