749
that it is to hold good for 100 years during which time the lessee:
may enjoy the property as their own: at any time however after the
expiry of that period the lessors have the right of re-entry: condi-
tional on the repayment of the full amount of the sum originally
received by them as premium. The general result is that the lessees
have the full ownership for 100 years and that after that time the
lessor can only dispossess them on the repayment of a larger sum in
ready money than he is ever likely to ever be able to pay.
not however a true case of taxlord Status because the tenant has
nominally a lease for years.
This is
(d) A family finding it inconvenient by reason of distance or other
causes to work their own land may prefer to let it on lease and ensure
the receipt of an annual sum in perpetuity rather than divest them-
selves of all further interest therein by a sale.
No doubt they are influenced by the natural desire to retain
their dignity as landed proprietors and
under a lease they preserve their right to the reversion in case of
the total failure of the male issue of the lessees.
(4) The Li family who are taxlords of Lau Tao owe their peculiar
position to a grant bestowed on a remote ancestor Li Mau Kau in the
Sung Dynasty.
Speaking of the British Land Systems in India Baden Powell says:-
"When the authorities wished to show a local land holder some kind of
"favour they gave him a grant of a local tract over which he was to
collect