196 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



vailed and the conditions of agriculture are more similar 

 to Scotland, the same demand is made with much the 

 same arguments. 



Thus Mr Scott, while thinking the Act has encouraged 

 farmers to try to keep up the condition of their land, and 

 that landlords would now have had their land in much 

 worse condition but for the Act, thinks also that " a bad 

 tenant may get too much from the Act, and a good 

 tenant is not likely to get enough. For instance, a good 

 tenant may make the principal part of his expenditure 

 in the first years of his tenancy, and get the farm into 

 such good condition that it requires less during the last 

 three or four years ; therefore he will get less compensa- 

 tion. A bad tenant might put on very little the first few 

 years of his tenancy, and might throw on a great deal 

 of manure and a great deal of food the last three or four 

 years of his tenancy, and possibly get more compensa- 

 tion." 



" The Act does not give compensation for condition ; 

 it would be a great advantage if condition were valued." 



Mr Forster is in favour of compensation for general 

 improved fertility, and thinks it can be tested by pro- 

 ductive power of the farm. He holds that compensation 

 for general improvements is promised in "about the 

 first sentence of the Act, and that is what I want 

 carried out." 



Mr Wilkinson says: " The increased fertility of the soil, 

 due to continuous good farming, should be the property 

 of the tenant. The operation of the law by which an 

 outgoing tenant receives compensation based on the 

 quantities of fertilisers and feeding stuffs used during 

 the last three or four years, is not a sufficient recognition 

 of his interests. Indeed, the law operates in a way 

 detrimental to continuous good farming, because such a 

 farmer is liable to a demand for an increase of rent, 

 owing to the increased fertility, and consequently in- 

 creased letting value, without getting compensation for 

 it." 



Mr Rowlandson thinks " for the benefit of the com- 

 munity there should be an allowance for continuous 



