84 GREAT BRITAIN - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



tenant may then be installed, the ownei may undertake to farm the land 

 himself, or the committee may, in the last resort, undertake its cultivation. 



When all else fails it becomes necessary to use compuhorv f)Owers. 

 -The Executive Committee can direct a farm^er to carry out an improved 

 system of cultivation under penalties for disobedience ; can enter on his 

 land and carry out on it specific work, such as ploughing or manuring, re- 

 covering the cost from him ; can transfer part of his land to a neighbour or 

 other substitute ; or, finally, can ask the Board summarily to end his tenancy 

 replacing him by someone more efficient or farmiitg the land themselves. 

 In cases of such eviction it is sometimes possible to prevent hardship by 

 leaving the old tenant in possesion of the farmhouse for a time. 



Reports show that the Executive Committees are taking action in 

 all these ways. Advice and pei suasion are being used in numberless cases 

 and where these fail most committees have no hesitation in applying some 

 of their more drastic powers. 



Even when landowners are not themselves farming any land commit- 

 tees have sometimes been able to put pressure through them on unsatisfac- 

 tory tenants. In many cases improvement on badty cultivated lands has 

 been secured by the help of the landowner or his agent. 



§ 3. The ORGANIZATION IN SCOTLAND. 



No order corresponding to the Cultivation of Lands Order has been 

 made by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. But District AgyicuUuntl 

 Executive Committees have been formed for most of the Scottish counties, 

 and the Board exercise their powers under Regulation 2 M as amended in 

 ]\Iarch 1917, which we have already cited, through these committees who 

 have Executive Officers. Certain of the more remote districts are worked 

 by the Board directly. 



Where, in the opinion of a committee, the occupier is using his lands 

 for the production of crops at present unpfitable from a national point of 

 view, or is cultivating his land inadequateh', and where their represeiita- 

 tions have proved ineffectua.1, the committee recommend the Board to 

 exercise their powers under the amended regulation. 



Failure to cultivate the land in accordance with a direction of the Board 

 constitutes a summary offence against the Defence of the Realm Regulations. 



Schemes which override restrictive clauses of leases under the amend- 

 ed regulation must be submitted in the first instance to the local committee. 

 The committee discover whether the tenant submitting such a scheme 

 has sought and failed to obtain its approval by his landlord. If they are 

 satified that the scheme will lead to increased production of food they 

 endeavour, by negotiation, to secure the landlord's consent to its adoption. 

 If such negotiation fail they report the matter to the Board, who may sub - 

 sequently issue a direction that the land in question be cultivated in such 

 specified manner as they think proper. Any question a-s to payments by 

 the State to the landlord for loss thus occasioned will be referred, in default 

 of agreement, to the Defence of the Realm (lyosses) Commission. 



