jv.] DISTRIBUTION OF LAND IN ENGLAND. 



effects at all analogous to the results of free trade in 

 corn ? Suppose that Bowood or Belvoir was registered 

 by their proprietor, and thereby rendered more 

 marketable, would a purchaser for a rise of one-eighth 

 per cent, be likely to lay out capital in improving land 

 which he intended to retain as his property only, it 

 may be, till next settling day, or until he closed his 

 speculation ? Would he make a drain, or plant a 

 tree 



" Seris 

 Umbram factura nepotibus ? " 



If it was not the object of the Act to encourage 

 speculation in land, by assimilating land to Govern- 

 ment stock, it is difficult to understand why the 

 assimilation was attempted at all. Merely to facilitate 

 lond fide investments in land, desirable as such an 

 object is in itself, would not justify the introduction 

 of a system of registration which diminishes the 

 security of equitable interests, and prevents the 

 creation of many legal estates which can be created 

 in non-registered lands. 



I will conclude this chapter by quoting an instance 

 of the mode in which the antiquated system of land 

 tenure, favouring the continuance of land in the same 

 family for several generations, not unfrequently 

 worked. The following statement is extracted from 

 the Times of the 6th March, 1882, and relates to the 

 Swinton estate in the North Riding of Yorkshire : 



" The rental is very considerable, amounting to 



H 



