MORTGAGED AND INSOLVENT ESTATES 1 45 



rather an argument for prompt interference by the 

 State to facilitate either the transfer of such estates to 

 others who are more able to do justice to them, or to 

 enable the owner to extricate himself from insolvency 

 by loans on low terms for clearing off mortgages, than 

 it is an answer to the claims of tenants to hold their 

 land securely at a reasonable rent, which does not 

 confiscate their improvements, or imperil their financial 

 position. The tenant should be entitled to enjoy his 

 land at a rent determined by the valuation of the holding 

 as a food-producing concern, and not merely measured 

 by the embarrassments and liabilities of his landlord, 

 and has also a fair claim, as a tenant of an agricultural 

 holding, to receive a reasonable minimum of essential 

 equipment from the landlord, or, if he supplies it himself, 

 to receive a fair compensation for doing so. When the 

 owner is so involved that he can no longer either let his 

 farms at their fair value, or give or pay for what is 

 necessary, he is practically bankrupt, and his retention 

 of his position is merely an obstacle to agricultural 

 success. The sooner the situation is ended the better. 



The breaking up of estates held by insolvent life- 

 tenants under settlement would clearly be of the greatest 

 benefit, not only to the tenants of the estates, who, in 

 most such cases, would pass under new landlords with 

 capital sufficient to work the estates well, and to make 

 adequate reductions of rent, but also to the community 

 at large. Where mortgages are heavy, it is obvious that 

 the worst evils of the " absentee " system are operating 

 perniciously to cripple agricultural enterprise by divert- 

 ing tenants' capital from cultivation to the making up of 

 interest out of proportion to existing values, and by 

 withholding improvements which are absolutely essential 

 to success. 



It is the interest of all that such a state of things 

 should be ended. 



I agree with the recommendation made by the 

 majority in the chapter on the sale of mortgaged land, 

 but wish to add to that recommendation some further 

 suggestions. 



K 



