LANDLORD'S DUTIES 17 



landlords are good, it is better for the country to have the 

 landlord and tenant system rather than peasant proprietor- 

 ship ; on the other hand, if the landlords are had and merely 

 parasitic on the community, they drain the other classes of 

 wealth and produce nothing in return. It is better to have 

 peasant proprietorship than a landlord and tenant system 

 with bad landlords. 



This necessarily brings me to consider what a good land- 

 lord should be what his functions are in regard to bis 

 tenants, and in relation to the community at large. To 

 answer this question in a few words, I should say that the 

 landlord ought to be the brains directing the agricultural 

 operations on his estate. It should be his object to raise 

 the cultivation by his tenants to the highest possible standard 

 in outturn and profit. He should see to all the wants of his 

 villagers provide good wells aud suitable sanitary arrange- 

 ments. Above all things it should be his particular duty to 

 carry out permanent improvements of the land both by 

 erecting buildings and fences and by making drains and other 

 works. He must manage to save from the revenue of the 

 estate a sufficient amount in every good year to enable these 

 improvements to be carried out. Having the good-will 

 of his tenants, they can in fact be very cheaply carried 

 out. 



This brief suggestion of the landlords' duties will be 

 elaborated in a later lecture. It is perhaps sufficient to show 

 that he has a highly important place in the agricultural 

 economy of the nation. If he understands and exercises his 

 duties, agriculture will be progressive, the condition of 

 tenants will improve and a spirit of co-operation will replace 

 the existing animosity. Some grumbling we must always 

 expect, for is not that the prerogative of farmers all 

 over the world ? but there is no reason why a general 

 spirit of mutual understanding should not prevail between 



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