Among the powers of the Commissioners are to be the
revision of eviction notices, with power to award full com- pensation and " exemplary damages " in cases of "capricious " eviction. The text of Mr. Lloyd George's speech informs us that the Commissioners, if they are told that a man is being evicted because he is a Methodist or a Liberal or has unsound ideas about game, will protect him. If, however, the allegation is made good that he is a bad farmer, they will, we presume, assist the landlord to get him out. It may surprise Mr. Lloyd George to know that if they felt sure that the Commissioners would really act on these principles, the landlords would be delighted. We have never known a case of an English land- lord turning a man out because be was a Methodist or a Liberal, or for any other fantastic reason of that sort. We have, however, often heard of landlords tolerating bad farming year after year, much to their pecuniary loss and the injury of the farm, simply because the tenant would not go amicably, and because it was exceedingly disagreeable to get rid of him against his will. If bad farming is really to be recognized as a sound reason for eviction, and if the Land Ministry will see to it that such evictions are not to involve bogus claims for compensation for disturbance, moral or legal, the landlords will feel nothing but gratitude.
