The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-10-11 00:00:00

BLANDFORD FARMERS' CLUB.

.. LAM 713011."

__—
The first pneral meetina of members of this club for the
winter meet= took place at the Crown Hotel. Blandfard,
on soterday evening last. There was a very fair attend.
ann.
_among thole present being—Mvou'a 0. o.ll4lokuda,
Gilpin, J. Burnell, J. Taylor, R. Leele, J. W. L.lff,
o.
inn, H. ;Senior. Rosen, R. Ernes, Dr. Bacot, and Richards, bon. escretary.
Nsw MINIMAL —Tbir club, on the proposition of Mr.
B. Lavin. **aoudad be Dr. Bacot elected Mr. John
Strange, of Kingston Mills. • member.
"Lain Theints."—Mr. OLLPIN •ne atom &aroma,
and briefly introduced Mr. C. RiCnumr,wito had proroLse& to read • paper upon ibis subject. He remarked "Lend
Tenure" was one of the burning questions of the dap, and
one in which every farmer wee more or lees interegiod. Mr. RICKMAN then reed this paper,which was extremely
interesting, dealing as it did with the systems of land
tenure in various countries. The speaker went back to
the grit instance of the sale of land for money—the
purchase of the field of Maccdoelah by the shepherd
patriarch Abraham for 400 shekels of silver, or about £3OO in
Dogfish money. Surrounding circumstatioes pointed to
the fact that even of deed a ootiveyano. we. mma" in
this transaction. They all knew ti what pious use
Abraham dedicated this &Id, and to Ode day his tomb
and that of his wife were pointed out to the traveller M
Palestine. The lecturer then gave • few detail, of the
Jewiah land system, 'bowies bnw, by Dielne right, 00173
/wadita. nem on au average 15 sores tech, which they
were unable to sell to another beyond the year of jubilee,
when jr bed to return to the beads of the original holders.
He we. Inclined to believe, however, that force of arms
was the more frequent system of lead tenure in the olden
time Before the invasion of &dein teihil upon existed,
but after the Conq ue it large portions of &Wand were given
to William's followers, until later on when the defiant
Boron, wrung frum unwilling John at Ronnymede the
mica. Cberts,the foundation of the libertiee of the Doglish
pa. 0,4 For rearay facts which he we. about to quote, the
speaker mid be wee indebted to very istereenas paper
by his friend, the %riot'. lisenes, lining referred to the old Ncessaa sod legre, by with* the king we.

supposed to be the owner el all land in treat for the
Pottle, he went on Vs show how this was let to teeaste,
who it their turn sutrlet it to their &paean" Who in
return for their " homage revel/46 :That eis 41141°
Saxon wars cslled "Fedi,' or in Ugh, 7.4. • reward
for their services. On a breech of faith or withholding
of services, the Lod fell back into the hands of the
lord, hence the word escheated. from Wear to fall.
Hs then *Hada to the law of Hortensia. and also Has
Bello law forbidding the inheritaaos of land by weans&
Having concladed this portion of his paps'', Mr. R.Olinsaa
prooseded to consider the system of Lad tenure in Bug-
land. There was no doubt the first idea of permanent
Proprietory right in the soil owed its birth to 'Note. le
every fully-peopled country a lone unwritten history has
teen acted out of the gradual acquisition of ileoh right,
over the soil, and in mod of limns there kas Woe in the
natural course of events a time when the unleaded
portion of the community had began to esquire into the
cause of their own exclusion, and the little of tholes who
had berm before them In the race and got possession. And
now that enquiry bad resulted in a Land Bill for=
end would doubtless' result in a Lend Bill for
and Rutland. ilte speaker then at considerable length
fere • synopsis of the Irish Land Bill, aid %be main
feature" of an Boglish Land Bill as est forth in the
Fanners' Alliance. This latter was reported in the
Morning Post for October 4th. Its principal feature, as it
stands at preseni, is that of securing to the tenant of
every agricultural OT pastoral holding • risks to sell his
ingrrovengeota, pre-emption being allowed to kw land-
lord. The tenant mai roll his interest for the remainder
of his term to any polecat purchaser, unless the landlord
chooses to pay the prim offered instead of accepting the
intending per :barer as his tenant. It doe" not give the
Three Ts in their entirety, but only jest so much of them
as it" framers oonaider essential to discriminate between
the landlotd: and the tenant: property to a holding.
A year's notice is required it either petty demands to
have the rent altered at the end of a tenancy, for the
purpose of estimating whet the tenant hes to art. The
bill also gives ample protection to the landlord against
deteriration and breaches of mustract. The law of
distress is repealed by It, and it purposes to allow the
tenant to deduct the whole of the ordinary tits*, and three-
familia the rates from the rent next doe. Mr. Rickman
then thankei them for the attention they had peed him,
sn I left the mater for discussion.
Mr. LUfF thought that, IMMIX the English fanner was
brought into competition with the whole world. tne time
mast soon come when be would be allowed without let or
hindrance to grow that whir* be believe i would hese the
beet sale in the market. II they had a respectable tecaat
lit them treat him as such, and not restrict him to any of
their own fancied principles. Lot him form al be liked.
It would be the best protection for the landlord, but it it
proved *deem to him, why then let them shut blot up.
Yr. Porn objected to the law M diagram If • farmer
got into difficulties the landlord came in and took evitel
screw, while the manure metehant did the beet he could.
What be "aid was, let all legitimate oreditore come in for
• share, and not for the landlord to "come in a buster."
The game laws also regard alteration. During the Let
three or four years the game on his farm had done him COO
worth of damage, and Os wadi not get • Penny ooloinn•
"anon.
Mr. GIALPIN thought one of the great requirements of
tenants was compensation for mvitheusted improvement'.
The question was bow wee that to be provided for. As he
understood the proposed Mullen bill, It almoet took it out
of the power of the landlord to discharge a tenant from his
farm provided he paid his rent Then again, if there was
any disagreement they had to go to the Gooney Coen
judge, and two persons to be nominated as arbitrators by
the Board of Guardians. He rather fancied there would
be • great deal of opposition on the prat of the landlords
to this as Boards of Guardian' were mainly composed of
I armors.
This was all glitsl opinions expressed, arid • vote of
thanks was then Hr. Rickman, ii acknowledging,
remarked with regard to the (mission of free trade that
without being a Protectionist be ot.uld not but feel that
England was going back in the eras, and men of all shades
of opinion were joining the National Lasagne.
This concluded the business.