PROPOSED LAND BILL TOR SCOT' LAND.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3261, 14 December 1881, Page 4

PROPOSED LAND BILL TOR SCOT' LAND.

The text of the proposed land bill for Scotland, which has been prepared by the Farmers' .Alliance, has just been published. It does not differ in principle from the English bill. The compensation to be given to the tenant is to be the sura by which he has increased the letting value of the land, ■whilst for the " unearned increment," the landlord is to be entitled to ask an additional rent such as Ihe court may deem fair. The compensation is to be paid by the incoming tenant, unless the landlord prefers to pay a sum settled by the court, which will consist of the sheriff of the county and two assessors, one to be appointed by the landlord and one by tho tenant. Every occupier will have the right of bequeathing his tenancy, and wheie he dies intestate the amount of compensation, if any, duo for unexhausted improvements, is to be emplojed in discharging his liabilities. The court will have power to deal with arrears of rent, and its order will be enforced in the Fame manner as the decree of the Sheriff Court for the payment of a debt. The laws of preference and ejectment arc abolished, and landlords are not to be allowed to contract themselves out of tho operation of the net. It may be 3aid that no such scheme has any chance of obtaining the sanction of Parliament; but the same would have been said of the Tri?h Land Bill two years ago.