The London County Council.

If they turned their attention to England they would find that the London County Council had, of late years, undertaken the carrying out of large works in the shape of public improvements. They had run fine open streets through certain slum properties, and all the expense of these alterations had been charged upon the ratepayers. They had at length begun to see that this was not fair. It enormously increased the value of the land in the neighbourhood of the new streets, and therefore when the next alterations were suggested they promoted Bills in the English Parliament having the object of giving them power to charge half the cost upon the ground landlords. However, the Bill had been rejected, and they would have to wait for the development of public opinion. If they went back as far as the year 1882, they would find that the Irish Land Act was passed because of the agitation against the high rents—the rack rents as they were called—charged to tenants in Ireland: and this Act passed the House of Commons and the House page 8 of Lords, the latter being solely a territorial house, and had become law. It was equivalent to saying to the Irish landlords that they were not justly entitled to receive all the rent from their tenants which competition and the necessities of their lives would compel them to pay. This was a very remarkable thing, and it showed that they were not perfectly satisfied that the present condition of things was right. The Government of New South Wales had also lately brought in a Betterment Bill in connection with the public works of that colony. The principle involved was that as these public works gave an added value to the land they should be charged to the landowners. (Applause).