Phillips. — On the Law of Gavelkind, 531 



suffers, the State suffers accordingly. Has there not heen too much State 

 interference of late, both with regard to the child and the man. From 

 slavery and from villein service we have developed into free individual 

 action. " Our home is our castle," a noble maxim : Blackstone says from 

 the centre of the earth to the sky. For this principle Earl Godwin fought, 

 eight and a half centuries ago, and it is the highest principle a nation 

 can cherish. 



It will be observed, too, that the tendency of the age has been to free 

 England from the feudal idea of nationalization of land. Primogeniture 

 has gone, entail has gone, settlement is being swept away. The next step 

 is to compulsorily divide the land as in France. 



With respect to collateral relatives. I agree with Mill, that in cases of 

 intestacy, and the failure of direct heirs, property should escheat to the 

 State. But this is a minor point in the manipulation of the rules of in- 

 heritance. 



If we really wish to check poverty and crime, and to progress as Mr. 

 George wishes, our bounden duty is to teach parents the great obligation of 

 "not bringing children into the world unless they can be maintained in 

 comfort during childhood, and brought up with a likelihood of supporting 

 themselves when of full age."* I know of no better means than the com- 

 pulsory subdivision of the land. The great towns will not then become the 

 receptacle of agricultural paupers, as the English towns are flooded at the 

 present time by the Irish. The utter carelessness of the Irish population, 

 in the neglect of this important matter, shows how necessary it is for us to 

 strike at the root of the evil, and by subdividing the land to cause such a 

 people to impose the voluntary check to excessive increase. Poor Ireland 

 has terribly suffered from the incidence of the feudal laws. Time it is for 

 us to divide the area of that country exactly according to the population. 



A feature, too, with regard to the free individual fee-simple title as 

 applied to the present circumstances of this colony merits our attention, 

 and our duty is to act for the present. Leaving upon one side the drainage 

 of great swamps, the irrigation of plains, the clearing of forests, or the de- 

 struction of pests, let us take the scant timber-supply of the South Island 

 into consideration. Men will not be found to plant trees as readily under 

 the leasehold title as under the freehold. A man will do anything, if he 

 consider his title secure in perpetuity to himself and his offspring ; but he 

 will weigh every action if he holds a lease, be that lease called a perpetual 

 lease or by any other title. Of course the State may, and perhaps should, 

 undertake the conservation of the forests ; but it is very doubtful whether 

 the private individual will not carry out this work better, when it pays him to 



* J. S. Mill. 



