* * * * In the House of Commons on
Thursday, April 7111, the Home Secretary moved the Second Reading of the. Landlord and Tenant Bill, which provoked a fair amount of criticism from Unionists. The only serious objection raised by the Opposition was that the Bill did not go far enough. In these circumstances it was a mistake for the Labour Party to divide the House. In the division they were beaten by 240 votes to 83. The Bill gives tenants of bus iness premises at the end of their lease a right to compensation for improvements and for goodwill, in cases in which the goodwill would pass to the landlord. Provision is made for fair terms when a new lease is granted;and wale ca* the tenant is to have the right to a new lease if the landlord does not require the premises for his own use. There is, moreover,, a move towards leasehold enfranchisement in the clause which proposes that the landlord shall not be compelled to grant a new lease if he prefers to sell at a fair price. Disputes are to be settled by a Tribunal appointed by the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls and the President of the Surveyors' Institute.
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