ARBITRATED RENTS 253 



If the official arbitrator were employed for a similar 

 purpose, we cannot see that any grievance could arise, 

 and the decisions would be of still higher authority than 

 those of unofficial valuers. 



And there is clearly a willingness on the part of some 

 landlords to get this matter of rent settled on fair and 

 workable lines which satisfy both sides. 



Mr Wilson Fox mentions the case of a landowner 

 who, with a view to meeting his tenants as far as he 

 could over the rent question, asked each of them to 

 name what they considered a fair rent. " Though some 

 of the rents named entailed large reductions, they were 

 all accepted by the owner," who has since granted them 

 abatements also where necessary.^ 



Mr W. J. Harris, whose estate is in Devonshire, and 

 who recommends the artificial raising of prices by import 

 duties, thinks that the rise in rents, which would natur- 

 ally follow, ought to be prevented in the interests of the 

 community, and could be prevented by a court of appeal 

 to fix rents. " The appeal would go before surveyors 

 who would examine the farm, and see whether the ad- 

 vance in rent was justified or not." " I have no objec- 

 tion to an outside court, if fairly constituted." " I do 

 not think it would have a bad effect upon the relations 

 between landlord and tenant." " 



In this connection much importance attaches to 

 the valuable suggestions of Mr Gilbert Murray, which 

 seem to go to the root of this matter, and which 

 may be quoted here : — 



" I should make a valuation of every holding in the 

 kingdom, and fix the rent according to the value of the 

 produce to-day. The first thing I should ascertain 

 would be the productive power of the soil, by going 

 over every field and taking them separately, and 

 estimate the average produce ; I should not altogether 

 fix it according to the state of the cultivation at the 

 present time. I should try to arrive at a medium ; the 

 farm being in the high state of cultivation, and worth 

 more and would produce more at the present time than 



' Lincoln, p. 21. 2 Harris, 4845-53. 



