For instance, a man with ;^io,ooo a year from such sources,
paying, let us say, ;^5oo a year for a house and gardens, only
pays local rates on ;^soo, the remainder, ;^9Soo, escapes scot-
free ; while the man who has all his money coming from land
pays on every penny of it. Is this justice ? Is it fair to the
land ? Is it fair to anything connected with it ? The reason,
of course, is obvious. When these taxes were imposed there
was only the land as a means of investment, such things as
modern modes of investment were unheard of; yet, notwith-
standing the revolution which all such affairs have undergone
during the present century, we stand to-day in the same mode
of taxation with regard to land as we did a hundred or more
years ago. Is it not ridiculous ? Even in the present time, at
the present moment, we see numbers of people, who ought to
know better, zealously eager to impose all financial school
support on the rates, instead of on Imperial sources. This
idea of rate-aid is simply adding additional burdens to the
land. The question arose which would be best, rate or
Imperial aid, and many short-sighted individuals voted for
local rather than Imperial taxation. Under this pernicious
system of piling on local taxation, the land of England has
no chance of successfully competing with land which has now,
by means of better transit, been brought into close proximity,
and which has none of these heavy burdens to bear.
