29 AUGUST 1874, Page 2

Sir George Campbell IS safe for the first vacant Scotch

county. In a paper read before the British Association, he has proposed to turn English and Scotch landlords into Zemindars, by confirm- ing some of their existing "privileges over land, wrongly called pro- perty," but establishing a system of tenant-right, which would be in practice perpetual tenancy, subject to periodical revision of the quit-rent He admits that such tenancy may not always be economical, but maintains that any decrease in produce is com- pensated for by the frugality, industry, and self-reliance which the new security evolves. He would not do away with primo- geniture, or divide estates at death, but look to good tenure for the growth of a new landed middle-class. This extreme view will not be as popular with Parliament as with Scotch farmers, but it does not involve confiscation, and will help on the improvement which is really required,—the creation of a tenure sound enough to attract capital.