The Daily Chronicle reports that business never was so slack
in Tokenhouse Yard as it has been during this season, and that most of the estates offered have been withdrawn, owners, more especially trustees, being unwilling to accept the only prices obtainable. The truth seems to be, that those who buy for investment are alarmed by the low prices of almost all produce, while those who buy for dignity are afraid of a new Act a year for " emancipating " tenants, and thus increasing landlords' worry. Residential properties sell as freely as ever, though not at the highest prices ; but, away from the Home counties, unless an estate is marked by special natural beauty or facilities for sporting, buyers are very few. The market will settle itself in the end, for we have touched bottom in prices for corn, and when thirty-five millions of people are living on a green patch like Britain, land must always be a valuable commodity ; but the process may take years, unless, indeed, the Liberals will decide what they really mean to do about tenure. " Enfranchisement" will only raise values, but compulsory expropriation at the will of District Councils is fatal to the feeling of unending security, without which the possession of land in any quantity has no charm. Who wants a house, if another man may claim to hire the dining-room, even at the fairest compensation price F
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