152 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



and beauty spots intact, thus keeping up the 

 charm of the landscape. They satisfy the 

 sentiment for leadership. On this estate there 

 are no grievances and no agitators. It would 

 not be to the best interest of the community if 

 all such places were cut up into small holdings, 

 for that would mean loss of woods and a de- 

 terioration of the country from many points of 

 view. (It is to the credit of the Irish Land 

 Commission that it is making an effort on vari- 

 ous subdivided estates to save the woods by 

 vesting them in the Board of Agriculture for 

 forestry purposes.) 



With good landlords Ireland would probably 

 have been as happy as, and more prosperous 

 than, under the scheme of peasant proprietor- 

 ship now being set up. But good landlords 

 were the exception rather than the rule in that 

 country, for so many landlords were absentees, 

 and an absentee cannot be a good landlord. 

 Thus the landlord has been, is being, evicted. 

 Deservedly so. 



Now in England is the position the same ? I 

 cannot be persuaded to think that it is. There 

 are few absentee landlords. An approximate 



