13 AUGUST 1921, Page 3

The Duke of Portland, speaking to his tenants at Welbeck

Abbey, made a frank and sensible statement of his position as a great landowner with regard to the present system of land taxation. After describing the happy relations which have se often existed between the larger landowners and their tenants, he continued :- " I fear, however, that this state of things is passing away, for, with the present enormous weight of taxation and the ex- tremely onerous incidence of death duties, the future has become very uncertain for all landed proprietors. If this is for the good of the country, I do not complain. I merely desire to state the undoubted facts, and I do not wish to be misunderstood or misrepresented in the Press."