The Landowner 



during the past sixty years had been invested in 

 a security bearing even so low an interest as 

 Consols, the net income of the family would 

 now be considerably larger than it is. That 

 this should be possible shows clearly how 

 necessary it is for landowners to study the 

 existing system of land tenure with a view to 

 removing, as speedily as possible, the dangerous 

 and unsound features of the present condition. 



It must further be noted that in these calcula- 

 tions I have left out the original capital value 

 of the land (the money spent in purchase) and 

 have confined myself solely to the consideration 

 of the capital spent on the estate during the 

 past sixty years. 



The estate is lightly mortgaged for its size, 

 so that is not the cause of the trouble in this 

 case ; and that many estates are in the same 

 condition as mine is shewn wherever figures 

 are available. If capital does not bring in fair 

 interest, then it is either badly invested or 

 wrongly treated — and mismanaged capital is 

 bad not only for the loss to the individual 

 concerned, but it also constitutes a public 

 evil. 



But I have strayed from the problem pre- 

 sented by the area of land which I was called 

 upon to manage. A very short study of the 

 account books showed me that there would 

 be a deplorably small margin of receipts over 



25 



