I06 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



" The new tenant need not come unless he Hkes, but 

 the sitting tenant is not in the same position, because it 

 costs him so much to move." ^ " Between 1879 and 1882 

 landlords did not like reducing to sitting tenants, but 

 they soon began to find it cheaper to make reductions, 

 as new tenants want so much new building." 



From much of the evidence it appears probable that 

 this lesson has been widely learned by landlords and 

 agents, especially in the worst districts, and further that 

 on some estates a wiser policy has been consistently 

 pursued, while there seems no reason to doubt that, in 

 intention, the best landlords have wished to deal im- 

 partially with tenants on the merits of the case. 



Mr Tindall says of Lord Yarborough's estate in 

 Lincolnshire, " Nothing is ever done on this estate for 

 a new tenant which is not done for an old one. I 

 should think it a lasting disgrace to let an old tenant 

 go and take a less rent from a new one." 



But, from the dates of reductions, and from the evidence 

 as to sweeping changes of tenancy, this wiser and more 

 equitable view of things seems to have been arrived at 

 in most cases far too late to help the majority of the old 

 tenants. 



The Scotch witnesses, who generally deal with the 

 system of nineteen year leases, are equally emphatic on 

 these points. 



Thus, Mr Dun : — " A tenant with his farm run down 

 has no difficulty in taking it again, but the tenant with 

 his farm in a high state of cultivation was not able 

 to renew his lease till within a few months of its expiry." 



Mr Guild, a land agent : " I have known of cases 

 where the rent was raised on the sitting tenant because 

 of the extra condition of the farm ; he is told that if he 

 cannot pay such and such a rent, they can get another 

 man who will. ' Pay the rent or go ' are the terms." 



Mr G. Riddell says a good landlord may be willing to 

 agree on fresh terms some time before end of lease. 

 " But if a landlord is keen, and wants to get all he can 

 get, the chances are, if the farm is in very high condition, 



' W. Fox, Lincoln, p. i8. 



