Hints for Legislators.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3877, 2 June 1881, Page 3

Hints for Legislators.

, a -il*£?? AWS PF ENTAIL. Sir George Grey has frequent]j called attention-to the subject of entail, and in bis recent speech said tbe time bad come for .the matter to be taken up by the Colonial Parliament. Tbe following is an extract from some very sensible notes on the subject in this week's Observer :— ' " There are two modes in which the evil of. entail has been successfully met, and . either of'these two would, we believe, - Beet with little opposition if a Government w#r» now to take it in hand. The first is the German system, introduced into Prussia early in the present century. It repeals »U laws which give the right to enewaber land with life interests, with settlement!, or with long leases that pro- • vent absolute control over it by the, ''.'peyapii in possession. No trusts are ' allowed except for management during tbe Isimqrity of the successor. Under theoperalion of this system, great estates in Prussia •nd in the ofner German.States which have adopted it, have been subdivided and >re*»pld. wherever the proprietor foilnd it •ore profitable and more congenial to do m." The , country it now filled with milliotu of comfortable and prosperous peasants where formerly the feudal system of great proprietors and their, hired labourers alone prevailed. There is grea* . equality and independence, and the people wdevoMiily *ttiebed to the new system. Tfcty*bav> felt its good effects for7o years, •nd have defeated all attempts on the part of different- Ministries to interfere witfc it. Land' is accessible Jo all—to the piftjont; tojth*'larg)s farmer, and to the - #ea*y townsman anxious to have a country. 'pnee to which he may retire in the evening 1 of'Jris days. Great estates are the exception,, ana smaller, . well-cultivated properties are the rule., Nature is not , injteuer*d with W arbitary laws, and free* 'time!in land is a great fact, of which the firpitt may be seen in the ardent attachment of a German to his fatherland. Aootbensystem: is: that of France. It was /designed for the same purpose «s that of Germany, but; being conceived in a time ~of revolution, wm more- rapid and more ; •weeping in its operation. 'I he owner of Und may, in France, do what he likes with it during life; aut if in his possession . when fee dies, it must be dealt with in a prescribed way. He must divide it into a eyrtoin iißsliiiii "of equal*sliaTes t in all one anwre more lban the number of children he leaves. With the.extra share he may do what he likes, but the others must go i^BjJiy among bis children. In practice thi' estate is sometimes sold acid the wbeeeds *are diyjded. Sometimes the Mnd if divided, and each takes bis portion by amicable arrangement. More freqjfently there is a family council, and the estate is taken by one or two at a fixed sum, which is gradually paid to the rest. This system has worked admirably in Frinee. It has covered the. country literaljy with smiling homesteads and opuwqy comfort throughout the people. It has taught them habits of industry and frugality, and, as Sir George Grey eloquently puts it, has created five million hoaatea* which furni>h the retreat in times ofiemfionry distress that tbe workhouse •iaf««ffeT* to the English labourer in his seed. The French, too,: are deeply s4tMfced ttf their system, and in the Shine ptovinces it still prevails, although they nave been Prussian and Bavarian territory, for the last seventy years.