24 AUGUST 1907, Page 2

In the House of Commons on Friday, August 16th, on

the third reading of the English Land Bill, Mr. Balfour made a speech the unbending Cobdenism of which was, we confess, somewhat too strong for us. The evils complained of in our present rural life were clearly not due to the ancient land system, for, according to Liberal speakers, those evils had grown with the destruction of feudalism. In reality they were due to other causes. Many persons advocated the creation of small holdings by Government action because, though such small holdings might not be economically justifi- able, they were justifiable upon social and moral grounds. If so, there would be a constant need of artificial fostering, at considerable cost to the State, to keep the small holdings in existence, and some demoralisation to the classes concerned. It might be true, went on Mr. Balfour, that rural life was more healthy than town life, but he doubted it. If true, however, it was a very serious matter, because we were irrevocably committed to being an industrial rather than an agricultural nation. It might, of course, be possible to ruralise our industries, but he did not see any very hopeful signs of this. This country made its choice sixty years ago when it repealed the Corn-laws. He believed the choice was rightly made. Let them logically accept the consequences. If our population was to increase, it must be an urban increase. But in that case it was foolish to turn our attention from the real social problem (i.e., the ameliora- tion of town life) to a small and insignificant fringe of it.