"In the ascertainment of the amount of the compensation pay. able to a tenant under this section there shall be taken into account : "(a) any benefit which the landlord has given or allowed to the tenant in consideration of the tenant executing the improve ment, whether expressly stated in the contract to be so given or allowed or not ; and "(b) as respects manuring as defined by this act, the value of the manure required by the contract of tenancy or by custom to be returned to the holding in respect of any crops grown on and sold off or removed from the holding within the last two years of the tenancy or other less time for which the tenancy has en dured, not exceeding the value of the manure which would have been produced by the consumption on the holding of the crops so sold off or removed.
"Nothing in this section shall prejudice the right of a tenant to claim any compensation to which he may be entitled under custom, agreement or otherwise, in lieu of any compensation pro vided by this section." The first schedule of the act, referred to in this section, con tains the list of the improvements for which compensation is pay able, as follows: (26) Consumption on the holding by cattle, sheep or pigs, or by horses other than those regularly employed on the holding of corn, cake or other feeding stuff not produced on the holding.
(27) Consumption on the holding by cattle, sheep or pigs or by horses, other than those regularly employed on the holding, of corn proved by satisfactory evidence to have been produced and consumed on the holding.
(28) Laying down temporary pasture with clover, grass, lucerne, sain-foin or other seeds, sown more than two years prior to the ter mination of the tenancy in so far as the value of the temporary pas ture on the holding at the time of quitting exceeds the value of the temporary pasture on the holding at the commencement of the tenancy for which the tenant did not pay compensation.
(29) Repairs to buildings, being buildings necessary for the proper cultivation or working of the holding, other than repairs which the tenant is himself under an obligation to execute: Provided that the tenant before beginning to execute any such repairs shall give to the landlord notice in writing of his intention, together with particulars of such repairs, and shall not execute the repairs unless the landlord fails to execute them within a reasonable time after receiving such notice.
The consent of the landlord to improvements in Part I. must be given in writing and may be unconditional or on such terms as regards compensation as he may agree with the tenant.
Compensation for drainage (Part II.) is not payable unless the tenant gives notice, in writing, to the landlord not more than three nor less than two months before beginning to execute the improve ment of his intention to do so, and of the manner in which he proposes to do it. The landlord may then agree with the tenant as to the terms of compensation or failing such agreement may execute the improvement "in any reasonable and proper manner which he thinks fit" and increase the annual rent of the farm by a sum sufficient to repay the cost in a period of 25 years with interest at the rate of 3%. The minister of agriculture may by
regulation substitute such percentage or period as he thinks fit having regard to the current rates of interest. If the landlord fails to execute this improvement within a reasonable time the tenant may do it himself and he is entitled to compensation.
All claims by the tenant for compensation whether under cus tom or agreement are settled, unless the landlord and tenant agree, by arbitration. The arbitrator is appointed by mutual agreement, or in default of agreement by the minister of agri culture.
A tenant is not entitled to claim compensation, except in re spect of manuring, for any improvement begun by him within one year of his quitting the holding.
The long list of improvements for which compensation may be claimed would appear to afford reasonable security that a tenant will recover on quitting his holding any capital expenditure of which he has not reaped the full benefit during his tenancy. In the Agriculture Act 192o, however, a new principle was introduced which established the right of the tenant to claim compensation not only for specific improvements but also for adoption of a special standard or system of farming. The terms in which this right is given are as follows :— (i) "Where a tenant who quits a holding after the commencement of this act" (i.e., after Jan. 1, 1921) "on so quitting proves to the satis faction of an arbitrator appointed under the act of 1908 that the value of the holding to an incoming tenant has been increased during the tenancy by the continuous adoption of a standard of farming or a system of farming which has been more beneficial to the holding than the standard or system (if any) required by the contract of tenancy, the arbitrator shall award to the tenant such compensation as in his opinion represents the value to an incoming tenant of the adoption of that standard or system: "Provided that: "(a) This section shall not apply in any case unless a record of the condition of the holding has been made under the act of 5908 or in respect of any matter arising before the date of the record so made ; and "(b) Compensation shall not be payable under this section unless the tenant has, before the termination of the tenancy, given notice in writing to the landlord of his intention to claim such compensation; and "(c) The arbitrator in assessing the value to an incoming tenant shall make due allowance for any compensation agreed or awarded to be paid to the tenant for any improvement specified in the first schedule to the act of 1908 which has caused or contributed to the benefit.