RISKS TO THE STATE 253 



gets an undue prominence. Facilities for sport are 

 named, in numbers of cases, as the chief inducements 

 offered to purchasers. The foremost place is given to 

 such statements as the following : " Shooting good ; 

 hunting with several packs," " Good shooting, hunting, 

 and fishing," "Choice sporting estate," " Shooting ex- 

 ceptional," etc. The yield of food and other agricul- 

 tural produce in which the general community has 

 such a large interest Is quite a secondary matter. 

 This is another point well worth the farmer's con- 

 sideration. As a yeoman, owning his own land, he 

 would be a free man as regards sport ; as a tenant, 

 whatever he may enjoy legally or by way of favour, 

 his position is one of humiliation. 



Many landlords, no doubt, object to the creation of 

 independent ownership, lest they should not, in the 

 matter of sport, have the same control over owners as 

 they now have over tenants. But this objection is a 

 groundless one so far as reasonable recreation goes. 

 The love of sport is inborn in the English people. It 

 is marked among farmers as a class, and exists among 

 the rural population generally. 



There is a further matter that deserves attention. 

 Public lands are continually being sold by departments 

 of State and turned into private property. This is a 

 bad policy, and one opposed to the best interests of 

 the community. 



Every year there is a quantity of land sold under 

 the Glebe Land Act, 1888. The number of sales 

 completed under this Act during the year 1903 was 

 102, comprising 2179 acres, the purchase-money paid 

 being ;^69,905. A considerable quantity of College 

 and University land is also sold every year.^ During 



' Annual Report, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Cd. 2005, 1904. 



