52 POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENTS 



successful as may be anticipated, further developments 

 along the same lines would rapidly follow. The State 

 itself in the widest sense, including the Crown, the 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the Universities and the 

 Colleges, is already by far the largest landowner in the 

 country and should set the example of the most 

 economic utilization of the land. The great landowners, 

 a class that has always recognized their duty of leader- 

 ship and their obligations to the community, would not 

 be backward once it was proved that both the interests 

 of the nation and their own profit were assured by a 

 new method of dealing with their land. Even if they 

 were unable to provide the capital necessary for the 

 enterprise, the demonstration of the profits attain- 

 able would be sufficient to attract the joint stock 

 company to undertake farming as it does any other 

 business that has been systematized. The British 

 capital that has gone in the past to finance gold 

 mines, railways, even land companies in other coun- 

 tries, could find just as profitable an outlet in the 

 development of British land if once the tradition of the 

 insecurity and the personal character of the business 

 can be broken down. Meantime the demonstration 

 farms proposed for establishment by the State would 

 provide a training-ground for the skilled managers who 

 would be wanted. 



2. Small-holding Colonies 



A second method of securing a larger population 

 resident upon the land and more intensive cultiva- 

 tion consists in the establishment of small holdings held 

 under the State or County Councils on a perpetual 

 leasehold or such terms of amortization as will eventu- 



