(1) The foregoing provisions of this Act as to determination of tenancies of allotment gardens and compensation to a tenant on quitting the same shall not apply to any parcel of land attached to a cottage.

(2) In the case of any allotment within the meaning of this Section (not being an allotment garden), the tenant shall, on the termination of his tenancy by effluxion of time, or from any other cause, be entitled, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, to obtain from the landlord compensation for the following matters:

1. (a) For crops, including fruit, growing upon the land in the ordinary course of cultivation and for labour expended upon and manure applied to the land in anticipation of a future crop; and
2. (b) For fruit trees or bushes provided and planted by the tenant with the previous consent in writing of the landlord, and for drains, outbuildings, pigsties, fowl-houses, or other structural improvements made or erected by and at the expense of the tenant on the and with such consent.

(3) Any sum due to the landlord from the tenant in respect of rent or of any breach of the contract of tenancy under which the land is held, or wilful or negligent damage committed or permitted by the tenant, shall be taken into account in reduction of the compensation.

(4) The amount of the compensation shall, in default of agreement, be determined and recovered in the same manner as compensation is, under this Act, to be determined and recovered in the case of an allotment garden.

(5) The Agricultural Holdings Acts, 1908 to 1921, shall, in the case of an allotment within the meaning of this Section to which those Acts apply, have effect as if the provisions of this Section as to the determination and recovery of compensation were substituted for the provisions of those Acts as to the determination and recovery of compensation, and a claim for compensation for any matter or thing for which a claim for compensation can he made under this Section, may be made either under those Acts or under this Section, but not under both.

(6) The compensation in respect of an improvement made or begun on an allotment (not being an allotment garden) before the passing of this Act shall be such (if any) as could have been claimed if this Act had not been passed.

(7) In this Section the expression "allotment" means any parcel of land, whether attached to a cottage or not, of not more than two acres in extent, held by a tenant under a landlord and cultivated as a farm or a garden, or partly as a garden and partly as a farm.

I beg to move to leave out the Clause.

I do so, not because I really want Clause 3 to be omitted, but in order to raise an important point upon Clause 3. Several times in Committee we were assured that it was not the intention or the purpose of this Bill to worsen the position of the allotment holders, as distinct from the allotment garden holders, with regard to compensation under the Agriculture Act of 1920. I raised the point once or twice, and was told it had already been dealt with by Amendments previously put in, but when one now looks at Clause 3 it is extraordinarily difficult to see how compensation under Section 10 of the Agriculture Act is really secured to the allotment holder. I suppose it must he somewhere in Clause 3, but the only words I can find are the early words, which state that— A claim for compensation for any matter or thing for which a claim for compensation can be made under this Section, may be made either under those Acts or under this Section but not under both. I suggest that no claim for disturbance may be made under this Section. The fact that the words, "under this Section," are inserted confines it to claims under paragraphs (a) and (b) of Sub-section (2) of the Clause, and I think these words expressly bar claims for compensation for disturbance. It is possible that the matter may be put right by a purely drafting Amendment in Another place, as, for example, leaving out the words, "under this Section," in Subsection (5), so that it would read as follows: A claim for compensation for any matter or thing for which a claim for compensation can be made, may be made either under those Acts or under this Section. The matter may be put right in that way, but as I read Sub-section (5) now, there is no certainty that the ordinary claim for disturbance under Section 10 of the Agriculture Act is really secured to the tenant. I am moving this Amendment in order to save time, because if I get an assurance that the matter is really covered, or that it will be covered, I need not move the Amendment which I have later on the Paper, giving the tenant the express right of claiming compensation for disturbance.

Sir A. BOSCAWEN:

I am given to understand that Sub-section (5), which was inserted by me in Committee, entirely meets the point put by my right hon. Friend. It leaves the law exactly as it is—that is to say, in the case of an allotment of over 40 poles or under 2 acres, the right to claim compensation for disturbance remains exactly as it was before. I think it is unnecessary to raise the point here, but I promise my right hon. Friend that I will have the matter again carefully considered with the draftsman before the Bill finally comes from Another place, although I do not think it will be necessary to make any alteration.

I do not think anybody reading the Sub-section at the present time, would come to that conclusion, and I think it must be altered, but I will accept my right hon. Friend's assurance.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment made: In Sub-section (2, a) leave out the words "in anticipation of a future crop."—(Sir A. Boscawen.)