54 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. W. G. Lobjoit : One thing that has arisen from that Act is that 

 it is difficult to get landlords to consent to letting their land for fruit- 

 growing, and that is a difficulty we have to face. Owners are few in 

 number and they hold the monopoly. Everything in commerce can be 

 increased, but you cannot add to the land, and you cannot grow fruit 

 unless you get land. We should devise some means to induce landlords 

 to let or sell their land for this purpose. You are met by the sacred 

 rights of property, and it is dangerous to tread on them. We shall have 

 to think of some means by which landlords shall not be able to hold land 

 for their pleasure that is wanted for the welfare of the nation. Of course 

 there are plenty of schemes on foot to achieve this end. In Ireland there 

 is compulsory purchase of land ; then there is the taxing of land values. 

 It is not for me to speak on these matters. If you want to extend fruit- 

 growing in this country you should find some means of inducing or forcing 

 the landlord to let the land, unless you are prepared to take it at your 

 own risk. There are very few bad landlords in England, except those 

 who have got lawyers at their elbow who put them up to tricks they would 

 never think of ! Gardeners must not be allowed to let themselves be forced 

 to contract themselves out of the Compensation Act. I do not think it 

 passes the wit of man to discover a basis of compensation for planting fruit 

 trees. I do not like the Evesham custom. I think a great deal of difficulty 

 to the trade arises from it. Then as to the income tax. Why should 

 a market gardener be compelled to pay upon a different basis from his 

 neighbour, the farmer ? Every market gardener who cultivates ground of 

 more than ten acres is a farmer. On the question of rating — particularly 

 in the case of glasshouses — there are great anomalies. In one district, 

 glasshouses are rated at £150, and in a contiguous district at £50. I 

 cannot see why the assessment should be raised by planting fruit trees. 

 I see no distinction between a fruit tree and a sack in the tradesman's 

 shop. They are both stock in trade out of which the man makes his 

 income. I hope, when the question comes before the Government for the 

 alteration and reform of the incidence of taxation, the various departments 

 of the fruit-growing industry will be heard in some definite way, and that 

 we shall not all be at sixes and sevens in this matter. I have the honour 

 to be a member of the Central Chamber of Agriculture, where market 

 gardeners are looked upon with small favour. There seems to be great 

 difficulty in getting the various branches of the industry to co-operate. 



Mr. Martin (Evesham) : I lately disposed of 100 acres under the Act, 

 and I went out exactly as I went in. The chief reason of the success of 

 that Compensation Act is that the tenant finds the incomer. We put the 

 matter in the hands of some local valuer and we leave it in his hands. 

 As to the incidence of rating, the overseers said that I made a profit of 

 £700, and I had the utmost difficulty in persuading them that I made a 

 loss almost of that amount. 



The Chairman : On the whole the members of the Fruit Committee 

 may feel very satisfied at the course the discussion has taken, and it is 

 gratifying to us, who took a great deal of trouble, to see that our recom- 

 mendations have generally been supported on the present occasion. I 

 think Mr. Lobjoit put his finger on the real difficulty when he said we had 

 to deal with a different aspect of the Compensation Act, viz. its deterrent 



