THE CORN PRODUCTION ACT, I917 71 



ment or employment held under the landlord ". Since however the re- 

 striction on the raisins; of rents is governed by the provision as to the mi- 

 nimum prices of wheat and oats, in effect this part of the Act concerns onl}- 

 arable laud and land which will become arable. 



The Act does not make it illegal for a landlord to obtain the best rent 

 he can for his land, provided the effect of the guaranteed prices is left out of 

 acco unt. It does not affect the existing law as to the determination of lea- 

 ses, whether at their expiry, by notice to quit, or otherwise. 



(b) The Method of Enforcing the Restriction. — If a tenant have reason 

 to think that the rent he is asked to pay is higher than it would have been 

 if the minimum prices for wheat and oats had not been guaranteed, and if 

 he cannot arrange that it be reduced to the sum which would have been 

 its amount without such guarantee, he may require the matter to De referred 

 to a single arbitrator under and in accordance with the second schedule 

 of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1908 He must however first serve on 

 Ids landlord, either i:)ersonally or by registered post, witliin one year of the 

 time at which the old contract is varied or the new tenancy begins, a writ- 

 ten notice requiring the rent to be referred to arbitration. 



A tenant who has agreed to a new rent does not lose his right thus 

 to refer it to arbitration. 



While the ar nitration or the preliminar}'- proceedings are in coarse 

 the tenant must pay the rent stipulated in the contract of tenancy, and 

 may not withhold any part thereof as being in excess of the rent permitted 

 by the Act. If however the arbitrator eventually determine that the sti- 

 pulated rent is too great, the tenant ma}- recover whatever he has paid, 

 since the old contract was varied or the new tenancy began, in excess of 

 the rent determined by the arbitrator to be legal. He may recover such 

 amount by deducting it from the rent he afterwards pays or otherwise, 

 and he will in future pay only the determined rent. 



The costs of the arbitration and award and incidental thereto are in 

 the discretion of the arbitrator, who may direct to and by whom and in 

 what manner they or any part of them are paid. In av»'arding costs he 

 must take into account the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the claim 

 of either party, in respct of amount or otherwise. 



The arbitrator is appointed by agreement between the disputing par- 

 ties, or failing this by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. 



Nothing in the Act prevents a landlord and tenant from agreeing to a 

 rent subject to its reference to arbitration under the terms of the Act. 



A tenant who gives up a holding, rather than agree to pay a rent de- 

 manded as a condition of the renewal of his tenancy, cannot appeal to ar- 

 bitration under the Act ; and has no right to resume occupation of the hold- 

 ing even if it be decided subsequently, in proceedings instituted by his 

 successor, that the rent demanded was in excess of that allowed by the Act. 



