further sum of £33,000,000 for this purpose. The whole of the
purchase-money was to be advanced by the State by the issue of
guaranteed land stock, limited to the amount stated, and giving a
dividend at two and three-quarters per cent., repayment being effected
in forty-nine years by the purchaser by the payment of an annuity on his
holding of four per cent. The Act was too complicated to work well, but
under its provisions 30,000 sales occurred, in comparison with 25,000
which had been effected under the Acts of 1885 and 1888. The passing of
this Act marks the close of the experimental stage in land purchase.
Under the Land Act of 1896 was asserted the principle of compulsory sale
in the case of estates in the Landed Estates Court, whose duty it was to
sell bankrupt property, if they came under certain specified conditions,
and if a receiver had been appointed to them.

This roused the fury of the landlords to the highest pitch. "You would
suppose," said Sir Edward Carson, "the Government were revolutionists
verging on socialism.... I ask myself whether they are mad or I am mad?
I am quite sure one of us must be mad." In spite of denunciations of
this order the clause respecting compulsory sale of the estates
mentioned was passed, occupying tenants having in those cases the right
of pre-emption. Under its provisions the period for the repayment of the
money advanced was extended to sixty-eight years. The annuity payable by
the tenant during the first decade was to be calculated and made payable
upon the total purchase-money advanced, but at the end of each of the
first three decennial periods, as the debt was reduced by the
accumulation of sinking fund, the annuity was to be re-calculated and
made payable on the portions of the advance remaining unpaid. Under the
Act every purchaser was to start with a reduction of not less than 25
per cent. on the rent which he had hitherto paid, and this amount was to
be still further reduced by not less than 10 per cent. at the end of