RISKS TO THE STATE 255 



I know in which was a very poor property when 



taken in hand by its present tenant, who in six years 

 has spent a considerable sum of money on it and 

 transformed it to its present condition, aUhough he is 

 only a yearly tenant. He is most anxious to buy, 

 and would buy under your Bill, for he would be 

 enabled to do so. He keeps about sixty cows, and 

 has done wonders for the property. There is another 



farm of 400 acres in , which has been thirty years 



in the hands of the present tenant, who is a good 

 farmer. He pays los. per acre rent, which, when it 

 was let originally, was quite as much as it was worth. 

 He has brought it into good condition, and it is now 

 clean and productive. The present landlord, who has 

 inherited the farm, wishes to sell, as he wants the 

 money, and would gladly take ;!^i2 an acre for it ; but 

 I valued it, having been employed to do so, at nearer 

 ;^20 an acre. The tenant would have gladly bought 

 it, because it would have paid him well to do so ; but 

 for want of such a medium as your Bill would provide, 

 the two men are kept apart, and outsiders do not 

 possess sufficient knowledge of the value of the farm 

 to buy it, for it is still in the market. I daresay I can 

 find twenty similar cases." 



Let us take the second of these two cases. Under 

 the provisions of the Land Purchase Bill, the tenant 

 referred to would be enabled to buy his farm at ;^i2 

 per acre, the price asked by the landlord. He would 

 immediately become the owner of his farm, subject to 

 the payment, for a limited number of years, of an 

 annual instalment of 7s. lod. per acre, instead of los. 

 per acre, which he now pays in rent. As it is, the 

 farm will be sold. The tenant will have to leave or 

 pay an increased rent for his own improvements. Had 



