172 The Agricultural Holdings {England) Act, 1875. 
authorised so to do, obtain from the County Court a charge on 
the holding in his favour. But the Governors of Queen Anne's 
Bounty have the option of paying the tenant's compensation on 
behalf of the incumbent, and they may then obtain from the 
County Court a charge on the holding in favour of themselves. 
In either case the charge will be effectual, notwithstanding any 
change of incumbent (§ 49, sub-sects. 1 and 2). Owners of land 
in trust for ecclesiastical or charitable purposes must obtain the 
previous approval in writing of the Charity Commissioners 
before they exercise the powers conferred upon the landlord by 
the Act (§ 50). 
Notice to Quit. 
In 1874, before Mr, Disraeli became Prime INIinister, he told 
his constituents that, in his opinion, much that was thought 
unsatisfactory in the existing tenure of land would disappear if 
a tenant-farmer could be sure of a two-years' notice to surrender 
his holding.* A considerable advance in this direction is made 
by § 51, another important provision of the Act. The section 
is general in its wording, but is of course controlled by § 58, 
and is therefore limited to agricultural tenancies, with a further 
limitation to tenancies from year to year, and a still further 
limitation, namely, that they must be tenancies affected by the 
Act. 
As the law stood before February 14th, supposing a tenant 
from year to year entered on his holding at Michaelmas, 1875, 
and the landlord within a few months found him to be an 
undesirable tenant, his tenancy could be determined by notice 
given at Lady Day and ending at the Michaelmas following. A 
half-year's notice expiring with a year of tenancy was necessary, 
but the Act has extended this period by six months, and requires 
a year's notice expiring with a year of tenancy. The result is, in 
certain contingencies, to give a tenant what may be practically 
equal to two years' possession ; for if the tenancy begins to run 
from Michaelmas, 1876, notice cannot be given [under the Act 
until Michaelmas, 1877, expiring of course at Michaelmas, 1878. 
There is a proviso which excludes from the benefit of the section 
tenants who are adjudged bankrupt, or who file a petition for 
composition or arrangement with their creditors. 
Standing alone, § 51 looks more imposing than it really is. 
The limitations already mentioned take from it the obligation 
which it seems to create on the one hand, and the benefit it seems 
to confer on the other. We must always remember, too, that 
* Tlic suggestion was tlirown out as an alternative to a plan'of compensation 
for unexhausted improvements ; and tliere is therefore no inconsistency in the 
shorter term of notice fixed by the 13ill, supplementing, as it does, provisions 
allowinjr smch compensation. 
