Land Problems and National Welfare 



rent rolls than have those which include many 

 farms of 400 acres and over. And when it 

 comes to the 1,000 acre farm., few men could be 

 found during the years of agricultural depres- 

 sion, or even at the present day, with sufficient 

 capital to work it. 



Many men suffering from financial stress are 

 inclined to ascribe all existing evils to the 

 Radical Government and to death duties. This 

 is not a sound conclusion; and by accepting it 

 the landowner is reduced to a feeling of hopeless- 

 ness which prevents his realising that it is often 

 possible successfully to reverse a forebear's mis- 

 taken policy. In many cases former life-tenants 

 not only built extravagantly, but furnished the 

 money for building by raising mortgages ; and, 

 instead of providing by life insurance for their 

 younger children, often left heavy family charges 

 on their estates. The result of all this mis- 

 management is fast amounting to a crisis — for 

 the majority of landowners. The charges on 

 estates remain constant, the cost of up-keep since 

 the agricultural depression has actually risen in 

 some cases by 100 per cent., and rent rolls have 

 decreased in many districts by nearly 50%. It 

 is a serious position for estates of all sizes but it 

 hits the smaller properties hardest, for they 

 have less power of resistance. Already the 

 majority of owners of purely rural estates of 

 5,000 acres or thereabouts can no longer live at 



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