Ttie Agricultural Holdings (England) Act, 1875. 133 
These labours were not without fruit, though Parliament 
appointed Committees in vain, and elaborate investigations 
and prolonged discussions, in and out of Parliament, seemed at 
one time only to disclose new difficulties and to disappoint the 
hope of finding any common ground of agreement. During the 
thirty odd years which have since passed, English farming has 
come to require more scientific training, with far greater capital 
and appliances ; and the arguments of Mr. Pusey and his friends 
have been reinforced, and the case for legislation has been greatly 
strengthened, by a plain and growing necessity. It is not neces- 
sary to trace here, in any detail, the history of what can hardly 
be called an agitation for a change in the law. The Agricultural 
Holdings (England) Act, 1875, was a concession to demands 
which had long been made on the part of the tenant-farmers ; 
but it was not the result of agitation or strong excitement. 
Accordingly, its provisions are moderate, and to many persons 
may be disappointing from their moderation. But though 
nobody need come under the Act who wishes to avoid it, we 
may not unfairly presume that in course of years it will do for 
England, as a whole, what habit and repute as to farm-improve- 
ments have already done in Lincolnshire and other counties ; 
for the force of law will now always be working, silently but not 
ineffectually, to replace bad customs by reasonable ones, and to 
establish these reasonable customs in the tenant's favour when 
none others exist. 
In examining the provisions of the Act it will be convenient 
to follow its main divisions, though not always the order in 
which these are placed ; and we may begin with the 
General Application of the Act. 
The Irish farmers possess their own charter in the Act of 
1870, " to amend the law relating to the occupation and owner- 
ship of land in Ireland." The Scotch farmers, it is to be pre- 
sumed, will be dealt with in their turn. The Act of 1875, there- 
fore, does not apply to either Scotland or Ireland (§ 3). Tke 
Irish Act, it may be remembered, contains a scheme, based no 
doubt on the supposed wants of the country, enabling the Board 
of Public Works in Ireland to make advances to landlords of 
sums due to tenants as compensation in cases in which the 
tenants quit their holdings of their own accord, without 
being disturbed by the landlords. It also empowers the Board 
to make advances to landlords for the improvement of waste 
lands. Above all, the Act authorises the Board, if they are 
satisfied with the security, to advance to any tenant a sum not 
exceeding two-thirds of the purchase-money for the purpose of 
