X LAND REFORM 



It was my intention at first to write a few pages 

 only, simply to explain the scope and provisions of 

 the Bill. But the subject was so interesting, and its 

 bearings so far-reaching, that I felt impelled to con- 

 tinue my remarks until the subject-matter had grown 

 to the dimensions of a book — a book which, after 

 some hesitation and much diffidence, 1 have ventured 

 to place before the public, in the hope that at least 

 some of the propositions and opinions contained in its 

 pages may be found heedworthy. 



My general apology for taking this step is the life- 

 long attention I have given to the question of the 

 land, and my close relationship with not the least 

 important class connected with its cultivation. I have 

 always regarded agriculture (in its widest sense) as 

 the chief national concern, and as the only basis on 

 which the real welfare of a country can be securely 

 established. If we have purchased commercial su- 

 premacy at the cost of a permanent decay of that 

 great industry, we have bought it at a ruinous price. 



Nations may have brilliant epochs — more or less 

 long-continued — of commercial prosperity, with vast 

 accumulations of money wealth, but their strength, 

 virility, permanence, and resisting power must ever 

 depend on a numerous rural population. The com- 

 batant in classic story who, when hurled to the ground 

 by his antagonist, gained renewed life and vigour by 

 each contact with Mother Earth, is an apt illustration 

 of the strength and recuperative power of a nation 

 whose people are rooted in the soil. 



These views and opinions, which I have always 

 held, have been confirmed and strengthened by a long 

 experience in commercial affairs and a close acquaint- 

 ance with the conditions of life in large towns. 



