368 READINGS. IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



proof was thought necessary to support the former assertion ; 

 the latter was supported by ' a proof which, on examination, 

 turned out to be perfectly worthless. In the occupation returns 

 of the census for 1861, only 30,766 persons described them- 

 selves as land-proprietors, and these figures were most persist- 

 ently quoted as official evidence on the subject, in the face 

 of the patent fact that above half of the whole number were 

 females. The probable explanation of this circumstance is, that 

 women owning land feel a pride in recording their ownership ; 

 whereas thousands of male landowners returned themselves as 

 peers, members of Parliament, bankers, merchants, or private 

 gentlemen. At all events, the mere existence of so palpable a 

 flaw in the return utterly destroyed its value for the purposes 

 of statistical argument. Equally reckless assertions were made 

 in support of the contrary opinion, and until the present year 

 it was regarded as open to doubt whether the whole body of 

 English landowners, properly so called, amounted to 30,000 or 

 to 300,000. 



These doubts are at last set at rest. It is true, the return 

 lately issued by the Local Government Board purports to be 

 no more than "proximately accurate," and a very cursory 

 inspection suffices to disclose numerous errors of detail which 

 might have been avoided by more careful revision. Great and 

 inevitable difficulties were found to beset the definition of 

 ownership, and one of these difficulties had to be solved by 

 treating as owners all holders of leases for more than ninety-nine 

 years or for lives, with a right of renewal, while other lease- 

 holders were excluded. Moreover, the return does not cover the 

 metropolis ; and since it is based on lists separately prepared 

 for each county and each rating-district, it must be taken as 

 subject to large deduction for double entries. Nevertheless, 

 its general results, translated into round numbers, may be 

 accepted as conclusive for the purpose of our present inquiry. 

 They exhibit a gross total of 972,836 freehold properties, 

 which probably represents a net total of above 900,000 free- 

 holders in England and Wales. But of these so-called prop- 

 erties, no less than 703,289 are plots of less than one acre, 



