224 



cereals under which much of the land is cultivated? 

 economically, with its consequent results of growing ce- 

 reals till the land is tired, and then letting it lie fal- 

 low to recover under animals, will no longer be remune- 

 rative in many cases, when we have rational facilities- 

 for dealing with cereals. The long period of lying fal- 

 low will not be recompensed by the previous gains, 

 nor will the landlord find it to his advantage to allow 

 the farmer to move on, when it is profitable for him to 

 stay- When it is steadily profitable for him. the farm- 

 er will look after keeping the soil in good condition, 

 and he will find it steadily profitable -when he has more 

 facilities for marketing his crops railway elevators, 

 warrants, credits, etc., etc. Thus, half the problem of" 

 fixity of tenure lies in establishing bases for steady pro- 

 fits, and elevators in this sense are the longest stride in* 

 the right direction. 



THE TRUE BASIS OF PERMANENT 

 COLONISATION. 

 i 



Without a certain fixity of tenure it is useless to 

 dwell on the utility of side issues, of pigs, of hens, of 

 milk, of cheese, of anything which requires the inver- 

 sion of money in fixtures, of fruit trees, of bees, etc., 

 etc., which need time to become of use to the tenant, 

 and all of which he cannot take away with him when 

 he gives up the camp. These are rural improvements 

 which in general are of no use to the owner of the land r 

 and which he is therefore never disposed to pay for, 



LAND IMPROVEMENTS BY TENANTS AND 

 COMPENSATION. 



Regarding the possibility of obliging land owners- 

 to pay for improvements, of compulsory compensation 

 on one hand and obligatory improvements by the te- 

 nants on the other, whether the law should refuse tor 

 recognise any contracts that do not cqntain compensa- 

 tive clauses to be inserted in their contracts or leases, 

 I must say that I do not see how one can expect any 

 improvements on the part of the tenants, under onr 

 short lease system, unless they have the hope of eventu- 

 ally purchasing the land. There is not one single im- 

 provement which they would enjoy long enough to 

 make it worth their while to create. 



It is true that no landlord should lawfully be able 

 to withhold his assent to any improvements once he has 



