154 MY LIFE 



public land, which only laws made by their own class have 

 given them, we will make our counterclaim for the land- 

 tax at 4s. in the pound, " on the full annual value," as 

 solemnly agreed by Parliament when the various services 

 due from landlords to the crown were abolished and the tax 

 fixed at what was then considered a very low rate, in lieu of 

 them. The last valuation made was in 1692, and, notwith- 

 standing the continual increase in land values from that time, 

 as well as the continual decrease in the purchasing power of 

 money, the land-tax continued to be paid on that absurdly 

 low valuation, which in the reign of George III. was made 

 permanent. The arrears of land-tax now equitably due will 

 amount to more than the value of all the agricultural land 

 of our country at the present time, and as when public rights 

 are in question there is no time limit, existing landlords 

 would do well not to be too clamorous for their alleged 

 rights of property, since it may turn out that those " rights " 

 do not exist. 



Another thing that should be attended to in all such 

 enclosures of waste land is the preservation for the people at 

 large of rights of way over it in various directions, both to 

 afford ample means of enjoying the beauties of nature and 

 also to give pedestrians short cuts to villages, hamlets, or 

 railway stations. One of the greatest blessings that might be 

 easily attained if the land were resumed by the people to be 

 held for the common good, would be the establishment of 

 ample footpaths along every railway in the kingdom, with 

 sufficient bridges or subways for safe crossing; and also 

 (and more especially) along the banks of every river or 

 brook, such paths to be diverted around any dwelling-house 

 that may have gardens extending to the water's edge, all such 

 paths to be made and kept in repair by the District Councils. 

 Under the present system old paths are often closed, but we 

 never hear of new ones being made, yet such are now more 

 than ever necessary when most of our roads are rendered 

 dangerous by motor-cars and cycles, and exceedingly dis- 

 agreeable and unhealthy to pedestrians by the clouds of gritty 

 dust continually raised by these vehicles. 



