THE PROBLEM STATED. 17 



tainly the aim of land policy in the Australian 

 States. 



It will be most serviceable in this criticism 

 to keep the statement of the problem of the 

 land to the simplest terms — " how best to use 

 the land of England." Questions of freehold 

 ownership or tenancy, of tariffs and markets, 

 of wages and methods of cultivation, all have to 

 be considered — considered, too, in the light of 

 local conditions and local prejudices. They are, 

 however, questions of method, and should not 

 be regarded as matters of principle. As I look 

 upon the problem of the land, it is essentially 

 indifferent whether the farmer is owner or 

 occupier, so long as he is contented and happy ; 

 whether he farms by the rules of an old tradi- 

 tion or by the laws of a new science, so long 

 as his crops are good ; whether he lives under 

 Free Trade or Protection, so long as he is pros- 

 perous. Even the question whether farms should 

 be large or small is not of any real importance, 

 so long as they are cultivated to the best purpose 

 the land can serve and with reasonable content 

 to the cultivator, though I own to a special 

 fondness for the small mixed farm, as nationally 



