92 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



Said one landlord of an agricultural property 

 of some nine hundred acres : " Economically, 

 the system of a large estate in the hands of 

 one man letting to tenants is the best for English 

 conditions. The tenant farmer has in almost 

 all cases complete security of tenure; he is not 

 rack-rented, and he has the landlord's capital 

 to fall back upon in time of stress. The land- 

 lord, if he knows his business, is able to enforce 

 a good average of skill in dealing with the land. 

 He can give it the advantage of large capital 

 expenditure, and that is a matter of great 

 moment in England. An agricultural area of a 

 thousand acres under one fair landlord is likely 

 to give better results to the community, to the 

 tenant farmer, and to the agricultural labourer 

 than that same area would if split into twenty 

 or fifty small holdings. I speak purely from 

 the economic point of view. Politically, it 

 would be far better if the land were held in a 

 greater number of hands ; and I think, in the 

 general interests of the nation, some loss of 

 economic efficiency might be faced for the sake 

 of extending peasant proprietorship in the most 

 suitable areas." 



