Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

tifôutp SiU&Ü* Cyf. I. AWST, 1888. Rhif. 8. THE FREE LAND LEAGUE. |X 1870, Mr. Bright said, <: The question of free lanrî is coming on, and is inevitable." In the same- year, the Foreign Office issued a report in which the land of Prussia, very nearly equal to that of the United Eingdom, was divided into—" Free land, 52,017,550 acres; unfree land, 15,049,995 acres." Here the conditions are re- versed. We have about 50,000,000 acres of unfree land. In Prussia, the extent of land held in Jìdei commissa, equivalent to our settled land, is 4,432,12-"î aeres. In this country, thc area of settlod land is about 12 times as large, and this enormous extent is held by about 7,000 persons, The tendency to accumulation is protectcd and encouraged by the power of settlement. While this power exists, any amend- ment of transfer will promote fehc aggregation of land in large estates. We ask for frce land. that each present generation may have absolute control over the soil, not as the end but rather as thc beginning of reform. We would abolish the existing power of creating life-estates in land. But in demanding that this great interest shall be so dealt with by Parliament, we are bound to show what right we havc to make this claim, which is advanced especially on behalf of those who hold no property in land. Without admitting that the law relating to personal property is just and cxpedient, we hold that thc onc decishe justiftcation for treating land as an entirely 2 p