358 REPORT—1883. 
to be true, it is a significant fact that whilst the number of persons in 
‘the receipt of incomes from 1501. to 5001. increased in the thirty years at 
the rate of 136 per cent., the number of persons in the receipt of incomes 
of 3,0001. and upwards increased only at the rate of 86 per cent. 
§ 6. Relation of Land to other Sources of Wealth. 
It has been asserted in Mr. Henry George’s work on ‘ Progress and 
Poverty,’ that the effect of an increasing population upon the distribution 
of wealth is to increase rent, and consequently to diminish the proportion 
of the produce which goes to capital and labour; and that the reason why, 
in spite of the increase of productive power, wages constantly tend to a 
minimum which gives but a bare living, is that with the increase of pro- 
ductive power rent tends to even greater increase, thus producing a 
constant tendency to force down wages. What has been the proportion 
of rent of land to the total income of the nation? Have landowners and 
farmers flourished, and the rest of the people decayed ? Let the following 
comparison of facts answer the question :— 
| | Pee Fe . 
| Per cent. 
| 
Incomes from Income of m hike: of 
Years land and tithe. farmers. Total F ss otal aan ahegules 
Schedule A Schedule B Income asaassedk 2 rand B 
to total 
| income 
| £ £ ae £ 
1814-5 39,405,000 38,396,000 77,801,000 137,621,000 56 
1851 47,800,000 48,000,000 95,800,000 257,000,000 37 
| 138,500,000 577,000,000 24 
1880 | 69,300,000 69,200,000 
The proportion of national income derived from land was therefore 
considerably less in 1880 than in 1814-5. Who are the real aggressors 
on the wealth of the country? The landowners have evidently much 
difficulty in keeping their own, from the decreasing value of land and 
the inroad of wealthy merchants as purchasers of some of the choicest 
estates in the market, whilst land companies greatly promote the diffu- 
sion of landed property. I shudder to think what a large proportion of 
the landed property is now mortgaged to the utmost limit of its value. 
House property has greatly augmented in valne. In 1851 the value 
assessed on houses in Great Britain was 42,978,000/.; in 1881 the value 
so assessed was 117,465,000/. But house property is greatly divided, and 
building societies have extended the ownership of houses among the 
labouring classes. 
§ 7. Incomes of the Lower Middle Classes. 
Whatever may have been the increase in the number of persons having 
comparatively larger incomes, there is reason to believe that a propor- 
tionate improvement has also taken place in those immediately below the 
limit of the income-tax range. Of the lower middle class of life, the 
teacher and the clergyman are the fittest representatives. Of the income 
of teachers we have some well-ascertained evidence in the reports of the 
Committee of Council on Education. Comparing 1855 with 1881, the 
incomes of certificated masters were as follows :— 
