LANDLORDS AND TENANTS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2304, 22 August 1881, Page 3

LANDLORDS AND TENANTS.

In the House the other day, Mr Swanson asked the Government whether they will bring down a Bill, in the present session, amending the law as at present affecting the relation between landlords and tenants, and providing for the better protection of the interests of tenants ? This question was rather an unusual one. He had been induced to put it in consequence of a letter he bad received from a friend of his in Christchurch, which he would place at the disposal of members. It described a case in which a landlord evicted a tenant from bis farm, after granting him a ten years’ lease. The following was a summary of the particulars : —One A leased & farm of 475 acres at Oxford from a man called B, and for which he agreed to pay £4OO a year for ten years. In the lease were certain clauses, amongst which were that no gorse was to be allowed to grow in the field inside the line of fence; the ceilings of two upstair rooms were to be lined within the first year; and where any of the gorse or quick fences were destroyed or died, the same were to be replaced by quick fences. The penalty for the non-performance of the conditions was the forfeiture of the lease (the lease was drawn up by the same solicitor acting for both landlord and tenant). It was admitted by both sides that when A took the farm it was a very wet swampy farm, and that he had successfully drained the greater portion of it ; that the farm was well farmed—a very large proportion of it had been broken up by him and brought under cultivation ; that he had erected new stabling, water-closet, Ac.; and altogether, in the two years, he had spent no less a sum than £9OO in permanent improvements ; that the farm, by A's judicious farming and improvements, had increased in value at least £4 per acre, and was worth from 4j to 7s 6d per acre more rental than when he leased it ; that all the gorse grown on the farm inside of the fences could be planted in a space not larger than the Courthouse, and a man had contracted to dig up the same over the whole farm of 475 acres for the small lump sum of 265. In the quick fence the total distance of failure of growth or destroyed by stock was 6 chains 70 links. So, notwithstanding the great substantial improvements which this poor tenant had made in the early part of his lease, anticipating by its length of years to recoup himself for his outlay, be had, by allowing that little gorse to grow inside the line of fence and a few gaps in the quicks, and not lining the ceilings of the two small rooms, lost his farm and all his time and m.ney spent in improving the estate. No doubt the landlord saw his opportunity to take to take advantage of his severe lease, and so to regain possession of his farm and to secure to himself all the improvements made by the unfortunate tenant. The Judge laid down the law that the lease had been broken, and that the tenant must be evicted. No case of eviction that had taken piece in Ireland could be worse than the eviction referred to in this letter. The man had spent £9OO upon the farm in improvements, which had increased the value of the land £4 an acre. The ease wag tried the other day before a special jury. The jury were unanimous in the opinion that the man had simply been robbed. The Judge, in stating the law, said that no doubt there was a breach of leare. The man was evicted, and the jury thought he ought to have been treated differently. Ho (Mr Swanson) had been asked to introduce a Bill to prevent the occurrence of such a thing in future. He knew it was quite impossible for any private member to bring in a Bill of this kind with any chance of its becoming law. It was a matter the Government should deal with. Ho could only say that the letter showed that this was an aggravated and cruel case. Mr Hall mtirely agreed rath the honorable gentleman, that the case mentioned by him appeared to bo one not only of hardship but of oppression—that the law was in an unsatisfactory condition, and that it was desirable it should bo amended. The matter was under the consideration of the Government, and they would be glad if they were able to deal with it during the present session. Looking at the present state of public business they could make no positive announcement on the subject, but if a Bill were not brought in this session, it would be introduced euily next session.