Lancashire seems inclined to go far in land reform. At
a meeting of the Farmers' Club and Chamber of Agriculture of Lancashire on Saturday, a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Scotson, of A igburth, for a lecture in which he advocated very long leases, to be fixed, as we understand him, by legislation, and with power to sublet, freedom of cultivation, compensation for improvements, free destruction of game, two years' notice of eviction, and the control of all labourers' cottages. He ridiculed co-operative farms, thought farmers should "grow labour on their farms "—apparently to keep down its price—and held land- lords, on the whole, an impediment to good cultivation. His speech is noteworthy, as expressing the ideas most in contrast with that idea of free contract of which we hear so much, and shall hear so much more, and which we have discussed elsewhere. If Mr. Scotson is really for compulsory fifty-year leases, as the Times affirms, and as he may possibly have advised—the report is barely intelligible—he has done damage to his cause. Leases of that length make the landlord a mere holder of a quit-rent, and if accompanied by a right to sublet would ultimately hand over cultivation to a farmer loaded with two or three profit-rents, payable to people who were doing nothing, who did not farm, or own, or see the land.
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