52 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



same general quality within sixty miles of 

 Sydney ? The biggest market for agricul- 

 tural products in the world has its site in 

 this England. Nature has seemingly de- 

 signed the climate especially for a great 

 agricultural industry. Yet agricultural land 

 is, by comparison with Australia, sold at 

 shoddy prices. The other day I noticed in 

 the papers an account of the ' spirited com- 

 petition ' at an agricultural estate sale, and 

 of the ' splendid prices ' realized. Let me 

 quote you the prices : A farm of 1,164 

 acres, in complete working order, with 

 buildings, etc., sold for £5,250 (about £4, 10s. 

 an acre, giving in the buildings for nothing) ; 

 another farm of 128 acres sold at £2,750, 

 again with all buildings (about £21 an acre). 

 And for good farming land in Australia 

 near the cities it is not at all unusual to 

 pay £40 per acre (I can remember that 

 the Victorian Government, buying huge 

 pastoral estates away from the cities in bulk 

 for cutting up into small holdings, and 

 taking a lot of rough, unusable land with the 

 good, paid an average of £7 per acre for 



