From the archive: Land and landowners, 14 June, 1924

Published on 14/06/2012 00:00

LAND, it has been said, has, along with its profits and its privileges, its duties and obligations.

In these days, under high national and local taxation and the rise in the cost of labour, the profits are rapidly disappearing in the wake of the privileges; while the burdens and responsibilities of the landed estate grow steadily. In many cases and places, the surplus of income from land, and, in particular, where it is loaded with heavy death duties and the charges attending a large mansion house, has dwindled to, and beyond, the vanishing point. The landowning class, once supreme in the social and political life of the country, it is announced in various tones of regret or exultation, is being squeezed out of existence. In seeking for the explanation of the lowered profit and prestige of the possession of land, we come upon the growth of taxation. The demands of the State and of the Local Authority are constantly increasing.