occupiers on land belonging to one of them. The leases are mostly for ninety-nine years, but the ground rents had been almost doubled in the last eight or nine, and the leases contain a clause that if any part of this rent is twenty-eight days in arrear, "the lessor may re-enter upon any part of the said premises in the name of the whole, and thereupon the said term of ninety -nine years shall absolutely determine." The gentleman who told this story to Mr Broadhurst added: "A fortnight ago I heard of nine houses of which the ground landlords had entered into possession under this clause owing to the great fall in wages"; and though himself a landlord, he expressed himself as heartily deprecating "the gross injustice of legalised landlordism." "By the leasehold system, the landlord is not content with taking the houses that he did not build ; he also takes the goodwill of the trade attached to the house, and, on renewing a lease, extorts a heavy payment for allowing the tenant to continue to enjoy his own business which he has brought to the house. It is all cant to talk about freedom of contract where a tenant would be ruined if he did not submit to his landlord's terms."[1]
The story of this Welsh village recalls the accusations brought by the Reformers against the new landlords of the Church lands—that they deliberately tried to cause the forfeiture or relinquishment of leases, that they might renew on better terms for themselves. And the poorer classes suffer more than even the enhancement of rent; for the system gives an additional motive for lowering wages. A landlord who is also an employer of labour has much to gain from his tenants' "difficulties." If they cannot pay their rent, he can take from them all they have. Those nine houses in the Carmarthenshire village represented to the landlords nine houses to be let on fresh leases. Instead of the suffering of "one member" entailing the suffering of the others, it positively benefits them. The depraving moral effect on the characters of the rich may account for much in the state of political opinion which shocks those who believe that "justice" is something more than a name. What must be the moral condition of the landlords who
- ↑ Broadhurst and Reid's "Handbook on Leasehold Enfranchisement," to which this gentleman contributed an anonymous chapter, "The Remedy for Landlordism."
