138 Large and Small Holdings 



account of such possibilities in setting the rent. Provision is also 

 made for a re-valuation for the purpose of determining the rent if the 

 lease is renewed (section 27 (2)). The valuer is not to take into 

 account (i) improvements for which the authority could have 

 demanded compensation in case it had not renewed the lease. 

 (2) Any increased value of the holding arising from possible other 

 uses to which the landlord might put it within the duration of the 

 lease, in so far as he has the right to reclaim the land for such 

 purposes. (3) Any increased value arising from the fact that the 

 authority has created other small holdings in the neighbourhood. 

 (4) Any decrease of value for which the landlord could have claimed 

 compensation from the authority in case the lease had not been renewed. 



It will be seen that the aim of these regulations is so to fix the 

 rent that throughout the lease the landlord may be receiving about 

 the sum he was receiving before the Council took over the land. 

 Any increase of value which may arise from the creation of the small 

 holdings upon it belongs to the Council, or, if the latter so arranges, 

 to the small holder. In this way it was sought to meet the fear so 

 often expressed that any such enhanced value would in the long 

 run simply fall to the landowner in the form of an increased rent. 



But if at the termination of a lease the land is again placed at the 

 disposal of the owner the further question arises as to the manner in 

 which the Council or its tenant is to be compensated for improve- 

 ments. The Act provides (section 35 (2)) that for this purpose the 

 Agricultural Holdings Acts of 1883-1906 shall apply, and that "the 

 amount of compensation payable to the Council for those improve- 

 ments shall be such sum as fairly represents the increase (if any) in 

 the value to the landlord and his successors in title of the holding 

 due to those improvements." These Acts aim at ensuring to any 

 outgoing tenant proper compensation for his expenditure and im- 

 provements. But it has been found by no means easy to guarantee 

 to such tenants easy and effective settlement of their complicated 

 claims. Even the latest measures have not satisfied the representatives 

 of the farming interest, as may be seen by a resolution passed at 

 a recent meeting of the Central Chamber of Agriculture 1 : " That 

 the Agricultural Holdings Act being the basis on which farming is 

 conducted, should be so amended that the capital which the farmer 

 invests in his holding is as safe as if the holding belonged to him, 

 and that nothing should stand in the way of the tenant making 

 the land produce all it can." "This resolution is well conceived," 



1 Cited by Collings, op. cit. p. 244. 



