To begin with, it is clear, as we have pointed
out elsewhere, that though there may be some relief in the fact that the Government will pay for their own valuation, a heavy burden will still be imposed on the landowner. He will be obliged either to have a valuation made in order to check the Govern- ment valuation, or else to run what in many cases may be the great risk of letting the Government valuer make an unchecked " shot " at the value of his property,—a "shot" which later may be used against the landowner in a most oppressive way. The Government try to answer this second criticism by saying that the Opposition are utterly unreasonable. They complained because the Government would not pay for the valuation, and yet continue to complain after the Government have yielded to their demand. Yet in truth the double complaint is well justified on the perfectly good ground that the whole proposal for the valuation of the capital value of the land of the country is an oppressive folly.
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