IDLE LAND IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1735, 9 January 1888, Page 3

IDLE LAND IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

» > Mi Bradlao«h made a strong statement i>\ Parliament m regard to the amount oi unirnprove'i land In England He con-'r-eds that the evidence obtained by the Duka of iiichmond'a Commission m 1882 Bhows that thc.ro are at least 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 acres now lying idle m the United Kingdom, which would admit of being cultivated with profit — " profit "m at least this eenee, that they would reimburse with intereat all capital laid out In cultivating them, and would provide & livelihood for tho laborers who cultivated them, and leave beyond this some further little margin still, however small it might be. They might not be fertile enough to provide a living for all those threa classes — laborer, farmer, aud landlord — whom Disraeli m a famous sentence declared that the land mast support. But if the land oould support even two of thei* classes, or even only one of them, Parliament ahould see that it was at anyrato made to do that little, rather than left unoooupied, and so supporting nobody at all. "Very soon," said Mr Bradlaugh, " the oountty will be driven face to face with this problem. The land question of England will soon be the battle question of England. Happily It is not too late for that battle to be fought out amicably. But bow the battle will end there can be no doubt, for the times are over m which wealth and force oould legislate as they wished. To-day, the hammer, th> loom, and the spade are the voices that must be listened to la fashioning our laws."