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Nationalisation of the Land

Sir,—As you have done me the honour to refer in your issue of the 19th September to my practical scheme of Land Nationalisation, I ask permission to occupy a little of your space with a brief exposition of the scheme, with some indication of its wide scope and of the numerous social evils it is calculated to ameliorate. This is the more necessary because so novel a proposal is sure to be misunderstood, and denounced as utopian or revolutionary; while I am informed that the mere reference to it in an editorial article as worthy of attention has already called forth an uncompromising attack in the columns of a contemporary journal.

It is necessary to premise that Land Nationalisation is not proposed in the interest of any class, but as a reform, vital to the national welfare, and at the same time directly beneficial to every class and every individual. By its means the farmer will obtain that freedom of action, that fixity of tenure, and that absolute security of possession of all the proceeds of his labour, skill, and capital, which is what he sorely needs, but which he will assuredly not get by means of any probable or possible English Land Bill. So long as he is subject to landlords and agents, to law-courts and lawyers, to valuers and surveyors, he will often have to keep up a hard and costly struggle in order to obtain that simple right to the fruits of his own labour which he ought to have and may have, without the interference of any man and without the possibility of dispute. In fighting for an English Land Bill on the lines of that just passed for Ireland, he will have to fight almost alone, for no other class will have a sufficiently direct interest in the matter to help him with any energy or enthusiasm; but in claiming Land Nationalisation he will have cordial and earnest assistance from all classes, especially from the agricultural labourers and the rural population generally, from mechanics and tradesmen, and from that large class who look forward with longing eyes to a rural retirement for their latter years, now rendered almost unattainable under land monopoly.

In the space of a single letter it is impossible to discuss those general principles and practical examples which prove private property in land to be inconsistent with personal freedom and antagonistic to true national welfare; I will, therefore, pass on at once to the practical proposals by which Land Nationalisation may be brought about, and in doing so, I shall be able briefly to advert to its far-reaching beneficial influence on every portion of the community.

Much of the difficulty and confusion of thought attending questions of this nature arise from not clearly distinguishing the two distinct elements in all landed property, the payment for the use of which is improperly included in the term "rent." True rent is money paid for the use of land or other natural agents; and its value is determined by two factors—the quality or productiveness of the land itself, and the additional value given to it by the community at large, in providing public roads, railroads, or canals, in supplying labour as well as social, religious, and educational advantages, and in furnishing good markets and a surrounding population able at once to satisfy the wants and to be purchasers of the produce of the agriculturist. None of this value has been created either by the owner or occupier of land, and it is this alone which it is proposed shall become the property of the State, the holder paying a quit-rent or ground-rent to the State, just as he now pays his land-tax, but being free from all Government supervision or interference whatever. The other portion of the value included in "rent" (but which is really interest on money expended and compensation for deterioration) is derived from the outlay or labour of the owner or occupier, in houses and buildings, fences, private roads, drains and other permanent improvements. These are private property, and there is no need to interfere with the possession or use of them other than to declare that their owner for the time being must be the State's tenant and be thus liable for the quit-rent; or, to put it more clearly, whoever holds land from the State must be the owner of the "improvements" of whatever kind on that land. It will therefore be convenient to term these improvements collectively the "tenant right" of the land in question, since their owner is necessarily and by "right," the State's tenant of the land. This "tenant-right" will follow the law of all other personal property, so far as its capability of being bought and sold or bequeathed at the will of the owner, and it thus carries with it all the rights and privileges which pertain to a freehold, with this important reservation, that it can be held only for personal occupation and enjoyment—not as an investment. All subletting of land will thus be illegal, since, if it were once permitted, large quantities of land would be accumulated by capitalists as State tenants, and their tenants would be in exactly the same position as the tenants of existing landlords, equally subject to their capricious interference, equally unable to secure the fruits of their own labour.

It will now be asked, How are present or future farmers to obtain possession of this "tenant-right," without which, they cannot hold farms? This question can be best answered while explaining the process by which the land may actually become the property of the State and the new régime be inaugurated.

The Act of Parliament effecting nationalisation will provide:—

(1) That ten years (more or less) after the passing of the Act the whole land of the country (as above defined) will become the property of the State, the existing landowners being compensated in a way to be presently explained.

(2) That a careful valuation of the land of the whole kingdom be made, separating the annual value of the land (or the "quit-rent") and the improvements (or "tenant-right"). The "quit-rent" will be the amount payable to the State, while the "tenant-right" must be purchased or otherwise acquired by the occupier. The value of the tenant-right will be estimated by the official valuers, as it will depend upon the more or less permanent character of the improvements; and it will have to be paid to the landholder by any farmer who wishes to continue in his farm, either in one sum or by means of a terminal annual charge for a moderate number of years. The ten years' interval between the actual passing of the Act and its coming into operation will not only give the necessary time for making the required valuation (which must be on every separate plot or enclosure), but it will also allow farmers to make all necessary arrangements for acquiring the tenant-right of their farms or of others more suitable to them. No doubt an extensive re-arrangement of holdings would then take place. A man with the power of getting a farm which he would be absolutely free to cultivate or improve as he pleased, and with a permanent tenure, would often prefer a much smaller one than that which he now holds under a landlord, since it would be his interest to farm highly and make all possible permanent improvements to the property.

The farmers, as a class, would thus obtain all they have ever asked or can possibly desire—freedom of cultivation, freedom of sale or transfer, a permanent tenure, and a really fair rent; and, accompanying this, there would accrue, in a very short time, diminished taxation, diminished poor-rates, and better local markets.

Turning now to the present landholders, or landlords, they will be paid, as we have seen, the fair value of all profitable outlay on the land made by themselves or their immediate predecessors, and often for that made by successive generations of tenants as well. For that portion of the value of the land which was primarily derived from the State, and should never have been given up by it, they will be compensated by means of an annuity of its full estimated value. In order that no valid claim or expectancy may be left unsatisfied, it is proposed that this annuity should extend to all heirs living at the time when the Act comes into operation, or, if thought fit, it might be extended to two generations of heirs beyond the present landholder. The absolute security of this Government annuity for three generations, free from all risks and liabilities, would render it a very fair equivalent for the land taken; and as no land whatever could then be obtained on any other terms than as a State tenant, it is not improbable that the selling value of farms after the Act was passed might be quite up to their previous average market value, because most farmers with capital would seek the opportunity of obtaining, at the earliest possible period, such farms as would suit them for permanent occupation.

Having thus shown how the scheme would affect the existing landholders and the farmers, let us turn to that portion of it which most interests other classes, and which, when clearly understood, will enlist them all as powerful advocates for its adoption. But this must form the subject of another letter.