27 NOVEMBER 1920, Page 3

The Agriculture Bill was considered on the Report stage in

the Home of Commons last week and again this week. The agricultural members tried hard to reduce the heavy compensa- tion payable to a dispossessed tenant, but the Government upheld the compromise arranged in Committee. Four years' rent is a large sum for a landlord to pay when a committee or an arbitrator decides that he has given the tenant notice to quit "without good cause." It may be necessary to protect farmers against landowners of the new school; but most farmers are perfectly capable of looking after themselves, and wise landlords, new or old, know that their own interests and the interests of their tenants are identical in the long run.