SELECTION OF TENANTS BY LANDLORD 37 



hay occupancy rights, are not capable, in my opinion, of 

 removing the objection which c*n be raised on principle 

 to the creation of new sub-proprietary rights of this 

 nature ; although of course they would lessen the objection. 

 It is not worth while, in my opinion, to consider proposals 

 for the purchase and sale of occupancy rights, excepting 

 as possible expedients during a transitional period. 



The principle to be kept ever before us in judging of 

 the advantages and disadvantages of the infinite variety 

 of possible tenures is to devise such a system as will secure 

 in the existing social conditions, the maximum out-turn of 

 produce of all kinds from the soil at the minimum of 

 economic sacrifice that is to say at the minimum sacrifice 

 in labor and in investment of capital. Above all, therefore, 

 it is necessary for somebody constantly to be selecting and 

 encouraging as cultivators those men who know how to 

 carry on the cultivation in the most efficient manner under 

 the physical and the economic conditions of the locality. 

 In the rural economy there can be no better person to carry 

 on this selection than the landlord assisted by his agent, 

 when they know their business. Furthermore, the system 

 must be elastic, and capable of automatically adjusting 

 itself to social changes, and to the advancing knowledge of 

 agricultural methods. 



Let me refer now to another type of proposal which 

 has been discussed in some quarters the idea that the 

 State should assume the responsibility of holding the 

 balance between landlords and tenants by undertaking 

 the fixing of rents. Two fundamentally different principles 

 are involved in this idea according to the nature of 

 the proposal. On the one hand, it is suggested that 

 the level at which the State should aid in fixing rents 

 should be as nearly as possible at the economic rent 

 for the time being of each piece of land. The margin 



