The inaugural meeting of the Land Union—" an association of
representatives of all classes interested in maintaining the security of private property in land, which is the very basis and foundation of all business security "—was held on the afternoon of yesterday week in the Queen's Hall. Mr. Pretyman, M.P., who presided, contrasted the aims of the
Gladstone League with Mr. Gladstone's own declaration on the subject of land nationalisation: "If you paid for the land, it was folly; if you did not pay for it, it was robbery." Mr. Harold Cox, who, congratulated the Land Union on knowing no party politics, declared that the same principles which made him a Free-trader made him also an opponent of the Land- taxes of the Budget. We cordially associate ourselves with his welcome of the Land Union. The principle of private ownership in land, as Mr. Cox showed, has wrought wonders alike for human liberty and economic development. If the aims of the Lloyd George school are realised, and every inch of land and every house are owned by the State, any one who quarrelled with the State would be in the dreadful position described by Gibbon when referring tc Rome under the later Emperors. "The world became a safe and dreary prison" for the foes of the State.
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