8 LAND REFORM 



Rating Act," and such as would be given by, say, a 

 half-crown duty on imported corn, are no doubt valu- 

 able, and the gains therefrom remain with the farmer. 

 But any legislation proposed with the object of giving 

 substantial aid to the tenant would be regarded and 

 strongly opposed, as being " landlord relief" It must 

 be admitted, moreover, that there are grounds for 

 such opposition. The man who has control over rents 

 must always be master of the position, and the land- 

 lord having himself passed through bad times, would 

 naturally, by an increase of rent, secure a share, and 

 in many cases, perhaps the whole, of any benefits 

 which mioht accrue from such lesfislation. 



This view is confirmed by past experience and by 

 the evidence given before many of the numerous 

 Royal Commissions and Select Committees on agri- 

 cultural depression. This evidence conclusively shows 

 that though improved prices may benefit the tenant 

 farmer to some small extent, and to a larger extent 

 during war or other exceptional times, yet the main 

 and general result of high prices has always been 

 increased rents. 



Under a system of "Cultivating Ownership," how- 

 ever, all these difficulties disappear. Any aid given 

 would stay with the cultivator and be used for the 

 improvement of the land and for the increase of its 

 production. Further, public opinion, when fully in- 

 formed on the subject, would soon be in accordance 

 with the view that really effective assistance given by 

 legislation to the occupying owner — say, for example, 

 a premium on every acre cultivated in wheat — would 

 be for the benefit of the whole community, which has 

 a primary interest in the productiveness of the soil. 



These proposals must be considered together with 



