WHO OWNS THE LAND?

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12764, 9 April 1910, Page 4

WHO OWNS THE LAND?

Mr Lloyd George supplied tho answer to this question — at least, so far as the land in the United Kingdom is concerned — when speaking at a mass meeting in London. "Two thousand five hundred landlords." he said, "owned two-thirds of tlu< soil, and thus exercised complete sway over the livelihood of millions." Well might tho C.'uuieellor remark that tho Liberals would li ever secure the economic independence of the workman while feudalism remained. His words call to mind what Mr Frederic Harrison, '.i man of letters, said : "To mo, at least, it would bo enough to condemn modern stuiety as hardly an advance on slavery or serfdom, if the permanent condition of industry were to bo that which wo behold,. that 90 per cent, of tho noiual producers- of wealth have no home that they can call their own beyond the end of the week ; have ro bit of soil, or so much as a room that belongs 'to them ; have nothing of value of any kind except so much old furniture as will go on a cart ; have the precarious elifinoe of weekly wages which barely suffice to keep them in health : are horsed for the most part in places that no man thinks fit for his horse; are separated by so narrow a margin from destitution, that a month of had trade, sickness, or unexpected loss brings them face to face with hunger and pauperism. This is the normal state of the average workman in town or country." This is the condition which calls forth Mr Llojd George's violent language, as if any language could be too violent to expose such a. scandalous state of affairs." — "Wauganui. Herald."