64 POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENTS 



out of the land. Of course the statement that higher 

 rents make for better farming is not true as a general 

 proposition ; but it is sound to say that a condition of 

 no competition for farms, so that the owner has to take 

 any rentals he can be reasonably sure of, is generally 

 accompanied by low farming and restricted enterprise 

 on the part of the tenants. It is for this reason that the 

 mere granting of security of tenure to the sitting tenant, 

 taken by itself, is not likely to further the improvement 

 of agriculture. The freedom it would give the farmer 

 to develop his holding and embark capital on new ven- 

 tures without the risk of having his rent raised or his 

 improvements confiscated, would be valuable to men of 

 enterprise, especially to those who wish to take up fruit 

 growing and market gardening ; but these men are in 

 a minority, and the majority, who are making what they 

 regard as a sufficient income out of their cheap methods, 

 will be confirmed in their restricted policies. In practice 

 only a few farmers, anxious to develop, find themselves 

 restricted by the present conditions of tenure ; the real 

 problem, inherent in the renting system, would still 

 remain of how a farmer or his representatives are to 

 realize the value of either a special business that he has 

 built up or the general improvement on a holding that 

 he has brought up to a high pitch of cultivation. The 

 burden of obtaining a purchaser of the improvements 

 would have to be left to the tenant, for the owner can 

 hardly be called upon to take over a speculation in 

 which he has not participated from the outset. Security 

 of tenure and free sale of improvements are without 

 doubt necessary to encourage farmers of enterprise, but 

 they must be accompanied by certain safeguards to 

 ensure that the land is made full use of. One very real 



