240 AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION 



Mr W. Smith, then M P. for North Lonsdale, intro- 

 duced in 1893 a Bill applying, with some modifications, 

 the provisions of the Irish Land Act and the Crofters 

 Act, to English conditions. A land court is to be con- 

 stituted of the county court judge, with assessors repre- 

 sentative of landowners and of tenant farmers. A fair 

 rent for five years, with power of renewal, fixity of tenure 

 subject to payment of rent and good farming, and free 

 sale of tenant's improvements, with power to the land- 

 lord to object to an unsuitable tenant, or to resume, 

 paying the agreed sum, and fixing of reasonable con- 

 ditions of tenure, are the essential points of the Bill. 

 The court can also give the tenant permission to carry 

 out permanent improvements, or assign an increased 

 rent to the landlord, as interest on his outlay on improve- 

 ments. The Bill is compulsory, and would practically 

 exclude every other form of tenancy. The Bill is also 

 meant to exclude competition values. An outgoing 

 farmer, in selling his good will, would not be able to 

 pocket the whole difference between the fair rent and 

 the top competition price, because the amount passing 

 between the parties would be determined by the court. 



The Bill is really the outcome of the Lancashire 

 and Cheshire movement, and reflects the impressions 

 Lancashire farmers formed of their own fate from what 

 they saw in Essex. The Bill has been approved by 

 many agricultural meetings, and its principles were sup- 

 ported by about one-third of the delegates at the 

 great conference in St James's Hall in 1892. 



Mr Smith rests his case for these proposals on the 

 steady eating up of tenant's capital by excessive rents, 

 and the absolute insecurity of the improving tenant, 

 both as to his property in his improvements and his 

 retention of his holding. Mr Smith gave instances of 

 the capricious eviction of tenants, in one case for 

 political motives, in another because the tenant had 

 taken part in the organisation of the movement for a 

 better tenure system. 



" What I think the court is needed for is that the 

 farmers should know that there was in case of need an 



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