1920.] Agricultural Executive Committees. 439 



after several Cultivation Notices have been served without effect. 

 The notice may be nullified if, on appeal by the tenant to arbi- 

 tration on the question whether the holding has been properly 

 cultivated, the arbitrator takes the view that it has been. It is of 

 interest that out of 20 cases where the tenant exercised his right 

 of appeal the decision was against the tenant in every case. 

 The total number of Determination Notices issued since January, 

 1917, is 809, relating to an area of 61.000 acres. The following 

 may be quoted as examples : — 



(i.) A farm of 19 acres in Buckinghamshire was under obser- 

 vation for a considerable time, there being gross and studied 

 neglect on the part of the tenant. In 1918 part of the farm 

 was ploughed up, the work being carried out by horses and men 

 supplied by the Agricultural Executive Committee, and the 

 resultant crop of oats was stated to be the best crop seen in the 

 district. No preparations were made by the tenant to harvest 

 the 'crop, and on being asked whether he required assistance he 

 replied that he was not going to have the oats cut. Subsequently 

 he allowed his cattle to stray in the field while the crop was 

 still standing, and he was convicted and fined under the Grow- 

 ing Corn (Crops) Order, 1917. The 1919 crop was a failure, and 

 this was apparently due to the unhusbandlike manner in w^hich 

 the lands were cultivated. The Ministry accordingly issued an 

 Order determining the tenancy of the farm in February. 1920. 



(ii.) The tenant of a farm of 150 acres in Worcestershire was 

 served with Cultivation Orders, which he ignored. An inde- 

 pendent report showed that the greater part of the arable land had 

 not been ploughed for a considerable period, and that the grass 

 land, which was poor, needed manuring. The tenancy was 

 determined in February, 1920. 



(iii.) In Northamptonshire the tenancy of a farm of 242 acres 

 was determined about the same time. In this case the pasture 

 land was badly grazed, and not one of the four hay stacks had 

 even a layer of straw to protect it. The 1919 crop had not 

 been threshed, and .the arable land generally was in a deplor- 

 able condition. The fences and ditches were also in a bad 

 condition. The occupier required the notice to be referred to 

 arbitration, and the arbitrator found that the farm had not been 

 cultivated according to the rules of good husbandrv : the appeal 

 therefore failed. 



(iv.) Two holdings were let to a farmer in Derbyshire. Culti- 

 vation Orders were served upon him in respect of one of the 

 holdings, but the tenant, who had taken the holding early in 



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