164 



CHAPTER VI. 



LAND TENURE. 



AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS ACTS GROUND-GAME ACTS- 

 COMPENSATION FOR UNEXHAUSTED IMPROVEMENTS 

 LAW OF DISTRESS PEASANT PROPRIETOR- 

 SHIPSMALL HOLDINGS 



THE subjects enumerated in the heading of this chapter 

 are among the most important and most interesting dealt 

 with in this history. They concern not only the vaiious 

 attempts at deciding by legislation what the relations between 

 landlord and tenant shall be, but are responsible for 

 revealing the existence of human feelings (one might almost 

 say human passions) deeply rooted far back in feudal times. 

 The modern Agricultural Holdings Acts represent the latest 

 efforts at removing the final vestiges of conditions which 

 prevailed through the Middle Ages ; but it should never be 

 forgotten that it was during the evolution of those conditions 

 that the foundations were laid which made British agriculture 

 a model for the world. 



The holding of land and the treatment of the soil are funda- 

 mental questions ; it is not surpiising, therefore, that the 

 personal equation becomes the dominating element when 

 considering the problems they involve. They are favourite 

 topics with a certain type of politician. They appeal to some 

 natural instinct even in town-dwellers, and they can be easily 

 used by unscrupulous speakers to excite greed and envy 

 among that part of the community which is always ready 

 to snatch property away from those who have it. If the 

 subject be brought before untutored or unthinking minds, 

 the appeal to prejudice, against the class which they are told 

 is privileged, proves doubly strong. 



