k that there are higher considerations than mere profit
to individuals, and that, as the lands belong to the whole state as
represented by the Crown, and as they are held in trust TO PRODUCE FOOD
FOR THE PEOPLE, that trust should be enforced.

The average consumption of grain by each person is about a quarter
(eight bushels) per annum. In 1841 the population of the United Kingdom
was 27,036,450. The average import of foreign grain was about 3,000,000
quarters, therefore TWENTY-FOUR MILLIONS were fed on the domestic
produce. In 1871 the population was 31,513,412, and the average
importation of grain 20,000,000 quarters; therefore only ELEVEN AND A
HALF MILLIONS were supported by home produce. Here we are met with the
startling fact that our own soil is not now supplying grain to even
one half the number of people to whom it gave bread in 1841. This is a
serious aspect of the question, and one that should lead to examination,
whether the development of the system of landholding, the absorptions of
small farms and the creation of large ones, is really beneficial to the
state, or tends to increase the supply of food. The area under grain
in England in 1874 was 8,021,077. In 1696 it was 10,000,000 acres, the
diminution having been 2,000,000 acres. The average yield would probably
be FOUR QUARTERS PER ACRE, and therefore the decrease amounted to the
enormous quantity of EIGHT MILLION QUARTERS, worth L25,000,000, which
had to be imported from other countries, to fill up the void, and feed
8,000,000 of the population; and if a war took place, England may, like
Rome, be starved into peace.

An idea prevails that a diminution in the extent under grain implies an
increase in the production of meat. The best answer to that fallacy lies
in the great increase in the price of meat. If the supply had increased
the price would fall, but the converse has taken place. A comparison of
the figures given by Geoffrey King, in the reign of William III., with
those supplied by the Board of Trade in the reign of Queen Victoria,
illustrates this phase of the landholding question, and shows whether
the "enlightened policy" of the nineteenth century tends to encourage
the fulfilment of the trust which applies to land--THE PRODUCTION OF
FOOD.

The land of England and Wales in 1696 and 1874 was classified as
follows:

1696. 1874.
Acres.