A meeting of the Land Tenure Reform League was held
at the Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, on Monday, and was addressed by Mr. Mill in a long speech, the first object of which was that the State should survey, claim, and use for the general benefit all waste lands and all lands held as endowments by cor- porations ; the second, that land should be made as saleable as Consols; and the third, that the State should obtain its share of the natural increase in the value of the soil,—all excellent objects, if only they can be secured without an overturn of society. In a little country like this, and with boundless land in America, such a change would scarcely be worth such a price. With another argument, however, we can thoroughly sympathize. The whole of our land laws have been devised for the support of a class, which ought to be left to stand or fall by its own merits or demerits, allowed, that is, to waste or improve its possessions as it best can. Trusta may be useful, but trusts for money are as possible as trusts for land, and it is for the public interest that every piece of land should have some absolute owner who can sell it.
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