into account as part of the improvement anything "justly due to the inherent capabilities of the soil," and that he must set out in detail in his award "the several matters and things taken into account" in his calculations, it will be seen at a glance that a valuer of improvements under the Act has no easy task before him.

The compensation then is to be the value of the improvement to an oncoming tenant, and is to be ascertained when the tenant, who has effected the improvement, is quitting the holding and not before. A "sitting" tenant has no claim on his landlord. It is only when the tenancy is about to cease that the Act operates, and it distinctly specifies the improvements which are to be the subject of compensation, and classifies them in a schedule divided into three parts, of which it may be said that the first part is identical with the first Schedule in the Act of 1875 with the exception that the new fangled "silos" are added as improvements, as are also embankments and sluices against floods-a most sensible addition—whilst drainage is struck out of the first part and occupies the position of having the second part of the schedule all to itself. The third part of the schedule is identical with the first and second schedules to the Act of 1875 combined. The particular part of the schedule in which an improvement is classified is of great importance, as will appear when the object of the division into three parts is discussed, and for the particular improvement under each head the reader is referred to the schedule itself at pages 12 and 13. The object of the division of the various improvements into three parts is shortly this. The improvements mentioned in the first part of the schedule, being of a permanent character, are not to be paid for unless executed with the written consent of the Landlord. There are not many cases in which a tenant will effect, with the written consent of his Landlord, an improvement of the permanent kind set out in that part of the schedule without having also agreed as to the terms upon which the improvement should be executed, and if the Landlord and tenant do so agree then that agreement is to be substituted for the Act. It is pretty clear that if they did not agree as to the terms then the consent of the Landlord would not be granted at all, and the "improvement" would remain "in contemplation." As to the improvements mentioned

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in the first part of the schedule, therefore, it would appear that a landlord and tenant may do what they have always been able to do, viz., agree to execute the improvements there mentioned on any terms they may think proper, or not to execute them at all.

The second part of the Schedule applies to Drainage only, and in section 4 of the Act will be found the provisions as to this. The tenant cannot claim compensation for drainage works unless he has given a written notice to his landlord "not more than three months and not less than two months" before beginning the improvement, in which notice he must state the manner he proposes to do the intended work. When the notice is given, the landlord and tenant may agree as to the terms on which the drainage is to be done, and if they do so agree, then that agreement is to be in substitution for the Act. If they cannot agree, the landlord may elect to do the work himself and charge the tenant five per cent. on the outlay, or he may charge him an annual sum which would repay the outlay in 25 years, with three per cent. interest thereon; and it is only after notice, and after landlord and tenant have failed to agree, and the landlord has refused or neglected to do the drainage, that a tenant may carry it out himself, with the risk of being told by the valuers at the end of his tenancy that his so-called "improvement' is of no value to an incoming tenant. The service by a tenant of a notice of his intention to execute drainage works enables a landlord to carry out the drainage himself (it might be in an expensive manner) and charge the tenant five per cent. on the cost, whilst if the landlord permits his tenant to carry out the work, the latter might find, however recent the improvement, that the value to an incoming tenant was small compared with the outlay, It seems, therefore, doubtful whether the Act will do much towards encouraging tenants or compelling landlords to undertake drainage works.

It is as to improvements in the third part of the Schedule that the Act will chiefly become operative. For the execution of improvements of this class, neither the consent of, nor notice to, the landlord is required. It must not, however, be assumed there are no restrictions

on the execution of improvements of this class. If any particular agreement in writing secures to the tenant “fair and reasonable" compensation for any improvement mentioned in the Schedule, then such agreement is to be substituted for the Act (sec. 5). As to what will be held to be "fair and reasonable" compensation so as to exclude the Act, it is difficult to say. It might be thought that if a landlord and tenant have entered into agreement in writing that the latter should be entitled to certain compensation for improvements, both must have been satisfied it was a "fair and reasonable" arrangement at the time it was made; and, if so, who is to decide it was not? This provision of the Act (section 5) seems to open up an endless vista of disputes and litigation.

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Having stated the principle on which compensation is given and the various classes of improvements in respect of which it may be claimed, if there be no substituted compensation, it remains to be said that the Act comes into operation on the first of January, 1884, (sec. 53); that it repeals the Act of 1875 (except as provided by sec. 62, see page 35), that it applies to all holdings of land held by a tenant without limit as to extent, provided the holding is wholly agricultural or wholly pastoral or partly the one and partly the other, and is not in whole or in part cultivated as a market garden or held during the tenure of any office or employment, (sec. 54). Any agreement to deprive the tenant of his right to compensation, except so far as fair and reasonable and other substituted agreements are permitted by the Act, is to be void (sec. 55). An incoming tenant, with the consent of the Landlord, may pay the compensation awarded under the Act, and be entitled, when his turn comes to quit, to be recouped to the same extent as the old tenant would have been had he remained tenant (sec. 56), that is to say, the improvements will be re-valued to ascertain their value to the next tenant; and Landlords will no doubt find it convenient, in new agreements with their oncoming tenants, to provide that the latter shall pay any compensation awarded under the Act to the offgoing tenant, and it is not unlikely the Act will have an effect in causing a considerable increase in the amount required by oncoming tenants to meet the already heavy valuations to be paid on entry.

Mere changes in the terms of a tenancy not resulting in actual quitting are not to prejudice the tenant in his claims for compensation when he actually quits (sec. 58). A tenant from year to year is not to be entitled to compensation in respect of improvements (other than manures) begun within a year before he quits the holding, or at any time after giving or receiving a notice to quit, which results in his actually quitting, but this is not to apply if he began the improvement in the last year of his tenancy, and the Landlord afterwards gave him notice to quit, nor where he has given the Landlord notice of intention to execute the improvement and the latter assented thereto, or failed to object to it (sec. 59).

The Act will apply to contracts of tenancy whether made before or after the passing of the Act, if the tenant quits after the commencement of the Act, but there is a restriction (sec. 2) on claiming for improvements executed before the 1st January, 1884, viz., that such improvements must have been executed within ten years of that date, and, if of the class mentioned in the 3rd part of the schedule, they are only to be the subject of compensation if the tenant is not entitled to any compensation under any custom, or contract, or under the Act of 1875. The same applies if the improvements are of the class mentioned in the 1st and 2nd parts of the schedule, with this addition, that compensation cannot be claimed unless the Landlord within a year after the Act comes into force consents to the improvements. Then again, there is a distinction between tenancies current at the commencement of the Act and those beginning afterwards (sec. 5). In the former case any agreement in writing or custom or the Act of 1875, if specific compensation is thereby assured for improvements mentioned in the schedule to the Act, is to be substituted for the Act, without regard to the question whether such substituted compensation is fair and reasonable. Whereas, if the tenancy commences after the Act, the substituted compensation for improvements comprised in the 3rd part of the schedule must be by "particular agreement" in writing, and must be "fair and reasonable" or the Act will apply; and the Act, so far as it applies to improvements in the third part of the schedule, may be excluded from operating on current tenancies by a particular agreement,

giving a fair and reasonable compensation, notwithstanding. the fact that the existing agreement or custom or the Act of 1875 would not give compensation, that is to say, a Landlord may after the Act commences give his sitting tenant (if the tenancy is current on 1st January, 1884), fair and reasonable compensation, by an agreement which would be substituted for the Act. And here it must be borne in mind that a tenancy from year to year current at the commencement of the Act is to run on till the first day after the Act on which either Landlord or tenant might by notice have brought it to an end, and from that day it will be a new tenancy (see sec. 61), that is to say, existing Lady Day tenancies will be considered as tenancies current when the Act came into force, until Lady Day, 1885; after that they will be considered, for the purposes of this Act, as. tenancies commencing after the Act and governed by the provisions as to compensation accordingly.

In ascertaining the compensation to be awarded a tenant under the Act, there is to be taken into account in reduction thereof (sec. 6) any benefit allowed him by the landlord on executing the improvement, and the value of hay, straw, roots, or green crops sold off without an equivalent returned; and also all sums due for rent, waste, or breach of contract, for tithe, rates, taxes, &c., subject to certainlimitations as provided by the section (6). This section opens the door to very wide counter claims against a tenant, particularly under the heads of "waste" and "breach of agreement." It is quite possible cases will arise where the compensation should not be to the tenant for improvements, but to the landlord for the reverse.

The procedure to obtain compensation is similar to that provided by the Act of 1875, and is somewhat complicated in detail, as will be seen on referring to the provisions. It will not prove inexpensive, and requires 22 sections (7 to 28) to explain it. The provisions can hardly be carried out without legal assistance.

The provisions in the Act as to Fixtures, and as to Crown,› Duchy, Ecclesiastical, and Charity lands, and the power to resume possession for certain purposes, and to obtain a charge on the land, are substantially the same as in the Act of 1875, and the reader is referred to the secs. 34 to 43, with the