18 TLe Agricultural Holdings {England) Act, 1883. 
difficulty of determining what these words may mean in given' 
cases, it is clear that a tenant's notion of what is reasonable 
and proper may differ materially from that of a landlord's. The 
provision for spreading repayment of outlay over twenty-five 
years points to a loan or charge on the estate by the owner, and 
in this case the work must be thoroughly done. 
Good sense and good feeling on both sides should prevent 
any collapse of the proposed drainage if it be really required 
for the proper cultivation of the holding ; and in such a 
case landlords ought not to use their power under § 4 for the 
purpose of frightening tenants into the withdrawal of their 
notices. Before giving any notice a sensible tenant who is on 
good terms with his landlord, will, it may be assumed, consult 
the landlord or the agent as to the kind of drainage he proposes, 
so that there may be no unpleasant surprise on either side. In 
any case the notice must give clear information of " the manner 
in which he proposes to do the intended work," so that the land- 
lord may have before him the proper materials for deciding 
upon the merits or demerits of the plan. Having supplied this 
information, the tenant must take care to carry out the work in 
conformity with it, or he may hereafter fail to obtain com- 
pensation. The object of this section is to give the landlord an 
opportunity, if he thinks fit to use it, of himself taking in hand 
works which trench so nearly upon ownership, instead of leaving 
them to another person ; and for this purpose the Act holds it to 
be essential that he should know not only what is proposed to be 
done but how it is to be done. If, therefore, he lets the tenant 
proceed with the work, it is presumably because he is satisfied 
with the manner in which the tenant says it will be executed. 
It follows that, by any material departure from the plan men- 
tioned in the notice, the landlord will lose his statutory pro- 
tection, and the tenant runs the risk of losing, in turn, his claim 
for compensation, never having in fact satisfied the landlord in 
the terms of the statute. 
In exercising their powers with regard to permanent im- 
provements and drainage, tenants must ascertain that notice 
is only given to agents " duly authorized in that behalf ; " 
that is, agents expressly authorized to receive and act upon 
such notices. Service under sections 3 and 4 on an asrcnt 
whose powers, for instance, were limited to the receipt of rent 
would not bind the landlord. And attention must be called here 
to a peculiar wording of the Act which may prove embarrassing 
both to landlords and tenants. The definition of "landlord" 
given in 1875 included " the agent authorized in writing to act 
under this Act generally, or for any special purpose." There is 
no definition of this kind in the new Act : §§ 3 and 4 are the 
