which time it has been thoroughly cleaned and put in order, and as it was taken to in practically a derelict state with hardly any valuation, the £516 now awarded will go a considerable way to make good the loss that has been incurred. It is true that by reason of the valuation being made so late as October 24th a certain amount of tillages were completed which were not commenced in the other case when the valuation took place on September 18th, but a sum not exceeding £30 would certainly have covered any advantage in this respect. Valuation No. II. was on a farm containing 164 acres arable and 124 pasture, and therefore 298 acres in all, the same as No. I., exclusive of roads and buildings. The corn was all thrashed, and the straw well stacked and covered, so all that expense was saved to the incoming tenant. The valuation was £132. Why then this extraordinary difference between the two cases. It occurred as follows: partly in hay, partly in roots, partly in cultivations performed; but principally in tenant right under the agreement, which in this respect closely follows the Agricultural Holdings Act of 1883, and in certain special and prohibitory clauses in the agreement which are framed with the intention of inducing the tenant to farm well and leave his arable land in certain fixed proportions of stubbles, seeds, and fallow, although permitted absolute freedom of cropping, and almost of crop sales until the last year of the tenancy. Under these clauses a bad farmer is subjected to certain definite fines which cannot be evaded. Valuation No. II. was made by one referee, a gentleman of wide experience, who doubtless did his duty by both parties. GEORGE W. RAIKES, Fellow. No. I. VALUATION of Fixtures, Hay, Straw, Roots, &c., under agreement, and custom of County, upon The Farm, in the Parish of from A. B. to C. D. Quantity of wire netting as fitted (with eight iron A. P. O wheat ... ... ... ... A. R. P. 1013. Stoney Pit Ground.-. 8 1 35 wheat 1014. Lower Stoney Pit. 13 2 Omanured & ploughed 1016. Lower Gravels. 13 0 O wheat 1017. Drayton Piece.-Labour to heap of soil 1030. Woo-Bridge Close } 17 acres fallow 5 acres mustard 3 acres turnips 4 acres rape 7 acres ploughed ... A. R. P. Withy Furlong.-8 20 seeds, sowing, and harrowing 995 Summer Leisure seed bills 4 0 0 swedes... 4875 0 O mangels 20 ploughed 0 0 vetches drilled 200 rye drilled seed ... Claim under Custom.-Manure (purchased dung) unused and cartage, full value ... Claims under Agreement.-Claim under Clause 13 for land not requiring 50s. per acre to clean it ... Claim under Clause 15 being more than half fit to Oil-cake consumed from Mich. 1894 to Mich. 1895, Other feeding stuff from Mich. 1895 to Mich. 1896, Manure purchased from Mich. 1894 to Mich. 1895, Manure purchased from Mich. 1895 to Mich. 1896, Artificial manure used to roots in 1896 Contra Claim. --Allowance under Clause 16, for short Share of Insurance acreage of seeds Half share stamp and copy ... We, the undersigned, having duly examined the items contained in foregoing Inventory, do hereby value the same at the sum of Fire hundred and Fifteen pounds, Nineteen shillings, and Ten pence. Dated this 28th day of October, 1896. VALUATION of Hay, Straw, Acts of Husbandry, &c., upon C from A. B. to C. D. I value the foregoing items at the sum of one hundred and thirty-one pounds, nineteen shillings, and.sixpence. (Signed) E. G. R. Tithe Commutation_Rent-charge. Value for the Year 1897, &c. to As a result of the corn averages for the seven years Christmas, 1896, published in the London Gazette, viz.:— wheat, 38. 61d. per imperial bushel; barley, 3s. 2d. per mperial bushel; oats, 2s. 24d. per imperial bushel; each £100 of tithe rent-charge will for the year 1897 amount to £69 178. 11 d., being on the commutation about 11⁄2 per cent. less than last year. The following statement shows the worth of £100 of tithe rent-charge for the last seven years:-For the year 1890, £78 18. 34d.; 1891, £76 3s. 3 d. ; 1892, £75 18s. 31d.; 1893, £74 158. 23d.; 1894, £74 38. 91d.; 1895, £73 13s. 01d.; 1896, £71 9s. 6d. The average value of £100 of tithe rent-charge for the 61 years which have elapsed since the passing of the Tithe Commutation Act is £97 198. 4ąd. SECTION II. COMMUNICATIONS REFERRING TO PAPERS IN THE "TRANSACTIONS," &c. On Mr. Walter C. Ryde's Paper on “The Agricul= tural Rates Act, 1896." (“Transactions," Vol. XXVIII., pp. 33-60.) Mr. Ryde, in his carefully written Paper, raises the important question whether the case of Purser v. the Worthing Local Board (Professional Notes, ii. 59 and 121) applies to the assessment of glass houses in nursery grounds and market gardens under the above Act, and the same question has been mooted in a great many parts of the country. I cannot help thinking there is a great deal to be said in support of Mr. Ryde's view that it does not. He mentions that in Sections 1 and 5 (a) of the Act a distinction is drawn between land and buildings, while in the Public Health Act, 1875, buildings are not mentioned as separate from land. But the matter does not rest there. In Section 2 of the Agricultural Rates Act it is said that "the Act shall apply to every "rate as defined by the Act, except a rate which the occupier of agricultural land is liable, as compared with "the occupier of buildings or other hereditaments, to be " assessed to," &c. And in Section 5 we have the impor tant provision that "in every valuation list . . . . where any hereditament consists partly of agricultural land " and partly of buildings, the gross estimated rental of the buildings, when valued separately (in pursuance of this |