AGRICULTURAL CUSTOMS AND COVENANTS. REPORT OF A SPECIAL COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE COUNCIL OF The Bath and West of England Society: WITH OTHER DOCUMENTS. WORK AND LEARN. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY J. RIDGWAY, 169, PICCADILLY. INTRODUCTION. THE following contribution towards the solution of some of the difficult questions involved in the relation between landlord and tenant is reprinted, in order that it may be submitted to owners, managers, and occupiers of land in various parts of England. The proceedings of a local society do not usually attract much notice beyond the district to which the society belongs. But the subject here treated of is one of general interest. It has long been complicated by extreme views disclosed in some quarters; by undue alarms consequently felt in other quarters and perhaps the adjustment of the conflicting claims set up on either side was in some degree retarded by premature attempts at legislation. For various reasons, some of which are inseparable from a metropolitan society, the Royal Agricultural Society has carefully abstained from touching on any question in which the respective interests of landlord and tenant might seem to be involved. A local society, in which all interests are well represented, has some advantages in dealing with such questions. The members have frequent opportunities of meeting and acting together on general business, and of gaining that knowledge of each other's conduct and motives, which is the basis of mutual confidence. And such confidence is needed for the calm, frank, and searching discussion of rival claims. Relying on a strong conviction of the character and temper of the body, in which he has for many years been very active, Mr. Charles Gordon, a member of the Council of the Bath and West of England Society, moved for the appointment of a Committee of twenty-four members, of whom one-third were owners or representatives of landed property, one-third tenant farmers, one-third lawyers or professional agents. Of these twenty-four members, twenty-two took an active part in the deliberations of the Committee. |