cumstances of this case, he will
best maintain the character and honour of a British officer, satisfy
the exigencies of justice, and uphold the rights of property, by
making _such an arrangement_ with Dr. O'Fay, as to the possession of
this farm, _as may leave him the full benefit of an expenditure made
in good faith, and with the reasonable expectation of having the full
benefit of it sufficiently secured by an undisturbed possession_.'

It is a favourite theory with the new school of agents and improving
landlords, that long leases cause bad cultivation; in other words,
that industry prospers best where there is no security that you can
reap what you have sown, except the honour of a man whose interest it
is to appropriate the fruits of your labours, which he can _legally_
do. Now, in every class and profession, there are failures,--persons
that are good for nothing, indolent, improvident, and thriftless. If
such a man has a long lease at a low rent, he may be overwhelmed in
debt, and leave his land in very bad condition. Others may imitate
their aristocratic superiors in their contempt for labour and their
habits of expenditure, and so get into a state of hopeless poverty on
a good estate. If there are cases where industrious sober men are the
worse for having an old lease, it should be remembered that the most
insecure of all tenures is a lease dependent on a single bad life,
which may drop at any hour. But there are other causes of the facts
urged against long tenures, for which the legislature is responsible,
not the unimproving tenant. Dr. Hancock explains this point very
satisfactorily:--

'Instances of bad cultivation and neglect of improvements, where long
leases exist, are sometimes brought forward to show the inutility of
tenure as a security for capital, and the strange economic theory
is propounded that a precarious interest is more favourable to the
investment of capital than a secure one. As well might the state of
landed property in Ireland before the Incumbered Estates Court was
established be adduced as an argument against property in land. The
remedy, however, which the legislature applied to incumbered estates
of large proprietors was not to destroy property in land, but simply
to secure its prompt, cheap, and effectual transfer to solvent hands.

'For tenants' interests under leases where the value is small, and
where the interests have become complicated, the Landed Estates
Court is too expensi