128 Land Drainage and Impi ovenienf. 
liiilf-jeail}- payments wore small the aiTtangement altogether ceased 
to be mutually advantageous. 
That the Act did not realise the expectations of the authorities 
by whom it was promoted may be inferred from the fact that, 
up to this moment, the total sum expended under its provisions 
is 269,579/. 5s. Id. ; while if we go back to the end of October, 
1855, the sum expended was 128,723/., and to the same period 
in 1861, 234,800/. 
5. It was to supply the place of the " Public Money Drainage 
Act" that the various companies were established under their 
special Acts of Parliament, by which they Avere enabled to 
transfer the rent-charg:es created under their Acts in such a^ffre- 
gate amounts as would be acceptable to capitalists and corporate 
institutions whose arrangements admitted of their dealing with 
them. By this power they severally- gained the command of 
unlimited capital. But as an object of primary importance they 
sought and obtained an extension of the period for the repayment 
of the money advanced to landowners. 
6, As upon this latter point considerable difference of opinion 
prevails, it may be desirable to explain the relative advantages 
and disadvantages of short and long periods of repayment. 
As a fundamental rule, it may be stated that, in proportion to 
the durability of the improvement of property, so may be the 
length of term over which the repayment of its cost may extend. 
This rule is based on the same principles as fipply to the pur- 
chase of different characters of property. If land, which is 
imperishable, is purchased, thirty years' purchase is given for it ; 
if houses, which are perishable, there is hesitation in giving for 
them as much as twenty years' purchase. 
On a general view the advantages of a short term for repay- 
ment over a long one are so obvious that it is hardly necessary 
to state them. The property improved becomes year by year 
more and more valuable, while there is a greater chance of the 
promoter of the improvement outliving the rent-charge, and 
leaving the pioperty free to his successor. A tenant for life, 
too, is sooner relieved from his responsibilities as to mainten- 
ance, and all parties connected with the works^ — -those Avho were 
responsible for their execution as well as those who have 
been benefited b}- them — are the sooner relieved from the risks 
and objections which must occasionally arise from accidents 
and defects. But as it follows, necessarily, that the shorter the 
t(*rm the higher the amount of instalment, it often happens that 
these advantages are purchased at a sacrifice of present income. 
