The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-08-21 00:00:00

DGE OBSERVER,

, Which
in4acnae
iemandinf
lean

remarks, , charge nothing are deserted so *on
as they i i the least restraint in favour of those
demandii , a high interest. It notices the attempt
of the Orleans Railway Company to combat those
evils by supplying its 14,000 employes with food
and clothes more than 30 or cent. cheaper that at
shops. This system, howeArt is applicable only to
O•s
large establishments, thus placing small concerns in a
advantageous _position. It threatens retail traders
ith ruin, and it excites the distrust of the workmen
themselves, h numerous and influential section of
whom regard employers as enemies whose intentions
are to be suspected, The reorfouitioes. the-tis. --
.itenSioirc7f co-opeiitirmin England and German-3i'
and discusses the case ojaiterfailure in-Trance. Aftel
I)ommenting ojeavilAs b k‘ and benefit societies—th
atter rare in rurati distimts-_-:the repart. advartalo Ile
ro;iernment annuities obtainable by workmen under
the law of 1850, as the- ?best provision for old aglcaliA
infirmity, and to the.l:- ' lent insurance established- in
1868. It commends tiii, legislation on child labour
and the extension of creches, and suggests the spread
of education and the exclusion of the political ehment ,
as the best means of promoting industrial co-operation. I
It suggests that children in elementary schools should
receive instruction is to the measures they should
pursue in after life to ward off distress, the law being
ablsi only to remove obstacles and prevent abuses,
while good moral habits alone must be looked to to do
the rest.

r.e.parLivivc.rtu to -the4-

tr! -

THE SLEEP OF.VHE'..YOUNG.
A clever medical writer does not approve of the old
doctrine which was formerly instilled into the minds of
children—that they .should spring out of bed the
instant they are awake in the morning. He says up
to eighteen years old every child should be allowed
to rest in bed, after the , sleep is over, until they
feel as if they would rather get up than not. It
is a very great mistake for persons, old or young—
especially children or sedentary persons—to bounce
out of bed at the monient they wake up; all the in-
stincts shrink from it, and fiercely kick against it.
Fifteen or twenty minutes spsnt in gradually
waking up, after the eyes ,are openoC and in turn-
ing over and stretching the limbs, do as much as g'
sound sleep, because the operations set the blood iq
motion by degrees, tending to equalise the circulation;
for during sleep the blood tends to stagnation, the
heart beats feebly and slowly, and to shock the systetn
by bouncing up in an ins.nt and sending the blood-in-
overwhelming quantity to the heart, causing it to
assume a gallop, where the instant before it was a
creep, is the greatest absurdity. This instantaneous
bouncing out of bed as soon as the eyes are open will
be followed by a weariness long before noon.

ood I the

the.XisA And I been gene ally
thr

THE AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS ACT.
The foliating resume of the Agricultural Holdings
Act is from Monday's Times :
This measure, whether we accept Mr. Disraeli's estimate
of the importance of his favourite legislative enterprise or
the view of Mr. Snatchbull-Ilugessen and other critics, that
it is absolutely worthless as a piece of practical legislation,
certainly challenges attention and will repay a careful study
of its provisions. It is, at all events, an attempt to remove
those difficulties which have hero and there sprung up
between the owners and occupiers of land, and which have
r, on..thaone hand, caused by recent-changes in

41e economic condition of the 'country, rind on the other by
the progress of science in its application to husbandry.
The passing of a Land Bill for Ireland was, perhaps, the
most -amhitiaur 'effort of the last Parliament.._...llltroPilY,
In England- thereris -no "11f3tid ter- -raikaures so sweeping
as were adopted for Irelanel, in riap. No historic
ornimelkitia erns-rise-is 114, @seam), for the practical good
.iisf-cavnerii-and-ocettpiere, -undisturbed-by antipathies
f race orcreed, has been able to settle promptly and satis-
factorily such difficulties as have occasionally arisen. It is
only on the plea that this Measure is calculated to perpetuate
these happy relations that .the Government can justify the
amount of public time they have spent over the
,question.
These considerations, too, have furnished them with their
strongest argument that it was their duty to press this Bill
forward resolutely and at all hazards, because, if the attempt
to settle the question had been once adjourned, there was
little reakon why it should not be further indefinitely pest-
posed. Yet every year's delay contributed, something to
develope antagonism between classes and the debates in
Parliament as they proceeded show how easily existing con-
troversies might, if neglected, pass from the calm region of
practical detail into that of stormy political exciteinea.
The new Act will come into operation.frothllie 1/11 'of
February next. /t has been sometimes deecribed pr-
missive, but this term is more properly applied4olsws; suCh
as the Artisans' Dwellings Act, which may be applied if I
some of the people interested take steps to apply them. The !
present Act, if not interfered with, applies of itself to all •
agricultural holdings where the contract is made after the
Act has come into operation, but either party to the con-
tract may agrel in writing to exclude the previsions of the
Act altogether or to admit only a portion of them. • As ro •
gards tenancies existing at the commencement of the Act
on the 14th of February next, it is only tenancies
from year to year; or at will to which the Act
_applies, and any of these may be accepted if either party, 1
within two months after the 14th of Febuary, serves a
written notice on the other that he objects to the Act ap-
-plying to the particular holding. This avoidance of
-the operation of the Act at any time before the 14th of
April may again be cancelled by a notices at any time subse-
quently, and the Act will then effect the holding without fur-
ther hindrance. Thus ample dispensing powers are pro-
vided for those who may dislike or suspect the provisions of
the new Act, while, on the other hand, by the 97th Section
-the parties are invited to select such portions of it as they
, approve, and give them at least a trial apart from the other
clauses. To make it clear beySind question that the prin-
ciple of freedom of contract is respected, the 46th Section
declares that nothing in the Act shall prevent landlords
nd tenants making such agreements as they think
t or shall interfere with such agreements. Thus
every provision is made for maintaining the freedom
of all parties to contracts con,cerning land, whether
in the past or the future. All that is required is that as re-
gards existing tenancies the parties to them, shall make up
their minds between this time and the middle of April next
whether they will have the Act or not, and as regards all
future tenancies that this question shall be considered
and 'decided by both parties before the contract is com-
pleted. By the 50th section the application of the Act to
farming purposes only is secured. The holding must be
wholly agricultural or wholly pastoral or partly agricultural
and pastural, and not less than two acres in extent. Holdings
in the nature of town parks and small lettings for residences
1. are thus excluded from its provisions.
Let us assume then, that the Act is allowed to come into
operation on a particular holding. Rights are then secured
to both landlord and tenant. The latter on the termination
of the contract, has a claim for certain kinds of improve-
ments ; the landlord, if a limited owner, has a charge on the
estate for the amount he may pay the tenant in compensation ,
for these improvements. The claims which the tenant may
acquire are divided into three classes. In the first. class are
Included 13 kinds of improvement, but all claims Of account
of improvements in this first class depend for their validity
on the tenant's having obtained the previous consent of the
landlord. These 13 kinds are drainage, building, laying down
permanent pasture, making osier beds, water beds, or works
of irrigation, laying out gardens, making roads or bridges,
Improving the supply of water for purposes of the
farm or of domestic life, making fences, planting
hops, or orchards, reclaiming waste land, and avarp-
ing land. If the landlord has consented to ,these
improvements, the tenant, on the termination of the
tenancy within 20 years, acquires a claim for their unex-
• haustecrvalue. The standard for estimating this claim lathe
sum laid out, with a deduction of a proportionate part for
each year since the making of the improvement during which
the tenancy has continued. The second class of improve-
ments give a claim for compensation during seven years. The
improvements within this class are the boning of land With
undissolved bones, chalking, clay-burning, claying,
and snarling. In these cases, the tenant, in order to secure
compensation, _must give his landlord noticein wilting of his
intention to execute the improvement. The notice must be
given before the commencement of the expenditure, not
sooner than 42 days before or not less than seven days.
, During this month's interval, allowing of a week's time be-
fore the improvement is commenced, the landlord is to be
appriedi of what is going on, but his consent is not required
unless when the tenant has given-or received ,nofice, to quit,
.When notice to quit has been giden, the landlord's consent
in writing is required to establish a claim just as in
respect to improvements of the first class. The third class
consists only of two kinds, the application to land of pur-
chased manure, and the consumption on the holding- -by
cattle, sheep, or pigs—of cake or other feeding stuff not pro-
duced on the holding. The right to compensation for this
class is limited to two years, or the taking of a crop of corn,
seed, hay, potatoes, or other exhausting crop not consumed
on the holding. This third class was the subject of con-
tinually recurring discpasion id the Committee omthe Bill,
and the 11th Seaton imposes express limitations The out-
lay on this third class during the last year of the tenancy
must not be larger than the average of the occupier's outlay
for like purposes during the three next preceding years; or,
If the tenancy has not endured so long, during such Dumber
of years as it has continued. Further, the sum paid in com-
pensation is to be cut down by the value of the manure whit
would have been produced by the consumption on the holding
of any hay, straw, roots, or green crops sold off the holding
within the last two years of the tenancy, or other less time. ,
When the amount is ascertained to be due to the tenant on the
head of any of these improvements, it is liable to reduction
by way of what lawyers would term " set-off " for taxes,
rates, and tithe rent-charge, for which the tenant is liable
as between him and the landlord; for rent due or becoming
. due, and for such claims as the landlord may ,have acquired
from the tenant's committing waste. Within this class of
set-off comes any benefit which the landlord has given or
allowed to the tenant in consideration of the tenant exe-
cuting the improvement. By an important amendment
carried by Mr. Hunt a further reduction of the tenant's
claim may be made on account of the cost of repairing any
improvement included in the claim. On the other baud, by 1
the 13th Section, the tenant's claim may be increased by any
breach on the part of the landlord of a covenant, or agree-
ment, or custom connected with the tenancy.

The provisions made in this Bill are hardly so important
for the rights they give the tenants as for the additional
powers which they secure for limited owners to facilitate
improvements on their estates. By the Interpretation Clause,
the landlord who has the power of assenting to improvements
of the first class, and of charging the estate with the pay-
ment of compensation for all three classes, means the person
for the time being entitled to the possession of the land on
the expiration of the tenancy and to the receipt of rent,
"whatever be the extent of his interest, and although his
interest is encumbered or charged by himself or his settler or
otherwise to any extent," "the party to a contract or tenancy
under which land is actually occupied being alone deemed
to be the landlord in relation to the actual occupier."
The general power thus given is, however, qualified in the
interest of the next owner o f the estate by certain provisions
in the 7th and 26th Sections. In estimating the compensa-
tion for improvements of the first class, such as draining,
building, fencing, &c.—improvements for which the land-
lord's consent is necessary, if the tenant is to have the
benefit of the Act—the amount of the compensation is not in
the case of limited owners to exceed a capital sum repre-
senting the addition made to the letting value of the holding
by what remains unexhausted of the improvement. Ac-
cordingly, in the 26th Section, dealing with the procedure
for securing payment of the compensation, one of the facts
the tribunal recognized by the Act is required definitely to
settle, as regards improvements of this first class, is the
extent of addition they make to the letting valise of the
holding. The public will remember that when this Bill left
the House of Lords the basis tor estimating the tenant's
claim was the increase to the letting value of the holding,
and this was defended by the Government on the grounds
that the increase of the limited owner's powers being one of
the main objects of the Bill, it was only by this method of
estimating the money to be charged that the remainder man
could be protected. In the House Of Commons, however,
the money laid out warmed° the basis of calculation, the
increase to the letting value being retained in respect to
Improvements of the first class in the 7th and 26th Sections
as an additional cheek specially in the case of limited
owners. The possible difficulties which may hence arise to
embarrass the mind of the tenant who seeks to take advan-
tage of the Act were some of the strongest objections made
by Lord Granville against the present measure on its return
to the House of Lords.
The amount of compensation being determined by the pro-
teas we shall hereafter describe and paid, the landlord is
then enabled to obtain from the County Court a charge on
the holding making the amount repayable with interest in
instalments, according to the discretion of the Court. This
charge is part of the personal property of the landlord. If,
however, the landlord is himself the tenant, the charge is
not to extend beyond the landlord's interest. In pursuance
of this policy of removing disabilities on the part of the
landlord, the County Court is empowered, when the owners
of estates are infants, lunatics, or married women, to nom',
rate guardians and next friends to do the acts required to be
one by ownets in order to give the tenant a right to com-
pensation.
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The right to compensation on the determination of a
tenancy, with the limitations on one side and the other,,
being thus established, there remains the procedure for
asserting it. The tenant must give notice An writing of his
intention to claim under the Act one month at least before
the determination of the tenancy: The ' landlord has this
period of one month, and 14 days afterwards, within .which •
to make his claim of a set-off on account of waste or breach
of covenant, as stated in the 15th Section. Both these notices,
on.the part of the tenant as well as on the part of the land
lord, must state "as far as reasonably may be the particulars
of the intended claim." If the parties, having thus

stated their respective.claints, do not agree on a settle-
ment, the difference must be left to referees. A single
referee may be appointed it the parties are so agreed, or
one referee is t hosen by. each party, the referees to select an
umpire. If before any decisl3n is come to, a single referee
dies the proceedings must be commenced over again. In
the case of two referees and the death or incapacity of
one, another must be appointed in his place bythe party who
had nominated the referee sp dying or becoming incapaci-
tated. A seven days' notice is given to the party whose
referee is dead or unable to act, and if in a fortnight's time
no new referee is appointed, then within fourteen days the
County Court of the district within which the holding is
ituate must appoint a referee. The County Court. has similar
powers as to supplying the want of an umpii.e. The au-
thority thus given to the County Court may be exercised by
the Judge of the, district,, though he is not at the time of
making these appointments actually within thb district.
With the consent of the narties, the Registrar may act for
the Judge and nominate referees or umpire in his Stead. By
a further provision, introduced- as the amendment of Mr.
Hunt, the parties are given the option of having this autho-
rity exercised by the Enclosure Qcnnidissioners instead of the
County Cotirt._ The. Loud of Referees !hat-the usual powers
as to the production of documents, the administering oaths,
and taking affirmations.
The time for making the award is 21 days after appoint-
ment in the case of a single referee. Two referees must give
their award within the same number of days after the
appointment of the referee last appointed, unlessby writing
they.extendihe time, but this extended time tile not to run
beyond, an additional 21 days. •On the failure of the referees
to make an award within the proper time, the matter goes
to the umpire, who has 28 days more to decide the case.

More important than these ordinary details of procedure
in arbitration cases are the rules laid down for guiding the
decision of the tribunal. In every award a time must be
stated at which the improvement for which compensation is
awarded is taken by the referees to be exhausted. Thd date
of each improvement being made, the actual cost tb the
tenant, and the sum awarded in respect of it must .be set
. ,
forth.

The costs are in the discretion of the referees, subject to
taication as to the amount by theUteglstrar of the County
-Court. A day is to be fixed for the payment of the sum
awarded and costs, and this day, must not .I.mr'sooner than
one month after the decision.

Yligre.Le pp4pperd, ,tromAhese awards unless the sum
clatmed tl either party exceeds £5O. In cases above this sum
either party may appeal on the grounds that the award is
invalid or that compensation has been awarded for acts or
things in respect to which the party awarded compensation
was not entitled to such award. The County Court Judge
may either settle the case himself or send it back to the re-
ferees or umpire with such directions as he thinks fit. A
further stem too, may be taken. On the application of either
party the Judge is empowered to submit a special case for
the judgment of the High Court of Justice. This case, how-
ever must refer to a question of law. Questions of fact are
to be dealt with finally before the referees or in the County
Court.

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