The Conference of the Liberal Party on land reform has
come and gone, and perhaps the most interesting, certainly the most real, result is that Mr. Hilton Young has followed Sir Alfred Mond. He is a serious loss to the Liberals ; it seems that he will sit for the present as an independent member. Mr. Lloyd George's object at the Conference was to save as much as possible of his Socialistic, scheme. He was compelled to accept an amendment from Mr.. Ramsay Muir and delete the proposal for enabling the County Agricultural Authorities to take over land whenever there is a change in the tenancy. On the other hand, Mr. Lloyd George won enough support to defeat an amendment giving the sitting tenant the first option of purchase. As he said truly enough, that amendment would have wrecked his scheme. It is worth noting, however, that though there were 362 delegates for him, 187 voted against him. In other words, 187 persons felt in their hearts with Sir Alfred Mond.
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