12 OCTOBER 1907, Page 13

THE NATIONALISATION OF THE LAND.—THE LITTLE BILL.

LT° TEE EDITOR or TUB"SPECTATOR;']

Sin,—Some time ago I had a conversation with a leading Socialist in a large manufacturing town in the Midlands. He said the Socialists intended to nationalise the whole of the land of the country. I asked him whether they would con- fiscate or purchase the estate. " Purchase," he replied. I presumed he had calculated how much would be required. Yes, he had ; and it worked out at twelve thousand millions sterling. He said this as calmly as though he had been telliug me that he had just bought a collie-dog ; and yet he was sane enough to have become an undergraduate of London University, which things are a bewilderment.—I am, Sir, &c., J. L. C.