Il6 GREAT BRITAIN AND lUEIvAND - MISCELLANEOUS 



99 applications by landholders for revaluation. In these cases the rents 

 had already been reduced by the Crofters Commission from £914 to £700, 

 and a further reduction of 20 per cent, was made, the new rents amounting to 

 £562 . In Sq cases equitable rents were fixed for statutory small tenants ; 

 the original rents amounted to £ 1,582, and the new to £ i.iS'), a diminution 

 of 25 per cent. It will be observed that the average rent of the holdings 

 of the statutory small tenants concerned is considerably higher than that 

 of the holdings of the landholders. This is accounted for partly by the fact 

 that the former were of larger average acreage than the latter, and partly 

 by the fact that the rent in the case of statutory small tenants necessarily 

 consists in a greater degree of payment on account of improvements ef- 

 fected by the landlords The remaining applications dealt with were of a 

 miscellaneous character. 



A large number of important legal questions emerged in the considera- 

 tion of these cases ; the Orders of the Court in cases of special interest are 

 given in the Report, with the explanatory notes accompanying the Orders. 



§ 13. The BOARD OF AGRICULTURE FOR SCOTLAND. 



The Board of Agriculture consists of three members, the Chairman and 

 two Commissioners, appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of 

 the vSecretary for Scotland. One of the Commissioners is designated Com- 

 missioner for Small Holdings, and is specially charged with certain duties 

 relating to the constitution of new holdings, etc. The \\'ork of^the Board is 

 carried out in accordance with the instructions of the Secretarj' for vScot- 

 land, who is the Minister reponsible to Parliament for the administration 

 of the Small Landholders Act. The Board is charged with the general 

 duty of promoting the interest of agriculture, forestry and other rural 

 industries in Scotland, ^collecting statistics, making inquiries, experiments 

 and research,?^and aiding and developing instruction in these subjects. All 

 the powers and duties ^formerly exercisable in Scotland by the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries were transferred to the Board by the Act of 1911, 

 except those relating to diseases of animals and ordnance survey, which were 

 reserved. There were also transferred to it the powers and duties of the 

 Congested Districts Board (which ceased to exist at ist. April, 1912), and the 

 supervision exercised by the Scotch Education Department over agricultural 

 education in Scotland, while new powers were created and new duties 

 were laid upon it with regard to small holdings, as already indicated. 



In the internal organization of the Board, the Commissioner for Small 

 Holdings is head of the Ivand Division and the other Commissioner is head 

 of the Agriculture Division. The other principal officiers are : - Secretary ; 

 Accountant : Superintendent of Statistics and Intelligence ; in the Land Di- 

 vision four Sub-Commissoners for Sm ,11 Holdings, Chief Surveyor and 

 Staff of Assistant Sub-Commissioners and Surveyors ; in the Agriculture 

 Division, Chief Inspector, Superintendent of Live Stock. Superintendent of 

 Seed-testing Station, and staff of Inspectors. The duties of the Board in 



