The Life of a Great Sportsman 



On May 16th, 1895, at 1.30 p.m. Mr. J. M. Richardson 

 made his first, and I regret to say, his last speech in the House 

 of Commons. He seconded an amendment moved by Captain 

 Bethell to a Land Tenure Bill, the Second Reading of which 

 had been moved by Mr. Lambert. From the Times I quote 

 the following account : — 



"Mr. J. M. Richardson, who on rising was received with 



cheers, said, that as representing one of the largest agricultural 



constituencies in the Kingdom, I can claim some acquaintance 



with the views of tenant farmers in connection with this Bill. 



I wish to draw the attention of the House particularly to that 



portion of the Bill which proposed to abolish the law of distress." 



"In Lincolnshire generations of farmers had succeeded to 



farms under what was known as the Lincolnshire tenant right 



system, under which the most cordial relations had subsisted 



between landlords and their tenants. This is in my opinion a 



most inopportune time for introducing this Bill, inasmuch that 



the report of the Agricultural Commission would shortly be 



made, when the House would be in a better position to judge 



of the merits of the proposals which were contained in the Bill 



than they were at present. The Hon. Member for South 



Molton would therefore have been better advised if he had 



waited for the publication of the report before he had introduced 



the measure. I emphatically deny that the smaller tenants 



would derive any advantage from the abolition of the law of 



distress, which enables the landlords to give credit to their 



tenants at certain times of the year, when if the tenant did not 



obtain that credit they would be compelled to sell their corn at 



a disadvantage. Under the Lincolnshire custom the landlords 



usually give four months' and in many cases 1 2 months' credit 



to their tenants, but if this Bill passed they would be obliged 



to demand payment of their rents immediately it became due. 



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