EVADES REAL ISSUES OF LAND TENURE 335 



inquiry has proved to have a wide and disastrous operation 

 in crippling agriculture, as well as in bringing men to ruin 

 who have done, and are loyally doing their best by the land. 



But instead of dealing with the established facts, out of 

 which the demand for reforms of tenure springs, the report 

 merely criticises the details of proposals and arguments 

 such as those advanced by Mr William Smith, formerly M.P. 

 for North Lonsdale, and quotes the opinions of well-known 

 opponents of tenure reform in Wales and elsewhere, without 

 going into the merits of the questions involved. 



As I have pointed out elsewhere, the essential facts to 

 deal with are : — (i) the practically universal demand that 

 rents should be reduced to a level which would enable the 

 tenant to make some profit, or at any rate equitably share 

 his losses with his landlord ; and (2) the practically uni- 

 versal protest of the tenants who put money into their 

 business against the absolute insecurity of their position. 



In the face of substantially unanimous evidence from all 

 parts on these points, it seems inconclusive, if not altogether 

 irrelevant, to urge, as any answer to such a demand and 

 protest, that there are frequent expressions of dislike to 

 having rents fixed by a " Land Court," 



There is, probably enough, a repugnance on the part of 

 many farmers to disclose their affairs in public, and that is 

 naturally their idea of what a " Land Court" would mean. 



But it would be not only in contradiction to our evidence, 

 but contrary to common sense, to argue that because many 

 farmers have this dislike to publish the state of their affairs 

 before an open tribunal, farmers generally are hostile to 

 any and every form of practical machinery which would 

 bring within their reach reasonable rents and complete 

 security for their investments. 



On the contrary, I submit that our inquiry has demon- 

 strated the necessity, in the interests of agriculture, of 

 meeting satisfactorily the mischiefs shown to be prevalent, 

 anr" has farther shown a striking convergence of practical 

 opinion, in the direction of a workable machinery. 



The Majority Report omits to set forth the important 

 suggestioTis made from many quarters,^ and submitted also 



1 Middleton, Kidner, Pringle, J. Hope, Rowlandson, Sheldon, Forsler, 

 Hutcheson, Ferguson, Bell, Scott, Lander, Olver, Looker, Bovven-Jones, 

 J. Speir, Davidson, Wilkinson, Stuart, Black, W. Elliot, Flockhart, Fyshe, 

 Pennant, O. Williams, Dutfield, Price, Brown. 



