The English Agricultural Holdings Bill has passed through Committee, and
it is probable that before this paper is in our readers' hands the Scotch Agricultural Holdings Bill will like- wise have passed through that ordeal ; nor do we think that, except as regards Mr. Balfonr's unfortunate amendment on the former Bill, either Bill has suffered seriously in the process. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach's amendment to Clause 5 of the English Bill, which practically enabled landlords and tenants to contract themselves out of the Bill, and to substitute some other scale of compensation for that secured to the tenant by the Bill, was defeated by 139 to 97. On the other hand, /Or. Blennerhassett's amendment, which would have abolished the law of distress for rent altogether, instead of limiting it, as is proposed in the pre- sent Bill, to the recovery of one year's rent,—an amendment supported by Mr. J. Howard and Mr. Barclay,—was negatived by 207 to 58. The Bill as it stands is a very moderate, though a very just measure, and we may anticipate that it will pass through the House of Lords with little serious change. The House of Lords are not in a mood to bring odium on themselves by resisting so moderate a proposal as this.
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