library 
NEW YORK 
BOTANICAL 
OAR DEN 
' JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
OF ENGLAND. 
THE AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS ACT, 1906. 
The Agricultural Holdings Act, which received the Royal 
Assent on the 21st of December, 1906, comes into operation on 
the 1st of January, 1909. Originally a private member’s bill, 
known as the Land Tenure Bill, it received the friendly 
support of the government ; the Solicitor-General assisting in 
its passage through the Commons — where, by amendments, its 
original provisions were greatly modified — and Earl Carrington 
piloting it through the Lords. It was in a large degree owing 
to the tact and reasonableness displayed by those in charge of 
the Bill, aided by the not unfriendly attitude adopted by the 
opposition in the Lower House that the measure became law. 
Legislation in this country is always more or less tentative in 
its nature ; for as a people we are not given to rash experiments. 
An idea is popularised and is subsequently crystallised into 
law ; if the law after a practical trial works smoothly it remains 
on the Statute Book, but if alterations are required, or the 
original idea is capable of a further advantageous development, 
an amending Act is passed. The new Act is intituled an Act 
to amend the laws relating to Agricultural Holdings. Its 
most important provisions are not, however, its amending pro- 
visions. It may be thought that to the new ideas embodied in 
law for the first time the title Land Tenure, originally applied 
to the Bill, would be more applicable than that of Agricultural 
Holdings, but the continuity of name is preserved in the latter 
title. Moreover, the phantom of a coming revolution in the 
land system ceases to alarm when launched under a name 
that has become familiar. Due consideration therefore can 
be given to the merits or demerits of the measure without 
any preconceived feeling of prejudice. 
VOL. 68. B 
