CHAPTER XXVII 



LAND TENURES {concluded) — OCCUPYING OWNERSHIPS 

 AND COMPULSORY SALE OF LAND NECESSARY — LAND- 

 OWNERS SHOULD TAKE THE INITIATIVE BEFORE IT 

 IS TOO LATE 



One of the most important links in tliis loncj chain of evidence 

 in support of far-reachiiif^ Land-reform, is the jjart played by 

 the landlord. Hitherto, his role has been that of landowner 

 and a mere receiver of rents, Init the time has come when so 

 ef|uivocal a position can neither be maintained nor justified. 



The Eesponsibilities of Wealth 



The responsibilities of wealth are not only great, but they 

 vary in proportion to the nature of the wealth. The wealthy 

 financier, for example, whose possessions are in stocks and 

 shares, is, perhaps, under fewer obligations to the people than 

 the man whose wealth is partly represented by many thousands 

 of acres of rich land that is capable of producing enormous 

 ([uantities of food supplies, and affording employment to 

 thousands of people. But, be this as it may, there can be no 

 question as to the responsibilities of the latter. Every landed 

 proprietor is, by the nature of his possessions, under grave and 

 serious obligations to his country. The land of all countries is 

 primarily for the purpose of supplying food for the people, and 

 the owners thereof, in taking up the lands, assume, at the same 

 time, all the duties, responsibilities, and obligations involved in 

 such ownership. 



These responsibilities may vary considerably for many 

 reasons. In a sparsely populated country, for instance, where 

 land is plentiful and labour scarce, a man's responsibilities 

 would be less onerous than where tlie population is dense, 

 employment diflicult to obtain, and land scarce and exceedingly 

 valuable. In the latter case it is the plain duty of every man 

 who owns land to put it to the best possible use, so that the 

 country may derive from it the most economic results ; and in 

 our own country, where tliese conditions largely prevail, and 



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