REASONS FOR A LAND COURT 24 1 



impartial authority to which they might appeal to re- 

 dress their wrongs." 



Security would rapidly develop agriculture, and if it 

 had been granted before, "the depression would not 

 have been so acute." 



" I am quite certain that there is not one acre in a 

 hundred in this country which is farmed up to the 

 degree that it might be farmed." 



Mr Smith does not wish the tenant to transfer an 

 ever-increasing burden in the form of a tenant right as 

 in Ulster ; if necessary, he would shorten the judicial 

 period to prevent this. 



As to free sale, Mr Smith admitted that it might fail 

 as a measure in times of rapid fall of prices, and there- 

 fore he left the Agricultural Holdings Act for the 

 tenant to fall back upon in that emergency. 



He was strongly of opinion that the provisions of his 

 Bill were essential, and that full compensation for 

 improvements, coupled with compensation for disturb- 

 ance.-would not really cover the present insecurity of 

 the tenant, but he felt that there was a reluctance on the 

 part of many tenants to accept fixity of tenure, and 

 himself wished a shorter term than five ryears for a 

 judicial rent to run. 



Mr Worthington, a thorough supporter of these views, 

 thinks that fixity of tenure would not deter a landlord 

 from making improvements, and that the three F's are 

 the only cure for the insecurity of the improving farmer, 

 to whom no reduction is allowed. Farming will improve 

 if the tenant's property is made absolutely his own by the 

 power of free sale. Where improvements had to be 

 valued, they should be valued by the land court, and a 

 record of condition at entry would be kept at the court 

 from which to calculate improved condition. If there 

 were a land court, landlords would come to terms with 

 their tenants, and there would be few or no appeals. 



The landlord, under this Bill, would be able to get rid 

 of a bad tenant at any time by application to the court. 

 Otherwise these proposals give, by the power of renewal 

 and bequest, a perpetual tenancy. 



Q 



