OWNERSHIP AND TENANCY. 115 



or his inability to carry them out. The following items should 

 be added to the third part of the schedule : 



High farming, including deep cultivation, special care of 



roads and fences, or other acts whereby the rental value 



of the holding has been increased or maintained against 



a falling market. 



Haulage done by the tenant at the landlord's request in the 



course of making improvements in the holding. 

 An item securing compensation for any improvement increas- 

 ing the value of the holding as an agricultural holding. 

 These are the main features of the reforms demanded by 

 farmers, and they look with confidence to the Agriculture Bill 

 to be introduced in the House of Commons after the Easter 

 recess. Landowners and farmers met towards the end of last 

 year under the chairmanship of Lord Lee, to give him their 

 views of this pressing question, and I am convinced that the 

 Agriculture Bill will represent a very decided step forward to- 

 wards the regeneration of rural England. I hold that convic- 

 tion because, in Lord Lee, we have a man who is keenly alive 

 to the necessities of the situation, who will be content with no 

 half measures and is determined to do his utmost to repair 

 the evils wrought by a generation of State neglect. I have said 

 that it is my considered opinion that landowners and tenants 

 alike will gain by the enactment of security of tenure. I believe 

 also that agricultural labour stands to gain by that which will 

 benefit the employers. It is only by courageous reform that 

 lasting prosperity can be restored to the country-side, and with 

 lasting prosperity will come those improvements in the con- 

 ditions of the workers which are so greatly to be desired. 



To sum up, then, Security of Tenure is a reform which will 

 benefit all sections of those who live by the land, and I appeal 

 to all sections to give the full weight of their support to the 

 Minister of Agriculture in his task of placing the Agriculture 

 Bill on the Statute Book of the Realm. 



Mr. Langford's paper was followed by an animated 

 discussion in which, in addition to several members of the 

 Club, the Marquess of Crewe, Mr. Harold Cox and Sir 

 Trustram Eve, as visitors, took part. Lord Crewe remarked 

 that as a landlord he probably looked at the subject from a 

 different point of view to that of Mr. Langford, but not, 

 he hoped, in a different spirit. He was interested to hear 

 that the N.F.U. did not demand fixity of tenure, which 

 involved free sale and dual ownership. As to compensation 

 for continuous good farming it seemed to convey the im- 



