A BARE MINIMUM OF LEGISLATION ^^;^ 



essential outgoings of labour and fertilising, and excludes 

 the consideration of rent in its relation to the rest of the 

 outgoings. The question of rent is relegated to Part III, 

 " Miscellaneous Subjects bearing on the Agricultural Posi- 

 tion," as if rent was not the really vital factor in the out- 

 goings of a farm, turning the balance sheet of the farmer to 

 profit or loss, exactly in the proportion that it is fair and 

 reasonable, or excessive and unjust. 



Mr James Hope puts the matter fairly in his report on 

 Perthshire, etc. 



" The real solution of the difficulty caused by low prices 

 induced by foreign competition is to be found in a reason- 

 able readjustment of rent. The basis upon which all rents 

 ought to be calculated is the revenue expected to be 

 drawn from the farm after making due allowance for 

 working expenses, interest on capital invested, and a fair 

 return for the skill and labour of the farmer. The balance 

 remaining over, after meeting the cost of production, re- 

 presents the sum which the tenant can afford to pay as 



rent." 



Agricultural Holdings Acts. 



The chapter of the Report of the Majority dealing with 

 this subject may be taken to represent the barest minimum 

 of the amendments of the law to which general assent is 

 now everywhere given. While many of its positive pro- 

 posals are obviously sound, I regret the refusal to entertain 

 many proposals which have been assented to with practical 

 unanimity by the principal agricultural associations of the 

 country, and have been warmly supported by witnesses 

 representing the landlord, as well as the tenant interest, in 

 our inquiry. 



Here, as in all the essential topics of the inquiry, I think 

 it illogical and, in its results, unfair to limit the subject 

 artificially by excluding the real considerations out of which 

 legislation to protect the rights of the tenant in his im- 

 provements obviously originated. 



The origin of the Agricultural Holdings Acts clearly was 

 the insecurity of the tenant in investing money in improv- 

 ing his holding. The Acts were a strictly limited reversal 

 of the legal presumption that everything done to, or put 



