The Landowner 



purpose of acquiring land either on lease or by 

 purchase. i\lso, in some districts the Belgian 

 system for enabling the men to buy or build 

 their own cottages could with advantage be 

 developed. 



(10) Landowners could also help to increase 

 the number of proprietors by giving every 

 facility for purchase, particularly to the sitting 

 tenant. This is, however, still difficult ; and, 

 though many large landowners have been sell- 

 ing much land of late, many of them cannot 

 make arrangements for the tenant to become 

 owner because the machinery which an act such 

 as Mr. Collings' Land Purchase Bill would pro- 

 vide is still lacking. The chief point to remem- 

 ber is that it is better in every way to have a 

 10,000 acre estate perfectly equipped and in first- 

 class order than 20,000 acres improperly de- 

 veloped. 



(11) And, lastly, I think much good would 

 result if landowners could make a practice of 

 never letting a farm to a man who already has 

 other farms. I find this a difficult principle to 

 live up to in the case of large farms, because it 

 is only the man already in a large way of busi- 

 ness who has the necessary capital. But in the 

 case of small and medium-sized farms there are 

 now, as a rule, plenty of applicants to choose 

 from ; and it is at all events possible to keep 

 any small farm of say 50, 80, 100, 150 acres for 



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