30 The Agricultural Holdings (^England) Act, 1883. 
in three w ays : — personally ; or by sending a written note ; or by 
posting a registered letter to either the landlord's or tenant's 
" last known place of abode." If a registered letter be sent, it 
will be deemed to have been served at the time when the letter 
would reach its destination by ordinary course of post. It will 
be sufficient proof of service to show that the letter was properly 
addressed and posted, and that it contained, "the notice, 
request, demand or other instrument " to be served. A copy of 
the notice, &c., should therefore always be retained, endorsed 
with a memorandum of the date and mode of service. 
As regards service on the tenant there is likely to be no 
difficulty or hardship ; he is not usually long absent from his 
home, and the initiative as regards notice will generally come 
from him. But there are many landlords who travel far and 
wide, and whose letters sometimes, *' like panting Time, toil after 
them in vain." Agents are almost ignored by the Act ; tenants 
are bound in nearly all cases to serve the landlord with notice ; 
and the landlord must himself act upon the notice. In his 
counter-claim the Act secures him two months and a half within 
which to serve his counter-claim, which will, of course, be pre- 
pared by the agent. It is easy to imagine cases in which 
notices of intended improvements, of claims, of intention to 
remove fixtures, and other various proceedings by tenants, may 
be sent by them just after the landlord's departure on his travels, 
with much inconvenience to the landlord ; perhaps, indeed, 
depriving him in effect of the protection which the Act was 
meant to afford him. We may expect, therefore, that powers 
of attorney will be plentiful, accompanied of course, as these 
must be, by notice to the tenants of this delegated autho- 
rity. Whether, in the face of the clear directions in the Act 
this delegation would hold good is a point not free from doubt. 
In all agreements, however, it would be useful to stipulate that 
when under this Act notice is required to be served on the land- 
lord, a copy of such notice should be sent to the agent named 
in the agreement, and thereby authorised to receive such notices. 
Appointment of Referee or Referees, and Umpire. — The land- 
lord and tenant may, of course, agree as to the compensation due 
to tlie latter. If they do not agree, the difference is to be 
settled by a reference (§ 8). 
If they concur in leaving the matter in dispute to be settled 
by a single referee, they are free to do so. Before making any 
award the referee may die, or become incapable of acting. In 
either case, or if he fail to act, for seven days after notice from 
the parties, or either of them, the proceedings are to begin 
afresh, as though there had been no appointment (§ 9, sub-sec- 
tions 1 and 2). 
