is still
hampered by the veto of unreasonable owners, by the necessity of leaving
unnecessary barriers between different properties, and by other
obstacles which were dealt with in detail in the Committee's report. An
illustration of the importance of this aspect of the question was put
before the Committee and has been emphasised by recent events. It was
stated on behalf of the railway companies that they were prepared with
schemes for the extension of their systems in various parts of the
country, which would not only provide temporary employment for a large
number of men on construction, and permanent employment to a smaller
number on the working of the lines, but would also open up new
residential and industrial districts, but that it was impossible for
them to find the necessary funds unless they could have some guarantee
that at least any loss upon the cost of construction would be charged
upon the increased value of land in the new districts which would be
created by the railway extensions. Remarkable instances were given of
the way in which the value of land had been multiplied many-fold by the
promotion of new railways, which, nevertheless, had never succeeded in
paying a dividend to their shareholders, and the capital cost of which
had been practically lost.

On the other hand, the Committee were assured that, given a charge on
the increased value of land likely to be created, there would be no
difficulty in obtaining the necessary funds without Government
assistance. When the pressure of the unemployment problem became acute,
and not before--and then it was, of course, too late--the Government
turned their attention to this problem, and have guaranteed the interest
upon new capital to be expended on a few of these railway extensions,
but instead of charging the guarantee upon the increased value of land,
they have charged it upon the pocket of the tax-payer. The most striking
instance is that of the tube railway from Charing Cross to Golders
Green, now being extended under Government guarantee to Edgware. Those
who provided the original capital have never received any return upon
their money, yet millions have been put into the pockets of the owners
of what was undeveloped land now served by the line, and now that the
extension is being carried out with the tax-payers' guarantee, the
land-owners will again reap the benefit untaxed.

The development of the natural resources of our country was one of the
prom