Contemporary  Agricultural  Law. 
139 
also  of  the  seed  distributing  industry,  and  it  would  probably 
be  agreed  that  it  would  work  best  in  this  country  on  entirely 
voluntary  lines. 
The  historical,  as  distinct  from  the  immediate  practical, 
value  of  such  a register  would  be  considerable,  and  might 
perhaps  in  future  be  comparable  to  the  present  value  of  existing 
registers  of  pedigree  animals.  The  present  need  appears  to 
be  further  ventilation  and  discussion  of  the  subject  in  its 
various  aspects. 
E.  S.  Beaven. 
Warminster. 
CONTEMPORARY  AGRICULTURAL  LAW. 
It  is  proposed  in  this  article  to  notice  the  enactments  of  the 
Legislature  during  the  past  year  and  the  principal  decisions 
of  the  Courts  during  the  same  period,  which  are  of  import- 
ance to  those  engaged  or  interested  in  agriculture. 
I. — Legislation. 
During  the  parliamentary  session  of  1909  there  has  been 
no  Act  passed  so  directly  affecting  agricultural  interests  as  the 
consolidating  Agricultural  Holdings  and  Small  Holdings  Acts, 
passed  in  the  previous  session  of  1908.  There  are,  however, 
two  Acts  of  1909  which  are  likely  to  be  of  considerable  impor- 
tance to  agriculture.  The  first  of  these,  the  Housing,  Town 
Planning,  &c..  Act,  1909  (9  Ed.  7 c.  44),  is  divided  into  four 
parts.  Part  I.  deals  with  Housing  of  the  Working  Classes, 
Part  II.  with  Town  Planning,  Part  III.  with  County  Medical 
Officers,  &c.,  and  Part  IV.  is  supplemental.  Part  I.  so  far  as  it 
may  affect  the  supply  of  houses  for  agricultural  labourers  alone, 
requires  notice  here.  Section  1 extends  Part  III.  of  the  Housing 
of  the  Working  Classes  Act,  1890  (53  and  54  Vic.  c.  70),  which 
enables  local  authorities  to  provide  dwellings  for  the  working 
classes  in  districts  where  there  is,  by  the  failure  of  private 
enterprise  or  from  other  causes,  a dearth  of  accommodation,  to 
every  urban  or  rural  district.  The  powers  conferred  by  the 
Act  of  1890  may  therefore  now  be  applied  by  any  urban  or 
rural  district  council  without  the  necessity  of  any  formal 
adoption  of  the  Act.  Section  2.  enables  a local  authority  to 
purchase  land  compulsorily  for  the  above  purpose,  and  not- 
withstanding that  land  is  not  immediately  required  for  the 
purpose,  by  means  of  an  order  submitted  to  and  confirmed  by 
the  Local  Government  Board.  The  procedure  for  obtaining  a 
compulsory  order  is  stated  in  the  first  Schedule,  and  is  much 
the  same  ds  that  under  the  Small  Holdings  and  Allotments  Act, 
