166 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



THE AGRICULTURE ACT 192O 



It goes without saying that labour must be associated 

 in this control. The 1919 Ministry of Agriculture Act 

 establishes control and connects labour with it, for it 

 secures the representation of labour on the various 

 committees ; it rests with the agriculturists themselves 

 to say whether that control shall be official, or the 

 co-operative control exercised by the industry itself. 



The Agriculture Act legislates for many things that 

 I have been advocating for years past ; and it is only 

 natural therefore that I regard it as the possible charter 

 of future developments, if it is rightly administered. 



There are two main sections — the one dealing with 

 compensation to the tenant for disturbance, and certain 

 provisions in regard to the landowner who fails to effect 

 necessary repairs or to manage his estate properly ; the 

 other dealing with the cultivation of the land. 



In regard to Part II, although I am quite in favour 

 of fair and adequate compensation to the tenant, 

 especially for capricious notice to quit, in justice to the 

 landowner it should be remembered that for the last 

 fifty years he has let his tenants have land at far below 

 its economic value. And not only this, but he has rarely 

 compelled his tenants to carry out the repairs to buildings 

 which they are bound to do under the terms of their 

 leases. Finally, the tenant farmer has benefited far more 

 than the owner of land from the results of the Great War ; 

 in fact, it is not too much to say that the landowners 

 have suffered perhaps more from its effects than any 

 other class. 



It is the first part of the Act that is of supreme 

 importance to the industry, and marks a new departure 

 in legislation. It embodies two great principles : firstly 



