getting the best rent they can for their land. They have no
prejudices in favour of farms of a particular size; a landlord of a
farm of 1000 acres would let it directly in five-acre plots if he
could get a better (and equally certain) gross rent by so doing.
"Nationalisation" is often taken to mean that Government is to buy
land and let it out in small plots. But apart from expense of
Government management and objections to Government interference, we
may safely assume that there would be a national loss by this
procedure: the private owner would discover very quickly if he could
make a profit by letting his farms piecemeal.

All Government interference can do to improve the produce of the land
is to abolish all restrictive laws, and to make the general tenure of
land such that every piece of land shall fall into the hands of that
man who is able to make the most of it. The National Rate Book now
suggested is designed to accomplish this end. We will subsequently
consider how it might assist public companies. As the suggested way
of getting a National Rate Book is at first sight rather startling, I
would premise that it is no rash invention of mine; it worked
admirably in Attica--as see Demosthenes or Boeckh.

To make the National Rate Book, each landowner values (with the
magistrate) his land at what price he pleases; the State has the
right to buy the land at any time at that price, plus 33-1/3 per cent
for compulsory purchase. The magistrate sees that each separate
house, farm, and plot is valued separately. No person need prove his
title; any man can value any piece of land, and need not prove
himself to be owner, tenant, or agent; but any piece of land valued
by no one would be claimed as public property.