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 citizen may invest his money with reasonable safety and with a reasonable chance of increasing it. The owner of house property—the " landlord" as he is so often described—is very lucky if he gets an average net yield from it which is better than what he could have secured on the Stock Exchange with much less anxiety and trouble; and, owing to his general unpopularity and the subservience of modern Governments to the prejudices of the multitude, he is likely to be treated with the gravest injustice at times when the service that he provides for the public is most essential and costs most to increase or reproduce.

The man who buys a house to live in is evidently in a quite different position. He has a good tenant, who will not be exacting about repairs—in fact the owner-tenant is likely to go wrong in the other direction and forget that houses wear out. If he has chosen a good neighbourhood and paid a reasonable price, he may do well by his investment.

But landlords are at all times especially hard hit by a general rise in prices because of the comparatively long terms for which they dispose of the use of their property. An owner who lets a house on a seven years' lease may have the greater part of his net income wiped out by a rise in prices which adds 10 per cent. or 20