THE BILL OF 1906 197 



must be equally secured against having to pay for so-called 

 improvements which have no value. 



1905. 



Expecting a General Election ere long, the Council dis- 

 cussed their usual parliamentary programme of agricultural 

 legislation on 2nd May. This had always consisted of a list 

 of questions which had been previously agreed to by the 

 Council. It was suggested that the amendment of the Agri- 

 cultural Holdings Act should be added to the programme, 

 but to this there was considerable opposition. The Council 

 generally agreed to add " the consolidation of the various Acts," 

 but after some discussion the matter was adjourned. At 

 the June meeting a motion was agreed to " That the question 

 of the consolidation and amendment of the Acts be sent down 

 to local Chambers, as a subject for them to send up resolu- 

 tions upon." At the October meeting only ten resolutions 

 Avere received, and of these only three asked for any amend 

 ment ; the others asking for consolidation only. A motion 

 to this effect was accordingly put before the meeting, but 

 an amendment to insert the words " and amendment " was, 

 after some opposition, agreed to by 15 to 11 votes out of a 

 meeting of over fifty. This is of interest in view of what 

 happened the next year. 



idoe. 



During the General Election, which took place in January, 

 there had been a good deal of loose and wild talk about reform- 

 ing the land laws if the Liberals were returned to power. The 

 writer of this history was invited to read a paper before the 

 Farmers' Club on 5th February, and he concluded this paper 

 by the following paragraphs : 



Since I wrote this paper the election has taken place, and with 

 it such alterations in the personnel of the House of Commons that 

 the general perspective has considerably changed. I will take 

 this opportunity of asking the Liberal Party to be somewhat 

 guided in their course of action by the wishes of those most 

 interested. I submit for their consideration the fact that agri- 

 culturists are not quite ignorant of what they need, and it may be 

 well to consult them in formulating legislation. 



