The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-12-11
A PLAIN TALK TO THE
VOTERS OF ENGLAND
A Mastery Speech by Lloyd
George, the British Chan
cellor Of the Exchequer, at
New Castle, on the Budget
Lately Rejected by. the
Stupid House ofLords--The
Welsh Statesman Elicits the
Most Rapturous Applause.

Most Rapturous Applause.
The following extracts from a speech
by Mr.. Lloyd George, the British Chan
cellor of the Exchequer, are taken AS
printed in the Manchester Guardian:
Landlords have no nationality. Their
characteristics are cosmopolitan.
(Laughter) This case was given me
the other day from Yorkshire of all
places in the world, as it illustrates
practically every tax which propose
in my budget. If you can stand it l
will tell. you this story ego on'), and
as have it on the authority of the
managing director of the concern
well, he is responsible. 1t is the sto,y
Of district in Yorkshire, which four
or five years ago was purely agricul-
tural, really agricultural, receiving
half it's rates as agricultural land from
your taxes and mine. Clear, llear.>
There was not a village within four
miles Of it, not an industry, not a fac
tory, not coal mine; and some very
enterprising mining directors came
along and said: "We think there's
coal here" They went to the land
lord and said, Twill you allow us to
dig for coal here?" and he. said, "F'or
a consideration, of course {Laugh-
ter) "Quite a trifle, only sixpence;"
and he said Certainly" So he al
lowed them to do it. He said, II will
only charge you sixpence a ton o.l
all the coal that comes up, They
said, What about the surface?' "Oh,
certainly, will sell you any surface
land you want for the purpose for a
consideration" ''Well, what do you
want?" they said. "You are receiving
now 15s Cd. an acre. What will you
want from us?' "Well," he said, "four
ounds an acre." Then they said to
him, 1--WE must bring workmen here,
and as there are no cottages we shall
rave to build them, and we propose
building model villags," said these
Elining investors, and they have built
enc of the most beautiful model viii
lages in the kingdom. (Hear, hear.l
And they said, "Will you allow us to
build few cottages?" Certainly"
he said. II shall want a small return
Caughter) 6 or 10 pounds an acre"
Quite moderate, and am not holding
him up to pillory him. This landlord
is really most moderate landlord.
The land was at 15s. Cd. and he
charges 10 pounds. Well, that is only
eighteen times the value of the land.
I can give you cases where landlords
have charged go, 40 even 100 times
the value of the land. This man has
been most moderate-only eighteen
times its value. Then he said to them,
There is the fish pond rather near
your model village. 1 don't think ii
will be worth much afterwards, what
ever it's worth now, so you had better
take it." They said, "All right, it will
be rather good sport to fish either for
trout or tadpoles" Uaughter) and he
said. II am getting one pound for it
Tow. I will let YOU have it for Is
guineas year. cheap" (Laughter)
They started. They spent half a mil
Ion without knowing what would hap.
Zen. 1t was a real speculation, real
risk. They took it TN, speculated half
a million, discovered the coal, and the
landowner is getting royalties now at
the rate of nearly 10000 pounds per
annum. He is getting, in addition to
the four pounds per annum for every
acre of land on the surface used by
the colliery, to 10 pounds per annum
per acre for all the cottages. Then he
charges four pounds per annum for
tipping rubbish and 10 pounds per an
mum for workmen's cottages, and he
is making good thing out Of it
making a very good thing out of it.
(Laughter) Now, recently, as thry
are prospering and getting more and
more coal, in a very short time they
will be paying 10000 pounds per an
mum for this land for the royalties
alone, the landlord never having spent
a penny upon it.
Now, where does my budget como
in? (Laughter.) It comes in rather
late, admit. 1t ought to have come
in In one of the earlier chapters; still
it comes In soon enough to give the
story a happy ending. (Laughter.)
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