Ii6 THE AGRICULTURAL CLUB. 



pression of granting a bonus to the man who farmed well, 

 but if he had done so it might be assumed to have been in 

 his own and the national interest. Mr. Harold Cox enquired 

 why if farmers wanted security of tenure they did not take 

 long leases. Why should they not ask for gg-year leases ? 

 It appeared to be only a matter of custom and this would 

 get over the difficulty of finding the capital to buy the land. 

 Sir Trustram Eve put himself in the place of a landowner 

 confronted with Mr. Langford's proposals, and said they 

 would be likely to scare him into selling his estate. Many 

 were hesitating whether to sell or not and the adoption of 

 these proposals would decide them and would let in the land 

 speculator. Among the members who spoke was Mr. 

 Mansell, who confessed to being old-fashioned enough to 

 prefer large estates well managed to occupying ownership. 

 A farmer on a good estate was practically settled for life. 

 The question of cumulative fertility was a difficult one and 

 it must be remembered that while an outgoing tenant must 

 be fairly treated there was also the incoming tenant to 

 consider and the balance must be held between the two. 



In May, 1919, a paper was read on " The Origins of 

 English Land Tenure," by Mr. A. G. L. Rogers, whose 

 hereditary aptitude for dealing with the historical and 

 economic aspects of agricultural questions enabled him to 

 lay before the Club an illuminating account of the processes 

 through which the land system developed or as he expressed 

 it "to present the phenomena of the present day in the 

 light of the past " so as to better understand " how the 

 present system of land tenure in England came into existence 

 and perhaps realise in some degree the forces which have 

 moulded it in its present form and may guide its future 

 destinies." After a reference to the fact that the English 

 land system differs in many important respects from that of 

 every other country in the world, Mr. Rogers continued : 



So familiar are we with the present system of English tenancy 

 that I think it will be a surprise to some to learn how many differ- 

 ent phases it has passed through in the process of development. 

 Still more surprising will it be to learn that there was a time 

 when the system of land tenure throughout most of Europe was 



