218 SELF-HELP NOT PEOTECTION 



1870, and was made the excuse for the three F's of 1883. 

 For the present tmie in England, the parts are reversed ; 

 land competes for tenants, not tenants for land. But it 

 will not always remain so, and tenant farmers have now 

 the opportunity of, as it were, legislating for themselves. 

 Ample security might be given by a very simple bill, 

 dealing with the principle of compensation, the mode of its 

 assessment, and the manner of its payment. The broad 

 principle is, that when changes in the condition of a tenancy 

 are proposed, tenants are entitled to compensation for any 

 additions which their skill and capital have made to the 

 letting value of the land : landlords are entitled to similar 

 compensation for any diminution caused by niggardly or 

 negligent farming. The value of the addition must be 

 calculated by reference to experts and arbitration, and the 

 amount limited to seven years' purchase, the period within 

 which it would generally be exhausted. Lastly, in the 

 case of quitting tenants the compensation thus estimated 

 and capitalised should be paid by or to landlords on the 

 surrender of the farm ; in the case of sitting tenants the 

 compensation should either be paid by the landlord in a 

 capitalised sum, or be for seven years deducted from the 

 increased rent. A measure constructed upon these lines 

 would give tenants every necessary security and induce- 

 ment for skilful and liberal farm management. 



But even if compensation were thus secured, many 

 agreements are objectionable on account both of their con- 

 tents and their omissions. Restrictions upon cropping or 

 sales of produce belong to bygone conditions of farming, 

 and fail to achieve their objects. If it is necessary to 

 guard against the impoverishment of the land in the in- 

 terests of the owner or the incoming tenant, the best pro- 

 tection, next to the interests of the occupier himself, will 



