48 THE RURAL PROBLEM 



Parliament, on the lines of Section 10 of the Housing and 

 Town Planning Act, applying to local conditions generally 

 and to the development of land. This would give power to 

 a few inhabitants of any district to call machinery into play 

 which would bring about an inquiry into the management of 

 the land in question, and secure it, if necessary, for the com- 

 munity at a reasonable price, based on the valuation now 

 being made. 



But though this simple proceeding could be thus simply 

 carried out, the time is ripe for a far larger application of the 

 principle that land, as the physical basis of all life, should be 

 at the full disposal not of private individuals, but of the 

 community as a whole. This principle has been recognised 

 in successive Acts of Parliament compelling private indi- 

 viduals to surrender land for public purposes. What is now 

 required is not merely, as above suggested, to extend the 

 principle to cases where land is not fully developed or is 

 immediately needed, but to prepare a way for securing to 

 the land-users of the future that they shall be subject to no 

 restrictions as to the use of their land except such as are 

 imposed upon them as tenants of the public, for the sake of 

 the public ; and at the same time for placing all land at the 

 disposal of the community, as landlord, with power to pursue 

 a policy of national development. And for this purpose full 

 powers should be given to the public departments and to the 

 local bodies to acquire land not merely for present, but in 

 anticipation of future uses.* 



These powers involve the creation of a National Board of 

 Land Commissioners for the purpose of land purchase, to 

 undertake the work of all the public authorities concerned. 

 Such a Board should have power to purchase land compul- 

 sorily ; and the present landowners should be safeguarded 

 by a right of appeal to judicial authority, and also by the 

 right of any landlord to sell land to the Commission at the 

 approved purchase price. This right should be subject to 

 one important restriction, without which the State would find 



* Speaking generally, the local authority is the proper authority 

 to purchase for special purposes, and the State for general purposes. 

 A local fall in the value of land would severely hit a local authority ; 

 but there is no general fall in the value of land, so the State could not 

 be a loser. 



