290 BRITAIN FOIi THE BRITON 



ngriculture, but also in stock-raisiug, for the small agricnkiirists raise 

 (in their holdings far more horses, cattle and pigs per acre than do 

 the large proprietors in the East." * 



It would appear from the foregoing examination of the two 

 points under consideration that there is not the slightest 

 foundation for the absurd notion that a lack of capable agri- 

 culturists would prove a bar to the extension of the "Small 

 holdings " system, or that the British " territorial aristocracy " 

 system either serves the best interests of the country or con- 

 tributes even in the smallest degree to maintain — " The strength 

 and durability of our Empire." 



The Eesponsibilities of Government 



The Government, too, has many responsibilities, and owes 

 a deep debt to the nation. Successive Administrations have 

 neglected their plain duty to the people, and the latter are at 

 lemith tired of the humbug and subterfuge that have cha- 

 racterised every Government since Cobden's time, whether 

 Tory, Liberal, or Eadical. In more recent times they have 

 played the same old game and told the same old story until 

 sensible people who want good government, irrespective of party, 

 are disgusted by their cheap rhetoric, and nauseated by their 

 never-ending empty platitudes and political chicanery. The 

 Conservatives, for example, were in power for about eighteen 

 years, namely, 1886-1892 and 1895-1905, and any person who 

 cares to search the Statute Book for that period will find it 

 practically bare of any measure of reform that would confer 

 real, lasting benefits on the people of this country. The Irish 

 Land Act of 1904 was but a sop to the recalcitrant Irish party 

 to stave off the bigger question of Home Eule, but that was 

 an Irish measure, and it in no sense affects the English and 

 Scotch people, who have their own cause for bitter resentment 

 against that and other Governments of modern times. 



That both Tory and Eadical Administrations are fully alive 

 to the necessity of land reform is beyond doubt. The Allot- 

 ments and Small Holdings Bill of 1886 ; The Small Holdings 

 Act, 1892 ; The Purchase of Land (England and Wales) Bill, 

 1904; The Local Government Act, 1904; The Agricultural 

 Holdings Act, 1906 ; The Land Values (Scotland) Bill, 1906 ; 

 The Small Landholders (Scotland) Bill, 1906 ; The Small Hold- 

 ings and Allotments Bill, 1906 ; The Scottish Land Bill, 1908 : 

 all point to this fact. Owing, however, to the insincerity of 

 political parties and the hopelessness of getting any measure of 



* The Contemporary Review, April, 1908, 0. Eltzbacher. 



